UW Madison ECE PhD - No funding yet

[dosimeter]

Hi all

I have been offered admission to Electrical Engineering PhD at UW Madison but haven't heard anything about funding. Have tried contacting professors but no luck. The department has yet to give their final word (they said next week). I am an international student and want to know if anyone is in the same boat. Really want to attend but funding is an issue for me. How common is it for them to admit PhDs without funding?

[DiscoTech]

39 minutes ago, dosimeter said:

Hi all

I have been offered admission to Electrical Engineering PhD at UW Madison but haven't heard anything about funding. Have tried contacting professors but no luck. The department has yet to give their final word (they said next week). I am an international student and want to know if anyone is in the same boat. Really want to attend but funding is an issue for me. How common is it for them to admit PhDs without funding?

It depends on the particular program. Some schools guarantee funding for all admitted PhD students (MIT and Princeton come to mind). A lot of other schools will admit a few PhD students without funding, either hoping that the student finds a way to get an RA/TA or hoping that the student takes the gamble of paying for a semester or two out of pocket before finding funding. I am not familiar with Wisconsin's program in particular, but I would not be surprised if they were in the latter category of school.