GW History

[earlymodernist]

Hey guys,

I just got my official letter. No funding I knew it was coming but I just thought I'd let you all know. Hope everyone else's luck is a bit better!

[Mercer]

I received the following information in an email from GWU replying to my query:

-They enroll 20-25 M.A. students per year.

-They do not offer TA's to M.A. students.

[Sovetskaya]

I received the following information in an email from GWU replying to my query:

-They enroll 20-25 M.A. students per year.

-They do not offer TA's to M.A. students.

Is that for free-standing MAs? If not, this is a joke. Take some of that undergraduate tuition you guys make bank on and put it towards your graduate students. There are some great faculty at GW but this is ridiculous. I hope you guys think really hard about taking this MA unless you have cash to burn. It seems like 120K+ in debt is not worth it.

[StrangeLight]

Is that for free-standing MAs? If not, this is a joke. Take some of that undergraduate tuition you guys make bank on and put it towards your graduate students. There are some great faculty at GW but this is ridiculous. I hope you guys think really hard about taking this MA unless you have cash to burn. It seems like 120K+ in debt is not worth it.

i'd imagine the no funding for MAs is for anyone kicked down to the MA program, whether they applied for the PhD originally or not. no funding for terminal degrees is fairly standard and, no, it's not worth the price tag. no need to be enraged at GW, though, this is how it works at most schools. funding for stand-alone MAs is pretty rare.

[earlymodernist]

i'd imagine the no funding for MAs is for anyone kicked down to the MA program, whether they applied for the PhD originally or not. no funding for terminal degrees is fairly standard and, no, it's not worth the price tag. no need to be enraged at GW, though, this is how it works at most schools. funding for stand-alone MAs is pretty rare.

Funding for stand-alone MAs is rare, but it can happen. I'm still waiting to hear from one more fully-funded MA program. If doesn't work out, looks like I'm taking a year off!

[PhoebeNerding]

Is that for free-standing MAs? If not, this is a joke. Take some of that undergraduate tuition you guys make bank on and put it towards your graduate students. There are some great faculty at GW but this is ridiculous. I hope you guys think really hard about taking this MA unless you have cash to burn. It seems like 120K+ in debt is not worth it.

Hey all, Mercer's spouse here. I've been following the discussion because, hey, this affects me, too (FWIW, did my stint in academia a few years ago so I'm familiar with the application-season crazies and finding-funding-stress and all of that). The figure Sovetskaya quoted here didn't seem right to me--and after checking out GW's numbers, turns out it's not. Tuition and fees at GW for a two-year master's--and I'm including health insurance in my figure--is closer to 45k. Even with living expenses, it wouldn't be anywhere near 120k. I agree that fifty thousand dollars in debt may not be worth it for many students, but the numbers aren't quite that dire. Or they're dire, but not deadly.

Best of luck to all, in any event.

Yours,

Phoebe

www.phoebeeating.com

[Sovetskaya]

Hey all, Mercer's spouse here. I've been following the discussion because, hey, this affects me, too (FWIW, did my stint in academia a few years ago so I'm familiar with the application-season crazies and finding-funding-stress and all of that). The figure Sovetskaya quoted here didn't seem right to me--and after checking out GW's numbers, turns out it's not. Tuition and fees at GW for a two-year master's--and I'm including health insurance in my figure--is closer to 45k. Even with living expenses, it wouldn't be anywhere near 120k. I agree that fifty thousand dollars in debt may not be worth it for many students, but the numbers aren't quite that dire. Or they're dire, but not deadly.

Best of luck to all, in any event.

Yours,

Phoebe

www.phoebeeating.com

Sorry I overshot the figures, but ultimately there are several schools that offer funded MAs (partial or full). In fact, I was seriously considering a funded MA from a top 10 program, but I received an offer for a PhD. I'm sure GW is a great fit for some, and if that's the case, more power to you. I just think it'd be worth exploring other MA options (provided you have a plan B for the year).

[Mercer]

Did anyone accept GWU's offer?

[USHist]

Did anyone accept GWU's offer?

I have been thinking about it...

I was accepted to Fordham (applied to MA & accepted to MA) and GW (applied to PhD & accepted to MA) - did not receive any funding offers. I have been researching my options over the past couple of weeks - 1. Accept Fordham 2. Accept GW 3. Reapply next year to more MA programs (those offering funding and/or "better" MA programs) and some PhD programs I applied to this past season. I need a way to finance my degree apart from all student loans which is why I applied to all PhD programs except Fordham. I have been applying to STEP positions on USAJOBS over the past couple of weeks and asking about different ways to fund a degree, but unfortunately I am still very very torn as to what I am going to do.

Anyone else decided or torn about GW? Any info/recommendations you would like to share would always be greatly appreciated.

[USHist]

I plan on attending GW in the fall. Anyone else accepting?