MA program decision: a not-so-hypothetical hypothetical

[akaveha]

All things considered, which would you choose: a funded+TA stipend offer from NIU or a half-funded+smaller TA stipend offer from Brandeis? Need your perspectives, people. Thank you!

[Establishment]

All things considered, which would you choose: a funded+TA stipend offer from NIU or a half-funded+smaller TA stipend offer from Brandeis? Need your perspectives, people. Thank you!

 

NIU. Without an iota of doubt.

 

Yes, Brandeis might quantitatively have a better placement record than NIU, but NIU's placement is still very strong.

[SamStone]

NIU

 

For financial reasons alone—and since these are the only aspects you offer as points of consideration—I would choose NIU.

Why take out a loan or, if you have money or someone willing to pay the bill for you, why use it on a two year degree that will be over before you even know it. Both programs are great! In addition, Boston is expense and Dekalb is not. So I'd save the money or the debt until you are working on your PhD or in the job market...unless you really think 2 years at Brandeis will put you that much further ahead where the debt/money would cease to be an issue in the future. 

 

But on the issue of location...I don't know how you are when it comes to being happy with where you are living—whether you would be more successful in a small town or a city. Dekalb is not too far from Chicago and, if I'm not mistaken, you can take the train into the city; but it is far enough away that you probably wouldn't go into the city that often. On this issue I would probably choose NIU as well...though Boston would be fun, I know I would become a much stronger, focused student were I to study in a small-ish town compared to a city like Boston. I've lived in major cities and wouldn't mind a break from them, ha. But this may not be the case for you, if not, maybe Brandeis is the better choice.

 

With the issue of placement: what schools are you planning on applying to for PhD, have you thought about that yet. If so, and Brandeis has placed students at those schools and NIU hasn't, then you should choose Brandeis. But NIU has a good placement record as well, so maybe its a matter of comparing the records according to which schools you are interested in rather the way people rank them.

 

But beyond these reasons, I have known two people to go through the program at NIU and they both had only good things to say about their time there. 

If I had to make this decision, I would try to remember that two years is a really short program...you pretty much have one solid year of course work, getting to know professors, etc., and then one year of writing a great WS and applying for a PhD. Are their any faculty at either school that you are particularly excited about? 

 

As an aside: I was actually really excited about both Brandeis and NIU...but I somehow never heard back one way or the other from these departments. Though I assumed I was rejected, I was pretty surprised that neither had bothered to notify me. I was going to call the departments, but by then I had gotten a an offer I was willing to accept from a different school so I didn't even bother...

[brettmullga]

NIU. Without an iota of doubt.

 

Yes, Brandeis might quantitatively have a better placement record than NIU, but NIU's placement is still very strong.

 

I second this. NIU seems like a good place to be for an MA. 

[akaveha]

NIU. Without an iota of doubt.

 

Yes, Brandeis might quantitatively have a better placement record than NIU, but NIU's placement is still very strong.

 

 

NIU

 

For financial reasons alone—and since these are the only aspects you offer as points of consideration—I would choose NIU.

Why take out a loan or, if you have money or someone willing to pay the bill for you, why use it on a two year degree that will be over before you even know it. Both programs are great! In addition, Boston is expense and Dekalb is not. So I'd save the money or the debt until you are working on your PhD or in the job market...unless you really think 2 years at Brandeis will put you that much further ahead where the debt/money would cease to be an issue in the future. 

 

But on the issue of location...I don't know how you are when it comes to being happy with where you are living—whether you would be more successful in a small town or a city. Dekalb is not too far from Chicago and, if I'm not mistaken, you can take the train into the city; but it is far enough away that you probably wouldn't go into the city that often. On this issue I would probably choose NIU as well...though Boston would be fun, I know I would become a much stronger, focused student were I to study in a small-ish town compared to a city like Boston. I've lived in major cities and wouldn't mind a break from them, ha. But this may not be the case for you, if not, maybe Brandeis is the better choice.

 

With the issue of placement: what schools are you planning on applying to for PhD, have you thought about that yet. If so, and Brandeis has placed students at those schools and NIU hasn't, then you should choose Brandeis. But NIU has a good placement record as well, so maybe its a matter of comparing the records according to which schools you are interested in rather the way people rank them.

