[Professional Moving Companies/Trucks]

I found professional movers to be very expensive and even with my partner (non-academic) and our 1-2 bedroom apartment full of stuff, we didn't end up moving with professional movers for all 3 cross-country (and cross-border) moves. Instead, we just used pod-like moving services (i.e. pack your stuff into one cube and ship it). This costs about $2000 each time (the first move, we had very little and just moved by driving it ourselves). Movers were quoting us $3500-$6000.

Even for my postdoc move where my employer gave us $5000 towards moving expenses, we still opted for the cube method. We used the remaining moving allowance to drive ourselves to the new place, to pay for the costs of a apartment-hunting trip, and to pay for professional movers to pack our cube for us at our origin. This extra expense was a lifesaver though (in past moves, we recruited friends and packed it ourselves). But this time we were moving from a 3rd floor walkup, had a bunch of stuff, and my partner was pregnant, so the $450 for 2 guys to move all of our stuff into their truck, drive it to the cube's depot, and pack the cube, all within 3 hours, was well worth it (other moves had us and 2-3 friends work 4-5 hours each to get it all done because we aren't professionals!)

[Campus Visits]

2 hours ago, immanentfields said:

This might have been asked in the thread already, but how do you go about asking for additional travel funding? One program is giving me $300 for the flight and putting me up with current students, but flights to the east coast from Nevada are easily $500....

I think requests work best when you give a clear reason and back it up with information. Usually the person you are writing to isn't the one that makes the decision / holds the purse strings. The person you are writing to is likely happy/willing to help you but you need to help them help you by providing the right information. So, I would write back with something like this,

"Dear X,

Thank you again for the invitation to visit your program. I am grateful for the $300 in travel assistance. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be enough to cover most of the cost of a flight from (your town) to (their town). The least expensive flights I could find were:

(give flight info and cost).

Given the distance that I need to travel and the flight costs, is there any possibility of additional funding for travel costs? I am very interested in this program and would really like to visit.

Thanks,

XYZ"

[J-1 visa]

Indeed, that's super frustrating  In addition, this is something international scholars face at later stages too: for those that want a path to PR, we need to find an employer that will sponsor H1-B status and not that many employers are willing to do so (due to cost and time involved). Luckily, this didn't affect me since I didn't want to stay in the US post-PhD.

I also think it's really silly that the US system discourages and makes it hard to get some sort of status even though tons of US resources (both money and time) were used to train PhD students. Their system makes it so that many very talented US-trained people are forced to leave. It's especially jarring when you compare it to my home country (Canada) where dependents of students are granted work permits with minimal hassle and your time as a PhD student counts towards permanent residency because we want to keep Canadian-trained foreign skilled workers here in Canada! Anyways, I feel your frustration! /endrant

[Note-taking Help]

I took notes on paper through all of grad school. I still mostly take notes on paper for my research work. 

For the graduate classes that I TA'ed, there was a mix of computer and handwritten notes. No one is going to judge you for choosing one method over another. Just do what you feel most comfortable doing!

[Canadian MA in fields related to Human Rights]

Like @rising_star, I would also step outside my comfort zone for a 2 year program for a good research fit that will lead to better opportunities. I did do exactly that for my Masters. I have never lived in a place like Kingston before (both in the social/cultural sense and the physical environment/weather/distance from family sense). But the research fit with my advisor was perfect and it gave me what I needed to get into a good PhD program. I was a lot more picky about all the other factors for my PhD. 

[J-1 visa]

Yes, I have heard of such a thing. One of my top choice schools told me the same thing during my visit. The requirements (e.g. funding minimums) from the US Department of State / US Immigration are just the minimum requirements you must meet in order to be eligible for sponsorship of J-1 status. However, ultimately, the school has to choose to sponsor you for J-1 status and some schools choose not to, for whatever reasons.

As an international student, your only choices are F-1 or J-1, so no, there are no other ways for a spouse of a student to get a work permit ("Employment Authorization Document", or EAD) as your dependent. However, depending on the country your spouse is from and what their training/work is, they might be able to apply for their own visa and get permission to work or an EAD through that method.

For me, that was not an option, so the school that decided to not sponsor me for J-1 was immediately taken off our list once they refused to budge on that position. I did inform them that their decision to not sponsor J-1 students was the primary reason I did not choose their program and that many students need to be on J-1 status in order to choose a program in the USA. Although this sounds like I think very highly of myself and that it's "their loss" that I didn't attend, it wasn't my intention and I tried to make that clear. Instead, I think it's important for schools/programs/officials to have testimony and stats that people are turning down their program because of this decision, otherwise the decision will never change for future applicants. It could even be that many people there want to change the decision but they need stats to show that this is a serious problem.

