Dal Espyrn

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): University of Houston Previous Degrees and GPAs: BA in history, minor in journalism, 3.12 GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 170/168/5.5 Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 13 years as a (mostly) government/investigative reporter, 2.5 years in union communications Math/Econ Background: Practically none Foreign Language Background (if applicable to your program): high school and minimal college Spanish Intended Field of Study in Grad School: Tax/budget policy, labor/workplace policy Long Term Professional Goals: Policy analyst for economic/labor institution -- my models are the Economic Opportunity Institute in Seattle and the AFL-CIO Schools Applied to & Results: Berkeley ($5k), Michigan ($20k), Washington, Oregon. I also applied to Notre Dame and Illinois for different programs and was rejected by both. Ultimate Decision & Why: Berkeley. I live in California, so the in-state tuition is a huge bonus. But it also feels like the best program for me. Between the professors in Goldman and the professors in the other schools, I can really get the education I need. Plus, the school is incredibly welcoming. I got so many helpful calls from students and alumni, which I didn't get from the other schools.

I got a $20K-over-two-years fellowship, which is fantastic... but as an out-of-stater I suspect it won't be enough. I really need an assistantship to get that tuition waiver, but it doesn't sound likely.

I've been admitted to four schools for a masters in public policy/administration. One I dropped right out, but I'm deciding between three others. School A is really my top choice. It offered me $5,000, and everybody there says assistantships are really easy to get -- everybody who wants one, gets one. And in the event I don't get one, it's in-state, so tuition would be a third of what it is at my other choices. School B is the school I want to be competitive, because it's where I want to live. It offered me no money, but it has some assistantships for first-year students. People weren't encouraging, though. School C offered me $5,000 per semester for two years, for a total of $20,000. Wow! But they say it's really tough to get an assistantship, especially first semester. Even with loans I'd still be short of tuition (I don't qualify for a Grad Plus loan). My wife and I are leaning hard toward School A. But I want B and C to be competitive as well. So my question is, has anybody successfully gotten an assistantship at a school... even before accepting?

Thanks! My wife is a freelancer and can work from anywhere. But we have no savings; we're going to have to pull out of my 401(k)s to finance the move.

Berkeley has had two different first-year students call me, and both have been very encouraging about assistantships. Not everybody gets their first choice, they said, but there are enough assistantships to go around for everyone who wants them. Washington, which is also very high on my list (I lived in the area for 10 years and want to move back), is less encouraging about assistantships. And it's even riskier for me to go there because I'd be considered out-of-state.

I just got accepted to my top choice, UC Berkeley, with a modest fellowship. If I'm to be able to afford it, though, I'll need loans and an on-campus job. The school's documentation said most of the assistantship positions aren't advertised until August. Obviously, I need to make a decision before then. Is this common? Oregon seems to make them available much earlier. Going to Berkeley, with its cost of living (I have a wife and kid, so common grad-school arrangements aren't an option for me), won't work without that job.

I had a dream that a professor from UW had e-mailed me a personal rejection. When I woke up I grabbed my phone to check my e-mail and was so relieved to find that it wasn't real.

Did you? Tuesday was my birthday, and I got accepted to my top school! (Still waiting for other offers though... my number two will be my number one with enough money...)

Pretty much. The people asking are well-meaning and all, but many have only gotten as far as the local community college. The CSU here has specialties, but its policy program is basically geared for making government administrators for around here, and I want to be neither a government administrator nor around here.

This is my favorite. The closest place I've applied is 300 miles from here, but everybody wants me to apply to the CSU campus I live adjacent to. (To be fair, I did look at it... but no. No no no.)

The results survey shows that, for this one program at this one school, a few people have gotten admissions decisions late last week and then early this week. Then yesterday, a bunch of people got wait-listed. I, meanwhile, have gotten nothing. What does this mean? I'm hoping it means I'm high enough on the wait list that I might get bumped up to admitted very soon. Hope.

Finding the Results Survey has been terrible for me. Four of my schools have no results posted yet, and last year they all came out in late February to mid-March. But one has three admissions already posted, spaced over the last five work days. So they're trickling out... and yet I shouldn't check my email every five minutes... wait, maybe it came while I was posting this, better go check...

Count me in too. I'm 38 with a wife and kid. My wife is a freelancer so can move with me. What makes me nervous are the economics -- I have a solid job that I'm not miserable in (although it has no growth prospects, hence grad school) and pays really well -- and that my ten-year-old right now would rather hang with me than anyone else, and that's not going to be true forever, but I'm looking to lock myself in a study carrell for two to five years. Still, it's an exciting change. I hope. (Still waiting to be accepted anywhere...)