MA vs. PhD acceptance

[wild_rose]

I feel incredibly lucky to have been accepted at all, but now the question that's on my mind is:

When your Masters acceptances offer better funding and possibly insurance, is it better to take the Masters over the PhD? As it's been explained to me, I'd have to pay my way for my first year of the PhD before receiving funding.

My gut says to go with the PhD because who knows if I'd get in during another admission year, but I was wondering if anyone had any advice about this.

Thanks!

[lyonessrampant]

Would you mind identifying the programs from your signature you're talking about? That would help in terms of establishing if the MA program has a good track record for placement of Ph.D. candidates and if the Ph.D. program has a less than stellar record of placement, networking, and support. I would be HIGHLY inclined to take an MA offer that provided better funding and support than the Ph.D. offer. This is ironic coming from me since I truned down a funded Ph.D. offer to do an only partially funded MA, BUT I would encourage people who don't have other constraints limiting their decisions to select a funded MA. Anyway, if you can share more info, maybe we can give more specific feedback. Best of luck!

[wild_rose]

Sure! I think I fixed it.

Indiana would be amazing (I think I'm waitlisted for first-year funding), though Purdue and BC both had really great funding offers. I just am totally clueless about this whole process and very, very few of my friends are humanities majors, so I don't really have anyone to ask for advice. Another thing that I'm considering is ranking--IU is ranked higher in most polls that I can see, but all of the schools I applied to were picked specifically for my particular areas of interest (environment lit /& American regionalist lit).

From my sig, you can see I'm waiting for four other programs, but I feel like they're going to be rejects and that Indiana was a fluke, ha.

Would you mind identifying the programs from your signature you're talking about? That would help in terms of establishing if the MA program has a good track record for placement of Ph.D. candidates and if the Ph.D. program has a less than stellar record of placement, networking, and support. I would be HIGHLY inclined to take an MA offer that provided better funding and support than the Ph.D. offer. This is ironic coming from me since I truned down a funded Ph.D. offer to do an only partially funded MA, BUT I would encourage people who don't have other constraints limiting their decisions to select a funded MA. Anyway, if you can share more info, maybe we can give more specific feedback. Best of luck!

Edited March 8, 2011 by wild_rose

[lyonessrampant]

Wow. That IS a really tough call. Indiana is overall a great school, and I'm surprised they made an offer without guaranteed first-year funding. If I were you, I'd hold tight until April 14 last minute to see if they find funding for you for the first year. If they do, I'd take that offer without looking back. I'm not super familiar with your subfield, so I can't speak to that (I'm sure others on this board can, though)! However, Indiana would be a hard school to turn down, I think. Best of luck with that funding! As April gets nearer, I'd start the negotiation process with Indiana. . .things like "so, I've got multiple other offers but I'm really excited about your program. Is there any progress on finding funding?" Of course, really diplomatically phrased but I'd bet they'll start looking a little harder for you if they know you're being fought over (you don't have to tell them if all your other offers are MA only. . .if they're better funding, then that's a great offer).

Edited to add: Do any of the MA programs tell you about the liklihood of you moving to their Ph.D.? BC is a great school too, in my opinion.

Edited March 8, 2011 by lyonessrampant

[wild_rose]

Thank you so much for this. Your response is what I was originally leaning toward. I feel kinda bad sitting on things like this, but I guess that's how it goes.

ETA: I was thinking about asking the other schools about the possibility of moving to a PhD after finishing the MA and might still do this. In retrospect, I would have preferred to apply to just PhD, but I honestly wasn't expecting to get in anywhere. (I applied two years ago to several schools [six American Studies programs] and was rejected all around).

Wow. That IS a really tough call. Indiana is overall a great school, and I'm surprised they made an offer without guaranteed first-year funding. If I were you, I'd hold tight until April 14 last minute to see if they find funding for you for the first year. If they do, I'd take that offer without looking back. I'm not super familiar with your subfield, so I can't speak to that (I'm sure others on this board can, though)! However, Indiana would be a hard school to turn down, I think. Best of luck with that funding! As April gets nearer, I'd start the negotiation process with Indiana. . .things like "so, I've got multiple other offers but I'm really excited about your program. Is there any progress on finding funding?" Of course, really diplomatically phrased but I'd bet they'll start looking a little harder for you if they know you're being fought over (you don't have to tell them if all your other offers are MA only. . .if they're better funding, then that's a great offer).