[How long should I stay for a campus visit?]

14 minutes ago, Pacifist101 said:

@TakeruK thank you for your input. I am trying my best to go visit both schools, but the timing, the distance and the expenses aren't making it easy.

Would you mind sharing why you opinion changed drastically after visiting? Was it interaction with grad students/POI, the place itself or just the general feel?

All of the above! Here are some concrete/specific examples without school names.

Before visiting, I was really excited for School A. I really thought this would be tied with my pre-visit top choice school and that the decision would be very difficult to make. I was a little unsure about the location, but I knew many people who lived there and loved it and so I was pretty open to it. When I visited, I found many things that showed me the school wouldn't be a good fit for me, which did help make the decision a little bit easier. From the research perspective, I learned that while the department and professors said one thing on their website and through their emails, actual interactions with them showed me that their current/main interests were in another direction. The department had recently sold its access to some important astronomical facilities that I was originally hoping to use, instead investing for the future (well beyond my time there as a grad student). The students there were fine and great, however, the layout of the department didn't work for me. The department was in one tall building where the students and faculty were spread out over many floors. Students were grouped by their advisors (i.e. all of Prof X's students would work in one or two offices). I personally didn't like this layout because it felt very segregated/separated. It also meant that it would be more difficult to interact with students from other research groups. In my ideal department plan (and what I actually chose), all of the grad student offices and faculty offices were together on the same floor and our shared offices were all mixed up so that your officemates aren't necessarily in the same group as you. Finally, the location was a lot more remote than I had thought. The nearest airport was several hours away and the town itself wasn't for me. It's a very charming little college town, but that was not what I wanted. 

To be clear, the program itself is actually very good and the city is lovely. There are no absolute negative problems with School A and its town. It was just not a good fit for me and what I wanted. 

I also wanted to talk about School B. Before visiting, it was my third choice and I wasn't sure about it. However, I really enjoyed all of my interactions with the people there. The work environment was amazing. The professors I wanted to work with ended up having different interests in person than on paper too, so the research fit wouldn't be as good but still better than School A. The city itself is a location I never thought I would live in but it turned out a lot better than I expected. One really important thing that I learned while visiting though was that School B's international office won't actually sponsor me for the specific student visa status I wanted. 

[How long should I stay for a campus visit?]

51 minutes ago, Pacifist101 said:

Yes, there is no formal itinerary from either program. They are both master's programs, so I'm not surprised.

How bad is it if I won't be able to visit one of the programs? How much impact on your decision did visiting make?

Personally, the visit made a huge impact. For a few schools, my opinion changed drastically after the visit. It did work out that for my PhD school, if I had to pick without visiting, I would have picked the same school anyways, however, that was partly luck and knowing all the positives of that school and all the negatives of the other schools made me much more sure/confident in my decision. I think knowing this was also very helpful during my graduate program, especially during tough times where I doubted all of my life decisions. 

However, while I did visit for my Masters programs, I don't think it matters as much. It's only 1-2 years. A PhD is a much longer commitment. Also, in my case, my PhD program was in another country, so I really wanted to visit to really get a feel of what it's like to live and work there.

[Bayesian vs frequentist for social statistics]

14 hours ago, bayessays said:

One reason is likely the ease of incorporating different sources of income together (eg surveys). Another reason is the ease of translating between Bayesian probabilities and decisions that incorporate costs, rather than scientific studies where you might want to just test a hypothesis. 

I'm a scientist that uses and advocates for Bayesian statistics where appropriate! 

I think it's incorrect to frame it as Bayesian vs Frequentist (as someone who has TA'ed and taught Bayesian stats courses) in general. It really does depend on the context and what you want to do. But, I find that many astronomers tend to use frequentist statistics incorrectly to test a hypothesis and that perhaps is where some of the "adversarial" mindset of B vs F comes in. 

[Ideal Research & Outdated Lab vs. Okay Research & Nice Lab]

Go for the lab that will best support your future career goals.

[How long should I stay for a campus visit?]

Plan for at least one full day to visit each school. It sounds like you aren't visiting on their invitation / the department isn't hosting a visit day for prospective students. Usually when that happens, it's 2 full days of events (in my field anyways).

