Accepted! But Confused

[dreamerr33]

Hey all,

I finally received my first ever offer letter and funding details in response to my PhD application to a US university. I am excited but I am still rather perplexed as it is a huge life decision. 5 years is a long time.

There are some points mentioned on the letter which I don't understand. I would highly appreciate if someone could give me a clear explanation of these -

1) You will be expected to work no more than an average of 18 hours a week during the term of your Graduate Assistant appointment.

Does it mean that apart from what I have to do for progressing towards PhD degree, I have to work for 18 more hours in a week? Is 18 hours towards the higher end or the lower end, what is the average in general for Social Science PhD students?

2) Your appointment ratio is 100% time.

Could someone explain this to me in an easy language? How is appointment ratio defined?

The university has also offered me a visit funded by them. Does the university really cover the entire cost of the entire Round trip? I am an International applicant. Would it be wise to accept the visit?

I am highly thankful to this forum, which has served as a huge support system for me during the entire application process. Although, I don't have a profile as impressive as many others have on this forum, I would stay here to try and help out applicants in the future application seasons.

P.S - Still waiting for responses from other universities

Thank you

[iwearflowers]

Most of the assistantships I'm being offered require ~20 hours of work per week, so I would say this is pretty standard. Research experience (including opportunities to publish and present at conferences) is just as important to a PhD experience as the actual classwork.

The second comment (100% appointment ratio) probably just means that they expect you to be in the program full time, but it may also mean that they won't allow you to take on outside work. All of my programs have been great about answering follow-up questions, so if you're still confused or concerned, I would reach out to the program administrator and ask for some clarification about what these mean. 

I've found visits incredibly helpful, and visiting would give you the opportunity to ask students about balancing an assistantship with classwork.  Schools that have offered me a funded visit have typically paid for my travel (airfare plus either a rental car or cab to and from the airport), hotel, and meals on the day of the visit. I've had to pay for meals on the days that I traveled plus dog sitting costs.

Good luck with your decision!

[TakeruK]

The # of hours thing is how many hours you are expected to spend on the assigned work from your Grad Assistantship in order to earn your stipend. If it's a TA or administrative work then this is clearly something in addition to the work you have to do to complete your PhD. If it is RA work, then it depends on the RA assignment and field. In STEM fields, we often are assigned work as RAs for our advisors, so the RA work is work towards the dissertation. However, the assignment is still only 20 hours per week so it's nowhere near enough work to actually finish a PhD. 

The 100% time thing probably means that you are 1.0 FTE (full time equivalent). This is important for Human Resources and other things like benefits or other school/work policies. It basically means that you are counted as a full time worker in policies where it matters. One big one common to many grad schools is whether or not you are eligible for health insurance benefits. Often, only people with at least X% (sometimes 50%, sometimes 100%) qualify for these benefits. So 100% time is a good thing. 

It could also mean what iwearflowers said about not being able to find outside work. Although this could still be true without them saying 100% time.

[dreamerr33]

On 2/28/2018 at 7:37 PM, iwearflowers said:

Most of the assistantships I'm being offered require ~20 hours of work per week, so I would say this is pretty standard. Research experience (including opportunities to publish and present at conferences) is just as important to a PhD experience as the actual classwork.

The second comment (100% appointment ratio) probably just means that they expect you to be in the program full time, but it may also mean that they won't allow you to take on outside work. All of my programs have been great about answering follow-up questions, so if you're still confused or concerned, I would reach out to the program administrator and ask for some clarification about what these mean. 

I've found visits incredibly helpful, and visiting would give you the opportunity to ask students about balancing an assistantship with classwork.  Schools that have offered me a funded visit have typically paid for my travel (airfare plus either a rental car or cab to and from the airport), hotel, and meals on the day of the visit. I've had to pay for meals on the days that I traveled plus dog sitting costs.

Good luck with your decision!

Hey, thanks a lot for your response. That helped

On 3/1/2018 at 1:48 PM, TakeruK said:

The # of hours thing is how many hours you are expected to spend on the assigned work from your Grad Assistantship in order to earn your stipend. If it's a TA or administrative work then this is clearly something in addition to the work you have to do to complete your PhD. If it is RA work, then it depends on the RA assignment and field. In STEM fields, we often are assigned work as RAs for our advisors, so the RA work is work towards the dissertation. However, the assignment is still only 20 hours per week so it's nowhere near enough work to actually finish a PhD. 

The 100% time thing probably means that you are 1.0 FTE (full time equivalent). This is important for Human Resources and other things like benefits or other school/work policies. It basically means that you are counted as a full time worker in policies where it matters. One big one common to many grad schools is whether or not you are eligible for health insurance benefits. Often, only people with at least X% (sometimes 50%, sometimes 100%) qualify for these benefits. So 100% time is a good thing. 

It could also mean what iwearflowers said about not being able to find outside work. Although this could still be true without them saying 100% time.

Thank you so much.

 Another question I have -

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.

[TakeruK]

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