Edited to add: Do any of the MA programs tell you about the liklihood of you moving to their Ph.D.? BC is a great school too, in my opinion.

Edited March 8, 2011 by wild_rose

[lyonessrampant]

Have you visited anywhere yet? If so/once you do and you can narrow down your MA offers to your top pick, I would personally notify the others that you're declining, rather than waiting on all of them, but that's just my suggestion. Best of luck!

[wanderlust07]

Congrats!!

Tough call, indeed. Indiana is a fantastic school (I'm not sure of where they are in your subfields, but I do Vict. Lit and would kill for the post to reach the West Coast and put me out of my misery), but I do believe somewhere buried in their department page is info that funding in the first year or so can get squirrelly. I would personally pay more attention to which institutions are known/strong in my subfield and placement records than overall ranking, or which schools have scholars I really really want to work with (at least for the PhD).

Re the MA: Funded MAs are an excellent choice, and they will put you in a much stronger position when you reapply (with the exception of a few schools who really prefer to promote from within and so discourage applicants who already hold an MA). It would give you time to develop and refine your scholarly interests, work on your writing, attend conferences, be on committees or take other service positions, etc. All of this is excellent professional development, and might make the idea of reapplying seem less horrific. If you're not going to rack up debt while doing it, and the programs offered suit you, I definitely don't think it's anything to sneeze at, esp. if either of those programs is known for tracking its students into the PhD (the good thing about this arrangement is that you can still apply other places as your MA comes to a close w/o looking ungrateful).

Re. the PhD: It's a sure thing. It's Indiana. Have you visited any of these schools? That might influence how much you're willing to take on in the way of debt. There might be some fellowships or outside sources of funding still available for next fall, but my guess would be that that ship has pretty much sailed. If you're not sitting on a mountain of undergrad loans, though, one year is really not terrible. I sort of feel like the pros of Indiana don't need much reiterating. Cons: ? Lots of Indiana is flat as a pancake?

Re. Insurance: I'm not sure whether your first post means the MA offers what might be better insurance or they might offer insurance (or if this is even important to you), but either way--if you are not offered insurance as part of a TA or fellowship at either school, you should still be eligible to buy into the regular group plan at the uni (and pay the premiums out of pocket). Wading through the relative costs of this is usually a beast, but unless you have ongoing health problems, the things that matter will be the fine print for stuff that is unpredictable and expensive (is there an annual deductible? How much? Is there an annual cap on benefits? How much? Is there catastrophic coverage? Are things like in-patient procedures and surgeries covered? ...ad nauseam). Possibly mundane things like prescription coverage, if it includes dental or eye care (if you want/need either), etc. If you do wind up with a TA position, you may be on a different/better plan than the school's main one (by virtue of having a union).

---I would look closely enough to make sure you can live with either plan and then not let it make or break the decision (barring serious health needs). I sort of feel like this is a thing most students don't pay any attention to until the sh!t hits the fan, and by then you won't be in any shape to go digging through the legalese, so pardon the excessive info.

Edited March 8, 2011 by wanderlust07

[fall-11]

Maybe ask the DGS at Indiana about how people waitlisted for first-year funding have fared in previous years? As in, did they end up getting the first year funding, or did it just not materialize at all? Like lyoness says, give it till April 14 to see if you get offered the funding. It seems strange that they would admit someone into the PhD without funding. Indiana is way too good to pass up, so keep telling them how interested you are in the program, and that you really want to attend and are hoping that they'll be able to fund you. Good luck, and congrats on getting into Indiana!

[wild_rose]

Wanderlust,

Thanks for the extensive reply!!

