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I informed the private university I am most interested in attending (for an MFA), that I would happily work for additional funds. I showed them this by applying for a graduate hall director position. In the time since, the dept has offered an additional fellowship and a partial TA-ship (never before have they had 1st years as TAs). Plus, they put in a good word for me with the head of housing for the GHD job. It has been made clear through this process that they really want me, and if I do get the GHD position, I will not hesitate to accept the offer of admission, knowing that I will be going into a program that has been nothing but supportive.

I just heard back from the Grad Director at my aforementioned school, and they said after I accept (which I just did), they will lobby for more funding. She also said that they understood that I would rescind my acceptance if it didn't come through. So, while I have yet to decide that this is the best fit for me, I figured my best option was to accept and see what more $ might come my way. Thus, my feeling is, it can't hurt to ask.

For one of the masters programs I applied to, the Grad Director told me when I went to visit in August how comparable programs did not fund, and how their program would charge at most no more than ten grand a year (despite the fact that the sticker price for this private university is much, much higher). I was sold. I received my acceptance last week, to see that it would cost me a little over thirteen grand a year, thus the 3 year program comes in over forty grand, without even considering living expenses. No longer such a bargain. Since it was my top choice program, I freaked out quite a bit, and went searching on the school's website for jobs. Turns out there was still time to apply for a Graduate Hall Director position. While not my dream job, it will provide free housing, utilities, laundry, parking pass, food stipend. Not sure if I will get it, but at least that will mean less loans. However, catch-22, I cannot apply unless I accept the offer for admission from said school. So, I emailed my contact and explained that while I was excited about their offer, I have to weigh my funding choices. I asked if there was a possibility of more funding in future years. I also explained the GHD job, and said that I would like to apply, but that I wanted them to know, my acceptance of their offer was on the condition that more $ would be coming, if not, I would rescind before the 15th. I got a very quick note back, saying I would hear more substantially from her when she returns from being out of town, but that they really want me to come (exclamation point), and she cc'd it to the other 3 main faculty members in the department. Now I am just anxiously checking my email every five seconds...but, I figure if I really want this program, and they really want me, I would regret it if I did not try.

Thanks zoegrrl, for your quick feedback. I am referring to both job markets - both inside and outside of academia. I am nervous leaving a secure job, as to be expected. But, I am most nervous that I will find myself in greater debt doing this same job X number of years from now. I agree with your assessment on making documentary films - this program accepted with me with zero experience because they appreciate how much I care about the stories that I feel need to be told. However, I am beginning to think it may be foolish to commit myself to a 3 year MFA program, when it would give me a degree to teach college, except on the skill-set of a filmmaker and not on the content I desire to cover. I feel like that has to be another way to merge my interest in documentary and content. Thus, I am wondering if there is a feasible Phd option that would allow me to do this, which would then justify MAPSS as a step in that direction.

For the past eight years, I have been a world history teacher in NYC. I love that I have gotten paid to learn for the better part of a decade, and this fall I hope to transition out of teaching, without losing this most important element. I have been accepted to a diversity of programs - MFA in Documentary Film, MA in Journalism (focus on documentary), and the MAPSS program at Chicago (still waiting on Anthropology and Education MA from Columbia). To others on the outside, it must seem unfocused, but to me, each program represents an aspect of what I want to do. Now, I am unsure of where to go, and what my realistic options are upon graduation with any of these degrees. In applying, I knew that I did not have the singular focus necessary for a Phd program at this point, nor did I have a specific research topic in mind. However, I thought, as a documentary/ethnographic filmmaker, I could spend my life learning, just as I would in the academy, but speaking to the lay person. I corresponded with some alumni from the program, and unsurprisingly, the job market is grim. I also fear that since neither my interest nor talent is in the creative, as I see film as a mere medium to attain a larger goal, I will find myself out-of-place in this route. To go back the way of academics, via MAPSS, I know I would have to be incredibly focused upon entry to make the program work for me. I am presently looking at Phd programs to see if I can find Professors that are a good fit for my general interests. My natural inclination is anthropology, as it embraces ethnographic film, and the more qualitative approaches to subject matter. But, my understanding is that it is one of the toughest of the social sciences to gain admission into a Phd program, and even more difficult to secure a job after the fact. Due to my research interests - education, incarceration, and in particular, the school-to-prison pipeline - I find professors that are doing work that interests me in a diversity of fields, including: criminal justice, geography, history, political science, anthropology, and education. I fear that I will spend X number of years back in school, owing X amount in student loan debt, to only find myself back teaching history in the public schools. Thoughts?

