I have a problem on my hands.

[LawrencevonBuskirk]

I have a fully funded Ph.D offer from U Kentucky, and I'm 4th on the waitlist of 9 for the same at U Oregon. Yesterday I was informed that I've been accepted to The New School For Social Research with a %50 tuition waiver.

 

The New School was a total "long shot" school for me; it was pretty much the "longest shot." It's one of the few primarily continental schools that actually made Leiter's list (not that this list matters much to me). But now I'm faced with the decision of either taking an only partially funded offer in an expensive city from a prestigious university or taking the full-ride from a lesser known school. Not that Kentucky is bad by any stretch, but it's no New School.

 

If I end up getting an offer from Oregon, I will most likely go there without losing any sleep over The New School. But going to Kentucky over NS, even if the former is funded, will be a tough decision.

 

A friend in New York says that he can get me a job. But such things aren't definite or guaranteed.

 

Any thoughts, advice, information?

 

My specific interests: social and political philosophy, Marx and 20th century Marxism (esp. Frankfurt School Critical Theory), Arendt, "existentialism," Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, the French scene from 1940-1960 (i.e. Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, Beauvoir, and Camus), philosophy of language, meta-ethics.

[MKEPhil]

Judging by New School's website, their program will still cost around 25k to complete after the 50% discount.  Adding the cost of living of NYC to that means a pretty hefty loan (or working full time through your PhD).  It seems that it may be hard to finish the program either working so much or going into so much debt, let alone the job prospects after graduation.

 

For me, I decided before applying that any program without a full waiver (if I've been been offered a funded position) was equivalent to a rejection.  This is just my opinion of course.

[magog]

Personally I would not have accepted an offer that did not include a full tuition waiver and some sort of stipend.  However, everyone's financial situation is different.  It seems unlikely to me, however, that one would be able to be successful in a philosophy PhD program if one is working an additional job for any significant number of hours during coursework.  So, if it were me, I would take the funded offer with no regrets.  BUT, it's not me.

 

Congrats on the offers, in any case, and rest easy in the knowledge that none of us will get jobs no matter what school we attend.

[LeftInLimbo]

You'll have a few problems if you go into debt while also working while trying to complete your PhD.  At this time, I don't see any problem.

Edited March 23, 2013 by LeftInLimbo

[blumenbergian]

Great as the New School is, yeah, I don't see how you can turn down a fully funded PhD offer. 

[BernardJOrtcutt]

Yes, but do you HAVE HANDS?

[LawrencevonBuskirk]

Yes, but do you HAVE HANDS?

 

 

Well, *here* is a hand....

[eugvdeb]

My opinion, for what it's worth, is similar to magog's. I would not have accepted an offer which required me to take out any more loans or do a substantial amount of work that is not related or only tangentially related to gaining experience as a philosopher. This is partly because I partially funded an MA for myself (I had roughly a 75% tuition waiver over two years, but still accrued about 12,000 in loans), so I told myself when I was applying that I would either accept a completely funded offer or else decide whether to take time off or just do something else. However, it's also because I decided at the end of my MA that my decision to pursue the PhD was concomitant with an acceptance of the professionalization end of doctoral work. My current stipend package is pretty nice in that it is not time consuming, and allows ample time for coursework, so I am able to consider my own development as a philosopher a full-time job within reason (in other words I also try to have a social life on top of the workload).

 

For me, those all would be strong reasons to take the Kentucky offer and turn down the New School. The New School seems like an amazing place with exciting faculty and graduate students, but I just don't know how one either works a separate full-time job or ammassses so much debt. Doctoral students deserve to be paid a decent living wage for their work, and to me, an offer that doesn't even grant full tuition is a non-starter. I will not grandstand about the president of NSSR's salary and I acknowledge that funding possibilities can be beyond a department's control; I just don't understand how anyone could go into a PhD without full funding. From what you've said, I was basically of your mindset when I applied to NSSR during my year, but I was not accepted.

 

As you wait for Oregon's waitlist, it could be worth contacting Kentucky to ask about additional funding potential such as support for conferences, summer workshops, and language programs abroad. An offer with some financial support for conferences, and maybe languages, on top of a completely livable TA package seems like an offer that is stupid to turn down for more debt and/or stress from another job.

[maxhgns]

I'm not a fan of the NSSR for the following reasons:

 

*The funding sucks.The debt one would have to accrue is horrendous (especially for a nominally Marxist institution!).

*The placement, from what I gather, is not great. Unfortunately, given the funding, this becomes a very serious problem.

*There are about ten full-time faculty members for over 100 students. That's a truly shitty ratio.

 

I appreciate that NSSR's faculty are excellent, and I'm sure the quality of education there is also excellent. But I just can't see how one could reasonably attend the program, given the above. I certainly don't think that the NSSR's advantages outweigh the full funding you're being offered at Kentucky and (probably) Oregon.

[bakedalaska]

Max speaks the truth.

[LawrencevonBuskirk]

Thank you for the comments, everyone. I think I was letting my "oh dear lord, New School!" emotions get the better of me here.

[Billy Goehring]

I'm not a fan of the NSSR for the following reasons:

 

*The funding sucks.The debt one would have to accrue is horrendous (especially for a nominally Marxist institution!).

*The placement, from what I gather, is not great. Unfortunately, given the funding, this becomes a very serious problem.

*There are about ten full-time faculty members for over 100 students. That's a truly shitty ratio.

 

I appreciate that NSSR's faculty are excellent, and I'm sure the quality of education there is also excellent. But I just can't see how one could reasonably attend the program, given the above. I certainly don't think that the NSSR's advantages outweigh the full funding you're being offered at Kentucky and (probably) Oregon.

This! Especially with regard to placement.

At almost any other program, you're going to have at least some degree of collegiality. The NSSR students I've met spend so much time working outside of class, they're lucky if they know their colleagues' names.

In any funded program, you'll hopefully receive a T.A. position, and teaching will be an important part of your degree. I can't imagine entering the job market with little to no teaching experience, and without really knowing my professors (how could you expect them to write you an informed recommendation?). 

 

We all know that the faculty at NSSR are dazzling, but--unless you have a way to fund your degree and find your own avenues for teaching--I wouldn't take the offer, personally.