I've always been expecting some debt should the decision be IU, (I originally applied as an MA candidate, because I thought from the online literature that they offered both an MA-track and PhD-track. I was then contacted and told that the MA was no longer offered (?) and asked if I wanted to be considered for PhD (weird). I saw the note about the first-year funding, but since I'm a resident, I supposed it wouldn't be too bad...I have debt, but it's not debilitating at this point.) Health insurance is a bit of an issue, but I'll try my best to figure something out if it means being able to attend a great school. I wasn't aware of group plans, so I'll take a look at that (I hadn't even thought of this, so big thanks for this note.) I think if I don't get other offers, it'll probably be IU; it's just hard because the other depts. are really great. Thanks for your time + note...and good luck to you on the West Coast. I <3 Santa Cruz!

Congrats!!

Tough call, indeed. Indiana is a fantastic school (I'm not sure of where they are in your subfields, but I do Vict. Lit and would kill for the post to reach the West Coast and put me out of my misery), but I do believe somewhere buried in their department page is info that funding in the first year or so can get squirrelly. I would personally pay more attention to which institutions are known/strong in my subfield and placement records than overall ranking, or which schools have scholars I really really want to work with (at least for the PhD).

Re the MA: Funded MAs are an excellent choice, and they will put you in a much stronger position when you reapply (with the exception of a few schools who really prefer to promote from within and so discourage applicants who already hold an MA). It would give you time to develop and refine your scholarly interests, work on your writing, attend conferences, be on committees or take other service positions, etc. All of this is excellent professional development, and might make the idea of reapplying seem less horrific. If you're not going to rack up debt while doing it, and the programs offered suit you, I definitely don't think it's anything to sneeze at, esp. if either of those programs is known for tracking its students into the PhD (the good thing about this arrangement is that you can still apply other places as your MA comes to a close w/o looking ungrateful).

Re. the PhD: It's a sure thing. It's Indiana. Have you visited any of these schools? That might influence how much you're willing to take on in the way of debt. There might be some fellowships or outside sources of funding still available for next fall, but my guess would be that that ship has pretty much sailed. If you're not sitting on a mountain of undergrad loans, though, one year is really not terrible. I sort of feel like the pros of Indiana don't need much reiterating. Cons: ? Lots of Indiana is flat as a pancake?

Re. Insurance: I'm not sure whether your first post means the MA offers what might be better insurance or they might offer insurance (or if this is even important to you), but either way--if you are not offered insurance as part of a TA or fellowship at either school, you should still be eligible to buy into the regular group plan at the uni (and pay the premiums out of pocket). Wading through the relative costs of this is usually a beast, but unless you have ongoing health problems, the things that matter will be the fine print for stuff that is unpredictable and expensive (is there an annual deductible? How much? Is there an annual cap on benefits? How much? Is there catastrophic coverage? Are things like in-patient procedures and surgeries covered? ...ad nauseam). Possibly mundane things like prescription coverage, if it includes dental or eye care (if you want/need either), etc. If you do wind up with a TA position, you may be on a different/better plan than the school's main one (by virtue of having a union).

---I would look closely enough to make sure you can live with either plan and then not let it make or break the decision (barring serious health needs). I sort of feel like this is a thing most students don't pay any attention to until the sh!t hits the fan, and by then you won't be in any shape to go digging through the legalese, so pardon the excessive info.

Edited March 8, 2011 by wild_rose

[woolfie]

One thing to think about, as I am from Bloomington, is that it is VERY cheap to live there. And it's awesome. If it is only one year that you aren't funded, but the rest is guaranteed, that's not a big deal. It would be in NYC but Bloomington is very very cheap. You can get a studio for 375/mo (Bicycle Apartments, I lived there, it's cheap and not shitty and RIGHT in town) and renting rooms for like 200. Even less if you can find people to share a house with (don't do graduate housing, it's a rip off). I one time saw a room for rent for 165 in town. I think taking out 9K in loans MIGHT be worth it for Indiana, but I also wouldn't fault you for taking the MA offers. It also depends on your financial situation/previous debt. I'm lucky to not have undergraduate loans cause I worked throughout college, so I would not feel guilty taking out a little bit for year 1. That's just me though. Good luck and congrats, I'd kill to go to IU's phd!

