CUNY Graduate Center

[frenchfries]

I guess I'm hoping that a current Grad Center student can answer these questions, but would love to hear from some enlightened recent admits as well!

I've yet to hear about funding from the GC. In worrying about/planning for the possibility getting a fellowship, I'm hoping someone can explain how teaching works. I understand that PhD students typically teach two 3-hour courses at one of the various campuses around NYC. Time constraints and logistics aside, I'm currently curious about:

1) Tuition- is it covered if you teach two courses?

2) health insurance? is it offered? What does it cost?

3) What is the pay for one of these teaching fellowships?

4) How readily available are these teaching fellowships?

5) If you have a masters degree, can you begin the first year? (Do you want to?)

6) Tell us anything you think we should know that I'm not asking about!

Hopefully a lot of these questions will be answered at the admit open day next week, but just thought I'd check with the reliable gradcafe community for the scoop.

[noll]

1)Yes, if you are a TA, you get tuition waiver.

2)If you are in the doctoral program, you are eligible for the NYSHIP health insurance plan with the bi-weekly premium for individual coverage is $ 7.49. More info here: http://www.gc.cuny.edu/current_students/insurance/index.htm

[brok]

I guess I'm hoping that a current Grad Center student can answer these questions, but would love to hear from some enlightened recent admits as well!

I've yet to hear about funding from the GC. In worrying about/planning for the possibility getting a fellowship, I'm hoping someone can explain how teaching works. I understand that PhD students typically teach two 3-hour courses at one of the various campuses around NYC. Time constraints and logistics aside, I'm currently curious about:

1) Tuition- is it covered if you teach two courses?

2) health insurance? is it offered? What does it cost?

3) What is the pay for one of these teaching fellowships?

4) How readily available are these teaching fellowships?

5) If you have a masters degree, can you begin the first year? (Do you want to?)

6) Tell us anything you think we should know that I'm not asking about!

Hopefully a lot of these questions will be answered at the admit open day next week, but just thought I'd check with the reliable gradcafe community for the scoop.

The GC takes their sweet time in letting people know, believe me. As for tuition and fellowships and such- it varies depending on your department, including the number of hours required as a minimum, etc. Standard pay as a TA, as memory serves, is around $1,500 per semester. You may want to contact the PSC (our laughable excuse for a union, which most of us don't realize we even have) for more information.

Every student is eligible for NYSHIP or a GHI HMO. The GHI insurance is better, but is ~$350/month per individual, as memory serves. On the other hand, when I had it and I went to the hospital, they refused to recognize that I was even a member. NYSHIP is more reliable, but really terrible. You get 70 dollars every two years to spend on vision. The "dental insurance" consists of covering a cleaning once every two years. Any other work that needs to be done, all they do is call up the doctor and ask him to please charge you less. I wish I was kidding. Regular medical? Well, you get $60 towards a doctor per year, no coverage for tests. The prescription benefits are pretty decent- I haven't seemed to run out of those yet, which is good from all the vicodin I've been prescribed to deal with the sh...abby medical service I've received.

If you have a masters degree, can you start the first year? I don't understand the question. Are you asking if you will be admitted automatically, or if you come in with a masters, will you start as a Level 1 student? Again, my own experience was that the masters didn't automatically affect anything. But when you come in, you have the chance to take placement exams which may allow you to skip your Level 1 classes, and having the masters helps with that, certainly.

What should you know? Maui Taco is a nice place to go for lunch. It's a block down and across the street. Get the chicken quesadilla. Tell them the really tall white guy with tiny chinese friend sent ya, they'll know me. The cafeteria is really expensive, but at least the one on the 8th floor actually (used to, anyway) have decent coffee. Don't get the coffee on the ground floor. Go into the library and be sure to set up your account, email address, and library access the very first day you get the chance- it takes a long time and you don't want to have to go through it again. Computer lab and account problems are on the lower level of the library.

Wherever you are going, 99% of the time when you get off the elevators, you will want to head towards the computers at the end of the hallway. One side has computers, the other doesn't. Don't ask me why, it just somehow works out that way.

