Accepted into Ed. Psych Statistics with possible funding...HELP

[karen1204]

Hi everyone,

 

I got accepted into the Educational Psychology program at the University of Illinois at Chicago (without an interview). I will be focusing in measurement and statistics. While I am happy that I am admitted, my appointed initial advisor tells me that they currently have no funding for me. But he said that all the current measurement/statistics PhD students have TA or RA assistantships.

 

One thing he mentioned was that they faculty has four grants out for review. But they don't know of the approval date yet. If the grants are approved, then they will be able to fund new PhD students. I asked him what other funding sources are there and he sent me a link for Graduate Assistant positions inside the University. If i do land a job as a GA, I will be paid and be given a tuition waiver, only my income will be taxed.

 

I'm really puzzled here and scared. This is actually my SECOND time applying for phd programs and UIC is the only school that I got into. (Though I'm still waiting to hear back from UC Berkeley and UW Seattle, all in the same discipline).

 

I really want to get the PhD and, most of all, the statistics training. I'm thinking in the event that there is no funding in the first year (or even subsequent years), I can probably take out loans. Since my training will be in statistics, I will most likely land a favorable job after I graduate.

 

I am a New York resident, so I'll have to pay out of state tuition. Plus if no assistantships and tuition waivers, I'll have to pay for my own health insurance. That will mean around 80+K in debt. =( One more question is, if there is no funding, will I have to fund my own research?

 

Please HELP, what should I really do? One side of me is telling me to take the risk and hope that the grants will come through, but the other side of me is scared. I don't have a deadline to make a decision, partially is because of the unsure approval of the grants.

Edited March 10, 2014 by karen1204

[bathingintheneon]

Does your advisor have no funding for you or does the department have no funding for you? Those are two very different things. I applied to some places where my advisor didn't have funding for me off of a grant, but the department would still support me with a TA. Especially since you wrote "all the current measurement/statistics PhD students have TA or RA assistantships," I'm thinking that you will have funding in some form.

[spunky]

hey! i remember you! CONGRATULATION on your acceptance! it seems like all that advice ended up paying off great. 

 

my 2 cents:

 

But he said that all the current measurement/statistics PhD students have TA or RA assistantships.

this is very common for quantitatively-oriented people so take advantage of it like there's not tomorrow! 

 

 

 Since my training will be in statistics, I will most likely land a favorable job after I graduate.

 

true that. if you happen to drop by AERA's Division D this year (the methods/stats one) they'll be giving an interesting talk about the projected positions both inside and outside academia for methods people. read the abstract and things are looking good!

 

 

One more question is, if there is no funding, will I have to fund my own research?

 

Please HELP, what should I really do? One side of me is telling me to take the risk and hope that the grants will come through, but the other side of me is scared. I don't have a deadline to make a decision, partially is because of the unsure approval of the grants.

 

ok, couple of things here... depending on the type of research you wish to do, it can be really cheap or super-expensive. all of my conference presentation/articles, for instance, have come from computer simulations done in my lap-top or large, public data sets. so the costs are minimal. if you are more into running subjects and stuff like that, then yeah, i could see that becoming an issue. 

 

the grants stuff is tricky though. just as a personal observation (take it just at face value) it is a little bit hard to get grants in Psychometrics unless they're tied to projects that people perceive as relevant like measures of educational achievement or performance in standardized tests. do you happen to know the kind of projects that these grants would be financing?

 

overall, i do think that if you're willing to do all the GA/RA/TA jobs that you can get you should be OK... but if it's looking like you're gonna start sinking in...$80K in debt? then i dunno....

 

but then again, what's the worst that can happen? you enroll, work hard and if things don't pan out then they just don't pan out. you can always go and do something else with your life (or maybe you'll get into a fully-funded program in the other universities you applied to!)