CUNY 2013

[waterelf]

Congrats to all the fellow CUNY admits!

 

I've been lurking on here for quite a while now, and I haven't been able to find any good info on CUNY from past threads so I thought I'd start one here. 

 

From what I've heard about the program, the reviews seem to be mixed. I unfortunately can't make it to the accepted students day, so I was hoping I could get some more info here. I do plan on emailing some current students and faculty, but it might be beneficial to everyone in this forum this year (and in future years) if people can share their opinions/inside info on the program here. 

 

Some things I'm wondering about are: how the program is in general and how it compares to higher-ranked programs, what the deal with funding is (I received that tuition fellowship like a lot of other people on here), how much adjunct teaching we're expected to do, the culture of the department, or anything else at all! I admit that I really don't know that much about the program, and I'll have to make a decision without ever visiting or meeting faculty and students, so any advice or information you can provide would be a big help! 

[LugubriousJones]

Hey! I'm also unable to go to the visit day so appreciate any info/impressions from those who are able to attend.

[socgrad2013]

Lugubrious, I made a decision similar to the one you're confronting. PM me if you want my opinion.

 

Waterelf, what are your choices? If you are really planning on attending CUNY with only your tuition covered, do you have a plan for living in NYC without funding, possibly for multiple years?

[waterelf]

Well, I still haven't heard back from everywhere yet, but so far CUNY is my only acceptance, and I'm not holding my breath for any more. I would definitely NOT go if only tuition is covered. Here's what the acceptance email said:

 

"Please bear in mind that you are still under consideration for multi-year funding packages as they become available and it is possible that you will eventually be awarded one of these.  We will let you know about that as soon as we are in a position to do so.  Should you receive a multi-year package, we will pass on the Graduate B Fellowship to another worthy student." 

 

So, it seems like the jury's still out on funding. Which is why I'm wondering how they usually operate re funding. Do most students get funding? How many do not? I can't imagine starting a program unfunded is an option for many people. Certainly isn't for me! 

[socgrad2013]

I posted something about this in the acceptance thread (I think it's around page 19 or 20) with a link to the CUNY funding situation.

 

This is, and was when I visited, my impression of CUNY's funding strategy: since they need adjunct teachers to staff the many city colleges that are scattered around NYC, they admit a lot of graduate students on flexible, short term contracts that can be moved around as demand fluctuates. So many students are able to teach, but their labor conditions are pretty exploitative: essentially they do the work of community college professors (teaching their own classes) without receiving any long term commitment from the department.

 

Other people have pointed out that CUNY is giving out some more fellowships now (which you might be able to snag if you really want to go to CUNY and communicate that to the DGS, and if the department is trying hard to recruit you), and that CUNY students sometimes win outside funding or get nice second jobs to supplement their education (you are, after all, in NYC), but to that I would counter that even if your situation is good, your cohort is going to have a lot of people working themselves to the bone to get a Ph.D. from a department outside the top 25, and it's inevitable that some of them will grow jaded, pessimistic, and bitter. And that was definitely the vibe I got from the students I met when I visited CUNY a few years ago.

 

A lot of schools have yet to notify so I hope enormously that you get another acceptance. If you don't, it might be worth getting your feet wet at CUNY if you can figure out a way to support yourself in NYC. But I wouldn't recommend trying to finish a Ph.D. there.

 

That's just my experience and opinion, though.

[RandomDood]

I agree with what socgrad said, but I'd like to point out a few other facts to balance the scale.

 

1) I think CUNY can be considered a rather "etherodox" and "non-mainstream" universities from a purely academic point of view (if this makes any sense, but I think yall understand what I mean). This entails that, on one hand, rankings don't entirely do justice to the quality of the work of faculty there (this is obiously my personal opinion, anyone is welcome to disagree) so you might not receive the recognition you deserve once you earn your PhD. On the other, if you like that kind of "departmental vibe" (as in, overall more politically engaged and liberal than your average university) I think you could consider CUNY's "heterodoxy" as an important plus.

