Need some advice on my decision (Journalism and Mass Comm). Minn, Tex, or CO

[CampCool]

I have three pretty good offers from the following schools. I'm incredibly conflicted right now. I've done a campus visit for two of the schools and really liked the location and faculty. I'll try to list out why I am having a hard time below. My research area would be Journalism Studies under Mass Comm for all three of these schools. My primary research interest is Social Media and Sports Journalism. So here are the pros and cons. The yearly stipend at each schools is exactly the same. I won't go into to much detail on that so instead I'll talk about extra incentives.

University Texas at Austin

Pros

• Top program for a Journalism PhD
• Funding package is really solid. Full tuition, health insurance, etc.
• Funding is up to four years.
• I know the faculty well because I did both my BA and MA there.
• Would finish in three years because all my MA credits transfer in, with the option to use a fourth to teach, continue working on dissertation, and job hunt.
• Excellent job placement record.
• Offered a 5k recruiting fellowship on top my stipend for the first year. 
• $1500 in travel money for conferences.
• Huge faculty hire who is incoming next year who I can kinda see myself working with, but may not be the best fit.
• Already know the grad students and the culture.

Cons

• Faculty might be a little too specialized. Having a hard time thinking about who would be in my committee. I don't necessarily want to pigeon hold myself to just Journalism and Political Communication. That being said I still find it to be a good, not great, fit.
• I've done my MA and BA here. Not sure how that may hurt me on the job hunt. 
• Very QUANT oriented. I'm more a mixed method guy and want to have some solid qualitative people to work with.
• Huge pressure to publish and pump out papers. I get that in the long run it's good, but I'm slower when it comes to my research. Also kinda forces people to work in larger groups which I am not a huge fan of.
• Summer funding is not really guaranteed, and very sparse. 
• Teaching is not really emphasized at all.
• Cost of living is insane in Austin.

University of Minnesota

Pros

• Top program for a Mass Comm PhD, but ranked a little lower than Texas
• Funding package is really solid. Full tuition, health insurance, etc.
• Funding is up to four years.
• Offered a 5k summer fellowship to be used in the year of my choosing.
• Summer funding is also not guaranteed BUT every grad student I've spoken to has gotten something for summer. Whether it be a teaching or TA position. In short, there's a lot of money here.
• Excellent job placement record.
• $1500 in travel money for conferences guaranteed, and you can even earn more.
• Very generous offering students some money for smaller research projects.
• Get to work under a bigger "umbrella" not just Journalism.
• Paper pressure is definitely lower than Texas. Very self driven work. Smaller research groups. I definitely prefer that.
• Decent cost of living.
• Heavy focus on learning teaching skills.

Cons

• Faculty person who I wanted to work with is LEAVING
• On that note the grad students and faculty members were incredibly bummed out. Incoming grad students don't seem too high on the replacement hires but on paper the new hires look good.
• Also very QUANT oriented. Maybe more so than UT.
• Only one faculty person that I know for sure would be my advisor. Our interests sorta align and I think we would work well together. That being said if this person leaves or doesn't get tenure I'll be SOL.
• Hardly any credits would transfer. I'd have to retake methods and theory again which I kinda bummed out about but understand why. 

Colorado University at Boulder

Pros

• Faculty is very mixed with a good blend of media studies, journalism studies, and strat comm people.
• That being said the faculty is also very 50/50 on qual and quant methods. 
• Faculty person who would be my advisor is the PERFECT fit. Our interests could not be anymore more aligned. We are both interested in Media Sociology and Sports.
• $1k incoming student fellowship that covers fees for the first year.
• $500 travel package. 
• Very relaxed culture that encourages collaboration or solo work. 
• Also has a heavy focus on learning teaching skills.
• Journalism Studies is a brand new program that will be in it's second year. Lots of opportunity to "shape" the program. (This is also a con)

Cons

• Not the most prestigious school in our field. Very middle ranked school that a lot of people don't really think about it when it comes to Journalism studies.
• The program is brand new! No information on job placement. Curriculum seems kinda chaotic and subject to change.
• Also wouldn't get many credit transfers. Would have to retake a lot of classes again.
• Boulder is also expensive. 
• No extra fellowship for summer, or recruiting fellowship. The stipend is pretty much it.
• Summer funding will be difficult to obtain if not impossible.

