1 yr RA offer w. advisor vs. 1+1 yr Fellowship w/o advisor

[tuschu]

I am admitted to two different PhD programs in mechanical engineering.

 

University A: 1 yr fellowship and 1yr TAship for the next year. But I do not have an advisor assigned for me.

 

University B: 1 yr RAship and it says that the offer will be extended if my advisor is satisfied with my research performance.

 

Which one is more secure and which one would you consider "better"? Having a fellowship seems very good, because I will have the opportunity to talk to professors and pick my thesis advisor. But I am afraid that if I can not find an advisor I will remain unfunded. The problem with the other offer is that I will almost have to change fields, but on the other hand I will already have a thesis advisor. Which one is better in this situation?

 

Universities have very close rankings so it is not a criteria. I just want to compare the offers.

 

Thanks!

[bremsen12]

I think this decision should made by thinking about how "ready" you are to dive into the research. Since you mentioned that you have to change fields, I would think you need to prepare by taking courses, learning about the field, etc.

 

I would suggest taking the fellowship + TA. It's okay that you do not have an advisor assigned, you will eventually once you get to the campus. Generally, its easier for a professor to take you into their group if you are already funded by other means. This way, they can test you out before giving you an RA (less risky) and you can configure out if they are the right fit for you.

 

Take the offer from University A if you don't feel confident in just jumping into research that you don't know much about, and if you want to be a little more relaxed the first year or so. Take the offer from University B if you feel confident to jump into research and if you really dislike teaching. 

[juilletmercredi]

Neither one is objectively better, and I would not make my decision based primarily on this unless it's common for students at University B to be let go by their advisors.  Usually an offer being renewed based on performance means that as long as you don't totally screw up and earn mostly As in your courses, you will be continuously funded.  But at some universities the doctoral program admits more students than they can fund and you are in competition with others for 3rd year and beyond slots.  So before you accept University B's offer, find out (discreetly) whether this program is one of those.  On the other hand, see how often students at University A get funded after their 2 years.  Are they usually picked up by an advisor?  Is there plenty of funding and GRAships to go around?

If students at both A and B are very likely to be funded in years 3 and beyond, then you have pretty much equivalent choices.  Even if you are on fellowship your first year and TAship on second year, you will still be expected to do research very early, the second semester of your first year at the latest.  So you really won't be delaying research - a fellowship is only supposed to give you the flexibility to choose your advisor without teaching responsibilities, not absolve you from research at all.  (In fact, B might have a very slight advantage if students are usually funded in years 2+, because you don't have to teach.)

ASsuming that students at both departments are usually funded for 5 or 6 years, I think you should choose which department is the better overall fit for you.  Where is the research more aligned with your interests?  Where are there more people who could mentor you should you need to switch or need more people on your committee or want to do collaborative work?  Which place has better placement rates?

[TakeruK]

I agre with all of the above. One more thing you can do is ask the department at B how often RAships are not extended. In all of my offers I've ever got, they say something like $X/year of funding as long as I make satisfactory progress. So, something like that is just a catch-all/safety phrase so that they can let go of students who are failing. But it could also mean that the first year is a probation period and the advisor will e.g. take on 3 students on RAships in year 1 but only keep 2 of them later on. So, it would help to clarify what University B means.

 

Similarly, you would want to know how likely you would be able to get your first choice lab/PI at University A. In my program, we are funded like your University A (except it's combo of TA and RA after the first year) but basically there are many more spots with advisors than there are students. But in other programs at my school, there will be cases where a lot of an incoming class will want to work with a specific PI (usually a famous one) so there won't be room for everyone. During campus-wide orientation, the older students identified some of these profs to make sure new students don't put all their eggs in one basket (and thus be sure to make a couple of connections during first year).

 

Either way, I think this shouldn't be the major factor in your decision, as juilletmercredi says. Unless of course, working with a specific prof is required for the best fit and you are afraid that at A, you won't be able to get a spot in the lab/group you want later!

[tuschu]

Thank you very much for your replies! I will definitely ask PI @University B about the continuity about funding, and whether he is taking more students than he will fund in the following years. It is very important to find out whether students are generally funded continuously. How can I find out about that for university A? Is it OK directly to ask DGS of the department about that?

 

It is very hard to decide. I wish they could guarantee funding for minimum amount of 4 years unless I screw up greatly...