 

But beyond these reasons, I have known two people to go through the program at NIU and they both had only good things to say about their time there. 

If I had to make this decision, I would try to remember that two years is a really short program...you pretty much have one solid year of course work, getting to know professors, etc., and then one year of writing a great WS and applying for a PhD. Are their any faculty at either school that you are particularly excited about? 

 

As an aside: I was actually really excited about both Brandeis and NIU...but I somehow never heard back one way or the other from these departments. Though I assumed I was rejected, I was pretty surprised that neither had bothered to notify me. I was going to call the departments, but by then I had gotten a an offer I was willing to accept from a different school so I didn't even bother...

 

 

I second this. NIU seems like a good place to be for an MA. 

 

Now that I'm off the clock I can add a bit of detail. The offer from NIU came at the very last minute (April 15th) after I already made my tuition deposit at Brandeis. Geoff Pynn gave me a few days to decide. I have until monday afternoon. I promptly sat down with two philosophers at my school to discuss the best course of action. The consensus was that I should let Brandeis know in the most tactful, transparent, and sincere way with the possibility that Brandeis may make a "counter offer." Turns out that there no additional funds from which I can draw at Brandeis. I'm waiting now to hear back about need-based grants which would cover some of the expense - roughly speaking, about 75% of the cost.

 

I am pretty much debt free now, so the financial security of studying at NIU is pretty compelling. The one drawback seems to be location. I thrive in metropolitan places. I enjoy public life (volunteering, arts and cultural events, etc.). Also, from what I've been told, Brandeis students take advantage of all of the schools in the Boston area.For example, some students have taken Dennett's classes at Tufts.

 

I'm sure some would have choice words for someone who turns down a fully funded program. At the same time, everyone has a unique utility function, and I hadn't realized location was such a big part of mine. Therein lies the conflict for me.

 

If any others are reading, please feel free to share your perspective! You all have been tremendously helpful so far and I'm glad I can share with you guys the joy and suffering of the application process.

[Establishment]

Hopefully some others, particularly some Brandeis alum, can chime in with their opinions. Particularly if you could secure some need-based grants, that could make Brandeis really attractive. In terms of faculty members, are you drawn to either school?

 

And even having said what I said above, taking out loans to attend Brandeis isn't necessarily a bad idea if you're debt free at the moment. Some of the advice to not attend a non-funded MA programs is in the context of the average BA graduate who will have already accumulated some amount of debt.

[maxhgns]

NIU. It's a very, very rigorous MA program, and you won't have to worry about the living expenses. 

[akaveha]

Hopefully some others, particularly some Brandeis alum, can chime in with their opinions. Particularly if you could secure some need-based grants, that could make Brandeis really attractive. In terms of faculty members, are you drawn to either school?

 

And even having said what I said above, taking out loans to attend Brandeis isn't necessarily a bad idea if you're debt free at the moment. Some of the advice to not attend a non-funded MA programs is in the context of the average BA graduate who will have already accumulated some amount of debt.

 

I'm not particularly drawn to any faculty members. I'm only familiar with Kapitan's writing on terrorism and the state at NIU and somewhat aware of Eli Hirsch's work at Brandeis. I'm afraid I won't know until monday when the office opens whether i can expect more financial aid. 

 

It's funny how painless a choice seems when there are no alternatives and how complicated it becomes once an alternative is available. 

[Dumbnamechange]

Just signed up to say I'm in the exact same boat you were a year ago: rejected by Tufts, accepted by Deis, NIU, and GSU so far, waiting on UW-M. It sounds like I'm a little more fanboyish about Brandeis' faculty than you are/were, but I'm not intimately familiar with NIU's work.

In case anyone else is browsing here cause they're in the same boat (all ten/fifteen of us or whatever), I figured I'd share my recent reasoning. 

 

1. One thing to clarify about Brandeis. I received $10k merit- and $10k need-based scholarships from there (w/ that $3k per semester TA-ship). Some people have been saying this is "50% remission," but that's misleading. Others might have been receiving more in aid and been referring to that, but I've seem some call this $20k package 50%; since $10k is the limit for need-based aid, I think I received the highest package; of course, might be wrong.

