PhD humanities students: how much did/do you pay? How much is too much?

[Weird Era]

I'm looking at doing a PhD abroad. I'm a Canadian looking to the UK, but the financial burden seems nasty. Of course funding exists, but for international students in the arts it seems like a lot of schools are losing funding or only have so much to give, and international students are considered last, if at all.

 

Is anyone willing to say how much they paid or pay? How much is out of pocket, and how much did you get covered through funding? Did your funding come from third parties, or was it offered from the school? And so on and so on.

 

Or conversely, were you offered entry to a school but decided it was too much? (How much was too much for you?)

 

Really interested to hear the financial side of these stories.

[hj2012]

I personally would argue that it is unsustainable to do an unfunded PhD of any sort -- but this is particularly true in the humanities. If you aren't offered full tuition remission and a stipend (funded through fellowship, TA or GA ships), I don't think the PhD would be worthwhile. 

 

From what I understand, it's pretty difficult to secure funding at UK institutions as an international student. Have you considered any U.S. schools? Is there a particular reason why you're looking at the UK? There are some great schools in Canada, too.

[Weird Era]

I personally would argue that it is unsustainable to do an unfunded PhD of any sort -- but this is particularly true in the humanities. If you aren't offered full tuition remission and a stipend (funded through fellowship, TA or GA ships), I don't think the PhD would be worthwhile. 

 

From what I understand, it's pretty difficult to secure funding at UK institutions as an international student. Have you considered any U.S. schools? Is there a particular reason why you're looking at the UK? There are some great schools in Canada, too.

 

I'm just looking for time abroad. USA is a possibility, too! You're absolutely correct about Canadian schools, and it definitely is a possibility, but still, can't help but dream.

 

And from what I've been reading this week, your assessment seems pretty damn accurate, re: international funding in the UK.

 

So, with that in mind, yes I have considered American schools, but I never really looked into that side of funding. Is it easier for international students to get a free ride in America? (Tuition for out of state/international students in undergrad programs are astronomical, so I've always just assumed postgraduate stuff would be similar).

[hj2012]

I'm just looking for time abroad. USA is a possibility, too! You're absolutely correct about Canadian schools, and it definitely is a possibility, but still, can't help but dream.

 

And from what I've been reading this week, your assessment seems pretty damn accurate, re: international funding in the UK.

 

So, with that in mind, yes I have considered American schools, but I never really looked into that side of funding. Is it easier for international students to get a free ride in America? (Tuition for out of state/international students in undergrad programs are astronomical, so I've always just assumed postgraduate stuff would be similar).

 

From what I've seen, it's easier for international students to secure funding for American PhD programs in comparison to UK programs. The actual cost of tuition is quite high, but any decent PhD program should offer you a full tuition remission and a stipend.

 

Do you already have a master's degree? Unfortunately, most American PhD programs do not accept transfer credits, and you'll likely end up doing the equivalent of another master's degree in the States. This is one of the reasons why some of my international friends chose to go to the UK over the US (3 years to complete the PhD vs 5 years). 

 

What is your area of interest?

[Weird Era]

Actually, the UK time/duration thing was actually a big draw for me too, as I'm probably a few years older than most applicants (30) and I didn't want to feel self-conscious or slow to the draw around a bunch of mega-eager 24 year olds

 

Anyway, I'll look into a few more US schools (which one do you go to/plan to go to?), but so far a few that I've already looked into are willing to knock a year off and will recognize my MA (which I'm about to complete), so optimistically I could be looking at 4 years anyway. Kinda surprised that your friends didn't have that option as well.

 

My areas of interest are, ironically, pretty much all American lit or American culture-related, especially immigration literature from early 1900s (i.e. Call it Sleep). But my MA is mostly about psychoanalysis and American lit/film

 

I see a handful of schools offering "American Studies" (also see it in your program). What exactly is that?

[hj2012]

I have an international student friend in the humanities who was able to transfer a semester's worth of credits from her MA program, but eventually ended up taking the  extra classes anyway, because courses are often how students build relationships with faculty members in order to form their committees. One of my undergrad professors told me that he could have *potentially* graduated in 4 years from his PhD program, but elected to stay longer in order to really strengthen his dissertation and give himself two go-arounds on the job market. But I don't know how common either scenario is, as I'm just starting my program in the fall, haha.

 

For your interests, I feel that programs in the U.S. might be a better fit! American Studies is basically cultural studies grounded in the (geo)political/cultural/historical understanding of the United States. This is a really clunky way of saying that it's an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the U.S., with a heavy emphasis on theory and multidisciplinary methodology. Your project sounds like it would fit well in American Studies, but if you could make it work in a "traditional" department (e.g. English) then I would recommend doing so, as the job market seems even tougher for those of us in interdisciplinary fields. 

 

As for me, I'll be starting at Berkeley in the Fall; you might be interested in the English department as well as the Rhetoric Department at Cal. There's a strong film program as well, though I don't know how heavily your interests fall under film.

 

In the end, you may just want to apply to programs in both the US and UK and see how the funding situation plays out. Who knows what'll happen!

 

Good luck!

[ExponentialDecay]

The reason British PhDs are shorter is that the students coming into them are much better prepared. I wouldn't stick my foot into the British system this late in the game, tbh, because it's a lot more incestuous than the States, and its universities have less prestige in the States unless it's Oxbridge.

 

Tuition is still cheaper in the UK than in the US, but the funding situation is abysmal for international students and the cost of living is much higher (also, don't forget - you're not legal to work outside the university), so I wouldn't consider it at all, unless you're ready to apply for a Rhodes or a Gates. 

Edited June 23, 2014 by ExponentialDecay

[music]

The funding situation in the UK is abysmal for *everyone*, not just international students. That's why I opted to apply to the US for grad school, even though in many ways I would have preferred to stay in the UK.

 

It's worth bearing in mind that in the UK, we specialise very early on. By age 16 most students are taking only 3-4 subjects, and we specialise in one subject (which can be very specific in itself) for undergraduate. You also need a (generally completely unfunded) Masters to apply for PhD programs here, unlike in the US. After 4+ years of highly specialised university-level study, students are expected to be adequately prepared to undertake a 3 year PhD. Again, I personally did not feel like I wanted to get into the situation where my PhD was basically just writing a dissertation without any courses, languages, etc, which pushed me away from staying in the UK. 

 

I don't really understand why there's a desire to get through a PhD program quickly. It's your last opportunity to study - I want to get as much out of it as possible and if that means 6 years, I'm completely ok with that

[Weird Era]

Thanks for the posts, guys.