Bioscience PhD Program Stipends

[diamedic17]

Hi guys!!

 

I'm in the middle of my application/interview stage for grad school as I'm sure you can remember is terribly stressful but I have a question regarding the stipends.

 

I spoke with a professor on an admissions committee at a school I was considering applying to and he stated that sometimes they will offer a "sign on" bonus to get students to commit early.  Is this common practice?  Did you have this happen to you?  

 

The basic story is that when they send admission acceptance letters with the stipend package and any additional fellowships they are offering they will also add a "sign on" bonus of between 5,000-10,000 dollars.  If you accept within 2 weeks you get the full amount and then the bonus sort of drops off at increments until it goes to zero around the April 15 deadline.  

 

Thanks and Merry Christmas!!

[prettyuff1]

 i  wish...

[juilletmercredi]

This sounds unethical, honestly.  It's using money to lure students into making hasty decisions, instead of allowing them the full amount of time to consider their options and compare packages.  It also sounds like it may be being used to disguise crappy packages or other internal problems in a particular program or department.  If a program's package and offerings are good enough, they shouldn't need to offer a signing bonus.  The program and package's merits would stand on their own.

 

I've never heard of this before, and I think I would have an automatic prejudice against a program that did this.