HopefulGrad2B

I got the Predoc!!!!! (And this time it's not an April Fools Day joke) Yay!! I'm a humanist. The e-mail didn't mention deadlines... I bet it'll be in the packet we get in the mail. But judging from what the alternates on here have said, alternates will be finding out in approximately a month, so we might have around that much time to make up our minds! Congrats to everyone else who won and, honestly, to EVERYONE for the hard work I know we all put into these applications, regardless of the outcomes. Best of luck to all with your studies!

I haven't heard back yet... No news is good news, right?!?!

You're welcome! And I know you didn't ask for it, but here's yet another bit of potentially helpful info. My dream program at School A got back to me with more info on their funding policy with the Ford in particular: Just to clear something up, School A's program (which is an Ivy) is offering 5 guaranteed years of generous funding (years 1-4 and the completion year, which in most cases is year 6... since year 5 is unfunded, that's when students try to benefit from outside awards or teach classes... etc.). This is a very specific example but as far as the Ford Fellowship goes, it's probably a reasonably reliable model for other schools' policies regarding the Ford. Again, you should definitely look into your specific fellowships, departments and universities. I hope this was helpful, too!

I also wondered this and asked the schools I got into. Here are their responses. N.B. Two of these schools are Ivies and the third is a prestigious public/non-Ivy... so these may not be the most typical examples. School A: "Since financial support is the shared responsibility of the Graduate School, the department and the student, you will be encouraged to apply for appropriate University and outside fellowships throughout your enrollment. All students who receive funds from an outside source are required to accept the award in place of the above [school name] award. Students will be eligible for a prize of up to $4,000 for each academic year of external funding. Outside awards with a 12 month tenure ordinarily substitute for the 10 month academic year stipend and the summer research award..." School B: "PhD students with an external fellowship of $15000 or more have a choice between: 1. taking the outside fellowship and deferring a year of GSAS funding for a later year (as long as it is before the student's 8th year of study) OR 2. taking the outside fellowship, and taking the "top off." This would give the student the difference in stipend up to the top off rate ($30,000 for 2011-12). For example, if the outside award is $20,000, the student would take the $20,000 from the external fellowship, and GSAS would give her/him $10,000 in stipend. This choice substitutes for a year of GSAS funding. In both cases, a student's tuition and basic health fees would be covered, unless it is covered by the external award. And a student on an outside award is not obliged to teach." School C: "Depending on the fellowship, the application of external funding blended with your university multi-year fellowship differs somewhat but is very possible. For example, a Javits recipient must accept the fellowship for her/his first four years. The [university-specific fellowship] has a four year commitment, consequently some students receive departmental funding in the form of teaching or stipend depending on their progress in their fifth years. If a student is on normative time for [specific department] they may also draw on the [university-specific completion fellowship]. There are also dissertation year fellowships that one may apply for off campus, depending on one's interests. A different situation exists for the Ford Fellowship, as another example. Ford requires the recipient to use her/his fellowship in the first year with the possibility of either drawing on the fellowship for the final two years or deferring the second two years for as long as two years. During this time a fellow may draw on either her/his [university-specific fellowship] or departmental support, depending on the initial agreement between the student and the department. In both cases, the University fellowship is blended with external fellowships." Obviously this varies widely depending on the fellowships, departments and universities in question. In general, schools seem to prefer that their funding be entirely (or mostly) replaced by the outside award so that they can put that money towards financing another student's expenses (i.e. a student without external funding). In my case, I like the incentive School A is offering me (and this is the school I will most likely attend; I'm just waiting to see how my external fellowship results play out). I suggest that you contact your specific departments and the relevant financial aid offices to find out how things would work in your particular case. I hope my post is helpful!

Thanks for your input, ibluz. I'm a minority myself. I was born in Latin America and I bet we have the same first language. However, I grew up in the U.S. and I studied really, really hard for the GRE Verbal section. Luckily it paid off! It's interesting that you think they only use our scores to gauge our likelihood of getting into grad school. If that's the case, then *whew* huge sigh of relief! Since GRE scores are optional, and people have won without submitting theirs, I'd have to agree with ibluz that they're not a very important component of the application. What does everyone else think?

