U Mich Ford School

[abogs78]

Seems we don't have a thread for Ford School...thought I should start one. Any ideas on when we should hear back from the school? I am waiting eagerly (of course with some nice funding too )

[skeedy]

Seems we don't have a thread for Ford School...thought I should start one. Any ideas on when we should hear back from the school? I am waiting eagerly (of course with some nice funding too )

I thiiiiiiink the 15th, according to past results! NEXT WEEK!

[iwantmympp]

in a response to my query about a possible missing transcript it was noted that they hoped to get final decisions out this week.

[ca010]

Yeah a lot of decisions are out early this year so why not Ford. And they might as well give out a bunch of fellowships while they're at it. I NEED it

[yeahgradschool!]

in a response to my query about a possible missing transcript it was noted that they hoped to get final decisions out this week.

ahhhh! so nervous/excited to hear from michigan!!!!

[fadeindreams]

If y'all have any questions about the Ford school feel free to ask. I am a first year MPP student. I'll try to keep up with this thread.

*Disclaimer: I have no idea when they are releasing admissions results. They haven't told current students.

**Disclaimer 2: I love the Ford school.

[ca010]

Fadedindreams thanks for the offer

I am curious about assistantships. How common are they? What about for first year students? And how do they generally work? Do they forgive part or all of your tuition?

Thanks

[StellaHaiti2]

Just a few off the top of my head:

What kind of housing do you have? Any estimates on average living expenses? What's your favorite class so far? Where do your classmates seem to be heading career-wise?

Thanks fadeindreams!

If y'all have any questions about the Ford school feel free to ask. I am a first year MPP student. I'll try to keep up with this thread.

*Disclaimer: I have no idea when they are releasing admissions results. They haven't told current students.

**Disclaimer 2: I love the Ford school.

[fadeindreams]

Just a few off the top of my head:

What kind of housing do you have? Any estimates on average living expenses? What's your favorite class so far? Where do your classmates seem to be heading career-wise?

Thanks fadeindreams!

I live in the north part of the city, sorta near the U-M hospital. It's a 2br condo with a shared entry and covered parking. Feels a lot like a house (without a yard, of course). My experience is different from most students because I have a family. Anyway, rent is $1050 and it covers gas and water. My electricity and internet average about $70 together. So living expenses total about $1120. We feel like we get a good value out of our living arrangements even though we are paying twice as much as we were before we moved here. I am within walking/biking distance of both downtown and campus.

U-M estimates average rent to be $1200 for a 2br. You can see the breakdown here http://www.offcampus.housing.umich.edu/lt/survey_report_2005.cfm. I would recommend finding a roommate if possible.

No doubt Ann Arbor is overall an expensive place to live. You can, however, easily find housing outside of the center that is reasonably priced. Public Transportation in Ann Arbor is solid. See http://www.theride.org/ and http://mbus.pts.umich.edu/. U-M students can use Ride buses for free with student ID.

My favorite class so far has far and away been Calculus. The professor, Carl Simon, is a legend. I am looking forward to next year when I'll venture out a bit more into electives.

Career-wise there is a pretty solid split between those interested in domestic and international. I think this is a good thing as you are exposed to a diverse base of students. The important part is that the Ford School attracts an ambitious bunch of students. I have no doubt that my cohort will be a great network well after I leave here.

[fadeindreams]

Fadedindreams thanks for the offer

I am curious about assistantships. How common are they? What about for first year students? And how do they generally work? Do they forgive part or all of your tuition?

Thanks

Assistantships are very common across campus as a whole. The Ford School has numerous Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) positions. You can view those for the current year here http://fordschool.umich.edu/current/gsi_positions.php. I will say this, and keep in mind this is may very well only apply to my cohort, most, if not all, Ford School GSI positions are held by second year students. You would be wise to look into other programs for their assistantships. There is a central listing for assistantships at http://www.hr.umich.edu/acadhr/grads/postings.html. I was very thorough in my search and came away with a Graduate Student Staff Assistantship that I will keep for both years in the program. For 20 hours of work a week I get a $2100 a month stipend, health insurance and full tuition remission. All assistantships have a similar package. The only thing that varies is the amount of stipend. That will depend on your FTE (full-time equivalency). In my case at 20 hours I am a .5 FTE.

