UIUC CS MS admit but no Departmental Funding assistance

[Dilgau]

I secured an admission into MS at UIUC. I received the mail yesterday morning. It said that

"In the next several weeks, faculty members from the department may be contacting you to discuss their current and planned research and how it might be of interest to you. In addition, please feel free to contact any faculty, either directly or through the Academic Office."

and that I shall we receiving more emails regarding the offer.

Today I received another mail from them which stated this :

"At this time, we are unable to provide any funding assistance. There may be a possibility to secure a teaching or research assistantship pending availability for this upcoming academic year. There are other units on campus that may be offering assistantships if you are looking for one. "

I had filled up a CS Interest Form along with the application stating my preference of research areas that I wanted to work in and the professors I wanted to work with. I have a good cgpa and good research experience also. My toefl speaking score and overall TOEFL score is also quite good.

I read from many places that MS at UIUC is always funded and as you people also mentioned that till now there is no history of any student not getting aid for MS. What should be my next step now????

The fees for attending MS is tooo much high.

Waiting very eagerly for your replies.

[pepsi]

"At this time, we are unable to provide any funding assistance. There may be a possibility to secure a teaching or research assistantship pending availability for this upcoming academic year. There are other units on campus that may be offering assistantships if you are looking for one. "

hi dilgau. congrats on the admit!

i would contact a few different people from the department and ask them each for their unofficial opinion on your chances of landing funding after the school year starts. at least that would give you an idea of how much risk you are taking by enrolling without guaranteed funding.

do you have any other schools that would be an option? if not, then it might not be so difficult a decision.

[Dilgau]

hi dilgau. congrats on the admit!

i would contact a few different people from the department and ask them each for their unofficial opinion on your chances of landing funding after the school year starts. at least that would give you an idea of how much risk you are taking by enrolling without guaranteed funding.

do you have any other schools that would be an option? if not, then it might not be so difficult a decision.

THank you very much for replying. I shall be very grateful if you could please help in this regard. Ya, I have my another schools to look forward to but UIUC was my prime choice.

What is the procedure for applying for TA?

Should I contact a professor expressing my research interests??

For the past 2-3 years, seniors from my college have been securing admission with full aid at UIUC. (ie with RA).

Will some prof contact me for RA as the initial mail says " Faculty members would contact you"??

Thanking you

[pepsi]

THank you very much for replying. I shall be very grateful if you could please help in this regard. Ya, I have my another schools to look forward to but UIUC was my prime choice.

What is the procedure for applying for TA?

Should I contact a professor expressing my research interests??

For the past 2-3 years, seniors from my college have been securing admission with full aid at UIUC. (ie with RA).

Will some prof contact me for RA as the initial mail says " Faculty members would contact you"??

Thanking you

out of curiosity, which other schools are offering aid for MS?

from the portions of the emails that you posted, it sounds to me like faculty members will *not* be contacting you about research interests anymore. i think your questions about TA procedure and contacting professors would best be answered by someone from their computer science department

good luck!

[thegurubase]

@Dilgau: Congrats on the admit! I got into MS CS at UIUC as well. Got the email last week. Same e-mail that you got. Have you contacted any profs yet? Have you recd. any other communication from UIUC regarding funding? BTW, you say you have many seniors there. Could you ask them if all grad students are funded. I heard from some ppl that all grads, including MS students, are funded at UIUC CS. Could you talk to your seniors and find out some more info about this?

Thanks!

[cyrus.r]

That's a tough situation. I would say

(1) email the department's grad coordinators with questions about TAing and funding and future possibilities. It's a large department, so there are many courses that need TAs, but there are also many grad students, so it would be important for you to get a clear idea of your chances of future funding.

(2) email 1-3 professors you would really like to do research with and ask them about RA positions. But you need to honestly care about the research more than the money if they are going to take you seriously. So read some papers, and send a well-written, polished email talking about research and find a way to diplomatically bring up money.

[nvseal]

(2) email 1-3 professors you would really like to do research with and ask them about RA positions. But you need to honestly care about the research more than the money if they are going to take you seriously. So read some papers, and send a well-written, polished email talking about research and find a way to diplomatically bring up money.

Too add to this, I was told by a professor at Stanford that generally it is more difficult to get RA positions as a masters student without having done prior research with whoever is handing out the money (since masters students appear more likely to fizzle out or change interests). His advice was when you accept an offer, try to get in contact with someone at a lab you would like a job at and start working with them right away without being paid. Your chances of getting a paid RA position will increase a lot if you could pull something like this off.

[pmaz]

I am curious to know if you got funding finally! Presently I am on the same boat as you were then. Eagerly waiting for your reply.