Official Letter from the School of Arts and Science, U. of Pittsburgh

[GradHappy]

Has anyone received the official acceptance letter from the School or Arts and Sciences? I was told that I have to accept the Department's offer before I can receive the SAS letter with all the funding details. This seems very odd.

I was mailed the Department's acceptance letter at the end of January, and other programs have already provided me with detailed information about their respective funding packages. Any thoughts?

Edited February 20, 2011 by GradHappy

[wannabee]

I was told that I have to accept the Department's offer before I receive the SAS letter with all the funding details. This seems very odd.

I was mailed the Department's acceptance letter at the end of January, and other programs have already provided me with detailed information about their respective funding packages. Any thoughts?

I'm sorry. I don't understand what you are saying. The Poli Sci Department at Pittsburgh requires you to say "yes" to entering their program before you receive details on funding from the Graduate School of Arts and Science? That doesn't make any sense....

Or am I misunderstanding what you've said? It's quite late here and my brain may not be up to par...

Edited February 20, 2011 by wannabee

[GradHappy]

I'm sorry. I don't understand what you are saying. The Poli Sci Department at Pittsburgh requires you to say "yes" to entering their program before you receive details on funding from the Graduate School of Arts and Science? That doesn't make any sense....

Or am I misunderstanding what you've said? It's quite late here and my brain may not be up to par...

You read correctly. The graduate administrator did provide me with an estimate of the financial award in a 3-sentence e-mail, but his was hardly a contract of any kind. I am quite perplexed. I hope some Pitt applicants that were accepted in 2011 or 2010 can help clarify the situation.

[Zahar Berkut]

You read correctly. The graduate administrator did provide me with an estimate of the financial award in a 3-sentence e-mail, but his was hardly a contract of any kind. I am quite perplexed. I hope some Pitt applicants that were accepted in 2011 or 2010 can help clarify the situation.

You may need to call directly to explain and discuss your concerns. That strikes me as very serious if you can't be sure how much funding you will receive until you've already committed to them.

[oasis]

AFAIK offers accepted before Apr 15 are non-binding. But you should look at the T&C first.

[Gradhorn]

That's rather ominous. I have been hearing rumors about especially troubled budgets at Pitt, above and beyond the same belt tightening everyone else is going through.

[Penelope Higgins]

This is the time for a phone conversation with the graduate chair or department chair. Explain that you are interested in attending Pitt, but cannot make a decision without full information and a statement in writing about funding. They are reasonable people; this must be a mis-communication, and will be best resolved in person.

[GradHappy]

Thank you all for your suggestions.

Let me just say, I did not mean to discredit Pitt in any way with this topic. I am very happy about the acceptance and was simply hoping that a Pitt person might help explain how the Department does things.

[Gradhorn]

I think Penelope is right. I have had an email conversation with the DGS there, David Barker, and he seemed like a good guy and a straight shooter. He can probably cut through any nonsense and give you the full story.

[firefly28]

I've met Dave Barker; he's a reasonable guy. I think you'll have luck getting that all straightened out. Pitt guarantees funding for all admittees, so I don't know why they'd want to play games. I do think that they are under some budgetary constraints this year.