However, before you make any travel arrangements, reach out to these schools first and tell them that you would like to visit. Maybe they will indeed host a visit day and just haven't told you about it yet. Or, in many cases when you say you will be visiting, they might end up setting up an itinerary for you anyways. You can also ask them how long they would recommend visiting the campus when you write to them.

And don't forget to schedule a half or full day to visit the town/city too, if you would like! Maybe even scope out some neighbourhoods you would live in.

[Does is make sense to receive a generic rejection after interview?]

Perhaps your field is different, but I have never gotten a personalized rejection email at any application stage, even when it's from people I do know professionally and even after flying out to visit the department (here, I'm thinking of postdoc applications). 

I am not bothered by this because I don't think there's anything a faculty member could say that would make a difference. It is usually considered unprofessional to tell a student/applicant why they were not selected (also, this leaves them open to liability or an argument). And personally, if I am not selected to join a group, it doesn't help me for the PI to say there were more qualified candidates than me (obviously) nor would it make me feel better for the PI to point out my deficiencies (or sometimes they will just say nice things to you which aren't very meaningful either).

So, personally, I think the most professional way to inform someone of a rejection is a brief, professional message that informs them that all positions have been filled and to wish them best of luck on their other searches.

[Deadlines that don't jive - help!]

This does happen a lot, especially for non-PhD programs and programs outside of the USA (most funded programs in the USA all agreed to set the same deadline: April 15).

But this scenario will come up in real life and in academia many times when you apply for jobs etc. You always have to take a risk of accepting what you have or waiting for something better that might not come through.

That said, you have the right idea. I would contact the March 15 school and ask them if they would be willing to extend the deadline to April 15. I don't think you will have much luck asking them to wait until May or July. If the funding is not enough to live on, it's also appropriate to say that you are very interested in their program but the current level of funding is not enough and then ask if there is any other funding available.

Finally, since this is not a fully funded program, it is okay, in my opinion, to accept the offer at whatever deadline, pay the deposit and then forfeit that fee if you end up not being able to go or if you choose another place with better funding. "Okay" as in ethically okay and you probably won't burn any bridges (but maybe someone in your field can speak to that specifically). If this was a fully funded program, going back on your word like this would be much worse.

[Admissions decision inquiry etiquette?]

On 3/5/2018 at 9:16 AM, Anonymous Questioner said:

Brief follow up. I took the advice here, narrowed my search to two programs, then reached out to the remaining program--I received this as a response:

 

At the present time the program has not finalized a decision on your application; please follow up with the program directly.

Should I send a follow up email to the department? And, if so, does anyone know who I ought to contact? I had thought that I was contacting the program directly, but evidently I was wrong. Thanks so much for your responses!

Yes, contact the department/program directly! 

Usually, I would start with any contact information listed on the department's "Prospective Students" or "Application information" pages. It is possible that many departments list the Graduate School's contact info here to avoid getting too many questions/emails. So, if that was what you tried or if that doesn't work, the next step is to look at the Department's staff listing and see if there is a person with a title like:

- Graduate Admissions Coordinator
- Graduate Admissions Secretary/Admin
- Graduate Coordinator

I'd go in that order (i.e. find people with "admissions" in their title first, then people with "graduate students" in their title).

[Leveraging Funding]

3 hours ago, manofthehoff said:

This old thread is really helpful so I thought it would be good to drag up. I'm in the process of deciding between a few tempting offers. One university practically begged us to tell them if we had offers from other programs, so I told them and they offered me substantially more funding. I admit, however, that I am more seriously considering a couple of the other offers just because of rank (though all my offers are from great programs and I am honestly still completely undecided at this point — I have a few visits scheduled to help me decide). I hope I haven't committed any missteps in this process.

Well, if they asked you about other offers, then that's different. I don't think you did anything wrong (my above note is when you are seriously negotiating funding).

However, if at this point, you already know the results of all your applications, what I would recommend to do is:

1. Ignore the funding factor and rank your top choices.

2. Now, we think about funding. How much more funding would you need to get from your top choice for it to remain your top choice (if any). Also, how much more funding would you like to have from your top choice for it to remain your top choice? 

3. Ask your top choice for additional funding (at this point, you should be committed to attending this school if they meet your "need" amount).

4. If the top choice school is unable to meet the minimum amount of funding you need to attend, then decline their offer and repeat steps 2 and 3 with the next school until you get to a school where you have the funding you need (whether it's through an increase or the original offer was good enough).