Keep on top of your paychecks, because they will screw you over, and take a long time to fix it. A couple of years ago, my department decided that they would wait until the day before classes began before they would actually allow anyone to register. They seemed to have forgotten what doing that would do to everyone's financial aid. Let alone once you start teaching, if you get paid through the RF. They have one- ONE person who actually handles paycheck disbursement. And he's an idiot. And lazy. And a terrible liar. A few months ago when they screwed up my check (again) I was told that the "computer system went down on tuesday." WHich is fine, but they process my check on monday, so it is direct deposited on wednesday. When I pointed this out, his answer was "I honestly don't know what to say." How about that you're sorry, you'll make it up, and you apologize for being so stupid, but your parents were related, and you are too dumb to figure out the difference between your butt and a hole in the ground?

The sad truth is that I suspect it is no better anywhere else, and possibly even worse. Can anyone confirm?

[samjones]

The GC takes their sweet time in letting people know, believe me. As for tuition and fellowships and such- it varies depending on your department, including the number of hours required as a minimum, etc. Standard pay as a TA, as memory serves, is around $1,500 per semester. You may want to contact the PSC (our laughable excuse for a union, which most of us don't realize we even have) for more information.

Every student is eligible for NYSHIP or a GHI HMO. The GHI insurance is better, but is ~$350/month per individual, as memory serves. On the other hand, when I had it and I went to the hospital, they refused to recognize that I was even a member. NYSHIP is more reliable, but really terrible. You get 70 dollars every two years to spend on vision. The "dental insurance" consists of covering a cleaning once every two years. Any other work that needs to be done, all they do is call up the doctor and ask him to please charge you less. I wish I was kidding. Regular medical? Well, you get $60 towards a doctor per year, no coverage for tests. The prescription benefits are pretty decent- I haven't seemed to run out of those yet, which is good from all the vicodin I've been prescribed to deal with the sh...abby medical service I've received.

If you have a masters degree, can you start the first year? I don't understand the question. Are you asking if you will be admitted automatically, or if you come in with a masters, will you start as a Level 1 student? Again, my own experience was that the masters didn't automatically affect anything. But when you come in, you have the chance to take placement exams which may allow you to skip your Level 1 classes, and having the masters helps with that, certainly.

What should you know? Maui Taco is a nice place to go for lunch. It's a block down and across the street. Get the chicken quesadilla. Tell them the really tall white guy with tiny chinese friend sent ya, they'll know me. The cafeteria is really expensive, but at least the one on the 8th floor actually (used to, anyway) have decent coffee. Don't get the coffee on the ground floor. Go into the library and be sure to set up your account, email address, and library access the very first day you get the chance- it takes a long time and you don't want to have to go through it again. Computer lab and account problems are on the lower level of the library.

Wherever you are going, 99% of the time when you get off the elevators, you will want to head towards the computers at the end of the hallway. One side has computers, the other doesn't. Don't ask me why, it just somehow works out that way.

Keep on top of your paychecks, because they will screw you over, and take a long time to fix it. A couple of years ago, my department decided that they would wait until the day before classes began before they would actually allow anyone to register. They seemed to have forgotten what doing that would do to everyone's financial aid. Let alone once you start teaching, if you get paid through the RF. They have one- ONE person who actually handles paycheck disbursement. And he's an idiot. And lazy. And a terrible liar. A few months ago when they screwed up my check (again) I was told that the "computer system went down on tuesday." WHich is fine, but they process my check on monday, so it is direct deposited on wednesday. When I pointed this out, his answer was "I honestly don't know what to say." How about that you're sorry, you'll make it up, and you apologize for being so stupid, but your parents were related, and you are too dumb to figure out the difference between your butt and a hole in the ground?

The sad truth is that I suspect it is no better anywhere else, and possibly even worse. Can anyone confirm?

the bitterness/anger/disappointment radiates from this post! i'm sorry your experience was so terrible.

as another opinion, i have not experienced the trouble with pay and registration that brok has experienced. i got one of the fellowships and they have been great about getting my checks to me every two weeks and they have always been the same amount. i've also been able to benefit from work study hours and so i get paid every week in the end which is very nice!

one of my cohort is doing his GAship with the PSC, i think. either way, he passed out membership cards to all of us first years in the first week or so of classes so we all knew that we had the PSC and could be involved if we wanted.

nyship is really a program that you can affordably opt into in order to meet the reqs of having insurance while going to school. i don't really look at the 8 dollars a month as something that is going into a program that would actually take care of much more than that.