You should find out if you are receiving any funding, by way of scholarship or fellowship, along with your admission decision. You may luck out. I get the feeling that quite a few of my classmates have some level of funding.

[smerd]

Last year they notified on the 15th, but in both 2009 and 2008 they notified on March 11th...which would be this Friday.

I thiiiiiiink the 15th, according to past results! NEXT WEEK!

[ca010]

Fadedindreams

Wow. Thanks for the answers. The information is really helpful even though I don't know if I'm in or have any funding. It eases my mind so thanks for the effort.

[Traveler1]

Assistantships are very common across campus as a whole. The Ford School has numerous Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) positions. You can view those for the current year here http://fordschool.um...i_positions.php. I will say this, and keep in mind this is may very well only apply to my cohort, most, if not all, Ford School GSI positions are held by second year students. You would be wise to look into other programs for their assistantships. There is a central listing for assistantships at http://www.hr.umich....s/postings.html. I was very thorough in my search and came away with a Graduate Student Staff Assistantship that I will keep for both years in the program. For 20 hours of work a week I get a $2100 a month stipend, health insurance and full tuition remission. All assistantships have a similar package. The only thing that varies is the amount of stipend. That will depend on your FTE (full-time equivalency). In my case at 20 hours I am a .5 FTE.

You should find out if you are receiving any funding, by way of scholarship or fellowship, along with your admission decision. You may luck out. I get the feeling that quite a few of my classmates have some level of funding.

[Traveler1]

Double shot, do any of your collegues commute from the suburbs around Detroit?

[fadeindreams]

Double shot, do any of your collegues commute from the suburbs around Detroit?

No, none that I know of. That doesn't mean it's not possible. Do you have a specific suburb in mind? Do you have a significant other looking for a job while you're in grad school?

Distance from Central Campus to Downtown Detroit is about 40 miles.

[Traveler1]

No, none that I know of. That doesn't mean it's not possible. Do you have a specific suburb in mind? Do you have a significant other looking for a job while you're in grad school?

Yes possibly royal oak or Troy, if we moved there my wife would be looking for a job. She is an optometrist so the metro area may have more opportunities.

Distance from Central Campus to Downtown Detroit is about 40 miles.

[Traveler1]

No, none that I know of. That doesn't mean it's not possible. Do you have a specific suburb in mind? Do you have a significant other looking for a job while you're in grad school?

Yes possibly royal oak or Troy, if we moved there my wife would be looking for a job. She is an optometrist so the metro area may have more opportunities.

Distance from Central Campus to Downtown Detroit is about 40 miles.

[mpptobe2011]

Does anybody know if your application status in the "Wolverine Access" system changes when decisions are made? Or do they just notify by email? (In other words, am I wasting my time logging into the University of Michigan system several times a day? )

Also, thanks to Fadeindreams for all the great information!

[skeedy]

Assistantships are very common across campus as a whole. The Ford School has numerous Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) positions. You can view those for the current year here http://fordschool.um...i_positions.php. I will say this, and keep in mind this is may very well only apply to my cohort, most, if not all, Ford School GSI positions are held by second year students. You would be wise to look into other programs for their assistantships. There is a central listing for assistantships at http://www.hr.umich....s/postings.html. I was very thorough in my search and came away with a Graduate Student Staff Assistantship that I will keep for both years in the program. For 20 hours of work a week I get a $2100 a month stipend, health insurance and full tuition remission. All assistantships have a similar package. The only thing that varies is the amount of stipend. That will depend on your FTE (full-time equivalency). In my case at 20 hours I am a .5 FTE.