 

2) As pointed out by SocialGroovements elsewhere on this forum (), especially for universities in the 25-40 subfield really matters. As far as my knowledge goes, CUNY is for example particularly strong in social movements, and has a few scholars who are among the leading "heterodox" social movement academics worldwide (heterodox in that they generally run counter to the political opportunity structure/resource mobilization/quantitative-oriented paradigms which are dominant in most top-ranking departments). 

 

3) Concerning funding, socgrad2013 is absolutely right. Although I pointed out in another topic that the 5-year fellowships do offer a great deal for prospective students, that still can't change the overall "cohort vibe" (good point, socgrad, I hadn't considered that ;-) ). My masters supervisor and mentor told me that if I don't get my hands on a 5-year funding package I should quite simply just not take their offer into consideration.

 

Just my 2 cents (3 actually).

[Darth.Vegan]

I agree. I would not even consider an offer that doesn't include a tuition waver and some semblance of a monthly stipend. 

[RefurbedScientist]

I was accepted to CUNY once upon a time and got a similar email about funding. Something to the effect of "We'll get back to you about your funding package." Problem is, they never got back to me. I think it was a mere logistical failure on their part, they weren't trying to short-change me. But April 15th loomed and I had solid packages elsewhere while CUNY just kept me hanging.

Based on my personal experience, if I were you I would hound the DGS for more information on the funding package sooner rather than later. Maybe wait until after the visit day-- they use that to gauge the number of people going to accept the offer. If you've been in touch with a professor there, you can try to go through her or him too. This is especially useful if the professor is based at the GC and not one of the other campuses.

I went to the visit day and maintain a pretty close relationship with happenings at CUNY still, so I'll try to speak to some of your other questions here.

1) How CUNY compares to higher ranked programs: The faculty at CUNY are pretty much as good as anywhere in the top 25 and there's a lot of them. However, some of them are spread out over the city. So while all your classes will be held at the GC in midtown, the person you really want to be your advisor might be at Queens College or something. That doesn't mean it can't work out, it just means you won't always be down the hall from your advisor. CUNY grads seem to do above average in the NYC job market (i.e. lots of CUNY GC grads at CUNY schools), but I think they fair about what you would expect for the ranking elsewhere. That is, I don't think CUNY punches above its weight in the same way similarly ranked UCI does. I think the main reason for that is resources.

2) On funding: My impression was that funding was all over the place. Everyone works for their money (TAs, RAs, adjuncts, etc.). Most people do adjunct teaching at colleges in the city, especially during their dissertation phase. That can lead to longer times to degree (one prof at CUNY said the department average was something like 7.5-8 years, which is only about a year higher than the average across programs I think). One thing I really didn't like about CUNY is that your adjunct teaching won't be at the GC. You would teach at any of the CUNY campuses or at other schools around the city. So maybe you have class at the GC and teach at Brooklyn College. You do have some flexibility in where you teach, so that you can aim to teach at a college near where you live, but that college will still not be the same campus as the sociology department. This is true of TAing also.

3) As RandomDood said, the culture of the department is definitely more politically involved than others. As a public university in NYC, I think it attracts those kinds of students. That can also mean a longer time to degree (that is, if you're an activist), but it can also be a great opportunity for research (plenty of OWS research going on at CUNY, for example). Also, the cohort is big, and people are spread out. It's not going to be as close knit a cohort as you might get at a smaller program or one in a more activity-limited location. Some people will live in Harlem and others in Brooklyn. Those people will probably never see each other outside of class and maybe the occasional happy hour. That's more a function of going to school in NYC than it is CUNY, though.

4) Something else you need to know: The NYC Consortium! If you go to school at CUNY, Columbia, NYU, New School, or Princeton, you can take any class at any of those schools and the cost is covered by your home institution (so if you're funded, it's free). Not only can you enroll in any class you want at any of these institutions, but you can have those faculty on your committee. The consortium should not be a deciding factor in picking a program (I think funding and ranking should trump), but it's definitely a perk.

