Polly_Sigh

In may opinion you just cannot take rejections too personally. these programs are so competitive and there's always an element of luck at play. if you are really dedicated to the grad school plan then you can make it work somehow; it just may take more compromise and more time than you may have wanted. now... a breakup, that is deeply personal. there's no getting around that if it was a significant relationship. therefore, hands down a breakup is worse. BUT in the end, life goes on in either case and what is meant to be will be -- for grad school and for relationships. Two years form now you could be back together with your ex while attedning your dream school! life is crazy like that!

Congratulations!! Do you mind sharing whether or not your offer included funding? Thanks!

OK thanks! Yes - I see two acceptances posted on the board from yesterday -- one must've been yours (Feb), but the other one looks to be from someone who hadn't heard anything. we shall see! so have you decided between GT and GWU yet?

Yes that's odd. I haven't heard from Gtown, but have assumed rejection. The results entry doesn't mention funding. Possibly some people are turning down unfunded offers (or funded for that matter), so now the school is working it's way down some kind of "unofficial" waitlist. Not getting my hopes up.

Hi Everyone, My hopes for entering a PhD program this coming fall are hanging by a thread. My best option at this point is to do a terminal MA program and then apply next year for a PhD program starting in Fall 2013. I am consdiering Villanova and Temple. I am weghing pros and cons for both programs, but I would really appreciate any information from someone who has experience or knowledge of either of these programs. My main concern is placement. I know there are no guarantees in life, but I really do not want to be facing PhD rejections (or unfunded offers) this time in 2013. Some of my background (I'm a non-traditional candidate): Subfield: IR (focus on IPE, global governance, global inequality/poverty, global justice) Undergrad: business major, Top 20 university, 3.0 Maters: Liberal Arts, Top 5 university, 3.9 GREs: 1370 Work Experience: 7+ year in financial analysis/ higher edu admin; small stint in socio-econ research Please let me know if you can help! Cheers! Polly SIgh

Hi! I'm waiting to hear from NSSR as well, but from a different department. I'm curious - did you call NSSR admissions, or the psych dept specifcally? I'm wondering if all NSSR notifications will go out today, or if the person you talked to just meant psych. thanks and good luck!

what you are saying are definitely the conventional rules of thumb. i'm not saying that your advice is untrue (federal is probably the safest route for many people), but these are not hard and fast rules that apply to everyone all of the time. each adult needs to weigh the pros and cons of any financial decision and then make the best decision for him/her. if you are financially savvy and able to understand the system, then you can make an informed decision. i would advise against latching onto simple rules such as "never take out private loans" because in some cases those may be the better optoin. it reminds of the now (hopefully) passe idea that "it's always better own than rent." that's simply not true for everyone, but many people latch on to those rules of thumb without applying any critical thinking. (think back to the financial crisis of a few years ago.... for many people owning was not the smart financial move despite conventional wisdom). work out your own financial models. make a few alternate scenario models to account for potential risk factors and then make a decision that will allow you to mitigate potential risk if necessary. and as for the public service loan forgiveness program, yes those are great programs that are available to federal loan holders, but they apply to a small population of people. and going into a program like AmeriCorps is great and very personally rewarding, but if you are focused on financial security, going into a program like that has many other financial trade-offs even when taking loan forgiveness into account. These trade-offs need to be calculated and compared to other career/loan-repayment scenarios to really see if there is a benefit. and with all of these scenarios there are intangibles that are only applicable to the individual making the decision, which again make the application of universal rules of thumb dubious. and of course in-school deferment would be a clear question to ask, and something to have in writing, before finalizing any agreement with a lender.

Yes that is definitely true for federal grad loans, but not necessarily true for private grad loans. if you are borrowing federal loans and need $28K already, it would probably be worth it to borrow a few $K more to hit the $30K mark just to have the option to extend repayment if necessary. you can always pay more than the minimum in order to pay off the loan faster and avoid interest. but if you have good credit and are financially responsible, you don't have to go the federal loan route. private grad loans will likely come with an interest rate lower than the 6.8% and with more flexible repayment options (again this is assuming good credit and strong personal financial management). overall i'd say around $30K is not all that risky for an MA if the individual has no other loan obligations. any more than that, I would think twice and consider other options.

In your case that seems very worthwhile and much less risky. A 20 year $30K loan would require monthly payments of less than $200.00 per month, once your are out of grad school (it would be defferred all through your PhD program). so that's a much more reasonable debt committment to have upon graduating, especially if it will allow you to get a fully funded PhD offer. plus you'd likely be able to pay off the principal faster than 20 years once you start working full-time.

I find the best way to think about it is in terms of what your monthly payments will be when you get out of school. on the low end, if you come out of school with a debt balance of $80K and have a 20 year payback schedule, you will owe nearly $650.00 each and every month. and that is only paying the minimum amounts. If you think that you can handle $650 in minimum debt payments each month on top of all other living expenses (and hopefully some savings!!) then go for it, but that will require a very substantial, secure salary. If you want to continue going to school after the MA, then would you really want to tack more debt onto that? if you want to go into a lower-paying job, then could you realistically afford it? those are the questions to consider. it's easy to fall into the "i really want this degree and the i'll deal with the debt when the time comes." but in the end, once those monthly bills start rolling in, you may really regret it. my advice would be to either find a lower cost school, or go part-time while working full-time, get a job that provides tuition benefits, or put off school until you have some other sources of funding lined up. there are my two cents! Good Luck!!

yes... waiting for a less than favorable outcome, i'm afraid.

another refreshing post from GopherGrad! I completely agree that life experience, and especially life experience outside of academia, adds to one's ability to be successful in grad school. now if only i could convince the admissions committees of this….

29 in a few months right here. WOOT WOOT!!!!

there's a WashU PhD rejection on the board... for the owner, how did that come about? did you contact the department? it seems many of us are waiting for expected rejections from them...

me two. strangely it's feeling somewhat good to get some closure on some of these expected rejections. also got JHU's in the mail yesterday. only one slim chance left for me.... not holding my breath. time to work on PLAN B!