You should find out if you are receiving any funding, by way of scholarship or fellowship, along with your admission decision. You may luck out. I get the feeling that quite a few of my classmates have some level of funding.

Fadeindreams, you are AWESOME. Thank you. Question - following your decision to attend Ford, when did you start looking for your Assistantship (timeline-wise)?

[fadeindreams]

Fadeindreams, you are AWESOME. Thank you. Question - following your decision to attend Ford, when did you start looking for your Assistantship (timeline-wise)?

Immediately upon admission without funding. I submitted the assistantship application the day it was due, April 16th, which happened to be right after I accepted admission into the Ford School.

Sign up for the digest through http://www.hr.umich..../postings.html. They send out an email each time one is added.

Edited March 9, 2011 by fadeindreams

[fadeindreams]

Immediately upon admission without funding. I submitted the assistantship application the day it was due, April 16th, which happened to be right after I accepted admission into the Ford School.

Sign up for the digest through http://www.hr.umich..../postings.html. They send out an email each time one is added.

Actually, upon further inspection it appears that a good deal of the links on that webpage are currently broken. They SHOULD fix those as they ramp up for Fall 2011 assistantship postings. All the same, don't assume they will and what I would recommend is using that as a guideline for which departments typically post assistantships. If you have a particular interest in a department, say Economics, seek out their listing on departmental websites.

My understanding is that the Ford School should be releasing its assistantships within the next week.

[abogs78]

Fadeindreams, do you know how the School notifies us about admissions? Is it via Wolverine (online website) or e-mail. Thanks!

Actually, upon further inspection it appears that a good deal of the links on that webpage are currently broken. They SHOULD fix those as they ramp up for Fall 2011 assistantship postings. All the same, don't assume they will and what I would recommend is using that as a guideline for which departments typically post assistantships. If you have a particular interest in a department, say Economics, seek out their listing on departmental websites.

My understanding is that the Ford School should be releasing its assistantships within the next week.

[fadeindreams]

Fadeindreams, do you know how the School notifies us about admissions? Is it via Wolverine (online website) or e-mail. Thanks!

By e-mail. I'm not sure when your wolverine access account is updated to reflect your admission.

If you are admitted, in your first e-mail you'll be told that Rackham Graduate School still has to confirm the offer of admission. It's largely a formality, so don't freak out. The 2010 offer of admission from Ford was on 3/15; the notice from Rackham came on 3/17. So no big deal, right?

I'm not sure what funding notices come with the notice of admission. I do know someone that received a fellowship offer on 3/19, so four days later.

Anyway, Ford School posted their GSI positions today. You can find them here. Of course, you'd already know that if you had signed up for the daily digest found here.

[disintegrate]

By e-mail. I'm not sure when your wolverine access account is updated to reflect your admission.

If you are admitted, in your first e-mail you'll be told that Rackham Graduate School still has to confirm the offer of admission. It's largely a formality, so don't freak out. The 2010 offer of admission from Ford was on 3/15; the notice from Rackham came on 3/17. So no big deal, right?

I'm not sure what funding notices come with the notice of admission. I do know someone that received a fellowship offer on 3/19, so four days later.

Anyway, Ford School posted their GSI positions today. You can find them here. Of course, you'd already know that if you had signed up for the daily digest found here.

Is this only for admitted students??

[abogs78]

Thanks for the info.

By e-mail. I'm not sure when your wolverine access account is updated to reflect your admission.

If you are admitted, in your first e-mail you'll be told that Rackham Graduate School still has to confirm the offer of admission. It's largely a formality, so don't freak out. The 2010 offer of admission from Ford was on 3/15; the notice from Rackham came on 3/17. So no big deal, right?

I'm not sure what funding notices come with the notice of admission. I do know someone that received a fellowship offer on 3/19, so four days later.

Anyway, Ford School posted their GSI positions today. You can find them here. Of course, you'd already know that if you had signed up for the daily digest found here.