International student - Re-apply on not to re-apply?

[catherine666]

Hello everyone! 

This cycle's been tough by so far. Me myself was shocked by the results and frustrated. I've been accepted to one good program in the top-100 of national schools. The fit is great, and the POI is absolutely brilliant researcher and educator. But I cannot leave the thought that I could do better. I had two public schools in mind (in the Midwest) where I really dreamed to go. I think my biggest mistake was SOP, and I'm going to work on it to show better fit and publish articles (I currently have three co-authored articles published). 

So, my current academic advisor strongly recommends me to re-apply this year and offers full support (like keeping to pay me, because I am an international student in my current place now; help to publish and collaborate with American professors). On my side, I have additional resources to invest in application fees and TOEFL, perspectives to publish as a first author an article or even two (I am almost done...).  

On the other hand, my father is against the reapplication and wants me just accept the current offer. His argument is that the economy is going worse and worse, so it is important to accept a chance that is given to me right now. He thinks that universities might significantly reduce the funding for PhDs or just stop accept international students (lol). I must admit that I'm not good at economic predictions,  but this seems to me too radical. Like what university or program would stop to accept international students over a year?? Huh? 

What are your thoughts? 

And one more problem. Due to visa problems I am now enrolled in PhD program in my current university. Is it true that universities don't care if you are already PhD student somewhere? 

 

Thank you in advance! And wish everyone good luck!

[awesome3141]

Hello! I'm sorry to hear that this cycle's been tough so far. I think a lot of us empathize with that. 

 

My general advice to anyone is to not do something just because your family/parents want you to do it. It is inevitable to value their opinion but don't give so much weight to it that is significantly alters your life plans from what you would desire yourself.

 

That being said, I would really recommend accepting the offer and not re-applying. If it's really a good program and you would enjoy being there, why not take it? PhD admissions are increasingly competitive and having the mentality that you should wait another year because you can do better is dangerous. For one thing, few PhD students actually go to their dream dream school (the school they would go to in a perfect world with infinite possibilities). It's easy once you get an acceptance, to say well how much better can I do? But the tradeoff of waiting and taking another chance is very risky and really not worth it. PhD admissions have a high degree of randomness and if these two public schools are really top-tier, your admittance is going to be far from certain, no matter how spectacular your application is. It's really a huge risk. Your post is somewhat vague about it, but if you were already rejected from your two dream schools, I would really really really not recommend applying again. Unless, something radical happens before next admissions cycle, they're going to feel the same way about you next year as they did this year. While admissions committees generally change year to year, the DGS has the most influence on admissions and they mostly stay the same year to year. 

 

If you turn down this schools' offer to you, it's going to be difficult to get another offer from that program. Students that turn down PhD offers are less likely to get a second offer from that program.

 

Frankly, your likelihood of getting accepted into any program I think is reduced because you are already a PhD student elsewhere. This is generally a red flag for admissions committee and unless you have transparently exceptional circumstances, I think might limit where you can get in. I've only known two people that have transferred between PhD programs and in both cases they went to a far lower ranked program because of better fit. And by far lower, I mean they were students at a top 10 sociology PhD program and went to 30-50th ranked schools.

 

The limitation of all this advice is of course that I don't know the full details of your personal circumstances. I also don't know what any of the schools that you're referring to are, so am making assumptions there too.

 

Tl:dr my advice is take the offer, but not just because your dad said to. If you already got rejected from these two programs this year (which it sounds like you did) I would really really recommend not applying again and suggest you just take the current offer.

[deadinside]

My take, as an international applicant, is that it depends on whether you want to work in the U.S. or in your home country. If it is the former, I would give it a last try and try to enter a top20 University. This is due to the fact that scholars from mid-tier and low-tier universities have issues getting a position after they graduate (even locals). If your situation is the latter, and you aren't from a European country, I would take this opportunity, because, as you may know, international degrees in African, Latin American, and most of Asian countries are more valued than local degrees (I don't like this situation but it is what it is).