 

So basically it boils down to Texas being a top ranked program that I would continue my academic graduate career in, but the faculty is good fit, not great, just good, but has the second best funding. Potential to finish faster, etc. Minnesota is also a top ranked program that has the best funding but probably a slightly worse fit faculty wise (because my guy is leaving!), and Colorado has best fit faculty wise but doesn't have the best funding.

If anyone has any advice I'll be really grateful!

[Oishii]

It sounds like we have very similar dilemmas. I have package offers in media or mass comm at UNC, Michigan State, Univ of Oregon and CU. I too had the best fit experience with the CU faculty but I'm worried about the program's rep. I also prefer mixed methods and I'm stressed about getting stuck in a program that is too quant focused. Did you get any advice?

[rising_star]

What are your post-PhD career plans? Which program is most successful at getting their students where you want to be? How likely is it that the POI at Minnesota wouldn't get tenure? Without this information, it's hard to really give you advice.

In general, I'd advise against doing all three of your degrees in the same department if you plan to go into academia. I'd also point out that having to take methods and theory again isn't necessarily a bad thing. I did this (did MA and PhD at different places) and it made me a better scholar in my field. Also, the theory class was way easier the second time around.

[CampCool]

On 3/19/2016 at 0:41 AM, Oishii said:

It sounds like we have very similar dilemmas. I have package offers in media or mass comm at UNC, Michigan State, Univ of Oregon and CU. I too had the best fit experience with the CU faculty but I'm worried about the program's rep. I also prefer mixed methods and I'm stressed about getting stuck in a program that is too quant focused. Did you get any advice?

You know I think we may have actually met at CU! Were you visiting last week? You know I actually applied to Michigan State and still haven't received any word from them so I am going to assume I didn't get in there haha. 

And yeah, the faculty at CU is really awesome. Texas and Minnesota are VERY quant oriented programs which is why I feel CU is the best fit since I'm more of a qualitative guy. My would be advisor is also doing the same exact thing I am interested in researching, and there are definitely a ton of people I can see myself working with. I'm talking to my thesis advisor tomorrow since she wants to know how my trips went. I'll come back on here with some more thoughts. One thing about CU is they got back to me and actually offered me a little bit more money when I expressed my concerns about reputation and summer funding. I will say that at CU the vibe that I am getting is that I am definitely wanted. The faculty has been great at making me feel like they need me to be a part of the program. I don't necessarily get the same vibe from Minnesota tbh. 

On 3/19/2016 at 10:40 AM, rising_star said:

What are your post-PhD career plans? Which program is most successful at getting their students where you want to be? How likely is it that the POI at Minnesota wouldn't get tenure? Without this information, it's hard to really give you advice.

In general, I'd advise against doing all three of your degrees in the same department if you plan to go into academia. I'd also point out that having to take methods and theory again isn't necessarily a bad thing. I did this (did MA and PhD at different places) and it made me a better scholar in my field. Also, the theory class was way easier the second time around.

A tenure track job at either an R1 or R2 institution. My POI would most likely get tenure at Minnesota but you just never know with these elite schools. I've already been told by CU that my POI is without a doubt getting tenure so that puts me a little bit more at ease. I do have some placement data from CU from their old Mass Comm program and I would say a good 60-70% of people get tenure track jobs. That number is closer to 80-90% at UT and Minn.

Edited March 21, 2016 by CampCool

[Oishii]

@CampCool I did just visit the week before I posted. Hi again! I just found out that CU is not offering health insurance for dependents. My 5 year old is going on this adventure with me so that just makes them an impossibility. Now I'm down to Michigan State and UNC. I've decided that I must decide this week so I can focus on finishing up my thesis. Good luck!!

Edited March 28, 2016 by Oishii

[GradSchoolTruther]

1 hour ago, Oishii said:

@CampCool I did just visit the week before I posted. Hi again! I just found out that CU is not offering health insurance for dependents. My 5 year old is going on this adventure with me so that just makes them an impossibility. Now I'm down to Michigan State and UNC. I've decided that I must decide this week so I can focus on finishing up my thesis. Good luck!!

You should qualify for Medicaid or CHIP in Colorado if your only income is the stipend. Dependent child coverage on any student plan is going to be expensive. Minnesota has generous income limits for Medicaid. Texas does not. If you relocate to a state where you qualify for Medicaid, apply for yourself, since Medicaid will act as secondary insurance.

https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid-chip-program-information/by-state/colorado.html

https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid-chip-program-information/by-state/minnesota.html

https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid-chip-program-information/by-state/texas.html

Edited March 28, 2016 by GradSchoolTruther