greenpapaya Posted April 8, 2008 Posted April 8, 2008 I have been accepted at 4 different places, rejected from 1 and 2 are still AWOL however I am sure I will hear from one of them soon and the other is a waitlist thing. I am confused on what to do! I don't want to use student loans, so having funding would be important for me. (by the way, this is for biology masters) Programs: 1) University 1: summer funding ($3,000) but not assistance unless I am "amazing"---I don't really want to go here 2) University 2: won't find out about funding in June, but it will be enough to cover my tuition and living ($20,000) + separate summer funding ($2,500) 3) University 3: am in a pool of applicants for GTA with tuition waiver and stipend of $13,000 which would be awesome! 4) University 4: stipend around $9,000, will know more about tuition waiver this week University 2 and 4 have research I am particularly excited about. University 1, my future MP has a horrible attitude. University 3 didn't assign me an MP yet, so I can choose and will hopefully get an MP whose research interests me (which of course they have research I like---or else I wouldn't have applied!). University 2 has 2 NSF grants in the works plus I might switch labs to one with more funding, though research I am not so interested in. Would it be smart for me to bank on the ones without concrete funding? It's so confusing!
rising_star Posted April 8, 2008 Posted April 8, 2008 I mean, it's up to you, really. It sounds like the best choices are University 2 and Univ 3, based on what you've presented. Have you talked to grad students at each school? Spoken with the potential advisors? Found out about the work the lab is doing? I think that maybe should guide your choice as much as straight financial considerations.
greenpapaya Posted April 9, 2008 Author Posted April 9, 2008 University 4 also offered me a tuition waiver yesterday, so unless I hear anything else it seems like that's where I am headed. I finally heard from one of my AWOL universities and I was rejected. Now I just need to hear from the last one, which is my top choice. I know they only just made decisions 2 weeks ago, so I don't think there is a waitlist issue here.
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