Info for Future Applicants (especially those interested in assistantships/WICHE schools)

[oldsolnewworld]

Hi all! I am a senior undergraduate student making my decisions about graduate schooling. I applied to 9 schools (more than most!) with the hopes of gaining a graduate assistantship. I wanted a new experience out-of-state but at a reasonable price. I applied with a GPA of 3.93 and a GRE score of 306. I figured this breakdown might help future applicants get a more realistic breakdown of costs. Additionally, it may be helpful for future students hoping to obtain a GA assistantship. If I could go back and give myself a word of advice, it would be "retake the GRE!!" Although my score was high enough for admission, I've learned that most schools grant funding, in-state waivers, and GA positions based on GRE scores so if that's what you're going for I would highly recommend studying hard for the GRE. Several of these schools told me that my GRE scores were not high enough to offer an in-state waiver or an assistantship position. Again this advice is obviously only true to some of these schools and not too all schools across the country...

All of the tuition costs are broken down by the credits of these specific universities and housing costs were based on an average found at rentjungle.com. Obviously housing costs differ significantly depending on your living situation. Ultimately I totaled the cost of my full degree with the cost of 20 months of rent at any of these locations using the averages. I was a WICHE applicant from CA and was shockingly surprised by the expenses of these schools even with the WGRP Waiver. Obviously travel costs and distances will differ depending on your home location. I calculated most of these on Google Maps or Google Flight.

I really wanted to post this more to let other students know about the true costs of graduate schooling because I felt really in the dark like I had no idea what I was jumping into. I wanted to be fully aware of how much graduate student loans I would be pulling out. Feel free if you have any questions or would like me to send you the template for your own decision-making process.

[futurespeechpath1]

I love this idea! I made something similar but not as well detailed as yours for the schools I applied too. I hope this helps future applicants!! I was going to include GPA and GRE ranges but that's listed on EdFind and it changes every year depending on the applicant pool. Having this chart for the schools I applied too really helped me narrow down what my top choices were and basic info of what the schools I applied to offer. I hope my chart helps others applying to any of the same programs!