RWBG Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 UCLA: 24k first two years (no teaching commitments), TA ship for remaining three years starting at 17k and progressing to 20k. Rochester: 22k/year, 4 semesters total of teaching commitments. Opportunities for more funding via RAships. I think Rochester is compensating for being in Rochester. Michigan: 17k fellowship first year, TA commitment from years 2-5. Guaranteed summer funding of $3000 for first two summers. Wisconsin: $14k TAship I think, based off of this website: http://www.ohr.wisc.edu/polproced/utg/SalRng.html#stuasst. Doesn't look like there's any fellowship support.
bauhaus Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 Stanford: $29,000/year $3,500/summer (1 year) $1,000 in discretionary funds 5 years health insurance MIT: 22,500/year 2 quarters of TA-ship required insurance I ve never been to any of these places. How do the to packages compare in "purchasing power"?
CooCooCachoo Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 Cornell: $22,900 per annum (5 years) $4,830 per summer (4 years) Health insurance Three years of TA-ships (max. 15 hrs. per week) Just looked at the rates for campus housing, which suggests that rent could gobble up roughly 40% of the annual stipend.
Megan Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 "Cornell: $22,900 per annum (5 years) $4,830 per summer (4 years) Health insurance Three years of TA-ships (max. 15 hrs. per week)" Woah. That summer funding is no joke. Sweet.
kolja00 Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 "Cornell: $22,900 per annum (5 years) $4,830 per summer (4 years) Health insurance Three years of TA-ships (max. 15 hrs. per week)" Woah. That summer funding is no joke. Sweet. That's a really nice package for Ithaca. A really awesome college town. Congrats!!
yinche Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 I got 18k for UIUC, guaranteed for 4 years (Unlike other schools that offered 5 years). I asked the grad director about this and she said that "The guarantee in your offer is for four years, but we have never had a student making good progress not get funding for the years beyond that." If then, are there any reasons to why would UIUC guarantee the offer for 4 years? Or am I just not good enough to get a 5-year offer? I'm quite ignorant on this issue so please enlighten me! Other than that, Penn State offers 17k and Maryland offers high 14k.
balderdash Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 Anyone get their official details from Madison yet?
Carousel Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 Anyone get their official details from Madison yet? I've heard nothing so far. It's be an obnoxiously long time, which is fostering some negative feelings on my part anyway. Maybe I'm just neurotic about these things, but I feel much more compelled to seriously consider those schools which seem more on top of things. UNC is slacking in this regard also.
Megan Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 (edited) UNC is slacking in this regard also. While I obviously don't know what their package will be, Chapel Hill/Carrboro is REMARKABLY cheap in terms of living. I lived on what is probably less than their grad stipend, and with that I had a great place (and not the cheapest of the people that I knew), went out probably more than I should have, ate very well, and even took a couple of trips. I absolutely loved living there. If anybody has specific questions regarding Chapel Hill, as a school or as a town, feel free to PM me. I promise to be completely honest, but I'm also super biased as I really, really loved my time there. Edited February 16, 2012 by Megan
ginsburg Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 I've heard nothing so far. It's be an obnoxiously long time, which is fostering some negative feelings on my part anyway. Maybe I'm just neurotic about these things, but I feel much more compelled to seriously consider those schools which seem more on top of things. UNC is slacking in this regard also. With Stanford at hand, why bother funding in Madison and Chapel Hill?
Carousel Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 With Stanford at hand, why bother funding in Madison and Chapel Hill? Valid point. However, I refuse to make any major decisions until after visiting or AT LEAST having funding information. This is going to be a long couple of months of pro-con lists. However, I admit that I have no room to complain/whine. Forgive me?
kaykaykay Posted February 17, 2012 Posted February 17, 2012 Stanford: $29,000/year $3,500/summer (1 year) $1,000 in discretionary funds 5 years health insurance MIT: 22,500/year 2 quarters of TA-ship required insurance I ve never been to any of these places. How do the to packages compare in "purchasing power"? You can compare the cost of living between Cambridge (Congrats on the Harvard offer ) and Palo Alto on one of these cost of living sites: http://www.bestplaces.net/. Better still to visit these places and talk to the students & professors.
RWBG Posted February 17, 2012 Posted February 17, 2012 (edited) UCLA: 24k first two years (no teaching commitments), TA ship for remaining three years starting at 17k and progressing to 20k. Rochester: 22k/year, 4 semesters total of teaching commitments. Opportunities for more funding via RAships. I think Rochester is compensating for being in Rochester. Michigan: 17k fellowship first year, TA commitment from years 2-5. Guaranteed summer funding of $3000 for first two summers. Wisconsin: $14k TAship I think, based off of this website: http://www.ohr.wisc....g.html#stuasst. Doesn't look like there's any fellowship support. OK, well the Wisconsin-Madison stipend is apparently $11552 for a 16 hour/week TA commitment every year. I don't advocate making decisions based on stipends, but that is by far the lowest financial package I've seen, with the greatest amount of teaching commitments. I think this is the university's fault though, not the department. Really great program though. Edited February 17, 2012 by RWBG
ginsburg Posted February 17, 2012 Posted February 17, 2012 OK, well the Wisconsin-Madison stipend is apparently $11552 for a 16 hour/week TA commitment every year. I don't advocate making decisions based on stipends, but that is by far the lowest financial package I've seen, with the greatest amount of teaching commitments. I think this is the university's fault though, not the department. Really great program though. Madison may count on the recall elections
balderdash Posted February 17, 2012 Posted February 17, 2012 OK, well the Wisconsin-Madison stipend is apparently $11552 for a 16 hour/week TA commitment every year. I don't advocate making decisions based on stipends, but that is by far the lowest financial package I've seen, with the greatest amount of teaching commitments. I think this is the university's fault though, not the department. Really great program though. UGH.