Note: While you are doing Step 3 for the first time, if you look down your list and notice there's a school where the funding offered is already good enough (say it's your #3 ranked choice) then since you've already done Step 1, you can now decline all other schools ranked lower than this good-enough funding school (i.e. you know you would select #3 if #1 and #2 falls through, so no need to hold onto offers from #4 and below).

Also, while you are doing Step 1 (thinking hard about your choices), you probably should stop engaging with schools on tweaking funding offers until you have a decision and can start step 2/3. 

[Accepted! But Confused]

3 hours ago, dreamerr33 said:

The Program coordinator has asked me on what dates would I like to visit their department. Now, as I'm an International student, I am supposing that it would be difficult to obtain a VISA in a short span of time to be able to travel to United States. Besides, I have just about a month and half (Until April 15th) to respond to the offer. So in this case, what shall I do?

Personally, I am highly interested in the visit as it would help me in my decision making process. But I am worried about the time taken to obtain VISA and for other formalities.

Is there any other International applicant who may have had a similar experience or may have been in a similar situation.

What shall I do? I have no clue how much time the issuance of VISA takes, but I imagine that it takes weeks.

The timescale depends entirely on what country you are from and your own travel history. This is what I think you should do:

1. Tell the department that you would love to visit, however, you are concerned about getting a visa on time. Say that you will talk to the school's International Student Office and find out more information. Meanwhile, ask them to let you know if they have experience hosting visitors from (your country) and if there is anyone they think you should talk to.

2. Talk to the school's international students office and explain what you would like to do. Find out what visa you should get (probably a Tourist Visa, which is a B2). You don't normally need a sponsorship letter for a B2 visa.

3. Talk to the US Embassy or Consulate in your country to find out the application process and estimated processing time. Most embassy/consulate websites have an estimated processing time on their website. But you can try their contact info too. For Canada, I know that consulates often have social media that gives a decently quick response time to questions.

Note that many countries have a visa-waiver program with the USA so if you don't know if you qualify for a waiver, perhaps check that first: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visa-waiver-program.html  

[What is a history of good placement?]

14 minutes ago, CulturalCriminal said:

Neither one of these expect someone to be established faculty somewhere else, with the VAPs worded mostly for candidates that will come straight off of their PhD. Working as a VAP (if not also a Post-doc) seems to be increasingly the standard for recent successful tenure-track candidates. VPs--again, much rarer--are worded to encourage slightly more experienced candidates, but is still noticeably different than what seems to be the STEM version.

Just wanted to point out that in many cases, the job ad posted could be written to require very little in order to encourage applications and/or not exclude someone that would be really great. However, especially in my field, it is very common for a job ad with requirements implying they are looking for someone currently applying for their first TT job to end up hiring a tenured full professor from somewhere else instead. Or, a job ad might list many subfields of interest but secretly want to hire in one specific subfield only. The advice we get in my field is to contact someone you know (or know through your network) from the department in order to figure out what they are really looking for.

From my understanding / experience on a hiring committee, this is because HR often requires the department to prove that the candidate they selected did indeed meet the job description (to protect themselves and the University from a lawsuit) and it is often time consuming to have to close a search and open a new one because they found someone they liked but didn't meet the job description. 

Note: I'm not really disagreeing with what you said---I don't know how the path to TT in your field works! I'm just pointing out that there could often be a disconnect between what the department actually wants and what they put in their job ad.

[Accepted, but funding isn't livable]

13 minutes ago, bridgephil said:

Yeah, I know that funding varies a lot by field. I have already emailed the admissions director and asked her to put me in touch with grad students who have the same/similar funding package as me. 

Regardless of whether or not the average stipend for philosophy (not psychology) phd programs is $18,000 or $23,000, what I'm really trying to figure out is whether below $15,000 (actually, to be honest, below $14,000 prior to fees, and closer to $10,000 than $15,000 after fees) is normal. It's sounding kind of like it's not, which makes me wonder if the department basically just admitted me with partial funding and decided not to be explicit about it.

To be honest, it doesn't really matter much if you are admitted with partial funding or if it was full funding. Knowing that your stipend is normal isn't going to help you make ends meet. The stipend is the stipend. The question is whether or not you can afford to live on it. In addition, since some departments pay their students different amounts, you might not have gotten a partial funding offer, it might just be the lowest level full funding offer. Again though, that distinction isn't that relevant to whether your bills get paid and you get to eat.

