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How shady is this?


TulipOHare

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I posted this in Tumbleweed's thread about admits with no funding, but now I'm rooting around in my lockbox for some strategery and wanted y'all's thoughts.

So I'm going for an MA and am well aware that these are not usually funded. The confusing bit is that both schools have said they MIGHT fund me... and can't tell me yet.

School A: Enrollment deadline is April 15th. They will not be able to say anything at all about any funding (scholarships, grants, or assistantships) until June. I asked them if I can know anything about my chances any sooner and they said no. I asked them if I can enroll after April 15th and they said yes, but it will substantially reduce my odds of getting anything because the school only considers you for scholarships if you met the deadline, and doles out budgets for assistantships based on the headcount as of April 16th.

School B: Enrollment deadline is May 15th. I am being considered for some kind of scholarship, and results of that go in the mail on April 15th. I asked them if there's any way I can know about my chances sooner -- no response (e-mailed Friday afternoon).

In response to this very shady situation, I am considering doing one of the following very shady things:

[1] Put in deposits at both schools, then pull out of one later. (Can I even do this?)

[2] Put in a deposit at School A. If School B comes through with something before May 15th, pull out of School A, enroll in School B. Watch bridges burn at School A (right?). (And again, is this even possible?)

[3] Make decision assuming I will get nothing. Be happy if the school I chose eventually comes through for me. Be sad if the school I didn't choose later sends me money. Be indifferent if neither give me anything.

[4] Sit around and hope for some kind of miracle (this is what I'm doing right now, but it's not working).

[5] Other (suggestions?)

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I'm in the same boat. My first choice school gives out some TAships, but not until after they have their class put together (that is, AFTER you commit to going.) I applied for one, they know I really want one, and I know I am in their first round of admissions offers.

Here are the complications:

1. I don't know how much the funding would even be, if I got one of the TAships. I know a best case scenario number, but maybe they'll divide them up to partially fund more people.

2. I don't know if the decisions are based on need, merit or a combination of the two.

3. I don't know when I'll know. (He said "late spring")

4. I definitely cannot afford the school if I don't get aid.

5. I have a full tuition offer at another school--I would still have to take out loans to live on--but since I've gone through the interview process I've realized that my heart would not be in it if I went there. I am about to decline that offer.

Now, both of these schools have asked me to give an answer before April 15th (I know!) but I don't even feel like it is worth asking for more time. I've basically decided that I don't want to go to No Tuition School no matter what, and that I would go to Top Choice School with funding, but I cannot go without. I don't really need more time to decide those things. I'm still waiting on a couple of answers from one schools that *might* change things, but probably not (it will likely be more expensive with no aid.)

So I'm going to say yes to Top Choice and hope for the best. The really frustrating thing is that I thought this process would be over soon. Instead I'm about to be in a place where I will be waiting until who knows when to find out if I will go to Top Choice school in the fall.

So, Tulip, after all that rambling about my situation, my answer to you is NO, I don't think maximizing your ability to go somewhere with funding is unethical. The school should be able to to tell you if you get funding when they ask you to make a decision. It is unfair (and really irritating and out of touch with the realities of paying for these programs) to not give you all the information before asking you to make a decision. If they can't tell you, well, they should know you're a flight risk if you get a better offer.

If my program were to tell me "look, there's no money" I would be sad, but I would be able to tell them, "then I can't come. you can offer my place to someone else." But since they can't tell me, I'm just going to accept my offer and then pull out if no money comes through or something changes with one of the offers I'm waiting on.

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I may also have to accept an offer with funding pending and pull out if funding does not materialize. And I totally agree that:

The school should be able to to tell you if you get funding when they ask you to make a decision. It is unfair (and really irritating and out of touch with the realities of paying for these programs) to not give you all the information before asking you to make a decision. If they can't tell you, well, they should know you're a flight risk if you get a better offer.
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I vote for #3.

I would also ask some pointed questions about the likelihood of funding. How many people got funded last year? What are your odds?

You can seek out sources of information other than the grad chair at the schools. Are the TAs unionized? If they are, e-mail the union and see if they know what the normal income was for students in that department, or if there is any priority language about who gets TAships that works in your favour. Usually the collective agreement will be on the union website, and will have the priority language in it. Figure out who the woman in charge of administering graduate awards for your department is. Be extremely nice to her, ask her for info, and then bring her chocolate if you accept.

I'm obviously an information junkie, but it worked out for me. I received a formal letter of funding with a first year that was worth $15 000 LESS than the informal e-mail offer the grad chair had sent me. When I asked, she said that I was waitlisted for a $15 000 award that "almost always" went to a waitlist and that it was a "near certainty" that I would get the money. Of course I wanted to be a little bit more certain than that, so I e-mailed the awards worker who administers my department in the faculty of graduate studies, and asked her how likely it was the award would go to the waitlist. She confirmed everything the grad chair said. Huge for peace of mind! And admin workers usually have more free time than grad chairs.

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Figure out who the Person in charge of administering graduate awards for your department is. Be extremely nice to her, ask her for info, and then bring her chocolate if you accept.

I did this--the very nice part. The person was very nice in return, but did not know. I even asked the person to estimate my odds between "basically no chance" and "some chance."

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I have been very nice to School A and they have been very nice in responding that they absolutely positively cannot tell me a single thing. I have been nice to School B by e-mail and have been rewarded with silence; I will be nice to them by phone today, and see if that gets me anywhere. If it does, I'm going to continue with #4 a bit longer; if it doesn't, I'm doing #2. If School A gets pissed that I pulled out because I got a good deal at School B while School A was sitting on their hands, they can suck it.

UPDATE, 90 minutes later: Called Financial Aid and they told me that they didn't have me down for any funding and that almost all programs have sent them funding decisions, but I should call my program and ask. Called SLP dept and the secretary said they have not made ANY funding decisions and will probably do so early next week; she advised e-mailing the grad coordinator to double-check. So I have, and I included paeans to the program's greatness to boot.

Meanwhile, the clock ticks! April 15th mocks me...

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Supposedly, you're not supposed to say "yes" to one program while waiting on a list for another program - b/c if you have to change your mind, its bad form (my advisor told me this)

But I totally want to do it anyways :lol:

I'm probably going to just ask for a week extension - if I don't hear back from the other program in that week, then sayonara PhD.... :cry:

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