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Company sending me for my PhD, but causing an issue...


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Okay, I am in a pretty good spot, all things considered. US citizens going for engineering PhD's are now few enough that my defense contractor employer is going to pay my way through grad school.

Upsides:

They pull full tuition, fees, books, etc.

Keep my benefits

Get 50-60% of my base pay (well above the most generous RA/TA positions or fellowships)

Potential housing stipend above and beyond salary

Downsides:

I will be expected to maintain an average of 20 hrs/wk doing company work besides being a full-time grad student. Kind of like being a TA, in theory.

I will periodically need to appear at a company facility... more on this later

I will incur an obligation to stay with the company for a number of years past graduation

This is all subject to a whole seperate approval chain through my company

Schools:

PrivateU is located near a company facility, is the alma mater of the boss that made this all happen, does very interesting work, and offered me a generous but largely ornamental fellowship. PrivateU is less prestigious in engineering (if higher overall), has a higher cost of living (my income is invariant), and will take longer to complete, but is still very much a possibility for me. PrivateU wants some advance notice of my April 15 decision so that they can award the fellowship elsewhere - quite reasonable and understandable.

PublicU is located 2 hours from the nearest facility (making weekly meetings an impossibility), also does very interesting work, is more presitigous, faster, and much more affordable. It is also the school to which my wife would like to apply next year. PublicU's problem is mostly the remoteness - much of my work I can do from home, but I would probably need to make that drive every week or two for meetings and classified work. PublicU did not offer me any funding - I was ineligible for TA because I have a masters already (odd policy), did not get a fellowship, and my advisor is still sorting out potential RA funding. Should not be an issue...

The Issue: My company approval process.

Although I was given a verbal go-ahead for the apps, I did not get all of my decisions until a few weeks ago, and could not visit until last week. I have put in the paperwork for PublicU through my chain of command, but the VP who needs to approve it is gone for the week - the best I can hope for now is to get a decision on 4/13. I will not know (1) if I can even go and (2) if I will get a housing stipend.

If the VP says yes to PublicU, I am golden. If the VP says no to PublicU (because of the remoteness) I either stay at work or go to PrivateU. If I do not get the housing stipend I may want the fellowship, as the difference in income is not worth the workload.

So to recap: I will not know until 4/13 where I can go to school and if I will need the fellowship. I have a professor who is asking me for advance notice that I cannot give, so I can either take a blind leap and possibly screw myself, or else hold fast until 4/13 and probably screw someone else out of a fellowship opportunity.

Any suggestions? I am mostly venting, but would appreciate advice on the screw others vs screwing yourself issue.

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What do you mean by a "generous but largely ornamental fellowship" ?

I mean that the fellowship is generous, but they knew when I applied that I already had a more generous funding source. Since there is only about a 20% chance I would be in a position where I would choose to take it (which they knew from my app) it is not really useful.

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2 hours really isn't all that long to make once-weekly trips. I live in New York and my fiance lives in New Jersey -- I journey down by train to see him every weekend, and it takes about 2 hours to get there.

They cannot force you to make an 'advanced' decision before April 15; so simply tell them that you are so sorry, but you have not heard word back from your funding source yet, and you need their decision before you can make a decision, so you won't be able to decide until at least April 13. They can still make an offer to someone else after April 13 and not screw anyone else out of money; but unfortunately, as much as we want to consider all other applicants during this process (and certainly should!), we must put ourselves first. Don't screw yourself out of anything that could be potentially good for you.

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