Fellowships/Stipend vs. School Rank

[tmor6]

How much weight do you place on the offer of funding? I've narrowed it down to 2 schools, both are national universities but the offers are quite different

School 1 is flagship state university (think awesome football program), the program has great people, but is not a "ranked" program (I'm sure it's "ranked", but it is below top 50). They have offered me full tuition/fees/health insurance plus a stipend of $15,100 and two fellowships worth an additional $9,500 for four years. My areas fit perfectly with this department and it's apparent they really want me (two fellowships!).

School 2 is ranked between 40-50 and does have an established reputation in the discipline. Obviously it isn't an ultra prestigious program, but they have a great track record for placement and are known for my area (crim). They've offered tutition/health insurance and a stipend of $16,000. School 2 is much more competative (120 applicants vs. 30 for school 1).

I've visited both programs and they would both be great. Is the extra money worth it? I'm curious as to the thoughts of others on this board--any insight would be great.

[Curlygrrl]

I am in a similar situation to yours except my School 2 has me waitlisted for funding but I am at the top so they believe I will be awarded their full-funding package with stipend. The other big difference for me is that the city for school 2 has a higher cost of living than school one so the money offered at school one will go a lot further while with school 2 I can still go into debt.

So I am very interested to hear how people respond to your query.

[tmor6]

I am in a similar situation to yours except my School 2 has me waitlisted for funding but I am at the top so they believe I will be awarded their full-funding package with stipend. The other big difference for me is that the city for school 2 has a higher cost of living than school one so the money offered at school one will go a lot further while with school 2 I can still go into debt.

So I am very interested to hear how people respond to your query.

Yeah, that's about the same. School 1 is offering way more money AND the cost of living is a about hald of School 2...

[socme123]

I dunno; I think you two are in pretty different situations. Maybe it's because I could not afford to go to a school that wasn't fully funded. Any school that was at risk of not funding me would be pretty much off the list if I had a funded option. But I'm already in massive amounts of educational debt so . . .

But when it comes to choosing between two fully funded programs, but just one with a bigger fellowship, all kinds of other stuff would come into play:

(1) Research fit: Which is the best fit, and do you know you actually would get along with your POIs at each place? Who's going to support you, not just by throwing money your way, but by giving you the research support you need to succeed in your chosen field?

(2) How much ACTUAL love: I don't know how to phrase this but it's connected to (1). During this recruitment process professors blow a lot of smoke up our asses. I mean, a lot in the form of both praise and fellowship money. And it's easy to fall into believing the hype about yourself and the school. The whole goal of this is to lure you in, but the question is whether they are going to keep all that love for you once you get there. This is why fit has to trump everything, in my opinion. Once School 1 has you, you're still screwed if once you get there, no one's doing the exact work that interests you and no one wants to be on your committee, etc. School 2 may not have recruited you as hard, but if they have a couple people you know would fit well with your project, that's the kind of interest that will sustain you over the long haul. So maybe this is just a more detailed restatement of (1).

(3) Placement records: It won't matter if you got more fellowships at School 1 if, in the end, School 1 doesn't get you a job. The point of all this is to get a job at the end.

(4) Cost of living: Being broke is stressful and may impact your ability to focus. If you can't live on the School 2 offer, that's something to think about - esp. since you mentioned above that School 1 is in a lot less expensive place.

All of this sounds like I'm leaning School 2. I'm not considering that I don't know your research interests and how they fit at each place. I would just hate to see anyone make a consequential decision on the basis of a few thousand dollars in the short run, when what really matters is the research fit and where Ph.D. will take us in the long run. That said, you definitely need enough $ to live on. Have you mentioned to School 2 that you have a $9k larger offer from School 1 and that the cost of living is a lot different? They may adjust your funding even if they don't give you a named fellowship.

Edited March 16, 2011 by socme123