How to tell PhD Programs I don't require funding?

[LP525]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am applying for admission to PhD programs in Sociology for Fall 2015 (all top 10 programs).

 

While I believe I have a decent chance of admission (3.8> undergrad GPA + 2M.A.s from an Ivy, along with 95th percentile verbal GRE), I have read that not requiring funding can boost your prospects of admission.

 

I am wondering how I could tactfully tell PhD programs that I do not require funding on my application?   The funding would be personal, and not from an external fellowship, so there's no obvious way to state this.  

 

Any advice regarding this would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you all in advance!

[GeoDUDE!]

When you apply for jobs do you tell them that you don't require a salary? 

[ashiepoo72]

Usually the application asks outright if you require funding (some even say "will you be able to attend without funding") or how you plan to fund your education, so you should check there first. Otherwise I would try to tactfully say it in the SOP, maybe along the lines of you've reached a point intellectually and financially where you feel ready to pursue a doctorate. I don't have your (awesome) problem so I have not thought about how to say something like this. I'm sure the schools would love to read that they don't have to find funding for you, especially with budget cuts!

[TakeruK]

I think you might have misunderstood (or the original source wrongly stated) the fact that admission chances might be higher if you don't require funding from the school.

 

This is only true because usually, the student has funding from a prestigious external fellowship and this increases your chances mostly because you earned the prestigious external fellowship, not because of the external funding. In fact, although this may depend on field, I feel that the main barrier for a program to accepting more students is not lack of money to pay grad students but lack of other resources like professor time, class space, etc. (Note: this lack of other resources is still money based, but it's not because they have to pay grad students!) Thus, some schools in my field even explicitly say that you are only accepted with full funding and they will not consider personally funded students.

 

Also, I think if you try to imply that you are willing to pay your own way completely, it might appear as if you are trying to "buy" your admission, and this will definitely reflect poorly on you. So, I would not try to indicate this at all.

 

There is one exception though. In most applications, there is a section on financial aid. Usually there is a question like "Do you wish to be considered for financial aid?" or "Would you still attend this program without any funding offer?". You can answer "no" to these questions. However, many applications have this question as a requirement to the Graduate School, and the answer might not affect your admission at all.