Too MUCH Funding and probably not going -- RIDICULOUS AF!

[Allie.Bee]

Hello fellow brains,

I am in a REAL pickle: I am desperately hoping that my application will be rejected in the last round of a research council competition.... Sounds insane?! 

Well.... here is the backstory: I applied to my dream school in Scotland for a PhD program and got accepted right away. I also applied to Cambridge (which is my #2 choice... I know.), also got accepted. So far so good. BUT WAIT!

I applied for ESRC (research council) fee-only funding with both universities. According to the Scottish university, my 2-year MA does not meet the requirements in term of methods training, thus they want me to go for another 1-year master's program. Thus, my application to the ESRC there is for a combination of MA+PhD (4 years total). I reluctantly agreed, hoping that it would never come to that because MA stipends are notoriously hard to come by.

Surprisingly, I did meet the requirements for the Cambridge ESRC just fine and got fee-only funding for 3 years aka PhD-only, without any "gotta-get-another-masters-young-lady" BS.

In the meantime, I won this really prestigious scholarship from the Scottish university. It covers both fees and a stipend. I was over the moon! Years of uncertainty: GONE! .... But that really only lasted for about three days until I realized that the bylaws for the scholarship state that any ESRC funding would take priority over said scholarship. Which means: If I do win a fee-only stipend with the Scotish ESRC, and it looks like it, I will have to accept it. And remember: The Scotish ESRC requires me to do another master's.

Would I be opposed to do a few courses to meet any outstanding requirements while I pursue my PhD in Scotland? No, I would happily do it.

Would I be opposed to going 10+K into student dept just to maintain myself in Scotland while I get *another* master's degree! Absolutely! Because that sounds insane to me!

I just don't get how Cambridge is a-ok with the 2y master's that I worked so hard towards but the Scots just aren't having it. It's the same PhD project for both universities for crying out loud!!!

What do you think? Am I petty? Am I a real crybaby? Should I just go into more student debt?

I promised myself to not go into more debt and accept that my application was just not competitive enough to get funded. Never in a million years could I have ever imagined that that would entail that I turn down a prestigious scholarship AND ESRC (fee-only) funding!

Honestly, I am really sad about the whole situation and don't know what do do or think.

If you can give me your thoughts on this, I would really appreciate it.

xoxo,

your sad postgrad

[Bird Vision]

Please note that I am completely unfamiliar with European grad school and funding.

Can you not withdraw yourself from the ESRC competition, and accept the university scholarship? That seems like the ideal situation for both parties.

[Allie.Bee]

6 hours ago, Bird Vision said:

Please note that I am completely unfamiliar with European grad school and funding.

Can you not withdraw yourself from the ESRC competition, and accept the university scholarship? That seems like the ideal situation for both parties.

Unfortunately that would violate the bylaws of the scholarship. Did look into it though ;)! The Scotish University (U of Glasgow) is a great university for my field, which is management, so I will just suck it up if it comes to it. Maybe Cambridge works out as well... the waiting game continues. 

I appreciate that you read through my long post!  

 

 

 

[CC1994]

Hi Allie,

Sorry to hear about your funding issues - it is stressful, but wow congratulations. I hope everything is now sorted out for you!

I'm a PhD applicant myself and I've been put on a ESRC reserve list at Cambridge. I've kind of lost all hopes here but I was wondering whether you ended up declining your ESRC offer at Cambridge?

Thanks!

Clo