However, $20k is 50% of *one-year* of full-time attendance ($47k). So if you struggle to fit 9 B+ classes (one which is the thesis) within the first year (which is almost guaranteed), it won't be close to 50%.

That said, I've noticed a kind of loop-hole in the funding structure (and mention this to calm down anyone else reading who feels as insecure as I): at 9 courses over three/four semesters, you're better off doing part-time, per-course payments of ~3 courses for the first two semesters to fulfill the residency requirement ($17k+$17k=$34k vs. $47k), and then move down to the post-residency fee ($6k per semester). This will indeed make that $20k package 50%, but only for part-time students finishing in three semesters. Since it's probably a bad idea to take two other courses while you write your thesis (and probably working a part-time job), you'll maybe want to pay an extra $6k for a fourth semester, taking the thesis class alone or with at most one additional course.

To be clear, if you do the full-time tuition year at 4 courses a semester, expect that you will need to take at least one post-residency semester for the thesis (9th course) anyways. Doing part-time--probably no matter how you balance the course-loads out--will save you $10k. I'm thinking--if I go to Brandeis--it would be best to do 3, 4, 2, arriving at the initial ~$47k over a more manageable three semesters.

 

1.5 BUT: Boston is hella-expensive, so this would require taking a part-time job those three semesters just for room-and-board. NIU, on the other hand, would effectively be paying me to study full-time there. (I figure thrifty living + petty savings + summer-jobs could make do with the $12k yearly stipend.) 

 

2. A note on assistantships: I was accepted to GSU with the full assistantship package. At first, I thought of it as potentially great work experience, getting to teach 5 easy classes over a year (at $10k total). But now I think it's a straight curse. That's five classes to teach while you not only finish up your master's course-load but also have to complete your thesis. Again, compare that to NIU (or Brandeis), where the assistantship is more traditional: background activities, grading papers, etc. For NIU, you can do that for better pay and afford rent while finishing your studies/thesis; for Brandeis, you'd have to take some menial part-time job for rent, but it probably would not be as worrisome as teaching 5 undergraduate courses. (I actually still waiver on this point. The experience might be worth it, and I assume grad students at GSU are helped a lot in terms of course planning and grading (from younger TAs).)

 

3. On faculty and AOI: I'm sure everyone involved already knows, but it really is remarkable how distinct the AOIs are for these schools despite being just terminal masters. GSU is almost exclusively a social-political/ancient oriented program, to the point where I'm already close to turning down the offer -- I'm a language/epistemology/metaphysics guy. Fortunately/unfortunately, Brandeis and NIU are both strongly geared towards epistemology & metaphysics, making either a secure option but together a hard choice. I've already alluded to the fact that I think Hirsch and Fantl would be quite the one-two to lure me into taking a part-time job in addition to student loans just to study with them (and the other faculty); but I'm also afraid Fantl will be returning to Calgary soon (he's only a visiting prof.). One of my LOR writers strongly pushed me to go to UW-M for their epistemology dpt., but it seems more history/early modern; NIU on the other hand, regularly offers pretty amazing courses on the contemporary stuff I'm interested in.

 

Altogether, NIU is clearly the best choice, right? Well, in a naive-utilitarian, extrinsic-values sense, yeah: I would be walking away with pretty much a free MA and my best chances of getting into Rutgers. So what I'll be thinking through over the next couple weeks is how devoted I would be to slavishly working my ass off to study under the Brandeis faculty for it's own sake. (Also, as is often mentioned, I could take courses at other schools while attending Brandeis; Dennett is of course the popular choice, but I should note that Hintikka seems to be still teaching at BU -- would be pretty cool.)

 

I'd appreciate any critiques/comments on my thoughts, and I hope if just for the sake of sympathy/empathy/pity, this helps or makes others feel better.

 

P.S. You said, "It's funny how painless a choice seems when there are no alternatives and how complicated it becomes once an alternative is available."

It's crazy: as soon as I think there's no way I can afford Brandeis (even with loans), my attitude switches to complete indifference; as soon as I think it's just a choice between incurring debt or not, I fear I will existentially regret forgoing Brandeis.

