Georgetown English MA Funding 2016

[jillcicle]

Hi all. I know that a few people here were already notified of funding acceptance from GU, but it seemed that they were still rolling notifications out? I was wondering if anyone had heard after the letter.

The letter of recommended admission said this:

" Students to whom we decide to offer funding packages will hear from me directly by phone. Please know that we were very impressed with your application, and wish we could offer support to all of our admitted students. We will be happy to discuss with you strategies for supporting yourself while you do your work with us, and to put you in contact with current students about these matters as well. 

You should wait to hear from the Graduate School before contacting Student Financial Services regarding alternative financial arrangements for attending Georgetown. "

This gave me the impression that if I didn't get a call (which I haven't) before the official admit letter cleared, funding wasn't happening. But my admission letter says this

"You are presently being considered for merit-based financial aid in the form of a graduate assistantship and/or scholarship, or a non-service fellowship. If you are selected for such an award, you will be notified by separate letter."

Any ideas? Am I waiting on the letter, or the call, or should I assume it's not happening and reach out to SFS? Has anyone else who was waiting to hear gotten an update? This is the only program I applied to where funding is even a possibility, and I already have $40k of undergrad debt under my belt. Needless to say I am anxious to hear.

[ExponentialDecay]

The obvious answer is to call or email the person who wrote the first letter and ask what's up. 

[hbr93]

I received the same two emails, and I did email someone for more details about funding. All I got was a vague answer saying they're still figuring out funding and to "bear with them." This was maybe a week and a half ago.

[A blighted one]

I received the same admissions letter but received a call from the DGS with my funding offer later that day. He told me that any funding offers turned down by applicants will be given to other admitted students who don't yet have funding. I imagine you are on some sort of funding waitlist. Good luck! 

Also, I'll most likely be turning down my offer, so I hope that will help you out!

[EmilyJoy]

I'm in the same exact same position as you with those two letters. Very confusing/frustrating. Glad you made a post about it! Will let you know if anything changes with me, right now still just waiting. Luckily I'm pretty sure I'm going elsewhere but will still be nice to know!!

[jillcicle]

On 3/16/2016 at 2:23 AM, EmilyJoy said:

I'm in the same exact same position as you with those two letters. Very confusing/frustrating. Glad you made a post about it! Will let you know if anything changes with me, right now still just waiting. Luckily I'm pretty sure I'm going elsewhere but will still be nice to know!!

Okay, so an update: no funding for me. I got an email from SFS this morning telling me my application for financial aid had been reviewed, prompting me to login to MyAccess. There the federal loan amounts were broken down. Not at all surprising at this point and I'm leaning toward other programs anyway.

[Aloice]

20 hours ago, jillcicle said:

Okay, so an update: no funding for me. I got an email from SFS this morning telling me my application for financial aid had been reviewed, prompting me to login to MyAccess. There the federal loan amounts were broken down. Not at all surprising at this point and I'm leaning toward other programs anyway.

Sounds like you would have a blast at Oxford or Columbia anyway, congratulations on those acceptances! I still haven't heard from Georgetown and can't see anything on MyAccess even though I could log in.... hm. I'll probably ask them tomorrow when I visit.

[jillcicle]

2 hours ago, Aloice said:

Sounds like you would have a blast at Oxford or Columbia anyway, congratulations on those acceptances! I still haven't heard from Georgetown and can't see anything on MyAccess even though I could log in.... hm. I'll probably ask them tomorrow when I visit.

Thanks!! I wonder if they're rolling out the financial aid stuff gradually. Enjoy your visit! If I could afford to fly across the country for it, I would just to see the cherry blossoms.

[EmilyJane]

Hi everyone,

I was also admitted to the program and received all of these same emails. I talked to Jessica Marr today, and she explained that, "all of our funding offers have been made. If anyone decides not to come in the fall, we will reach out to a new set of students for those positions; however, that may or may not happen until April 15th." So basically, we are waiting on people to decline their offers before GU will send out the second-tier round of funding offers, and that could happen after the April 15th deadline. My concern is that the enrollment deposit is due on April 15th--I don't know if I feel comfortable submitting the $500 nonrefundable deposit when I still don't know if I will receive funding or not. I was offered financial aid, but that's a lot of extra loans to take out on top of undergraduate loans--I really don't know if I can afford to attend GU without at least some funding from the program. Does anyone know what happens if we don't pay the deposit and confirm our enrollment on April 15th? Do we lose our place in the program? I've tried to contact people at GU about this but am not receiving any responses yet. Just wanted to put this out there and see if anyone had any advice/feedback on this? Good luck to all of you!!!

[EmilyJane]

On 3/31/2016 at 2:47 PM, jillcicle said:

Thanks!! I wonder if they're rolling out the financial aid stuff gradually. Enjoy your visit! If I could afford to fly across the country for it, I would just to see the cherry blossoms.

Hi everyone,

I was also admitted to the program and received all of these same emails. I talked to Jessica Marr today, and she explained that, "all of our funding offers have been made. If anyone decides not to come in the fall, we will reach out to a new set of students for those positions; however, that may or may not happen until April 15th." So basically, we are waiting on people to decline their offers before GU will send out the second-tier round of funding offers, and that could happen after the April 15th deadline. My concern is that the enrollment deposit is due on April 15th--I don't know if I feel comfortable submitting the $500 nonrefundable deposit when I still don't know if I will receive funding or not. I was offered financial aid, but that's a lot of extra loans to take out on top of undergraduate loans--I really don't know if I can afford to attend GU without at least some funding from the program. Does anyone know what happens if we don't pay the deposit and confirm our enrollment on April 15th? Do we lose our place in the program? I've tried to contact people at GU about this but am not receiving any responses yet. Just wanted to put this out there and see if anyone had any advice/feedback on this? Good luck to all of you!!!

[bpilgrim89]

For anyone still waiting on this, I can say that I'm accepting my offer at Georgetown. There seemed to be a bunch of people who got funding that didn't attend the open house though, so I have no idea if it was just because they couldn't attend the OH or if they're not going to Georgetown. Plus, I know there was at least one person at the OH who got funding who is contemplating turning it down due to life issues.

My guess is that many of these funding decisions will be made super last minute and perhaps even past the April 15th deadline, which obviously isn't great for those still waiting. I would recommend reaching out to Jessica Marr to see if you can get some more information about where your name is on the list for funding.

[puyple]

I was accepted as well, but I was not given any funding.  Does this mean that there's still a chance they will pass on funding?  And if so, we won't know until we've already accepted their offer?  Because I'm not entirely sure I can afford to attend Georgetown solely on what FAFSA offers me.

[EmilyJane]

Hi everyone. From what I understand (after talking with Jessica Marr), funding decisions could be made past the deadline of the enrollment deposit on April 15th. I asked her if I would lose my place in the program if I didn't pay the enrollment deposit by that deadline, and she said this: "That date is the Graduate School's deadline to confirm your spot in the program, our recommendation, though the decision is up to you, is to secure your spot as soon as possible." Hope this helps you all, and good luck to everyone. 

[puyple]

Yeah Jessica told me that not all of the applicants who were offered funding have accepted their offers.  If enough of them choose to go somewhere else, I'm assuming they will just pass it down the line?

I have already received other emails about positions on campus, though. 

[fitzwilliam]

I just declined my offer, which included an associateship, so I hope that helps one of you out!