Accepted without funding? Should I go?

[a fragrant plant]

I am accepted to a program that offers no funding the first year. They said in subsequent years I will be eligible to apply for TAships or RAships, both of which offer a living stipend and tuition. Should I accept this offer? If I go I'll need to pay $30000 for my first year (tuition and living expenses) as an international student.

Edited March 5, 2010 by peanuttheanthro

[NorthernStar]

This is only my opinion, of course, but if I were you, I would decline the offer. Only you can say how much you are adamant on that particular program in that particular institution, but departments who do not offer reasonable livable funding to incoming students signal they are not so keen in having them around. I would want to feel wanted. Also, think about the debt you'll incur during your years as a PhD student - and because the job marjet situation is also uncertain, there is no guarentee you'd be able to repay loans etc for a long time, because there is no way of knowing when you reach financial stability (which is contingent on a tenure track good position).

So sadly, I would say don't take the offer, and if you have no other choice - wait for the next round of applications. You may find a place that really REALLY wants you.

[American in Beijing]

Congratulations on your acceptance!

I agree with NorthernStar, unfortunately. Of course, this is ultimately a matter of how much you're willing to sacrifice to get a PhD. Speaking as a person who has incurred a LOT of undergraduate debt, I would not choose to go to a program that is not fully funded.

True, you could take out loans and pay them back once you have a professorship. Judging by your profile picture, I assume you're doing something related to East Asian Anthropology. If that's the case, then the job market is not as intense as in other subfields. So it is possible that you could get a good job right out of grad school and be able to pay back the loans. But still, do you want to spend your grad school and assistant professorship worrying about paying off a massive amount of debt? Is it worth all the stress?

If it is, then I wish you all the luck in the world! But if it isn't, then I would tell the program that you cannot accept an offer that is not fully funded. There is the possibility that, if they really want you as a student, they will offer you a funded package!

Good luck with your decision!

[mudlark]

Especially in the humanities and social sciences, doing an unfunded degree is a very bad idea. You'll be eligible for TA/RA work, but how many positions are available compared to grad students who want them? Are the sources that fund them stable? Worst case scenario, you move out there and go into debt, and then the jobs that were supposed to keep you from going into even more debt get canceled, their stipends get cut, they get spread around too many students and you end up in $60, 90, 120 grand of debt. It would certainly be too risky for me.

I agree with the others--congrats on the admit, but hold out for a funded offer. In this climate, unfunded degrees are just not worth the risk.

[myrrh]

@OP: basically, I'm with the others. But if it's your dream school and you don't have another offer from some institution equally ideal as the no-funding one, I think you can write to the dept and ask for some more details. It's not very likely to happen that a school has totally no chance for a student and let him/ her starve. There are supposedly some positions anyway. Perhaps you have no fellowship in first year or even are not eligible for assistantship in your dept, but have you asked the language center at that school if they need some native speaker of your language? Well, it's just an example. I really tried it, but there's not a position like that, at least this year. Another guy did it, as I've read somewhere......

I tried it because I was admitted to a good school without funding, but they said I can perhaps have some assistantship position in the first year. I just have to figure out where they are on my own. The dept would notify the admits the available positions but the placement of those positions would be available only in the summer. As a result, I even contact a professor in the Eastern Language Department although I am doing sociology.

Well, in the end, I got admitted to another school and that's where I really wanna go to. So I stopped the job-hunting. But after my decision was made, the no-funding dept started to mail us informing tons of positions. Ces't la vie........

BTW, I guess your profile picture is some Tang painting or something mimicking Tang. Is it?

@American in Beijing: I think choosing between north/ south side of CA is tough, but I hope you're going the north as I hope I can meet you someday. I'm working on China, too! Anyway, each one of them is great and congrats!

Edited March 6, 2010 by tomi

[gradschoolstinks]

I am accepted to a program that offers no funding the first year. They said in subsequent years I will be eligible to apply for TAships or RAships, both of which offer a living stipend and tuition. Should I accept this offer? If I go I'll need to pay $30000 for my first year (tuition and living expenses) as an international student.

I'll tell you one thing--debt *sucks*. However, if you think it's worth it to pay for your 1st year and then try to get funding along the way, then go for it. I'm in a similar situation (offered a Ph.D at Harvard with no funding--not even a prospect of funding down the line), and have decided it is probably not worth the stress to take out the loans to cover tuition. Also, my argument is that I'd rather be at a school that feels confident enough in me to fund me.

But, that's just my argument. Only you know what it's worth to you! Good luck!!

[American in Beijing]

BTW, I guess your profile picture is some Tang painting or something mimicking Tang. Is it?

@American in Beijing: I think choosing between north/ south side of CA is tough, but I hope you're going the north as I hope I can meet you someday. I'm working on China, too! Anyway, each one of them is great and congrats!

I'm curious to know if it's a Tang painting as well, mostly because I'm guessing it's an imitation. The girl looks too slender to be an actual Tang painting, I feel. But then again, I'm definitely in no way, shape, or form an art historian and barely know a painting from a sculpture.

Tomi, are you going to Berkeley or Stanford? Or are you just living there? I would be interested in meeting you too. One of my favorite professors in undergrad specialized in Chinese labor (although he was in Politics, not Sociology).

[myrrh]

I'm curious to know if it's a Tang painting as well, mostly because I'm guessing it's an imitation. The girl looks too slender to be an actual Tang painting, I feel. But then again, I'm definitely in no way, shape, or form an art historian and barely know a painting from a sculpture.

Tomi, are you going to Berkeley or Stanford? Or are you just living there? I would be interested in meeting you too. One of my favorite professors in undergrad specialized in Chinese labor (although he was in Politics, not Sociology).

I think it's an imitation, too. Most Tang portraits shows a sense of stable and calm and a lady playing with some animal is more like a Sung subject. At the characters on the left is very unlikely to be written Tang - because the first word looks very like Tang itself. To my knowledge, people generally don't write down a dynasty's name if they are living in that dynasty. For them, that dynasty is not a part of history and has no need to be notified. They just write down what year it is.

And yes I'm going to Berkeley, so if you decide to go there, let me know(:

BTW, I forgot that I have a Tang painting profile picture, lol.

Edited March 7, 2010 by tomi