Faculty Full Prof

It may be unwelcome advice, but choosing a grad program on the basis of the size of the stipend is short-term thinking. When I was admitted to grad school, I had several choices (yeah, I know), but one top choice offered me $X, and another offered me $3X, literally three times as much money. I chose $X, and it was absolutely the right decision. Yes, my grad years were leaner than they could have been, and yes, it was a serious struggle. But because the low-paying program was a better fit, offered better opportunities, and offered extraordinary peers, it was the right long-term choice. So yes, pay attention to the offers, and yes, pay attention to cost of living. But keep in mind your values, and why you're going to grad school, and what you hope to get out of it. (In case anyone wants to charge me with privilege, current grad students make 150% - 250% of what I and my peers made as stipends--after adjusting for inflation/COL. It wasn't easy then and it's not easy now, but it's doable for most of us.)

We have sent out an acceptance or two, having made our "decisions" this week. Often people who are admitted to one program are admitted to many, and while they make their decisions, people who are dependent upon them must wait. I do encourage anyone with more than one acceptance to act as quickly as possible. Do NOT treat an admission as if it were your possession--if you are ultimately not going to accept admission, you are literally holding on to someone else's life. Work as quickly as you can.

This is completely true. It's the worst year I've ever seen, in decades of doing admissions at various schools. It's bad. Sorry.

Can these posts be edited? Washington State is in Pullman, Washington. I'm sure it's just a typo, but . . . ?

I'm a faculty at an R1, doing admissions work now. What you've heard is probably true--funding is terrible at universities now, and particularly at state institutions. Grad student lines are among the most protected (after sports, of course) areas of the budget, but times are very hard. Applications are up in some places, but they're not massively up everywhere. The real problem is that entering class sizes are shrinking. We're looking at a 50% reduction this year. But it's still not settled. We've recently identified our "top 20" and as soon as the full faculty can look at the files, we'll send out invitations. Our history is use phones for the first contact, and an in-person invitation for the second, more dispositive interview. What would you, as admissions candidates, like to have? How would you simultaneously excel, learn about the program, and manage the stress?