Deciding between two PhD offers and comparing their packages (aid, research, etc.)

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I am deciding between two schools' PhD offers. Both are R1 public research universities and are comparably ranked on most of the ranking systems out there. Both are in areas within the U.S. that I would love to live in. I would enjoy working with either professor in these two programs. My main concern is guaranteed funding vs. possible funding as well as research I love vs. research I like.

 

School A:

• Older school and well-established that has been highly ranked for a long time.

• Research lines up perfectly with what I want to do, and the professor I would be working with has been cited a lot in my field.

• Funding is competitive, and a small portion of students receive funded teaching or research positions while some don't. Those decisions have not been made yet. They haven't offered a funding package yet, but they might, though it is not guaranteed. That scares me a bit. For those that are not set up with a teaching or research assistantship, the department promises to help each student find work somewhere on campus that offers partial or full tuition remission sometime before or within their first year.

• Professor cranks out a lot of publications, and his former students find great work in academia or industry afterward. His former students produced the same type of research I would like to do, and they have also been cited relatively often for being so young.

School B:

• Newer school, but still highly ranked. The student body is double the size of school A.

• Research is in an area that I like, but not love like in School A. I know I could make the most of it.

• The professor is younger with fewer publications and citations

• Funding is provided via a research assistantship which covers most of my tuition for five years plus a small yearly salary.

I was leaning heavily towards School A, and I even accepted the admission offer via email, but I have not signed anything yet. I am now second guessing my choice because School B provided me with the funding offer, though I am still relatively confident that I made the right choice in selecting School A.

I hear that accepting and then changing one's mind is heavily frowned upon, though it happens sometimes. I hear that it is especially frowned upon if there is a funding offer.

If it comes down to it and I am not offered a funding package at School A, and I have to work somewhere on campus in something like administration, I would have to do administration plus research and coursework. In comparison to School B where the research I will be doing is paid, so there is no second job I would have to do.

Thoughts?

Edited January 31, 2017 by loading_please_wait

[meggied]

Funding is definitely something to be considered. If funding isn't provided you could be forced to go into debt. One big thing to consider is your career goals. If you want to go into academia the name of the school can play a huge role. If you want to go into industry other factors need to be considered like how many students that get phds get jobs every year. 

Its also important to consider how sure you are about your research interests and of the professors will have the projects for you for sure. I have friends that went to certain schools for a specific research project and by the time they got there (6 months after the conversation with professor) the project had been given to someone else. 

It really seems like you need to sit down and calculate how much it will cost you if you don't get funded and if it's worth the benefits. 

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Great, thank you!

Is there a general consensus out there regarding how departments or schools view it if a student first accepts an unfunded offer and changes their mind to go to a school offering funding before the April 15 deadline (e.g. sometime in February or early March)?

[juilletmercredi]

I would not ever attend an unfunded PhD program, or a PhD program of which I was not reasonably assured of getting funding. I certainly wouldn't accept an offer of admission without knowledge about whether or not I was getting funding, especially with pending applications out. Did you accept conditionally, pending information about the offer? I mean, whether you did or you didn't, I don't think you should feel bad about changing your mind because they didn't offer you any funding!

And what kind of "work" is the department talking about? Research work in another department that is at least sort-of related to your program, or work-study or a graduate assistantship that will take time away from your research and publishing? That will cause a gulf between the students with funding (who will have more time to devote to professional development) and the students without. What are the chances of you getting an RA or TA position in the future? Is that uncertain, too? Do you prospectively have to do some kind of GA work on campus for the 6-7 years of your program?

Really, attending a PhD program without funding is not a good idea, even if the department is going to try to match you up with work elsewhere. I think a student should turn down an unfunded offer regardless of whether they've been admitted elsewhere, but I DEFINITELY think a student should reject an unfunded offer if they have a program they like pretty much equally somewhere else. You sound like you would be just as happy at School B, and potentially just as productive, with the added benefit that they are fully funding you for five years. That is a HUGE difference. At one school you MAY get partial tuition remission and would have to - what? - borrow money to pay for your living expenses? Which over the course of 5-7 years can approach or exceed six figures? So in addition to having an additional unrelated job that sucks time away from research and professional development, you now have to worry about the debt you are racking up. Whereas at the other school your basic needs would be taken care of AND the work you have to do would be research-related only.

This seems like a no-brainer to me.

E-mail School A back, tell them you withdraw your acceptance of their admission because you got a funded offer elsewhere. Then accept School B. (Unless you still have pending applications out.)

Edited February 1, 2017 by juilletmercredi

[boneflower]

Aside from funding, it's also important to keep in mind the flexibility of the program and the support from your potential advisor! Some advisors are tenured, established, and have multiple graduate students. If you are going to be just one of twelve students, you will get less attention and support naturally than an advisor that only has one or two other students. If the program is flexible, you can tailor it to your passions and interests, ultimately making what you want out of it.

Congratulations on your acceptances! Sounds like you can't make a bad decision here