gomezdm

That's certainly the conclusion my thinking is leading me to, with the caveat that though my SOP and writing sample can certainly be improved, they probably can't be dramatically improved. I'm also geographically tied - my husband will be a 3rd year at Rutgers, so even if we decide that we can move, we can only move so far. I was so excited to get into CUNY, and I desperately want to go. But the more I consider it the more it seems like a bad idea. I just also worry that I won't have any better luck getting funding (hell, what if I don't even get in!) next year, and finding a job in this economy in NYC is not easy. We'll see. I'm going to the prospective student thing in a few weeks, and I plan to have a serious discussion with the graduate coordinator about this whole thing. Anyone else?

After being 0-2 of 3 for weeks, I finally got an offer from CUNY. The catch? It's unfunded. The graduate director tells me that only half of incoming students are funded, and all of it has already been allocated. My chances of getting funding for my first year - 2009-1010 - are slim. This is a problem, but it isn't an insurmountable one. My husband and I are NYC residents, so we don't have the inconvenience of moving and I'll get to pay in-state tuition. I can take out a small amount of student loans to cover the year's tuition, and adding $6,000 to $61,000 seems so marginal as to barely have an impact. My big worry is that the graduate director's assurances that most students can find work as adjuncts after the first year won't come true for me - and then the amount I have to take out in loans turns into $12,000 and that's not so marginal. And then what about the year after that, and the year after that? Not to mention that my husband is a graduate student, too, so even though his stipend is enough to support the two of us it's barely enough - and he needs it to support his research abroad in addition to supporting us! I'm taking my time and thinking this offer through. I feel like I can take the first year unfunded only if I can get a stipend for the others, but I have no idea how realistic this is. Does anyone have experience with the CUNY funding craziness? How likely is it that I would get funding in later years? Is the department super competitive with so many unfunded students fighting each other for what little money there is? Anyone have any stories to share or words of wisdom for me? Anything you've got would be appreciated!

Being poor is stressful. Being in grad school is really stressful. Combining the two kinds of stress sucks and is bad for the quality of your work. Don't go into debt if you don't have to - there are plenty of programs that will pay you to come to them, and sometimes it just takes several rounds of applications to get into one. That sucks too, of course, but being broke and in debt and stressed out sucks way more - and you're ins a great position now since you have a comfortable job while you wait for good grad school fortune to come around to you.

Really, honestly, Rutgers has accepted all they plan to accept. Emails went out in late February, and the rest of us will be rejected mid to late March. They do sometimes waitlist people, but if you haven't heard that you're waitlisted you should assume you are rejected. The friends at Rutgers I have who were waitlisted were told relatively early in the process on the years they went through. In the meantime, the prospective student day for the lucky Rutgers folk is next week, and we are not those lucky Rutgers folk. Sorry, but they do usually wait this long to reject people. It's their pattern for whatever reason.

My husband and all my friends go to Rutgers, so I hear things.

Oh, thank god! After Rutgers sent out acceptances I was 0-2 (of 3!), but I just found out that I got accepted to CUNY. No word of funding yet, but I hope to hear more when I get my letter. The letters went out today, so start checking your mailboxes! On a semi-related note: if you haven't heard from Rutgers, I'd count it as a rejection. All accepted students have been notified.

Heh. I'm sorry everyone is so miserable, but it is so nice that other people feel the same way! I love that we all get to wallow in our misery together. Here, I'll add my misery: I almost had a panic attack on the subway yesterday. Fun!

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So I'm dying waiting, with one rejection down and two more notifications to go. I know that Rutgers has an online thingy where you can check application status, but I haven't been able to find such a thing for CUNY. I suspect that CUNY doesn't have one - but does anyone know for sure?