tinyspark

Two friends of mine applied for the same program. Both got in. Neither got funding. One friend whined about how unfair it was and told them if she didn't get funding, she wouldn't accept. The other friend told them she was still excited about the program regardless of the lack of funding, but asked if they could please reconsider if something became available - sure enough, within a couple of weeks, they contacted her to tell her they had secured funding for her. Following up and being persistent can't hurt. Good luck to you!

In my MA program, I had a fellowship and TA work, so I wasn't supposed to work any more than 24 hours a week total, but I also had a part-time job off-campus that I really enjoyed. When I asked my supervisor and the department's administrators whether this would affect my funding, they said (with a *wink wink*) "We don't know anything about that." Fortunately, my department understands that people need to eat.

I was a TA for four semesters. I had to grade papers and exams, proctor, sit in on classes, hold office hours for students, and little odds and ends. I've heard horror stories from other grads over the years about getting a mega workload dumped on them, but I was lucky to work for some great professors who made sure I didn't go over the prescribed number of hours.

Good luck to all of you who are still in the waiting game. It's a doozy.