Interested to here where you went, though.

Edited March 9, 2015 by Jerk^~philosopher

[overoverover]

Just signed up to say I'm in the exact same boat you were a year ago: rejected by Tufts, accepted by Deis, NIU, and GSU so far, waiting on UW-M. It sounds like I'm a little more fanboyish about Brandeis' faculty than you are/were, but I'm not intimately familiar with NIU's work.

In case anyone else is browsing here cause they're in the same boat (all ten/fifteen of us or whatever), I figured I'd share my recent reasoning.

1. One thing to clarify about Brandeis. I received $10k merit- and $10k need-based scholarships from there (w/ that $3k per semester TA-ship). Some people have been saying this is "50% remission," but that's misleading. Others might have been receiving more in aid and been referring to that, but I've seem some call this $20k package 50%; since $10k is the limit for need-based aid, I think I received the highest package; of course, might be wrong.

However, $20k is 50% of *one-year* of full-time attendance ($47k). So if you struggle to fit 9 B+ classes (one which is the thesis) within the first year (which is almost guaranteed), it won't be close to 50%.

That said, I've noticed a kind of loop-hole in the funding structure (and mention this to calm down anyone else reading who feels as insecure as I): at 9 courses over three/four semesters, you're better off doing part-time, per-course payments of ~3 courses for the first two semesters to fulfill the residency requirement ($17k+$17k=$34k vs. $47k), and then move down to the post-residency fee ($6k per semester). This will indeed make that $20k package 50%, but only for part-time students finishing in three semesters. Since it's probably a bad idea to take two other courses while you write your thesis (and probably working a part-time job), you'll maybe want to pay an extra $6k for a fourth semester, taking the thesis class alone or with at most one additional course.

To be clear, if you do the full-time tuition year at 4 courses a semester, expect that you will need to take at least one post-residency semester for the thesis (9th course) anyways. Doing part-time--probably no matter how you balance the course-loads out--will save you $10k. I'm thinking--if I go to Brandeis--it would be best to do 3, 4, 2, arriving at the initial ~$47k over a more manageable three semesters.

1.5 BUT: Boston is hella-expensive, so this would require taking a part-time job those three semesters just for room-and-board. NIU, on the other hand, would effectively be paying me to study full-time there. (I figure thrifty living + petty savings + summer-jobs could make do with the $12k yearly stipend.)

2. A note on assistantships: I was accepted to GSU with the full assistantship package. At first, I thought of it as potentially great work experience, getting to teach 5 easy classes over a year (at $10k total). But now I think it's a straight curse. That's five classes to teach while you not only finish up your master's course-load but also have to complete your thesis. Again, compare that to NIU (or Brandeis), where the assistantship is more traditional: background activities, grading papers, etc. For NIU, you can do that for better pay and afford rent while finishing your studies/thesis; for Brandeis, you'd have to take some menial part-time job for rent, but it probably would not be as worrisome as teaching 5 undergraduate courses. (I actually still waiver on this point. The experience might be worth it, and I assume grad students at GSU are helped a lot in terms of course planning and grading (from younger TAs).)

3. On faculty and AOI: I'm sure everyone's involved already knows, but it really is remarkable how distinct the AOIs are for these schools despite being just terminal masters. GSU is almost exclusively a social-political/ancient oriented program, to the point where I'm already close to turning down the offer -- I'm a language/epistemology/metaphysics guy. Fortunately/unfortunately, Brandeis and NIU are both strongly oriented towards epistemology & metaphysics, making either a secure option for me, but together a hard choice. I've already alluded to the fact that I think Hirsch and Fantl would be quite the one-two punch to lure me into taking a part-time job in addition to student loans just to study with them (and the other faculty); but I'm also afraid Fantl will be returning to Calgary soon (he's only a visiting prof.). One of my LOR writers strongly pushed me to go to UW-M for their epistemology dpt., but it seems more history/early modern (Hume & Hegel scholars); NIU on the other hand, regularly offers pretty amazing courses on the contemporary stuff I'm interested in.