Here's my advice:

- If you are going to a visit day, ask current grad students about affordability of the area based on their stipends. Stipends can vary within a department so be sure to ask a large cross section of students. You can even ask some of the senior students questions about the distribution of stipends and affordability such as, "Do you think most people have enough to live on?" etc. Chances are, if they have been around long enough and if the lower stipends in a department aren't livable, they would know someone who had struggled. Also, by asking this, if you see a variety of answers it may suggest there is indeed a variety of stipend levels.

- If you are not visiting, then ask to be put in touch with a bunch of students and/or contact some students yourself. Talk to them about the same thing.

- Depending on how the above conversations go, it's often okay to directly ask people what their funding packages are. I am always 100% honest about it. You can also ask students whether they have tried to negotiate their stipend. 

- If you like the program and have determined that the 15,000 is not enough to live on, the next step is to ask the department if there is any way you could receive more funding. 

- If after all of this, the funding offer is not livable, then I just consider that admission decision a rejection and move on. There was one school in my application year where I had a similar offer to what you wrote in a very high cost of living city.

[Questions to Ask the Director of the Program]

Some other questions that I would ask:

- Are there plans for the department to hire in the next 5 years? Would this be to grow the faculty or to replace retiring faculty? Would the department prioritize faculty hires that emphasizes current research strengths or would the department branch out into new areas?

- Questions about the coursework. What to ask specifically depends on what is already on the website. But I'd want to find out (whether thru this conversation or online) how many core courses are there, how many electives, what are the rules on choosing elective courses. I'd also want to know what types of courses are offered. Which ones happen every year? Which ones come more rarely? Are there special topics type courses taught by faculty members specifically in that area? If so, which faculty members / courses would be of special interest to you (i.e. what courses / experiences would you have here that you couldn't get somewhere else?)

- (If you are not also going to an in-person visit): Do students have offices? Where are they located (compared to the advisors)? How many students share an office?

- What equipment/supplies are available for students, especially new students starting up? Do you get a desk, computer, etc. Do you get funding to buy startup supplies you need? (If this kind of support is not normal in your field, I'd skip the question about funding to avoid sounding out of touch, but asking about equipment/supplies is still a good idea. You want to make sure that you get the infrastructure support you need for your work).

- I know you said "other than finances" but two key things to ensure you ask about finances: are future years of funding adjusted for cost of living? if so, how often does it happen? And secondly, if funding is adjusted in a future year, will existing students also get a pay increase or would it only apply to new students?

- What academic events happen in the department? Ask about things like regular seminar series, discussion groups, journal clubs, etc.

- How are department seminar speakers selected? Do students often get to meet with visiting faculty members? Are students on the colloquia committee?

- How involved are students with department life? Do students have a representative on the department meetings or at least on committees that affect students? Are students consulted in hiring, tenure and promotion decisions?

[What is a history of good placement?]

8 minutes ago, rising_star said:

There are also "Visiting Assistant Professor" positions in STEM fields (definitely in biology, chemistry, environmental science, and physics), which are for those in the early stage of their career.

Good to learn something new! I have not yet met someone in this position but I guess I just haven't met enough people yet!

[Question about PhD Funding for STEM]

4 hours ago, eeIntern1 said:

Its odd to me that they are giving TA positions to those who already have RA positions, usually TA and RA positions are separate unless it is a 50% TA and 50% RA situation.

This is actually quite common in STEM fields, in my experience. The TA-ship just represents money from the department in exchange for TA work and the RAship is money paid for work in your advisor's group/lab towards the dissertation. In order to make the numbers work out for things like limits on working hours due to international student status or other fellowship rules, the numbers on paper might not actually match what you work in reality. For example, you will likely work as an RA (i.e. work on your thesis) all year but you might only TA in one or two semesters). So you might get paid as a TA for one or two semesters and as an RA in the summer, but you really do work the entire year.

Awarding a TAship is a deal made between the department and advisor. Since if the student doesn't TA, it means the advisor has to pay the entire cost if they want their student to stay. So, the department awards TAships so that it reduces the cost of the advisor. It makes sense that the department only wants to award TAships to students that already have an established relationship with an advisor and will have enough funding otherwise. It would be useless (to the department) to award a TAship that only covered 1/3 of the students' cost if that student was unable to find any other funding. The department would rather award it to a student who already had an advisor willing to commit the other 2/3 of the cost.

