aus1983

Hello, I am in a strange situation now. I got admission into two equally good Phd programs, lets say, A and B. School A offered me partial funding (about 85% tuition waiver) in March itself along with the admission mail. Another school (school just gave me an admission without any funding, at that point of time (around April 1st week). I had to inform my decision about joining school A by April 15th. Since A was the best option (with good but partial funding), I sent them my confirmation about joining. In the last few days, I got a funding offer from a Professor at School B and I got the RAship letter with full tuition waiver and monthly stipend. I am yet to accept/deny to the prof at school B; may be, in 2-3 days. In terms of research both are highly reputed. School A has a lot of people who work in my area of interest. In School B, its only this professor. Even her work is not very closely related to what I want to do in my PhD. But, if I join, I will be getting money and not have to worry about it at all. I am more inclined toward school A because I got attached to it in all these 3-4 months plus nice weather, big city, close match in research. But, I only have partial funding. I contacted a lot of profs in school A, every one told they will consider me in future, but no one gave any assurance. Now, here are my questions: 1) If I want to go for School B, can I still do that? If so, how should I go about it? I have already confirmed school A about joining. 2) Should I contact graduate admissions chair at school A and explain that I really want to come there, but I have this problem that arose lately? 3) Should I just stick with school A ? Your advice is greatly appreciated.

I am also waiting for their decision. Its scary not to get a decision till today.

Undergrad Institution: small technical institution. Top 5 in my state in my home country Major(s): Electronics and Communications Engineering Minor(s): GPA in Major: 74% Overall GPA: 74% Length of Degree: 4 Years Position in Class: Top 20%? Maybe higher. Type of Student: iNTERNATIONAL mALE gRADUATE iNSTITUTE: tOP 50 Grad Department in ECE, USA Degree : M.S. in ECE GPA: 3.8/4.00 GRE Scores: Q: 800 V: 680 W: 4.0 Research Experience: 2+ years of research exp in medical image analysis, image processing Awards/Honors/Recognitions: University fellowship, NTSE scholar, Several awards for undergrad project and papers at national conferences Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 2+ years experience as a embedded software engineer in a fortune 100 company. Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Applying for PhD at: U Wisconsin - EE - pending U Wisconsin - BME - pending USC - EE - pending CMU - EE - pending Gatech - EE - pending UCSB - EE - pending JHU - EE - pending UPenn - EE - pending Rutgers - BME - pending UMCP - EE - pending

applied to 10 PhD programs. no news from any univ yet. getting nervous and mad, day by day. is there ne one who got admits in amrch/april/May? ne one else apped for PhD programs and not heard ne thing yet ?? please ppl, if any one there apped for PhD and not heard ne thing, do post here.

i have the same doubt. why wud they talk abt dept funding in a candidate's accept letter?

Hello All, People who have got admit from USC for EE, PhD, please add your admits here. Also, mention your sub-area for which you applied. Thanks

wisc-mad is "well known" for CS, that too AI. I would go to UW, that too with full funding. go for it.

Hi, after seeing this post and fed up of waiting, I called up one school. They did answer with "Hello". She said, the decision may be informed anywhere from today to end of May. Suddenly, I called one more univ to which I have not applied. There, the lady answered the phone with, "Comp Sci Dept, how may I assist you...." I could easily see the difference. The "hello" was more stern and impersonal. Now, I am coming to accept this theory. I dont know, if it is an accept/reject. But, I am fanatically pressing the "refresh" button of my mail box.