[bugbear]

Can a current CUNY student maybe clear some things up for with regard to teaching? It seems like teaching "assistants" are sometimes expected to teach entire classes from scratch, basically serving the purpose of an adjunct rather than a true "teaching assistant", who usually do the bulk of the marking for a course while a professor does the lecturing. As far as I can tell, 2nd and 3rd year PhD students can end up having to teach multiple course as these sorts of lecturers, which seems a bit excessive to me. How is it possible to design a syllabus from scratch, plan lectures (this alone seems like it would be a massive time sink especially for people doing it for the first time), mark papers, for 50-100 students, all while doing seminar papers, presenting at conferences, preparing for comps, setting up your committee, etc? Am I getting things wrong or is this how it works? And if so, how do people manage it? Is it possible to do it while being a productive researcher and finishing your dissertation within a reasonable amount of time?

[natsteel]

Can a current CUNY student maybe clear some things up for with regard to teaching? It seems like teaching "assistants" are sometimes expected to teach entire classes from scratch, basically serving the purpose of an adjunct rather than a true "teaching assistant", who usually do the bulk of the marking for a course while a professor does the lecturing. As far as I can tell, 2nd and 3rd year PhD students can end up having to teach multiple course as these sorts of lecturers, which seems a bit excessive to me. How is it possible to design a syllabus from scratch, plan lectures (this alone seems like it would be a massive time sink especially for people doing it for the first time), mark papers, for 50-100 students, all while doing seminar papers, presenting at conferences, preparing for comps, setting up your committee, etc? Am I getting things wrong or is this how it works? And if so, how do people manage it? Is it possible to do it while being a productive researcher and finishing your dissertation within a reasonable amount of time?

I am a CUNY undergrad that has friends at the GC and I've taken classes there and the above is exactly what the GC expects. In the History Department, the fellowship requires a 2/2 load in which you are effectively another adjunct among many in the CUNY system. CUNY is notorious for using graduate students as an exploitable labor force. It's a big part of the reason the avg. time-to-degree at the GC is more than a year longer than the national average. Their lack of funding and graduate teaching loads, I believe, are a big reason for their relatively low ranking. They have decent facilities and being in the city means there are great resources available and the faculty is for the most part very good. Of course, if you look at the bright side, students graduating from the GC will have much more real-life teaching experience than someone who has TA'd a few classes at a much better school which could stand you in good stead when seeking jobs at certain types of teaching-focused institutions.

Edited March 6, 2011 by natsteel

[breakfast]

Every student is eligible for NYSHIP or a GHI HMO. The GHI insurance is better, but is ~$350/month per individual, as memory serves. On the other hand, when I had it and I went to the hospital, they refused to recognize that I was even a member. NYSHIP is more reliable, but really terrible. You get 70 dollars every two years to spend on vision. The "dental insurance" consists of covering a cleaning once every two years. Any other work that needs to be done, all they do is call up the doctor and ask him to please charge you less. I wish I was kidding. Regular medical? Well, you get $60 towards a doctor per year, no coverage for tests. The prescription benefits are pretty decent- I haven't seemed to run out of those yet, which is good from all the vicodin I've been prescribed to deal with the sh...abby medical service I've received.

My experience with NYSHIP is much different than you. I go to a SUNY school, and my coverage is much better than what you are describing here. Maybe you are just exaggerating?

There is a 10$ copay on office visits (usually limited to 15 visits a year for normal check-up situations), with the same amount of copay for tests (meaning that your "no coverage for tests" is not true). You have some numbers mixed up on the dental coverage. You get two cleanings every year, NOT one cleaning every two years. Every six months you are eligible for a new cleaning, and I believe the co-pay for that is $20. You can get up to two fillings per year at $10 each.

