Received admission w/ No funding from Texas A&M, College Station; take it or leave it

[ShogunT]

Hi my fellow gradcafedrinkers,

I received admission with no funding from Texas A&M, College Station, ECE Ph.D. program in Fall 2016.

The professor I want to work with in the ECE Dept. has no funding but encourages me to take the English Test (they call it ELPE - English Language Proficiency Exam - in A&M) to be eligible for applying a Teaching Assistant position. I am an international student, and the dept requirements for TA includes passing the ELPE (cannot use high-scored TOEFL as waiver). There is no verbal/written guarantee for a TAship after passing the ELPE.

Having not known any friend from A&M, I want to hear from you about:

0) Should I take the offer and go to A&M?

1) What is the current TAship funding situation in the ECE Dept at Texas A&M? How hard is it to get a TAship there after passing the ELPE?

2) I check the ELPE section in A&M website, but the test sample seems to be extremely limited. How hard is it for the real test? Does any A&M TAs here have some more test samples to share?

A&M allows test takers to take only one test in a 3-month period, and the re-test requires complicated procedure involving multiple bureaucratic parties. Therefore, I want to maximize my chance getting good score at the first try if I choose to go to A&M.

Thank you very much,

Cheers

 

[cwr]

I am not qualified to speak on the specifics (your department, A&M, the exam, etc.), but the Dean of the Graduate Division at my (undergraduate) university would always say, in advice to undergraduates applying for their Ph.D., that: "if they don't fund you, they don't want you." 

Now, I realize that funding is a stickier situation in the humanities/arts and some social sciences (for the record, though, this guy is an English professor), but you're talking about engineering, where funding ought to be much more plentiful. I understand that this is further complicated by the fact that you're international, rather than domestic, but I would seriously consider whether you can afford to accept their offer. Do you have the financial capacity to pay for this degree, should you fail to get a TA position? Would you rather jump into it unfunded, rather than wait a year to reapply? (I don't pretend to have the answer to these questions, and hopefully others who know more about TAMU's program will chime in, but I think you're right to at least consider walking away.)

 

Best of luck!

[ShogunT]

Really grateful to your input. I appreciate all constructing opinions from different backgrounds.

Actually, I received 3 funded RA offers from other profs in the same dept. and else where, whom I share a little research interests with. The one that I want to work with and seems to be liking me, very unfortunately, does not have funding allocated. Also it seems to me that the dept does not hand out school fellowship to internationals. Therefore, TA becomes an option at hand. However, to my collected knowledge so far, the TAship the dept. is very competitive considering the large number of candidates competing for a much smaller number of positions.

Regards

[fuzzylogician]

I would not take an unfunded offer or one where funding it not guaranteed. You can't count on getting a TAship -- what happens if that falls through? I think your realistic options are working with one of the professors who did make you a funded offer, even if your interests aren't as good a match, or reapplying next year. 

[ShogunT]

Thank you a lot for your comment.

[Lucky14]

@ShogunT Tell me more about your background and your application process at A&M please

[ShogunT]

I have 2 publication (one good, one mediore). Some industry experience in the U.S. Good GRE. Interviewed with 2 Profs in the ECE Dept. in Jan. Offered in Mar. I'm international.