Altogether, NIU is clearly the best choice, right? Well, in a naive-utilitarian, extrinsic-values sense, yeah: I would be walking away with pretty much a free MA and my best chances of getting into Rutgers. So what I'll be thinking through over the next couple weeks is how devoted I would be to slavishly working my ass off to study under the Brandeis faculty for it's own sake. (Also, as is often mentioned, I could take courses at other schools while attending Brandeis; Dennett is of course the popular choice, but I should note that Hintikka seems to be still teaching at BU -- would be pretty cool.)

I'd appreciate any critiques/comments on my thoughts, and I hope if just for the sake of sympathy/empathy/pity, this helps or makes others feel better.

P.S. You said, "It's funny how painless a choice seems when there are no alternatives and how complicated it becomes once an alternative is available."

It's crazy: as soon as I think there's no way I can afford Brandeis (even with loans), my attitude switches to complete indifference; as soon as I think it's just a choice between incurring debt or not, I fear I will existentially regret forgoing Brandeis.

Interested to here where you went, though.

Quick point: Hintikka isn't teaching at BU anymore. The website is just out of date.

[Dumbnamechange]

Quick point: Hintikka isn't teaching at BU anymore. The website is just out of date.

 

Nooooooooooooooooooo...

Thanks, though.

[ianfaircloud]

Nooooooooooooooooooo...

Thanks, though.

I'll say more privately (message me, please). I can't give you an informed opinion tailored to your situation, because I don't know how you weight the different factors of the decision. I can say that I think there are clear cases in which Brandeis is the better choice (over NIU), and I can say that I think there are clear cases in which NIU is the better choice. Brandeis is more expensive than NIU (except in the case in which Brandeis gives the full tuition break, something that it does every year for at least one person). But Brandeis has the better placement record. We've discussed elsewhere that it's not clear exactly how much Brandeis or Tufts "boosts" a person's placement (over attending some other MA program). It's possible that people admitted to Brandeis would do just as well at any other MA program but that they pick Brandeis because it's the "best" program to which they are admitted. (Interestingly, if you ask people who did very well out of these programs, they often will tell you that it made a difference.)

 

My own view is that people often overlook a few factors when deciding for or against Brandeis/Tufts (since these two programs have a lot in common: similar funding, similar institutional reputation, roughly the same geographical location, similar standards, similar placement records):

 

1. Like it or not, institutional reputation is a part of the academic pedigree. A lot of us suspect that pedigree makes a difference not only in PhD admissions, but in all sorts of other selection processes (jobs, etc.). A lot of people don't make it in philosophy. Right or wrong, the appearance of Brandeis/Tufts on your academic resume may look better to those outside of philosophy than the appearance of NIU. It's silly, but it's a reality.

 

2. In my own experience, I think it's more difficult to do well in school when I'm not thriving in my personal life. If you suspect that you will struggle in a certain city or region, that's a professional/academic consideration, not just a personal one. Some people will not do well in Boston and may want to choose a program elsewhere for that reason. Others won't do well in DeKalb, Illinois, or Atlanta, Georgia, and may want to choose a place like Boston.

 

3. Consider very seriously whether people who share your main area(s) of interest do well out of the program(s) you're considering. If it's fairly clear that your main area of interest is X and that one of these MA programs tends to place very well from X because it has a professor who's very well known in X, you may want to pick that program, even when other factors tend to weigh against picking that program. Examples: Georgia State and cognitive science or ancient philosophy. Brandeis and metaontology. Etc.

 

Unfortunately, in my experience, many of us don't know exactly what we want to study until spending some time in a graduate program. Still, I didn't meet a lot of people whose interests changed dramatically over the course of their studies.

[Franzkafka]

Accepted into the M.A. program at Syracuse. I know Syracuse doesn't have a good terminal M.A. program. I wonder is it worthy to attend it. I will reapply to Ph.D. programs in the second year. Anyone know anything concerning its M.A. placement?

[Dumbnamechange]

1. One thing to clarify about Brandeis. I received $10k merit- and $10k need-based scholarships from there (w/ that $3k per semester TA-ship). Some people have been saying this is "50% remission," but that's misleading. Others might have been receiving more in aid and been referring to that, but I've seem some call this $20k package 50%; since $10k is the limit for need-based aid, I think I received the highest package; of course, might be wrong.