The vision insurance does kind of suck, and you may have been confusing it with the dental. You get one eye test every two years ($10 copay), and a crappy frame allowance. Plus, you can only get glass lenses, not modern plastic lenses. You can easily get around this by ordering much better glasses online after getting your bi-yearly eye check-up.

It's pretty decent insurance for ~$7 each paycheck (for a single person), and better insurance than a lot of graduate students get, especially since we get any dental insurance at all.

Since you seem to be pretty confused about your benefits, you might want to refresh yourself. Here is a link to the most recent benefits handbook: http://www.cs.state.ny.us/ebd/ebdonlinecenter/gseu/sehp_bensum_11.pdf

Edited March 6, 2011 by breakfast

[Sjboatwright]

I was admitted to the GC for political science (Ph.D) in mid-February. When the admit letter came it said I won't find out about funding until some unspecified time in the future. Do any of the current students know how the time-frame works? Looking on past forums it seems like it varies department to department with some students receiving fellowship info at the time of admit while others are waiting until April to hear anything regarding finances.

[Lemonade]

Can a current CUNY student maybe clear some things up for with regard to teaching? It seems like teaching "assistants" are sometimes expected to teach entire classes from scratch, basically serving the purpose of an adjunct rather than a true "teaching assistant", who usually do the bulk of the marking for a course while a professor does the lecturing. As far as I can tell, 2nd and 3rd year PhD students can end up having to teach multiple course as these sorts of lecturers, which seems a bit excessive to me. How is it possible to design a syllabus from scratch, plan lectures (this alone seems like it would be a massive time sink especially for people doing it for the first time), mark papers, for 50-100 students, all while doing seminar papers, presenting at conferences, preparing for comps, setting up your committee, etc? Am I getting things wrong or is this how it works? And if so, how do people manage it? Is it possible to do it while being a productive researcher and finishing your dissertation within a reasonable amount of time?

I too am a little terrified of the expected teaching load at CUNY. I was accepted to the English department with an EC fellowship, which involves a 2/2 teaching load for three years. I would love to get an idea of how many students would be in a section, if this ranges depending on whether you're teaching comp or a seminar, and how much work it is to do so on top of everything else. I know some of these questions have already been answered, but if you have a different experience (or even the same experience) I would love to hear about it.

[brok]

My experience with NYSHIP is much different than you. I go to a SUNY school, and my coverage is much better than what you are describing here. Maybe you are just exaggerating?

There is a 10$ copay on office visits (usually limited to 15 visits a year for normal check-up situations), with the same amount of copay for tests (meaning that your "no coverage for tests" is not true). You have some numbers mixed up on the dental coverage. You get two cleanings every year, NOT one cleaning every two years. Every six months you are eligible for a new cleaning, and I believe the co-pay for that is $20. You can get up to two fillings per year at $10 each.

The vision insurance does kind of suck, and you may have been confusing it with the dental. You get one eye test every two years ($10 copay), and a crappy frame allowance. Plus, you can only get glass lenses, not modern plastic lenses. You can easily get around this by ordering much better glasses online after getting your bi-yearly eye check-up.

It's pretty decent insurance for ~$7 each paycheck (for a single person), and better insurance than a lot of graduate students get, especially since we get any dental insurance at all.

Since you seem to be pretty confused about your benefits, you might want to refresh yourself. Here is a link to the most recent benefits handbook: http://www.cs.state....p_bensum_11.pdf

I have dealt with billing issues for the last three years. I am *not* confused on these numbers. It may be that you have a new version of the plan, or a different version or I don't know what. In fact, it seems clear as your vision is very different from my own. Mine gives me $70 every two years to spend how I like. It can be used on any glasses or contact lenses that I want. I had issues when I got a checkup from a doctor for the first time because having gone to a hospital, they considered the doctor who treated me as a doctor's visit rather than a hospital visit. When I finally got that sorted through, they refused to pay for the bloodwork done by my doctor, because they only approved of $60 for a checkup, and anything else like tests was up to me. I have fought and fought and fought with this nonsense insurance for years- do I truly sound like I am confused? I can understand you thinking that I am exaggerating, it does seem unbelievable. But you are clearly under a different plan than I am, or have much better luck than I do. Believe me when I say that I have studied the benefits book in order to argue my case with the companies again and again.