That said, completely agree with the rest of the post! It's not a good deal!

4 hours ago, eeIntern1 said:

This university does not seem like a good option, because usually Phd positions are funded and get priority over MS funding. If you are highly interested in this school, I recommend discussing with the graduate coordinator if your situation is common, and what usually is the outcome of students in your situation- are most able to secure funding after a couple semesters? This will give you an idea if this school is a viable option despite maybe having to self fund initially. If you can, you should still apply for a TA position regardless of what that professor told you.

If you are competitive, you should apply for external fellowships or if you have done internships at a company, ask if there may be any support available.

 

[Is there any way to secure more funding? Scholarships? Jobs?]

3 hours ago, Bayesian1701 said:

But if you are an international student and have an on campus job as a part of your stipend you may not be able to work anywhere else so you would have to verify that you can have a second job. 

An international student on F-1 or J-1 status will definitely not be able to work off campus for extra pay. They can participate in certain programs CPT/OPT/AT to take time in order to work in their field but very few graduate programs allow this in the middle of a degree program (could be okay for summers or after graduation though).

F-1 and J-1 students may also qualify for permission to work off campus outside of their field of study only in emergency situations. They could apply for this special work permission if they demonstrate financial need.

However, one major condition of getting F-1 or J-1 status in the first place is that they have enough funds to support themselves, either through loans/personal funds and/or stipends. So one could only qualify for this special work permission if there was an unexpected major change that resulted in this financial need.

[Received I-20 for school A, Is it ethical enough to cancel because I want school B]

3 hours ago, SomeoneThrewMyShoe said:

So, I've never been in this situation, but it's my understanding that when you accept an offer, it looks preeeeetty bad to take it back. I don't know if you've signed your contract already - but that's kind of a binding doccument, I think? And regardless, now that you've accepted, they might have rejected someone on the waitlist, already made plans for you, etc. I mean if you're REALLY feelin' School B, it'd be worth it to ask School A if you can rescind your acceptance, but there's a good chance they'll get angry. 

Unless someone has a very atypical scenario, accepting a school's offer of admission is not a binding document. It's not a legal document either. It's just you telling the school / giving your word that you will attend. So if you change your mind afterwards, there's nothing School A can do to make you attend School A (which is a good thing, because what kind of world would we live in if schools can make you go to their program??) However, as you said, changing your mind after making a commitment is a bad thing to do and the school will likely be upset with you. If School B finds out about this, it could also cause them to reconsider your admission (but probably won't).

4 hours ago, Ceeroh said:

When I made my applications last year, I did to two schools in the US. I was shortlisted for interview at both schools. School A and School B. School A were more interactive than B and I got an offer (which I accepted). On the day I got my I-20 document from school A, I got a mail from school B regarding an offer. Both offers are funded and with Assistantship.

How permissible and ethical is it that I change/decline my offer to school A?

Personally, both programs are a perfect fit my academic career. The only nuance, for me, is that school B pays more than School A.

If you truly believe School B is better for you than School A, and you want to go to School B, then you have to do what's best for you and accept whatever consequences/bridge burning happens from withdrawing your acceptance from School A. You don't have to "ask" School A if you are allowed to withdraw because of course you are allowed to withdraw. So if you want to change your school, you have to just tell School A that you made a mistake earlier when you accepted their offer and you will no longer be attending their program. Apologize but don't expect them to be happy with it. Tell them sooner rather than later (i.e. decide this by Monday) so that they can still try to accept someone else.

[Funding Packages]

4 hours ago, phyanth said:

@TakeruK, do you know how we pin this post? Thank you!

I've pinned it for you, as requested! As of this writing, this is the 3rd pinned post for the subforum. We don't currently have a policy for pinning posts since the requests rarely come up so I'll just follow what each community wants for now. Just pointing out that if the frequency of requests for pinned posts change, we may have to revisit which posts are pinned!

[Fellowship Downsides?]

Nope, sounds like you have an awesome setup! 

There are no significant downsides to fellowships. It is almost always better to get teaching experience on your own terms rather than have to rely on TAing for funding.

The one super minor downside to fellowship which I could think of is: some schools don't withhold tax from your fellowship income, which means you may have to figure out how to pay estimated quarterly taxes. But this is something that might take 10 hours of your time once, compared to the 100s of hours you might have to work as a TA or RA for funding otherwise. Well worth it.