I have full funding- but no admissions yet.

[MeliBee]

Hi all,

I am an international student applying for a PhD in the US. I got a scholarship from my country that will pay for my tuition and expenses for 5 years.

I was told it would increase my chances to get admission but I applied to 4 schools and one rejected me without interview, one I interviewed with just a week ago and I haven't heard from the other 2. My stats are good but not impressive, but I do have a MS, significant research experience and production. 

 

I would like your advice: Should I write to the remaining schools and remind them that I have funding? Will it make any difference for good or for bad? The school that rejected me seems to have ignored that fact, I don't know if it was clear in my application or I was so bad for them that it didn't even matter. sigh.  

 

Thank you!

Edited February 28, 2013 by adriana81

[Quantum Buckyball]

I personally won't write to the remaining schools about funding situation.

It would make you look like you're trying to buy your way into graduate school, which could do you more harm than good.

Edited February 28, 2013 by Quantum Buckyball

[Ken Watanabe]

It really depends on the school; some of them directly states that Financial Doc (which your scholarship represents) is required after getting admission, others don't state that, which in your case you can include in your application. I have also won a fellowship in my country, but the amount of funding is way too less than yours (just 2 years). I included that information into my SOP, and so far so good I guess.

 

I think in your situation, one of the possible way is to kindly request for the status of your application (you can say that to check whether there is something wrong with your app, etc.). And you kindly inform them of your financial status, which you have already secured your own funding. I think it is a big opportunity for you.

[dumpling]

I wrote one of the schools I really want to attend, saying that I wouldn't mind not getting funding for the first year'.  I guess it really depends on how your phrase this.  You can make it sound like you really love the program, and try to say 'would it help increase my chance if I can afford the tuition myself'?  Just my opinion...

[selecttext]

Always mention to POIs that you have external funding. Having a scholarship or fellowship is an honour and reflects well on you. It is not 'buying' your way into graduate school - it is adding to your appeal. The purpose of external funding is usually to allow you to study anything you want anywhere in the world

[TakeruK]

I agree with selecttext, whenever you talk to POIs, you should mention that you are bringing in funding. I think it's important because applications contain a lot of info and that piece of data might be missed or not known to someone not on the admissions committee. But I don't know how to randomly bring it up out of the blue!

 

But bringing in funding doesn't mean you'll be favoured to get in. It depends on the source of your funding too. Sometimes external funding is correlated with admission because the funding comes from an agency that the school knows and trusts to pick out good candidates. I don't know the source of your funding -- it might not be as helpful if the schools don't know what it is! Even though the scholarship pays full fees and your stipend, you aren't 100% free to the school. It will cost the profs' time to train you and departments/profs have to pay overhead to the school for each student (supposedly it cover things like office space and other resources).

 

If a department had to choose between a good student without external funding and a mediocre student with external funding, I think that most departments would choose to pay for the good student. I don't mean to imply that the OP isn't a good student, though!!! I just want to illustrate that having outside money alone isn't going to necessarily make a big difference in admission. There IS a correlation between students with external funding and students who are admitted but I think it's because the best students win fellowships, not because of the extra money.

 

In addition, I see many departments that normally fully fund students now having a paragraph that explains they will NOT accept students who are "self-funded". I don't think it will hurt you if you say you are willing to pay for tuition yourself (unless you come off with an attitude of trying to buy your way into grad school), but it's probably not going to help.

[MeliBee]

Thank you all for your advice.

I had to compete with many applicants to get that scholarship and it is a very reliable source since it is equivalent to Fulbright in my country. I was pretty confident until I got that first rejection, it felt horrible that they didn't even want to interview me and I thought it would be a backup choice. I am not so optimistic now. I am thinking that maybe if I receive another rejection I can ask if they considered that I have funding. I don't think it can hurt at that point. I am kind of worried because I only have one more year to find a school, I am feeling like I won the lottery and I can't use the money.  

Edited February 28, 2013 by adriana81