Professors and funding

[columbia09]

Did any of you have issues with finding professors who had funding. The vast majority of the professors I contacted didn't have any funds to support students. If this is the case, I'm guessing the only other way of gaining admissions is by being awarded a TA spot which are extremely competitive.

[zerozircon]

You can also apply to national fellowships like those through NSF and the DoD.  

 

[GeoDUDE!]

24 minutes ago, columbia09 said:

Did any of you have issues with finding professors who had funding. The vast majority of the professors I contacted didn't have any funds to support students. If this is the case, I'm guessing the only other way of gaining admissions is by being awarded a TA spot which are extremely competitive.

If I remember correctly, I applied to 6 places: 2 funded all their students the first year through fellowships or Research Assistanceships (I got into 1 got rejected from the other), 2 of the other places did not have funding for me (they applied but grants were denied), and the final 2 had funding for me.  

I only applied to schools where the POI said they were either applying for funding for a student like me (and that would affect admissions) or they had funding for me. 

When I applied for my masters I got lucky and got a TA since, despite my GPA I had a lot of research experience, teaching experience, and a high GRE. 

Getting funded tends to be easier for PhD students as almost no one does a PhD without funding, where as you can lure MS/MA students by reducing tuition a little bit and the promise of a job  ( which right now isnt a promise at all). 

Edited January 25, 2016 by GeoDUDE!

[columbia09]

25 minutes ago, zerozircon said:

You can also apply to national fellowships like those through NSF and the DoD.  

 

That's easier if you're already a grad student isn't it ?

[gelologist]

47 minutes ago, columbia09 said:

Did any of you have issues with finding professors who had funding. The vast majority of the professors I contacted didn't have any funds to support students. If this is the case, I'm guessing the only other way of gaining admissions is by being awarded a TA spot which are extremely competitive.

I think it's pretty standard that people contact POIs ahead of time, and generally the prof will say if they're looking for (and can support) a new student. So, similar to @GeoDUDE!, I only applied where profs said they had money.

 

1 minute ago, columbia09 said:

That's easier if you're already a grad student isn't it ?

Not necessarily, I know of plenty rising 1st year grad students (they applied senior year) who've won the NSF GRFP, for example. I also heard on one occasion that it might be easier as an undergrad because as a grad student, you're held to a somewhat higher standard. But that's unconfirmed. Unrelated, @columbia09 are you in grad school (MS) and those are last app cycle's results, or have you already heard back from Stanford, Rice, etc.? Are you looking to apply again coming up? (PhD)

[columbia09]

5 minutes ago, gelologist said:

I think it's pretty standard that people contact POIs ahead of time, and generally the prof will say if they're looking for (and can support) a new student. So, similar to @GeoDUDE!, I only applied where profs said they had money.

 

Not necessarily, I know of plenty rising 1st year grad students (they applied senior year) who've won the NSF GRFP, for example. I also heard on one occasion that it might be easier as an undergrad because as a grad student, you're held to a somewhat higher standard. But that's unconfirmed. Unrelated, @columbia09 are you in grad school (MS) and those are last app cycle's results, or have you already heard back from Stanford, Rice, etc.? Are you looking to apply again coming up? (PhD)

Those are last years results. This year I applied to both MS and PhD programs. I reapplied to UT Austin and Rice as well as 5 other schools 

[GeoDUDE!]

It's actually harder in someways to get fellowships once you are in graduate school: competition increases, and there are less of them to apply to. NSF GRFP is easiest to get your first year applying when you arent a graduate student, for example. There are more applicants, but the quality of the applicant for the award is significantly less than that of 1st and 2nd year graduate students, since awards are proportionally weighted and judged from education level. We have some good success in our department in getting GRFPs because there is a class every new graduate student takes designed in writing the award.

Hertz fellowship, arguably the most prestigious fellowship in the US, is almost never awarded to 1st or 2nd year graduate students.

NASA's earth science fellowship is disproportionally  awarded to prospective graduate students. 

And this makes sense, as these awards are mostly designed to get students into great programs. Once you are in graduate school, you have more of a supportive infrastructure so these organizations tend to focus less on people already getting educated and wanting to expand the pool of people who can be educated. 

Edited January 25, 2016 by GeoDUDE!

[TakeruK]

4 hours ago, GeoDUDE! said:

NASA's earth science fellowship is disproportionally  awarded to prospective graduate students. 

Agree with everything else but just want to clarify something here. Do you mean the NASA Earth & Space Sciences fellowship (NESSF)? In this case, I don't think prospective graduate students are even eligible and it's definitely something that I've seen skew towards senior grad students (but not exclusively). The NESSF tends to be awarded to students who are in their 2nd year of grad school and beyond, often awarded to those who had a NSF in earlier years. 

Or, do you mean a different NASA earth science fellowship?

[GeoDUDE!]

12 minutes ago, TakeruK said:

 In this case, I don't think prospective graduate students are even eligible and it's definitely something that I've seen skew towards senior grad students (but not exclusively).

 

That's weird... I have only known people who are applying to get it! I could be wrong in this regaurd.... 

And yes they, can, from solicitation:

This call for graduate fellowship proposals, entitled NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF) Program – 2016-2017 Academic Year, solicits applications from accredited U.S. universities on behalf of individuals pursuing Masters or Ph.D. degrees in Earth and space sciences, or related disciplines, at respective institutions. Students admitted to, or already enrolled in, a full-time Masters and/or Ph.D. program at accredited U.S. universities are eligible to apply.

 

[TakeruK]

1 hour ago, GeoDUDE! said:

 

That's weird... I have only known people who are applying to get it! I could be wrong in this regaurd.... 

And yes they, can, from solicitation:

This call for graduate fellowship proposals, entitled NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF) Program – 2016-2017 Academic Year, solicits applications from accredited U.S. universities on behalf of individuals pursuing Masters or Ph.D. degrees in Earth and space sciences, or related disciplines, at respective institutions. Students admitted to, or already enrolled in, a full-time Masters and/or Ph.D. program at accredited U.S. universities are eligible to apply.

 

Interesting, I guess the truth is probably more like it doesn't really matter what stage you are at then  Or, maybe the Earth Sciences fellowships are awarded differently than the Astrophysics, Heliophysics, and Planetary Science divisions (I know that they are administered by different people).

I guess I am wrong about the eligibility then. But given the deadline is Feb 1, it doesn't leave a lot of time between acceptance into a program and applying! 

[Quickmick]

When I was looking at what MS to accept funding was a big part of it. I was a TA for a semester then got put on some funding that doesn't require a teaching obligation. I wonder if that timeline was to kind of see how I was going to do/fit in/etc.

In any case, my point is that being a TA doesn't mean other things won't develop.