Wisconsin 2010

[JohnBom]

In the spirit of starting school specif threads - Anyone thinking about going to Wisconsin next year?

[EdPolicy]

It's among my top choices, but funding is a serious consideration and I have not gotten any information about this so far. I know a lot of people are in the same boat. There's an interdisciplinary training program I'd really like to take part in at Wisconsin, so I hope I'm accepted to that in addition to the Sociology department. Time will tell!

[econsoc]

I am seriously considering Wisconsin, but as for EdPolicy, funding is a material concern to me too...

[Kinkster]

I don't know if there is any flesh to this and it's probably based on hearsay, so don't take my words too seriously. I heard that for some programs, U Wisc.-Madison is notorious for having students fend for themselves in terms of funding. Again, I don't know how truthful this is based on just reading it somewhere on the internet...

Edited February 3, 2010 by Kinkster

[captiv8ed]

I don't know if there is any flesh to this and it's probably based on hearsay, so don't take my words too seriously. I heard that for some programs, U Wisc.-Madison is notorious for having students fend for themselves in terms of funding. Again, I don't know how truthful this is based on just reading it somewhere on the internet...

I was told that as well, but by a sociologist/department head (from a different school). She said that they take a ton of people and not all get funded. It is hard to get funding unless you have someone in the department really gunning for you, and it is easy to slip through the cracks unless you have a strong mentor relationship.

[JohnBom]

I don't know if there is any flesh to this and it's probably based on hearsay, so don't take my words too seriously. I heard that for some programs, U Wisc.-Madison is notorious for having students fend for themselves in terms of funding. Again, I don't know how truthful this is based on just reading it somewhere on the internet...

Yeah, that must be based on what I wrote in the other thread It seems to me like they tell you go and find it in the department. From the numbers that they give on their website it seems that most people find funding. (Or most of those who choose to attend.)

The funding concern is one of the main reasons why I started this topic. I was reading through last year's posts and some of them seemed overwhelmingly negative.

I am being considered for a fellowship, but I don't really know what happens if that falls through.

On a different note, has anybody received a confirmation letter in the mail? I am irrationally anxious, since the acceptance email was not personalized..

[coffeeandtoast]

My husband applied there last year for philosophy and got waitlisted. Then he saw the kind of stipend that those who had already been accepted were getting and lost interest quite rapidly (not a stipend you can live decently with).

I do hope you guys hear good news about university fellowships though. It kind of stinks that you are really happy about an acceptance and then don't hear anything about funding.

[avir]

Yeah, that must be based on what I wrote in the other thread It seems to me like they tell you go and find it in the department. From the numbers that they give on their website it seems that most people find funding. (Or most of those who choose to attend.)

The funding concern is one of the main reasons why I started this topic. I was reading through last year's posts and some of them seemed overwhelmingly negative.

I am being considered for a fellowship, but I don't really know what happens if that falls through.

On a different note, has anybody received a confirmation letter in the mail? I am irrationally anxious, since the acceptance email was not personalized..

I haven't got my letter either. What are you worrying about? It's great news they nominate you for fellowship, and I'm not sure they will tell you in the admission letter.

I also got the offer without funding. Although it's one of the top choice, funding is a huge concern indeed.

I asked the personnel at Wisconsin about funding. They basically say that most funding opportunities, including RA of professors' own projects, other RA positions, and TAship come out between May and August. This means it possible that we need to make a choice before anything is set. For the first one, you may be able to get some sort of guarantee from your professor, but for the latter two, you need to depend on your own (but knowing a professor may help you get some insider info.) And by depending on your own, according to the e-mail they sent me, I mean you have to apply for it yourself. I guess this is why people say we need to fend for ourselves.

Plus the e-mail describe the chance for TAship as "although the department gives priority to ongoing graduate students when awarding teaching assistantships, first-year graduate students are eligible and can apply." Uh....... (the e-mail did say that every fall 2009 student who applied to TAship got one, though.)

I don't know how the situation is going to be this year. Who knows? Maybe the situation will better off even more. I don't really want to increase everyone's anxiety with a lot of hearsay. As for me, I am still going to wait for other schools.....

[JohnBom]

I haven't got my letter either. What are you worrying about? It's great news they nominate you for fellowship, and I'm not sure they will tell you in the admission letter.

I mostly worry that they did not meant to send me the email and confused me with someone else

[avir]

I mostly worry that they did not meant to send me the email and confused me with someone else

:lol:I thought about it when I saw the e-mail, too. My friend and I even simulated every situation to reassure ourselves that there didn't seem to be a chance of mistaken e-mail.

No worry.

[graddamn]

Same boat here. I'm waiting for the Wisconsin letter/ final word on funding (they referenced some unknown potential funding source in my email). Although, I'm rapidly learning that if a department says next week, it means two months from now.... patience is not my strong suit

[MelMcC]

So I am new at this whole grad school application stuff and this post might show off my ignorance but I was under the impression that Phd programs gave some form of funding to most of their students. Whether it be fellowship or TA position. So I was surprised to see so many of you worrying about the funding from Wisconsin. Like I said I know that I don't know much and I didn't apply to Wisconsin so I have researched it very little but, is it really possible that so many of you with such stellar stats might not get funding? If so I wouldn't blame ya'll for going soemwhere else dispite Wisconsin's high ranking.

[graddamn]

For anybody interested the grad school has updated the app status You didn't get the wrong email. And yes, I woke up at 4am after a nightmare of the "mistake" and checked....

[JohnBom]

Anybody knows their attrition rate? I can't find it anywhere, but I suspect it is pretty high.

[graddamn]

I have been looking for Wisconsin's attrition rate as well. But with little luck...the best I could find was courtesy of PhD.com (not the most authoritative source, not standing by data quality on this one). According to that site, 81 Ph.D's were awarded between 2001-2005 by the University of Wisconsin's Sociology Ph.D. Program. If each cohort has between 25-30 students, that puts the attrition rate somewhere between 25% and 33% don't know if that is of any help. If anybody finds better data, post here, I'm curious too!