However, $20k is 50% of *one-year* of full-time attendance ($47k). So if you struggle to fit 9 B+ classes (one which is the thesis) within the first year (which is almost guaranteed), it won't be close to 50%.

That said, I've noticed a kind of loop-hole in the funding structure (and mention this to calm down anyone else reading who feels as insecure as I): at 9 courses over three/four semesters, you're better off doing part-time, per-course payments of ~3 courses for the first two semesters to fulfill the residency requirement ($17k+$17k=$34k vs. $47k), and then move down to the post-residency fee ($6k per semester). This will indeed make that $20k package 50%, but only for part-time students finishing in three semesters. Since it's probably a bad idea to take two other courses while you write your thesis (and probably working a part-time job), you'll maybe want to pay an extra $6k for a fourth semester, taking the thesis class alone or with at most one additional course.

To be clear, if you do the full-time tuition year at 4 courses a semester, expect that you will need to take at least one post-residency semester for the thesis (9th course) anyways. Doing part-time--probably no matter how you balance the course-loads out--will save you $10k. I'm thinking--if I go to Brandeis--it would be best to do 3, 4, 2, arriving at the initial ~$47k over a more manageable three semesters.

 

Quick update on this: I talked to the financial aid services at Brandeis about funding for part-time students. You can still get the full $20k through a $2,500 discount off each course you take, up to 8 courses. However, you can't complete the one year residency until you have taken 8 courses; a year's residency is measured in courses, not time (how's that for bad philosophy?). (I've seen other programs where, so long as you enroll half-time, a part-time student can get post-residency status.) This defeats everything I said above. 

(I expected this, and forgot to mention that I expected this in the original post; I also tried to just edit it, replacing what I wrote with this update but it seems I can't do that. So, to anyone reading this a year from now: sorry for the run-around.)

 

But there is one upshot of all this: no matter how you cut it, Brandeis's "50%" remission just ain't 50% remission.

Part-time = $31,642 (8+1 courses over 3/4 sem.)

(deducting untaxed TA-funding) $21,442 total cost

Full-time = $31,638 (3 semesters)

(deducting untaxed TA-funding) $21,438 total cost

 

Given it's Taxachusetts, the untaxed funding should be taken as implausibly generous; the real total cost of just tuition, then, is likely a couple thousand higher.

 

In terms of opportunity cost, Brandeis would then cost—assuming all scholarship/assistantships are sustained—~$45,000 more than NIU's 2 year program (incl. tuition waver and $12,000 annual stipend). All of this does not factor in the "real cost" of attendance (fees, course material, room-and-board, etc.).

Edited March 12, 2015 by Jerk^~philosopher

[ianfaircloud]

 

Quick update on this: I talked to the financial aid services at Brandeis about funding for part-time students. You can still get the full $20k through a $2,500 discount off each course you take, up to 8 courses. However, you can't complete the one year residency until you have taken 8 courses; a year's residency is measured in courses, not time (how's that for bad philosophy?). (I've seen other programs where, so long as you enroll half-time, a part-time student can get post-residency status.) This defeats everything I said above. 

(I expected this, and forgot to mention that I expected this in the original post; I also tried to just edit it, replacing what I wrote with this update but it seems I can't do that. So, to anyone reading this a year from now: sorry for the run-around.)

 

But there is one upshot of all this: no matter how you cut it, Brandeis's "50%" remission just ain't 50% remission.

Part-time = $31,642 (8+1 courses over 3/4 sem.)

(deducting untaxed TA-funding) $21,442 total cost

Full-time = $31,638 (3 semesters)

(deducting untaxed TA-funding) $21,438 total cost

 

Given it's Taxachusetts, the untaxed funding should be taken as implausibly generous; the real total cost of just tuition, then, is likely a couple thousand higher.

 

In terms of opportunity cost, Brandeis would then cost—assuming all scholarship/assistantships are sustained—~$45,000 more than NIU's 2 year program (incl. tuition waver and $12,000 annual stipend). All of this does not factor in the "real cost" of attendance (fees, course material, room-and-board, etc.).

