Penn GSE - offered MS instead of PhD - questions

[Voulez-Vous]

I applied to Penn GSE for the Educational Linguistics PhD. I knew I wasn't accepted because I was not invited to the their weekend for potential PhDs. However, I then received an email offering me a spot in MS Ed program in Intercultural Communications with $13,500 in funding. Since I have a family, I was counting on getting some sort of monthly stipend for grad school, and this funding would all go to cover tuition plus I would still have to pay a few thousand, and then I'd have to find a job on top of that.

 

The program itself is interesting and rather flexible, so I think it might be feasible to only have to be on campus 2, possibly 2.5 days a week which leaves time for a part-time job. The part that really scares me, though, is that it is a 2 year program, but the funding is not guaranteed for both years. I don't want to move my family there, have my husband find a job, have to find a job myself, still pay money, and THEN find out I'm not getting any funding for the second year! Since I can't take on debt, I would have to quit the program.

 

I have been accepted somewhere else for a PhD, but I'm still waiting on funding info for that, and haven't heard from a few other places. But this is Penn, it's an Ivy, and I don't want to totally discount the opportunity.

 

My questions:

1. Has anyone here been offered an MSEd instead of the PhD at Penn? Did you accept? Why or why not?

 

2. For anyone who's done a two year masters at Penn, what happened with your funding the second year?

 

3. Does anyone have specific comments about the MSEd in Intercultural Communications program? Is it feasible to also have a part-time job on top of 3 classes, 5 hour per week assistantship, and a family?

 

4. Should I attend the admitted students day, even if I lean towards not going?

 

Thanks for any and all advice/comments!