As for people worried about the teaching load- it depends entirely on the school, the department, etc. And you will generally act as an adjunct, not a TA. Get used to it. At least it's more interesting than standing around and having to listen to some professor drone on about things that you already know and bore you.

[jannaschk]

hey. I am also accepted for the CUNY GC for a PhD in history. However, I am an international student and was wondering if someone knows how that goes?

I also have a masters and was wondering if a students with a masters can start teaching already in the second semester?

And... of course I havent heard anything about funding yet? When and how is the history (or other departments) giving out the news!?

Finally, I am trying to contact someone at the CUNY department to ask all this questions - they seem to be a bit hesitant to help you out. Does someone know a good contact whom I could bombard with my questions!?

Thanks!

[natsteel]

hey. I am also accepted for the CUNY GC for a PhD in history. However, I am an international student and was wondering if someone knows how that goes?

I also have a masters and was wondering if a students with a masters can start teaching already in the second semester?

And... of course I havent heard anything about funding yet? When and how is the history (or other departments) giving out the news!?

Finally, I am trying to contact someone at the CUNY department to ask all this questions - they seem to be a bit hesitant to help you out. Does someone know a good contact whom I could bombard with my questions!?

Thanks!

You should contact the Department's secretary: beinerman-AT-gc.cuny.edu. She's very nice and very helpful, as well. As for those asking about English teaching load... Expect to be teaching Comp 101, which generally have anywhere from 25-40 students. So you won't be teaching a section of 60+ students... I've been at CUNY for four years as an undergrad and not until my last semester did I have one of those big 100+ lecture courses and it was macroeconomics. That said, much depends on which of the eleven CUNY senior colleges or 7 community colleges you are assigned to.

Edited March 19, 2011 by natsteel

[samjones]

in anthro, the avg completion time is projected to be a year LESS that the nat'l average (and that's the program i'm in and i can't say what the average is for the other programs at GC). you are assigned to teach or TA an equivalent of 2 courses each term during your 2nd, 3rd and 4th year. it's hard but it also gives you a glimpse of the workload you'll experience once you're actually responsible for teaching more than that AND trying to do your own research or projects as a full blown prof. the politics of it (adjuncts and grad students destabilizing permanent faculty positions and such) are terrible but the experience is also valuable in terms of getting teaching experience early on and being able to market that once you are looking for jobs after you earn the degree.

in my experience, it is a very BAD IDEA to accept admission to gc as an international student if you do not have funding. it's pretty expensive in NYC and you'll be taking out loans for tuition and the costs of living (and i'm pretty sure you will never be considered a NY resident, which, if you were, would mean that the tuition costs decrease DRAMATICALLY. otherwise, you'll be responsible for out of state/internat'l tuition until you find some source of funding). getting a job on or off campus is very much an option but it would probably be part-time and it probably won't be meeting your financial needs. even if you get an on campus job, with many, you do not get tuition remission or waiver. it just really isn't a good idea to accept admission to the GC without funding, especially as an internat'l student. i've heard a dept director having a tough conversation with an international student who didn't have funding- that student had managed to get an adjunct job or two at one of the CUNY schools and was STILL having a really hard time. the dept director at one point said, "i have tried to convince admissions to not offer a spot to internat'l students when they aren't going to offer funding to accompany the offer." i took that to mean that internat'l students without funding shouldn't even be offered admissions because it offers a really bad choice that too many end up taking.

in terms of a timeline for funding notification, that could take awhile as they may have offered funding to others in your prospective cohort and they are waiting to hear back from them regarding their decision on admission. that means they have until April 15th (in most cases) to make their final decision re: admission and accepting the funding offer, which means that you may not be offered the funding until after that.

[jannaschk]

thank you so much for the answer. Yes, I already read at other placed that its not a great idea to accept PhDs without funding. However, I could live in brooklyn :-( with family almost for free.... and in my native country you also have to pay for PhDs :-(((

I applied for history, so I hope that somebody decides that CUNY is not a good idea and I might get a spot.

thanks!