Edited February 13, 2013 by SocialGroovements

[LugubriousJones]

socgrad2013 -- thanks! I'll PM

 

SocialGroovements and others --

 

Thanks so much for this insight; it's all very helpful.  I'm quite impressed with the faculty, and they are particularly strong in my subfield.  I do wonder about the varying level of involvement of profs who are based at other universities, but it seems like they are available for mentorship/advising even if they aren't as active in teaching at the GC.  

 

I was also going to ask about the interuniversity consortium.  Does anyone have any experience with this or know others who do?  How easy is it to enroll in courses at other schools?  I assume that enrollment priority goes to students in the department, so maybe it's not always so simple, but maybe I'm wrong about this.  

[waterelf]

Thanks for all this awesome insight! It's so important to have as much info as possible, so I really appreciate your input. I definitely need to talk with some current students as well to get more of a feeling about what it's like to be in the program. 

[RefurbedScientist]

I was also going to ask about the interuniversity consortium. Does anyone have any experience with this or know others who do? How easy is it to enroll in courses at other schools? I assume that enrollment priority goes to students in the department, so maybe it's not always so simple, but maybe I'm wrong about this.

Not sure how it works at CUNY specifically, but it's common that you can't enroll off campus until the second year. So no consortium classes until year 2. You can audit at other universities anytime, though. Enrollment priority does go to students in the department, but I haven't yet encountered an issue with classes filling up. People cross-enroll literally all of the time. It's usually good to be in touch with the faculty you're interest in taking the class with ahead of time. They'll need to give you an enrollment code for you to register. The earlier you do that, the more likely you are to get in the class.

Edited February 15, 2013 by SocialGroovements

[waterelf]

Has anyone received a funding package other than the "Tuition Fellowship"? I'm wondering if they just haven't made decisions regarding funding yet, or if I'll only be receiving the tuition fellowship. 

[LugubriousJones]

Has anyone received a funding package other than the "Tuition Fellowship"? I'm wondering if they just haven't made decisions regarding funding yet, or if I'll only be receiving the tuition fellowship. 

 

They have definitely given out 5 year fellowships that cover stipend and summer research, but I don't know how many.  I assume they made the initial funding decisions already and are just seeing where things fall depending on how many accept.  Best of luck.

[RandomDood]

They have definitely given out 5 year fellowships that cover stipend and summer research, but I don't know how many.  I assume they made the initial funding decisions already and are just seeing where things fall depending on how many accept.  Best of luck.

 

Thank you for the info.

May I ask where you got the information from?

This is rather disappointing, since I was seriously considering CUNY (I fell in love with the faculty there), but I was counting on the fact that they way have been able to offer me one of the 5-year fellowships. Otherwise I'm afraid it would be a no-go for me :-(

[LugubriousJones]

Thank you for the info.

May I ask where you got the information from?

This is rather disappointing, since I was seriously considering CUNY (I fell in love with the faculty there), but I was counting on the fact that they way have been able to offer me one of the 5-year fellowships. Otherwise I'm afraid it would be a no-go for me :-(

Just sent you a message. All I know is that they gave some fellowships in the first round of acceptances first week of feb. how they plan to allocate more or make any further funding decisions is just speculation.

[waterelf]

Hey everyone,

 

Did anyone make it to the Open Day yesterday? I couldn't go, but I'm wondering how it was, and what your impressions were. I'm very curious, as it remains my top choice. (Feel free to PM me too if you don't want to lay it all out here in public.)

 

Thanks!

[LugubriousJones]

Hey everyone,

 

Did anyone make it to the Open Day yesterday? I couldn't go, but I'm wondering how it was, and what your impressions were. I'm very curious, as it remains my top choice. (Feel free to PM me too if you don't want to lay it all out here in public.)

 

Thanks!

 

I was just going to ask the same thing.  Please share (or PM me too).  Thanks!

[RandomDood]

Soooo...nobody went to the Open Day?  

[RandomDood]

Hey!

Anyone else attending CUNY in September?

I'm an European student and was admitted to the PhD program, and will be moving to NY in July...

Please do get in touch with me if you will be attending too! :-)