I PM'd a MAPSS alum regarding the program (I too was accepted for this fall). I found their advice helpful, so I thought I'd repost it here: -The program is designed to be completed within one calendar year, and I never knew of anyone who took longer. UChicago is on the quarter system, not the semester system. Most students (I think about 60% in my year) are able to finish their thesis during the third quarter in the spring. There is an option to take a "ghost class" to free up your time to work on the thesis, which is the option I chose. However, plenty of students opt to work on their thesis during the following summer quarter. There is no additional tuition charged for this extra quarter (although I think there might be a nominal fee to have library checkout privileges.) -The students are fairly evenly divided between history, anthropology, sociology, etc., and I think in general, history kids hang out with other history kids, political science with political science, etc. That said, everyone in the program has to take a required core class on social theory in the first quarter called "Perspectives in Social Science Analysis," which tends to foster some cross-disciplinary unity. However, you should be aware that UChicago in general is not known for its social cohesion, and the super-intensive nature of MAPSS in particular does not lend itself to a lot of socializing and partying. There were many, many weekends that I did absolutely nothing but study, and you kind of have to to survive there. Some people are really nice and friendly, but plenty more are pretty cutthroat and competitive. I think it bothered a lot of other students more than it bothered me, but this lack of a real social scene is probably one of the biggest drawbacks to program. -People do a lot of different things during their gap year. I was fortunate enough to get a very good job pretty quickly as a corporate archivist. Many people have seemed to stay in the Hyde Park area and work in some administrative capacity for the university, or at one of the research institutes on campus. This is also a great time to work on languages, and I would say most people do that. -There is a full time staff member who is there for the sole purpose of helping MAPSS students find jobs. He sends out a weekly, extensive email listing a wide variety of jobs in business, governments, research, and the non-profit sector. There is also a university-wide staff in career services of about thirty people, and they're fantastic -- they hold seminars and lectures on job searching techniques, maintain a database of jobs, etc. And the best part is, you can use their services for life. Just some general thoughts -- it is super, super intense. I can only compare it to academic boot camp. It's very sink or swim. Everything is squeezed into one year, and you will be tired and exhausted and overwhelmed. It was probably the single most challenging thing I've ever done, but also one of the most rewarding. I feel like I learned as much in that year as I did in four years as an undergrad. It will get you more prepared than you thought you could be for a PhD program. I didn't even realize how ignorant I was about theory, historiography, methodology, etc. before I started. And the campus is gorgeous, the neighborhood isn't nearly as bad as many people say (awesome architecture and a few decent bars and restaurants), and Chicago is a wonderful city. And you have a 90% chance of getting in somewhere. They tell you exactly how to write your statement of purpose, and they write you an incredibly detailed and personalized letter of recommendation. So far, that's gotten me into CUNY, Wisconsin, and Yale. Regarding your situation, I knew several people in the program in a very similar situation to you -- history teachers coming back to academia. I came back after several years in the workforce, and its an ideal way to re-enter the academic world. So yeah, I highly recommend it, especially if you don't have a good PhD offer (although plenty of people turned down good, funded PhD offers to attend MAPSS). It helps if you are funded, of course, but I wasn't, and I don't regret it at all.

I just received my acceptance to the Wake Forest Documentary Film MFA. So excited. It was my first choice. Stanford's program was way too much $$$ for me to even consider. WFU cuts the price of tuition significantly for the doc students, making it doable.

I just heard back from Chicago...I thought it couldn't hurt to inquire. And, apparently the 'f' simply means that they have already created a file for you. Phew. Though, the best-case scenario of f = fellowship would have been lovely

I just checked on my University of Chicago app, which I submitted at the last minute possible last night, and I couldn't help but notice that there is a note on the application - the lowercase 'f.' In the world of education, seeing the letter F generally doesn't make one feel warm and fuzzy. Hoping someone out there might have some idea or explanation for said note...