 

 

To reply directly: I think this is about right, but I urge you to speak with people who actually went to these programs. The financial services office is not best-positioned to give you the real numbers. They can't tell you things like, "Well, half of us got a sweet deal working at Harvard's summer school as TAs. So that offset the costs. Also the school guarantees one TA position, but in fact all of us received more than one position." Etc.

 

To be brief, Brandeis and Tufts generally cost a lot more than NIU, Georgia State, and UW Milwaukee. (A friend of mine ended up with $50k more debt after one of these schools. He didn't work, though, and he lived well. He also wasn't under a parent's health insurance. Out of Georgia State he figures that he would have added some debt, only because the stipend would not probably have been quite enough to cover living expenses.)

 

Brandeis doesn't in the end give you 50% remission. Only when you factor in the TA positions that you'll very likely get (between two or three total as a student at Brandeis), you'll end up with roughly 50% of your tuition "paid for" by Brandeis. You gotta talk to people who went to these schools to get the real scoop. These Massachusetts schools do offer pretty nice health insurance, for what it's worth.

 

Possible benefits of going to Brandeis or Tufts: 1) Particular person with whom you want to work. 2) Financial and other benefit of possibly placing into a better PhD program. 3) Financial and other benefit of possibly getting a better job after placing into the better PhD program. 4) Improving an academic pedigree, which could help a person inside and outside of academic philosophy. E.g. the appearance of Tufts University vs. UW Milwuakee in the pedigree. 5) Living in the Boston area, one of the best places to study philosophy. 6) Stronger undergraduate population.

 

Costs of attending: 1) Certainty of short term financial costs. 2) Risk of losing on a large financial investment.

 

Note that for the few people who get full tuition remission at Brandeis, there's a stronger argument in favor of Brandeis.

Edited March 13, 2015 by ianfaircloud

[philstudent1991]

 6) Possible smaller cohort size. E.g. Nine or ten at Brandeis vs. 20 at Georgia State. 

 

On smaller cohorts, I actually think bigger cohorts are a good thing, provided that there is a proportionately large faculty and no one is getting edged out for advisors. The big cohort makes for a better social climate, more diversity, more course offerings, etc. IMHO

[ianfaircloud]

On smaller cohorts, I actually think bigger cohorts are a good thing, provided that there is a proportionately large faculty and no one is getting edged out for advisors. The big cohort makes for a better social climate, more diversity, more course offerings, etc. IMHO

 

True! I'm going to edit my list. I'm assuming that smaller is better, and that's not really a fair assumption.

Edited March 13, 2015 by ianfaircloud

[Thenewwitt]

So I am seeking some advice about my current situation. I applied to five T7 masters programs, and have narrowed it down to either NIU or V Tech. I was waitlisted at NIU for funding (Dr. Pynn said I was in the early 20's on the waitlist) and was accepted with a full TAship at V Tech. What do you all think about V Tech as a program? It fits my interest well (broadly construed, my interests are cognitive science, language, science, and Wittgenstein and Marx) and is a great location for me, but NIU seems to have a better placement record. Hypothetically, if I were to receive funding at NIU which do you think would be the better option?

Thanks.

[Dumbnamechange]

So I am seeking some advice about my current situation. I applied to five T7 masters programs, and have narrowed it down to either NIU or V Tech. I was waitlisted at NIU for funding (Dr. Pynn said I was in the early 20's on the waitlist) and was accepted with a full TAship at V Tech. What do you all think about V Tech as a program? It fits my interest well (broadly construed, my interests are cognitive science, language, science, and Wittgenstein and Marx) and is a great location for me, but NIU seems to have a better placement record. Hypothetically, if I were to receive funding at NIU which do you think would be the better option?

Thanks.

 

All other things being equal, definitely NIU.

[philstudent1991]

All other things being equal, definitely NIU.

This is my instinct too just based on my perceptions of the programs, but only you can really weigh fit and personal factors and how the funding stacks up. 

[Franzkafka]

Accepted into SUNY-Buffalo's MA program. Any idea on its placement? Thanks!