Helix Posted February 17, 2012 Posted February 17, 2012 UGH. I second this. I'm also feeling a little neglected on the communications front from Madison and it's making me even more nervous waiting to hear back.
dienekes Posted February 18, 2012 Posted February 18, 2012 I second this. I'm also feeling a little neglected on the communications front from Madison and it's making me even more nervous waiting to hear back. Yeah, I got an saying the funding package would be out in "about a week." That was 9 days ago.
balthasar Posted February 18, 2012 Posted February 18, 2012 To be fair, 9 days can still be considered "about a week"
dienekes Posted February 18, 2012 Posted February 18, 2012 To be fair, 9 days can still be considered "about a week" But tomorrow it will be clearly within striking distance of "a week and a half." Which, if I remember my rounding-to-nearest-week correctly, would be "about two weeks." Terrible! Absolutely terrible.
balthasar Posted February 18, 2012 Posted February 18, 2012 With all due respect, I think "a week and a half" is not a point between "about a week" and "about two weeks". It is a more precise temporal expression which can only be classified together with "a week", "two weeks" "two and a half weeks" and the like. So "about a week" only certainly ends when we hit the point of "two weeks", anything before that can still be considered "about a week". Of course, you may argue that this Sunday onward (when it will exceed "a week and a half") the more preferable expression to refer to the time passed after your phone call would be "about two weeks". While that is true, we should not forget that unlike their more precise cousins, the "about" famiglia does not have a cutting point where one ends and the next one begins. Rather, the succession happens through fading away and melting into each other. Thus the time between Sunday (the 11th day) and Wednesday (14th day) could be described as an interval where "about a week" and "about two weeks" overlap. In this case, if Madison contacts you before Feb 22 (Wednesday) they will meet their promise of informing you in "about a week" .
RWBG Posted February 19, 2012 Posted February 19, 2012 (edited) OK, well the Wisconsin-Madison stipend is apparently $11552 for a 16 hour/week TA commitment every year. I don't advocate making decisions based on stipends, but that is by far the lowest financial package I've seen, with the greatest amount of teaching commitments. I think this is the university's fault though, not the department. Really great program though. One thing I forgot to note; apparently the tuition waiver does NOT cover $539 in student fees per semester... so the effective stipend is more like $10474... Edit: So, I suspect this not enough to live on, even in Madison. I would/will check about summer funding opportunities, and would look into taking a modest supplementary loan if I end up choosing to go to Wisconsin, probably of about $5000/year. Then the question becomes, is the marginal benefit of Madison over another school greater than the cost of $25,000 (at least) of increased debt over five years? Assuming 50 years of working afterwards, if you think the degree will increase your income by $500/year more than the next best alternative (neglecting interest rates for simplicity) then it still makes sense. That is, of course, neglecting intangible consumption benefits of going to your preferred choice of school, which may make Madison even more of a compelling option. So while I think this financial package is disappointing, I don't think it should necessarily deter people too much from choosing it. Edited February 19, 2012 by RWBG
brent09 Posted February 19, 2012 Posted February 19, 2012 One thing I forgot to note; apparently the tuition waiver does NOT cover $539 in student fees per semester... so the effective stipend is more like $10474... Edit: So, I suspect this not enough to live on, even in Madison. I would/will check about summer funding opportunities, and would look into taking a modest supplementary loan if I end up choosing to go to Wisconsin, probably of about $5000/year. Then the question becomes, is the marginal benefit of Madison over another school greater than the cost of $25,000 (at least) of increased debt over five years? Assuming 50 years of working afterwards, if you think the degree will increase your income by $500/year more than the next best alternative (neglecting interest rates for simplicity) then it still makes sense. That is, of course, neglecting intangible consumption benefits of going to your preferred choice of school, which may make Madison even more of a compelling option. So while I think this financial package is disappointing, I don't think it should necessarily deter people too much from choosing it. Got the same letter. I was actually a bit frustrated that the packet did not include any firm offer, just an "at least this much" offer. Every other program has made a firm offer, conditional only on being awarded a fellowship (Ã la PSU). I agree that this seems insufficient. You can live on less than you think -- I have been for the past two years! -- but it would be difficult to maintain a decent social life, fund any of your own travels, or manage any significant expenses (car payment, insurance, car repairs). And I was flabbergasted that they expected for students to pay $1k+ per year in fees. They also can't guarantee summer funding, which would effectively mean needing to leave Madison for the summer, which presents its own challenges. Nothing against the department, it's not their fault. But $11.5k (only going up to $13k for ABDs) just isn't close to being competitive. Many of their admittees will be offered twice as much at other (similarly well-ranked) programs. Not to mention that many could be tempted by much larger stipends at lower-ranked institutions. You don't make decisions based on stipends alone, but when you're considering strong programs -- as many UW-M admittees will be! -- the UW-M offer is going to be hard to sell.
kolja00 Posted February 19, 2012 Posted February 19, 2012 Within the big 10, OSU and Minnesota offer waaay more than that with a comparable cost of living. And it is not like Ohio's financial situation is much better.
brent09 Posted February 19, 2012 Posted February 19, 2012 ^True. And I might get flak for this, but how does the department maintain such high rankings? I would think that the funding situation would put UW-M at a competitive disadvantage vis-Ã -vis other top programs, which would theoretically lead to UW-M's admitted pool bleeding top talent to other schools. Over time, surely that would negatively impact placement and rankings, right? (Granted, rankings tend to lag, and maybe my assumptions about prospective student behavior are totally off-base.) No doubt UW-M has top-tier faculty. Maybe that's the difference.
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