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lobster_pancakes

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  1. I asked for an app fee waiver at a university whose process was, you email most of your application materials to the department for review, and they'll grant the waiver based on what they see. I got the waiver, applied, and later got accepted to the program. So no I don't think it hurts your chances—depending on the waiver application process you might even have a better shot at getting into the program, if they already found you strong enough to grant you a waiver.
  2. I borrowed a 2021 copy from my undergrad advisor and scanned it; feel free to DM me. For me the guide wasn't helpful at first because I began with research interests that can be found either almost everywhere or nowhere at all as far as general area keywords are concerned. It took conversations with grad students & professors & reading through tons of faculty bios that I was able to find places with good research fit & learn what areas these faculty would situate themselves in, which then made the keywords in the guide more useful when I started searching for extra programs to apply to. Tuition info is irrelevant at the PhD level (if that's what you're aiming for) because you wouldn't want to go to a program that's not fully-funded. Stipends will have significantly changed in many institutions due to inflation & unionization, so I'd go to phdstipends.com, gradcafe or twitter to get current info from grad students. Lots of places don't even list their stipends in the guide; just the types of financial aid available, which is too general/undistinguishable to be useful. Any university can say they offer TA-ships, RA-ships, tuition waivers and fellowships, but the amount of aid, service/workload requirements, competitiveness, incentive structures for external fellowships (aka are you pressured to apply because your survival depends on it or are you incentivized with department bonuses?) citizenship/residence limitations, and limitations to wage-labour funding matter too. Funding for conference travel and research projects also matters, especially if the stipends don't leave you a lot of room to save up. From 2021 onwards, the guide includes the racial/ethnic composition of faculty and grad students. This was especially helpful for me as a POC. Number of grad students and degrees awarded could also be useful for thinking about the potential size of each cohort and how many of those folks actually graduate with degrees, especially if the university doesn't publish those stats on their website/reports. Overall it's good for getting an overview of what graduate programs are out there and where to start looking into. There's a listing of departments sorted by areas of expertise, for example. But IMO you are not missing out on much if you don't have it.
  3. Considering stipends relative to the local cost of living my best offers are: $35k/yr at WUSTL: 6-year funding, no TA/RA service required in any year. summer is included in the package. You are required to RA in your 1st year and TA in your 2nd (and optionally, your 3rd year), but it's part of your PhD coursework and not tied to funding. $37k/yr at Northwestern: 5-year funding that can be transferred to the 6th year if you get external fellowships, qualifying RA-ships, or qualifying TA-ships in another department during your time. summer is included in the package. no service required in 1st year, 5th year and summers, but TAships are the default mode of funding in years 2,3 and 4. I say "default" because you can get out of TA-ing if you get a qualifying RAship or fellowship.
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