[woolfie]

Lots of Indiana is flat as a pancake?

Okay, I need to correct this misinformation. I see this all the time probably because people drive on I 70 and assume that all of Indiana is like that. Lots of NORTHERN Indiana is flat. Southern Indiana is near Kentucky, where the Appalachian foothills are. States can be diverse and don't necessarily look like the highway you drive through on. Bloomington is right near Brown County which is rolling beautiful hills. Look it up on Google maps and you will see a beautiful spot of green. I know I'm biased, but living in Ohio right now, I miss it so so much. Nashville, Indiana is the most beautiful place I've ever lived.

Here's a picture of it:

[DisneyLeith]

If you got the same funding package for BC's MA that I did, keep in mind that it doesn't offer a stipend of any kind in either year, but only a tuition fellowship for the first year and a TA-ship for the second year that isn't guaranteed and may or may not actually cover all of your tuition. So you'll be left to pay ALL of your living expenses, which means unless you have a considerable amount of savings, you'll most likely have to go into some debt. I'm really excited about this program, but I know that if I go I'll have to take out loans at some point to subsist.

This being said, it is really cool that a program as good as BC's MA offers any funding at all.

[wanderlust07]

Okay, I need to correct this misinformation. I see this all the time probably because people drive on I 70 and assume that all of Indiana is like that. Lots of NORTHERN Indiana is flat. Southern Indiana is near Kentucky, where the Appalachian foothills are. States can be diverse and don't necessarily look like the highway you drive through on. Bloomington is right near Brown County which is rolling beautiful hills. Look it up on Google maps and you will see a beautiful spot of green. I know I'm biased, but living in Ohio right now, I miss it so so much. Nashville, Indiana is the most beautiful place I've ever lived.

Hence my not writing "all," or even "the area around Bloomington," although I will concede that "as a pancake" is more my a reflection of having long since been spoiled.

For an alternate perspective: I grew up in the Midwest and have hiked (and driven) a great deal of these rolling hills (including the Appalachian foothills). I like the hills a lot. I am now, however, living in the PacNW, and I am just not missing the rolling hill version of altitude now that I've been roaming all up and down the coast. (The highest point in IN is less than 1500 ft, no? I know it's less than the highest point in Missouri, which is Taum Sauk "Mountain" at around 1700 ft. That is not a mountain, IMO, and any area in which people don't blink at calling it one is relatively "flat." I say this in spite of the fact that that area of Missouri is likewise full of rolling hills). It's pretty and makes for an excellent hike; I just prefer rugged. I am actually so spoiled by this that I am reluctant to leave for a better and funded program. It's a sickness. *shrug*

[woolfie]

Hence my not writing "all," or even "the area around Bloomington," although I will concede that "as a pancake" is more my a reflection of having long since been spoiled.

For an alternate perspective: I grew up in the Midwest and have hiked (and driven) a great deal of these rolling hills (including the Appalachian foothills). I like the hills a lot. I am now, however, living in the PacNW, and I am just not missing the rolling hill version of altitude now that I've been roaming all up and down the coast. (The highest point in IN is less than 1500 ft, no? I know it's less than the highest point in Missouri, which is Taum Sauk "Mountain" at around 1700 ft. That is not a mountain, IMO, and any area in which people don't blink at calling it one is relatively "flat." I say this in spite of the fact that that area of Missouri is likewise full of rolling hills). It's pretty and makes for an excellent hike; I just prefer rugged. I am actually so spoiled by this that I am reluctant to leave for a better and funded program. It's a sickness. *shrug*

Right, but we are talking about Bloomington, so why would the Indiana that's not near Bloomington matter? The way you phrased it gave the impression that the area the OP was considering living in was flat. I just wanted the person to know that it's not. It's not mountains, but it's absolutely not flat. I'm not trying to challenge your knowledge, I just want people to have the right impression of southern Indiana. Sorry if it seemed offensive, it wasn't a personal knock against you, i just want someone considering IU to have a more correct impression of the landscape.