bandanajack

Hello all! I accepted an offer to UF's sociology PhD program! Post here if you want to talk about relocating to UF and anything else we may come across, or just share what program you are going into! I'm coming from Pennsylvania so I still need to figure out travel plans let alone what the hell I should prepare for once I am there (like housing. Housing would be good to have lol).

Hi all, I want to start a thread so newly accepted grad students can learn what costs we should expect when first starting grad school that we may not think about and hopefully get some advice on how to afford it. For example, while I have been graced with a fully funded T.A. position with 9 credit/hours coverage per semester I still have to pay for fees, relocation, books, supplies(?), etc. One thing that initially scared me was that I have to pay for university fees per credit hour. This was confusing to find out and took a long phone convo with university staff to sort through what an out of state student will pay the uni fee wise (not tuition). This includes technology fees, athletic fees, health, capital improvement trust fund etc. This comes out to about $100 per credit hour or $900 per semester! I don't come from a family of great wealth but I know I will be able to scrape together enough money to pay this off until the T.A. paychecks start rolling in. But what other costs may newbie grad students not know they have to budget for and does anybody have advice for paying for them/saving money when you are on one hell of a tight budget?

Great question. So this cycle I only applied to Ph.D. programs ranked about 30th and got rejected because my SOPs weren't specific enough and up to caliber. So the advantage to a master's first is to hopefully apply to even higher ranked schools once I 1) sharpen my research focus 2) Have time to build more connections in the field 3)Conduct more research. If I do the Ph.D. now then I am locked into a program with a decent ranking, but 30 years from now I wonder if I would look back and wonder if I could have done better? But! You hit the nail on the head. I could not get into any Ph.D. programs for a plethora of reasons if I wait until after my master's.

Those are valid points that I have not considered, but at the same time I don't really care about how long I am in school or my long term earnings. That probably sounds stupid, but as long as I have enough money to get by then I am happy. Though, speaking of money, the master's T.A. position is a generous stipend that will probably match or beat what the the other uni could offer. It seems typical in the States to try to go for a Ph.D. track right out of ug, and I am wondering if there are career/academic advantages to this? I know it gives you a longer time to develop relationships with faculty and possibly focus on a research project for longer, but am I missing anything else?

I also posted this on r/gradadmissions, but thought here might be more beneficial. I got accepted to a small private research uni with 2 year master's T.A. position with great funding. (I am ecstatic) To my surprise I was contacted by a DGS of a larger, public, research school with a good program ranking and they seem to be seriously considering my application for Ph.D. with possible funding based on the email (I applied way past the deadline for a master's, and now they are changing my app for Ph.D. to get funding). While I have not been accepted for the Ph.D. I am hypothetically thinking what choice I would make. For personal reasons (money and proximity to family) I am considering the master's, but it seems stupid to pass up a Ph.D. funded opportunity. If I accept the master's, I will apply again to Ph.D. programs and may be able to get into the same or better ranked programs, so that's also why the master's seems like a reasonable route. Academically/career wise, this is the crux. Get a Ph.D. at a Top 30 program, or do the master's at a well respected uni but lower ranked/recognized program, and then be able to shoot for Top 20 or Ivy League programs. Any thoughts on this?

I was at work, looking at tips about quitting smoking (yesterday I finally decided to kick the habit of 5yrs). While I was still checking the usual grad stuff (portals, email, GC, reddit) I've finally stopped doing so constantly because I was just getting so down about not hearing back. Then I got the best news in my life... 2 year T.A. position with full funding (great stipend) for my M.A. at a small private research school that is even closer to most of my family. I just skimmed the words. Then read the whole thing to make sure I understood. I sat down on the floor. Got up and read it again. I paced in my office, finally having to leave and take a walk across campus (I work at my ug uni). Honestly it is a little hard to digest right now. It's a dream come true. It makes years and years of overcoming endless academic and personal challenges worth it. I am eternally grateful for all those who believed in me, even when I didn't believe in myself.

Ditto to that. Also curious if anyone has gotten rejected yet? Wondering if they do all their rejects at once. And same question if anyone applied to UConn.

So your UVa grad portal says "waitlisted"?

Fancy Feast

I check my email constantly, and have the portals bookmarked and check them throughout the day. I only got one response so far and I got en email saying my portal would change in 1-2 business days with a decision (it was like 1 a.m. on Saturday). 12 hours later the portal presented a generic rejection letter. On Sunday it said denied.

Damn that is long wait!

Is it better to contact the admissions office or the department (and if the department, then the staff/secretary or the grad coordinator/director)?

I'm really sorry to hear that! As much as you may be upset or even angry, just reply back that you happy you are being considered and look forward to hearing from them again. And I see a day has passed, so you probably responded. Did go well?

LOUD NOISES!

You can at any point, but I try to follow a guideline to know when it is most appropriate. Does the program webpage say when you should expect to hear back? Has it been longer than 1.5/2 months? Are you pressed to get an answer for planning purposes? Have they released acceptances and rejections? I applied to a program with a deadline of Jan. 1 and I emailed them in mid-feb asking for a timeline and have yet to hear back. Gradcafe results are very slim and it looks like I could hear back anytime from Feb. to April so I guess I just need to be patient.