UCLA Drama

[JohnBom]

Hi All,

UCLA Sociology is one of my dream programs. I considered not applying after I was told by a professor from the department that there will be nearly no funding available this year. Then I decided to disregard his advice and just try my luck, knowing that it is probably not going to work out.

Now I am beginning to think that it may not be the best environment to pursue graduate studies because of the recent tuition hike and student demonstrations. Are there any other prospective grads who are put off by the situation?

[captiv8ed]

I am in sociology as well. I was planning to apply to UCSB, Berkeley, and maybe UC Davis and San Diego

I took all the California schools off my list the summer due to the budget issues.

[rising_star]

Honestly, I wouldn't be too put off by it. What I mean by that is a LOT of schools are having budget problems and tuition hikes, and many more will have them in FY 2012, which is when the stimulus package runs out. My university president referred to July 2011 as falling off a cliff because of the role the stimulus money is currently playing in keeping the doors open.

[captiv8ed]

Yes, it is bad in a lot of places. But California is really bad. For me, I would probably still consider those schools if I didn't have a family to think about as well, but so many of the cuts are in education, and my family needs quality education across the board: Grad for me, Undergrad for DH, and High school, middle, and elementary for my boys. AND a quality special ed program

[pip]

Berkeley is still my top choice despite the budget problems. I do wonder how much the cuts affect grad funding versus the much publicized undergrad tuition.

Edited November 21, 2009 by pip

[LateAntique]

If all the universities shut down, I'll open up my own and give everyone their Ph.Ds for free.

[gremot]

you can try to apply outside of the country... Europe still enjoys the free education in a number of countries... PhD is considered a job that you get payed for.

[cyclingsociologist]

Berkeley is still my top choice despite the budget problems. I do wonder how much the cuts affect grad funding versus the much publicized undergrad tuition.

Democracy Now! reported that with last week's decision by the board of regents "graduate students may have to pay for programs that were currently free." Sounds pretty ambiguous, but also pretty crappy... My guess is we'll find out after the 1st of the year what department budgets will look like.

[judyblume]

Hello -- I'm not a student in the Sociology department, but I do study the social sciences. The general morale at UCLA is low. The student demonstrations were as peaceful as these things go, but the budget crisis is very real and not expected to get better. Yudof (the president of the entire University of California -- all ten campuses) keeps emphasizing that things like tuition hikes need to happen in order to avoid "brain drain," basically a loss of professorial talent as they escape to schools that won't cut their salaries or research money. I don't think this is a good time to enter the UC at all, especially since PhD programs lock you in for five or six years.

I think the mood at Berkeley is better because it's known as the flagship campus. Nobody will let bad things happen there.