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Funding for 4 years

Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2020 6:29 pm
by Junaid456
Got a funded offer from UC Davis saying I have been offered funding for four years only probably because I am currently getting my master's degree. Any idea whether this is a tight call to complete a PhD program, as I will still have to start from scratch at the new program.

Re: Funding for 4 years

Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2020 10:15 am
by complexcat
I would explicitly ask them their rationale for offering this funding. If you don't think it's sufficient, it's possible that they misunderstood something about your situation.

Re: Funding for 4 years

Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2020 1:38 pm
by davis7e
My school does the same thing. Most people are able to stay longer since many professors are able to fund their students for a fifth year if it is needed (and it often is!). I recommend asking a current UC Davis grad student if they know anything about whether or not getting funded for a fifth year is ever an issue. On the other hand, you may be fine finishing in four years. Many students entering with a masters are usually quicker to finding a professor to work with (such students often have a better idea of what they want to research) and you might even take and pass whatever qualifying or preliminary exams are required as soon as you are there.

Re: Funding for 4 years

Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2020 9:58 pm
by vzlamath
Also got a 4-year funding offer from one of the universities I got into. I'm also currently getting my master's. Might want to talk to the graduate advisor about this. In my case, they are also funding all 4 summers; their rationale was that they can count some of my graduate courses, and get working on research sooner. Seemed reasonable with them. So you might just want to have a conversation and ask about those details specifically.

Re: Funding for 4 years

Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2020 10:50 am
by quinquenion
4-year funding guarantee is pretty standard for American universities, even where the average time to completion is 5-6 years. It's a bit unfortunate. Where I completed my PhD, the funding guarantee was only for 4 years, but everyone who needed a 5th year got departmental funding, and some people got a 6th year from their advisor. But, the guarantee is still only for 4 years, so they could in theory have denied people. Having said that, it's good to do research and ask some of the people in the program what is typical as opposed to just what is guaranteed.