C'mon guys, I thought I had redeemed myself by calling today!! I'm sure everyone's GRE Math scores are phenomenal compared to mine (then again, I'm a humanities person), but I'd really like to know your opinions. I didn't mean to turn this into a chances thread. I already applied, so I'm just curious if there's an approximate combined score everyone thinks might be competitive enough (in addition to the more subjective parts of the application). I know there are around 10 of us on this page right now (and at any given moment, for that matter)... so someone please reply?

Mine says the same, as well. I submitted my GRE scores (even though they were optional) and it says that they were received, but on the left side it says "Consolidated GRE Report file" in boldface but not in the same brown color as the other headings (e.g. Transcripts). Does anyone else who submitted scores have something similar? It's clearly not something worth worrying about; as someone mentioned earlier, it's just last-minute jitters. Incidentally, what do we all consider would be a competitive combined GRE score for a humanities predoctoral applicant? I know some people didn't submit scores and they won't be penalized, but does anyone think a combined 1320 is too low to compete? [720V (98th percentile), 600M (some embarrassingly low percentile)] I hope I didn't mess up my chances by submitting my scores. I got into Ivies and other top-rated programs in my field, notably the program I mentioned on my application, so my scores were good enough for top grad schools... but how about for the Ford? Thanks!

You're welcome! And just to clear something up, all of the numbers I mentioned were for the predoctoral award (i.e. 1000 --> 800 --> 60). If someone wants to call and ask about the other awards, just know that the lady who answered my call was extremely friendly!!

Hey! I hope I can redeem myself for starting the April Fools nonesense. So I called and they said that the decisions would be sent out this week, as we already knew. I asked whether they'd all be sent out at once or not and they said that they didn't know the order, but that they would most likely go out on different days this week. Finally, I wanted to confirm the numbers. It's actually different than what it says on the website!! It turns out that our chances are ever so slightly better! They received 1000 apps of which 800 made it to evaluation and there will be 60 predoctoral awards this year (not 40 like it says on their website)!! So our chances just went up from 5% to 7.5%!! lol Good luck everyone!!!

Hey everyone! Good news! String together all of the capital letters in my earlier post (It should make 3 separate words)... I couldn't help myself. I meant to clarify things at around midnight my time but I got a little caught up with work and forgot to stop by here again. I'm so sorry for worrying you all. I have a feeling that the subsequent posters caught on to the nature of my post and were playing along. For what it's worth the other posters freaked me out!! I hope that makes us even and that you realize it was all in good fun. (If you give me a bunch of -1s, I'll understand, but I hope your sense of humor will trump your indignation!!) I'm sincerely sorry and I wish all of us good luck as we wait to hear back next week!!!

i found out todAy!! i got the PRedoctoral fellowshIp!!! i am eLated beyond belieF!!!!! whO else heard back? gOod Luck to all! yeSs!!!! (please iGnOre The Caps, tHere's A problem with my keyboard).

Thanks michpc, this is very reassuring!! Good to know. I really appreciate your advice!

Hey all. I have another question, if I may. From looking back through past year's Ford threads, it looks like some students found out a bit sooner than others. Apparently it seems like they were able to request this earlier notification. Was this an option somehow on the application itself? I can't seem to remember it at all if it was one. How would one go about procuring such early notification, if it does indeed exist? I would personally feel better making my final decision about grad school after hearing back about the Ford... They're notorious for informing people very darn close to April 15th though... I was accepted into my dream program though and with very generous funding, so I should probably just appreciate that, right? However, I'm currently negotiating funding with another program that I love a lot... And if I got the Ford, that could potentially change a lot for me... Any advice? Thanks again everyone and good luck!

Hey everyone! I have a question about summer apartment leases in Cambridge/Boston. My dept. at Harvard is subsidizing a few incoming students interested in taking a Harvard Summer School course this summer. This possibility appeals to me a lot. It starts in late-June. When would I need to sign a lease by to secure an apartment from like mid (or even early) June? I would then want to live there during the school year but just until the following summer. (I would then use my summer grant money to do some research abroad) Thanks a lot in advance!

Hey everyone! I have a question about summer apartment leases in Cambridge/Boston. My dept. at Harvard is subsidizing a few incoming students interested in taking a Harvard Summer School course this summer. This possibility appeals to me a lot. It starts in late-June. When would I need to sign a lease by to secure an apartment from like mid (or even early) June? I would then want to live there during the school year but just until the following summer. (I would then use my summer grant money to do some research abroad) Thanks a lot in advance!