justanothertheorist

You (and EVERYONE on this thread, even those of you with your heart set on one program) should talk to current and recent graduate students and ask pointed questions about whether people are unhappy, if many people drop out for non-personal reasons (ie are bullied out), whether graduate students are prioritized/taken seriously, how much support in their research they get, how accessible faculty are, how much professional development they get, how many students are actively doing conferences and publications, whether the money is enough, whether the coursework is valuable, if there's in-fighting, if graduate students support each other or are over-competitive, if there's a good balance of ambition and not tearing each other down, if the prof(s) you want to work with are actually good advisors and nice/reliable/conscientious people, what the department culture is like, etc. Find the red flags NOW, not when you're already stuck.

Hi all, Gonna try debunk/clarify some stuff, as someone who's been in the music theory grad school business a while. Stipends really range in the US. At some state schools you could end up with less than $15k, and that doesn't necessarily include a full tuition waiver, either. At Ivies and quasi-ivies, you're more likely to be around $30k or more and have a full waiver. Some schools might scale that up for cost of living. Also, some schools really make you work for that stipend money (eg teaching 2-3 classes per semester, 20h/week), whereas others leave you more time to focus on your studies (no TA, just grading/tutoring, easy-going RA, only teaching in 3rd and 4th year, etc). Make sure you do the math on how much tuition you'll pay if it's not a full waiver. (How many credits do you have to take a year? How many are/aren't covered? Are you paying in-state or out-of-state tuition? How much is it per credit at that rate? Are cash scholarships renewable, and if so, can you keep renewing them indefinitely or do they have a 2-/3-year limitation, after which you're screwed? Do you have to pay things like building/student union fees? What's the financial situation when you're ABD?) Obviously, also factor in rent prices, dependents, if you'll be paying health insurance, whether extra jobs like grading are available, and (if you're an international student) if you're allowed to work extra hours. Ask if you'll get a raise at any point (eg, some schools increase your stipend each year, some when you reach ABD). Consider if there are universities and community colleges within a short driving distance with music departments where you could adjunct towards the end of your program (if you're as much a pedagogue as a researcher). If you have offers from more than one school, try to leverage them. Eg, if you want to go to the slightly less prestigious/well-paying school of two you got accepted to, see if they'll raise their offer upon hearing that the other school is offering more. Money is important, but going somewhere with a good environment is also crucial. Don't take profs' words as truth. Nor the word of students new to the program--they might not have seen the darkest parts of the department yet. Ask people who just graduated the program or people that have been there a few years for their honest opinion. And ask about cost of living. Re: Yale... my understanding is that they don't send rejections until after interviews, probably at roughly the same time they send out acceptances. I don't know whether interview invites are rolling or not, though. I'd work on the assumption that you'll be receiving a rejection towards the end of Feb; then you'll either be emotionally prepared when a rejection comes, or pleasantly surprised if I'm wrong and an interview invite is on its way. Good luck, everyone!