IvyHope

This is so stupid, I can't even believe I am continuing this argument. First of all, I'm not a "dude." Your assumptions that I am are irritating. Secondly, I simply am not wrong. You're suggesting I didn't in fact stand in the man's office as he was telling me they don't offer funding to the students of the program I applied to. Unbelievable. Honestly, this forum has become so overrun with know-it-alls that I can barely stomach coming here anymore. I'm not going to let someone hide behind the veil of the internet and accuse me of being a liar, or being wrong. Congratulations to anyone who received funding from Columbia. Good for fucking you. That does not negate the fact that in the program I applied to, in the school I applied to (Teacher's College) I was told there isn't funding. Period. In person, on location, live. There is nothing to be disappointed about here, because I am not wrong, and it does not change what I was told. Do you really think I'm trying to suggest that the director of the program I spoke to said there was no funding for any student that ever applied to any program at any time at Columbia University? Give me a break. What he told me was, "there's no funding." Of course I realize what that means- it means for this program, students who apply are not traditionally offered funding. If you have a problem with the statement, take it up with Columbia. My flippancy comes from the overwhelming number of people on this site who like to come here and puff out their chests, look for reasons to try to prove people wrong. Believe me, as a current student in a PhD program, I can safely say there are lots of people who are going to have a rude awakening when they try to take their know-it-all attitude into grad school, because those with real knowledge are going to chew you up and spit you out. The appropriate response to my previous comment would have been "wow, that sucks for you. I was awarded funding and have a contract to prove it." The argument that because you have funding, from one program across the whole university, therefore I must not have been told what I claim I was told is completely flawed. Are you calling me a liar? Or are you calling the professor who told me this a liar? Out of curiosity, what was it about my original comment that leads you to believe I was trying to argue that there was no funding for the entire Ivy League Columbia University? Were you just looking for someone whose comment you could create an argument over? Does that give you satisfaction?

Seems like there's a good likelihood that you're talking about a form that accompanied his letter, which asked him to check some box, and the selections were "brilliant" down to "idiot" or something. Most people will not check brilliant but for once or twice in their lifetime, a student that truly rocked their socks off. Either way, this is why you don't read LOR, something that wasn't intended for your eyes ;-)

Whatever. Good for you. That's like saying that your statement is just as valid as you claim mine is. I was told no funding, in person, so you can take your friend of a friend BS and tell it to someone who cares... Who are you to assume we've applied to the same program?

demon- I think my post was a little misleading. I did not mean I was told there was no funding because of Madoff- I was just told there's no funding. :-) It seems to be a common theme in the program I applied to- they tend to accept students who can pay out of pocket or bring their own funding (or are willing to go into hock for the degree). Seems a little elitist to me, but whatevs...

It is your right, until April 15, to make your choice. They can't ask you if you're going to accept their offer. They might ask you what other programs you are interested in. That doesn't mean you have to show them your entire hand- you're perfectly within your right to tell them you're not sure what you're going to do quite yet. After April 15, they can withdraw their offer.

lol 81st percentile isn't a bad score. To make a sweeping generalization about the importance of the GRE because, in your opinion, you got a bad score, is asinine. 81st percentile, if I had to guess (you don't give much info and I really am not inclined to take the time to look up the ranks) means you likely got at least a combined 1100, if not 1200. Don't compare your scores to the ones you're reading from the people on this forum. They're not a good representative sample. If you want to see how your scores really compare, look up the averages/distributions on ets.org. They're available.

For all of the bitching about ETS, I've never had a problem. Frank, don't forget the first 5 or 6 scores are sent complementary, as part of your test fees. Extra reports are the $20 fee as you mention. To the OP, it sounds like an addressing problem. Someone must be delivering the mail to the wrong office, or there's a typo in the system somewhere. I'd call ETS with the actual address of the location you need them sent (none of that school code stuff).

Unfortunately, the GRE is used to make funding decisions. My school recently implemented a policy in which people can be awarded not only a fellowship, but a GA, if they have a certain cutoff score. I was told by a faculty member that a candidate that almost all of the faculty were advocating for was passed forward for admission, and rejected by the dean because of her GREs. :-( So, while the faculty know GRE are not always a good predictor, and are not the be all and end all, sometimes it's beyond their control.

I was told by Columbia (and so were a few friends who've also applied there) "there's no funding for our students." Period, I guess.

They can't ask you that.

younglions, there are debt forgiveness programs for people aiming to have careers in public service. http://www.finaid.org/loans/publicservice.phtml

The only way that it seems to affect someone in this situation (at least to me) is maybe your partner is not eligible for benefits the way that a married person's spouse would be... But believe me, we're all taking a hit as graduate students with regard to income. I've certainly never heard of a program that rewards married students with higher financial packages.

Re: the second string thing, I don't think it really matters after you start grad school. No one in the program knows or cares, and at that point it is all about how you perform.

What the hell?!?!?!

Right. I think some grad students make fun of b-schools for the same reasons Not to mention the work in most law firms is sooo grueling. My bf did another famous all-nighter last night. Poor guy- I don't envy him at all, not even for his money (although that soon may change). :mrgreen:

Probably best...you might be surprised, but you've already got a couple great offers. They aren't ranked as highly as some of the others, if I remember correctly...

Well. And all this time I thought I was missing out by having a cable outage! Whew. t_ruth, have you heard anything from Duke? I noticed a psych post on the results page yesterday.

I know- Cali is in bad shape. No, not in Cali, but this is something that every state is facing..I think most state budgets are seriously in danger right now. I certainly am not alone.

I work for the Dept of Ed. The governor slashed the Office of Literacy from the budget yesterday. Our whole office is cut. :-(

Maybe I'm just trying to be the optimist, as I (liberal and employed by the gov) just lost my job today :-(

Well, certainly Brooks is a conservative, so that's to be expected. But I did sense some condescension toward the conservatives (or at least the corporates) here. Definitely picked up on the message that whether or not they are making the big bucks, a libs work is at least meaningful (leaving much to be desired regarding the meaning of a CEO's work). The bit about the law school grad who resents a b-school grad...don't we all make fun of b-schools? ;-)

Actually, I sort of thought it was a dig at corporate/conservative irresponsibility...

Sometimes it's about who you know. Great comic. And very true. Not exaggerated at all! In fact, at my current institution, the football coach makes more than that!

sure. A handful is believable- and you can look for yourself and see that they all have 20-25+ years (at least according to the resource Frankdux provided). Still isn't likely in most places. A suburb of one of the larger American cities is not the average...those jobs are very competitive.

interesting...my tuition waiver covers everything. $0 balance each time.