UW-Madi$on

[adverbially]

I know a number of you here have posted acceptances to UW-Madison. I'm currently on the wait list and am trying to decide between Wisconsin and another school ahead of time in the lucky event that I'll have to make a decision quickly after April 15. OK, really, I'd just like to spend as long as possible agonizing over a choice I may not even have to make. At any rate, I've clearly been scouring the Madison Craigslist site for apartment info and have committed the department website to memory, but there's one gap in my information: Funding. Are any of you willing to share information about the funding package you've been offered?

[draff]

The letter said:

To provide you with financial support and professional training during your time in our program, this offer of admission brings with it four years of guaranteed financial support, most likely in the form of a Teaching Assistantship, beginning in your second year of the program. (...skipping...)Teaching Assistants currently earn between $9,799 and $18,572 per academic year, depending on their level of experience and their appointment level. (...skipping...) a beginning TA teaching composition currently earns $10,315, a TA with 1 year of teaching experience teaching the same course earns $10,720, and an experienced TA who also works 8 hours a week in the Writing Center currently earns $16,081. (...skipping...) Assistantships include tuition waivers... (...skipping...) We also hope to be able to offer you a Project Assistantship to support you during your first year of study (...skipping...) English department will subsidize your travel to one professional conference per year; additional subsidies for conference travel and archival research are competitively available through the Graduate School

Also, they offered 200 dollars of travel expenses and a couch to sleep on (or equivalent: maybe sleeping bag?) for their campus visit at the end of the month.

So, basically, I read that as saying 10-15k depending on experience and how much work you can get, and they'll try to sort out Project Assistantships to cover the first year for people...but no guarantees.

Hope that helps you make your decision.

[lotf629]

Hi adverbially,

Sorry I didn't respond to your earlier PM. BTW, I did go ahead and turn down UW-Madison, early this week. If my memory serves, they offered me 1-2 years at $15,000...probably enough to cut it for 9 months in Madison, which is wicked cheap, but I don't think I was offered a full 4-5 years of funding. Then again, I don't have the offer in front of me so I might have gotten that part wrong.

[abphd]

Hey adverbially, I'm waitlisted there as well and waiting to hear more soon!

[nicholysseus]

For the record, the Writing Center at Madison is AWESOME and I know several grad students who love working there--it's their favorite part of being a grad student, no lie. I did my undergraduate there (Madison, that is, not the Writing Center), and I worked fairly closely with the guy in charge of the WC, Brad Hughes (former Rhodes Scholar, nicest man you can ever meet, so you can't even hate him a little for being so amazing). So, while 8 hours may sound like a lot of work, it promises to be enjoyable from everything I've heard. You'll actually be helping people, so if you are going into academia in part to teach, it's a great place to be.

Hope this helps! Best of luck to you all.