Proliferation of non-funded PhD admissions.

[ibangz]

I'm worried as hell. I got the admission to dream school, Ohio State, on Jan. 5. Very fast response but after more than two months I have not heard anything from them, except request for filling a lousy affidavit of support form and submitting bank statement for ~$45K! Yesterday I got the second acceptance from UC, Irvine but again the letter did not include ANYTHING about funding and asked for a similar amount for 3 quarters. Not a single damn word about funding. Like such a thing is nonexistent. To be honest, not only the second letter did not made me happy but it also made me feel really frustrated. I am from a poor family in a 3rd world country. There is no way I can do a PhD without funds, not to mention it would be quite stupid IMO to do PhD with personal funds.

Now my questions are:

1. Do I still stand a chance of receiving funds? I mean is it the natural course of admissions that they admit you first and then give you funding offers or my effort in that regard would be in vain? If you check the results page for those schools:

http://www.thegradca...tate+electrical

http://www.thegradca...vine+electrical

you will see that most of the acceptances do not include information about funds. What the hell is really going on? Master admissions are fine without funds but I am a PhD applicant for god's sake!

2. Is it true that because of economic downturn schools have chosen the new approach of admit-but-not-fund? I mean it seems reasonable to attract some investments from foreign nationals. One of my friends got the admission for Stanford with absolutely 0 credentials last year, and went there with personal funds which I have no clue from he collected from. In the acceptance e-mail from UCI it was noted that they will admit about %15 of 1400+ applicants. 200+ new students just for EECS department? Isn't a little crazy? What's the plan behind such huge number? It seems schools have opened their doors to non-quite-good but probably wealthy applicants.

BTW from POV of "matching of research interests" I am as fit as they come. Call me naive, but there is no way they find ANYONE with background as good as mine. Aside from passing tons of grad courses offered only in very few schools in the world (literary) related to my area of interest (in schools I attended in my home country, such courses are aplenty) all with A's, I tailored my MS thesis and seminar research to conform to the research of PA in Ohio State one year ahead of applying and the only thing I get (AFTER being admitted!) was a mild (I'm quoting) "I like your work on ... I will keep you in mind". The PA in UCI also made a similar comment on a strong CV (IMO): "you seem to be a student with good knowledge of ... I suggest admission for sure, but we need to see if there will be financial aid."

So to the tune of the Beatles: Help, I need somebody

Edited March 11, 2011 by ibangz

[chaospaladin]

How many more schools do you still need to hear admission decisions from? Call the schools you got accepted into tomorrow to see if there will be funding opportunities. Did you apply for any fellowships? I know that most fellowships are for USA applicants only though.

[ibangz]

I'm waiting to hear from to hear 2 other schools, but the problem is not this. The problem is why they admit students that KNOW are unable to attend without aid. As you said fellowships are for domestic applicants, besides they have access to loans and other stuff too. Don't get me wrong, IT IS their right to have access to all these opportunities, it's their country after all. I wonder what is with this 'tantalization' approach of admitting but not supporting foreign nationals. To be honest, I would prefer to be rejected instead of being accepted without support. I'm calling the schools and PA's to see what happens ... let's hope I get some support.

[IRdreams]

I'm waiting to hear from to hear 2 other schools, but the problem is not this. The problem is why they admit students that KNOW are unable to attend without aid. As you said fellowships are for domestic applicants, besides they have access to loans and other stuff too. Don't get me wrong, IT IS their right to have access to all these opportunities, it's their country after all. I wonder what is with this 'tantalization' approach of admitting but not supporting foreign nationals. To be honest, I would prefer to be rejected instead of being accepted without support. I'm calling the schools and PA's to see what happens ... let's hope I get some support.

Some schools treat foreign admissions as a cash cow for the school. Basically, you are paying a tax which then goes to fund US residents. Think of it as a grad school tariff. It sucks, but you can't begrudge them for trying to squeeze pennies where they can. The same thing was true when I spent time studying abroad in a foreign country.

Another possibility, is that some schools that do not have a waitlist admit people with independent means. They figure well if they come free labor and extra money for the other students. It is possible you are in this situation. Then it is not the proliferation of unfunded programs, but rather changing norms around how to best use the waitlist.

Edited March 14, 2011 by IRdreams

[chaospaladin]

What 2 other schools are you waiting to hear from? Ask OSU and UCI if they gave domestic applicants full funding for PhD in EE. Is it true that they gave domestic applicants full funding and no funding for you or they gave no funding for everyone?

[emmm]

I don't know what the "natural course of admissions is," but my acceptance letter specified that the offer came with a tuition waiver, stipend of $/month, and health benefits. I think it is very variable by program. I think my program will not admit ANY students they can't fund fully, and as far as I know, that applies for international students as well. I have no idea whether it is more difficult to gain admission to this program if you are an international applicant.

Edited April 17, 2011 by emmm

[StephanieM]

Unfortunately this seems to be a problem for international students. Like another poster said, they are viewed as "cash cows".

Write to them if there's any sort of PhD funding for international students.

[mechengr2000]

I dont think this is because he is an international student.

I myself was accepted at 6 of the top, top programs in my field this year, and only three of them offered any support!

This is due to the recession and nothing else. Don't take it personally.