Choosing an Offer Discussion

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CoffeeBean
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2022 3:42 pm

Choosing an Offer Discussion

Post by CoffeeBean » Thu Feb 17, 2022 12:40 pm

I'm trying to decide between a couple programs that I was admitted to and feel conflicted. It's especially hard since one of the schools will not be hosting an in-person visit. That makes it hard to compare them.

How is your decision making process shaping up?

pkzrd
Posts: 80
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2020 8:43 pm

Re: Choosing an Offer Discussion

Post by pkzrd » Thu Feb 17, 2022 12:53 pm

CoffeeBean wrote:
Thu Feb 17, 2022 12:40 pm
I'm trying to decide between a couple programs that I was admitted to and feel conflicted. It's especially hard since one of the schools will not be hosting an in-person visit. That makes it hard to compare them.

How is your decision making process shaping up?
This is how I make my decision among my offers, from higher importance to lower:
  • Prestige of the Program
  • Amount of Stipend vs Cost of Living
  • Area of research the program provides, usually this doesn't matter if you don't know what area of research you're going into and especially if the department is large
  • Culture of the department, this can usually be figured out via open house/department visits or asking a current graduate student, obviously you don't want to go to a program with toxic professor/colleagues. It wears you down mentally.
  • Proximity to Family/Friend/SO
  • Climate
  • Number of good restaurants and Costco warehouses available

kaubrey
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2022 9:36 pm

Re: Choosing an Offer Discussion

Post by kaubrey » Thu Feb 17, 2022 4:26 pm

pkzrd wrote:
Thu Feb 17, 2022 12:53 pm
CoffeeBean wrote:
Thu Feb 17, 2022 12:40 pm
I'm trying to decide between a couple programs that I was admitted to and feel conflicted. It's especially hard since one of the schools will not be hosting an in-person visit. That makes it hard to compare them.

How is your decision making process shaping up?
This is how I make my decision among my offers, from higher importance to lower:
  • Prestige of the Program
  • Amount of Stipend vs Cost of Living
  • Area of research the program provides, usually this doesn't matter if you don't know what area of research you're going into and especially if the department is large
  • Culture of the department, this can usually be figured out via open house/department visits or asking a current graduate student, obviously you don't want to go to a program with toxic professor/colleagues. It wears you down mentally.
  • Proximity to Family/Friend/SO
  • Climate
  • Number of good restaurants and Costco warehouses available
:mrgreen:

CoffeeBean
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2022 3:42 pm

Re: Choosing an Offer Discussion

Post by CoffeeBean » Thu Feb 17, 2022 6:39 pm

I'm trying to prioritize high stipend for the cost of living of the area and low teaching duties when I'm making my decision.

Jerry99
Posts: 17
Joined: Mon Dec 02, 2019 5:01 am

Re: Choosing an Offer Discussion

Post by Jerry99 » Fri Feb 18, 2022 3:06 pm

CoffeeBean wrote:
Thu Feb 17, 2022 6:39 pm
I'm trying to prioritize high stipend for the cost of living of the area and low teaching duties when I'm making my decision.
Agree, stipend, and teaching duties actually affect research.
Last edited by Jerry99 on Fri Feb 18, 2022 7:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

clopensets
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2022 3:54 pm

Re: Choosing an Offer Discussion

Post by clopensets » Fri Feb 18, 2022 3:11 pm

CoffeeBean wrote:
Thu Feb 17, 2022 6:39 pm
I'm trying to prioritize high stipend for the cost of living of the area and low teaching duties when I'm making my decision.
What I'm finding is that the stipends seem to correspond with the cost of living in the area. I have a $26k offer in Boston, $25k offer in Long Island and a $20 k offer in Chicago. That roughly corresponds to the relative cost of living. Not much help there.

YellowBee
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2022 10:09 am

Re: Choosing an Offer Discussion

Post by YellowBee » Fri Feb 18, 2022 3:15 pm

I definitely think stipend levels can vary a little bit. Some schools offer additional fellowships to either increase the stipend or decrease the number of years you have to TA. I can definitely see a noticeable difference between offers even taking into account for cost of living. For me, there is one offer that is clearly financially the best one out of the ones I have.

Weil98
Posts: 29
Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2021 3:03 pm

Re: Choosing an Offer Discussion

Post by Weil98 » Fri Feb 18, 2022 3:31 pm

CoffeeBean wrote:
Thu Feb 17, 2022 6:39 pm
I'm trying to prioritize high stipend for the cost of living of the area and low teaching duties when I'm making my decision.
Aren't teaching duties in every university the same? What makes one TA duties less than the other?

CoffeeBean
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2022 3:42 pm

Re: Choosing an Offer Discussion

Post by CoffeeBean » Fri Feb 18, 2022 3:39 pm

Weil98 wrote:
Fri Feb 18, 2022 3:31 pm
CoffeeBean wrote:
Thu Feb 17, 2022 6:39 pm
I'm trying to prioritize high stipend for the cost of living of the area and low teaching duties when I'm making my decision.
Aren't teaching duties in every university the same? What makes one TA duties less than the other?
I received a release of TA duties for 2 years compared to normal package based on a fellowship I received from one school. Also some schools don't require any students to TA for first year or even a couple years whereas some programs make you TA pretty much every year.

MadMax
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Mar 20, 2021 2:09 pm

Re: Choosing an Offer Discussion

Post by MadMax » Fri Feb 18, 2022 4:04 pm

Weil98 wrote:
Fri Feb 18, 2022 3:31 pm
CoffeeBean wrote:
Thu Feb 17, 2022 6:39 pm
I'm trying to prioritize high stipend for the cost of living of the area and low teaching duties when I'm making my decision.
Aren't teaching duties in every university the same? What makes one TA duties less than the other?
The difference can be huge. I think most TA offers say 20 hrs per week (international students are only allowed to work 20 hrs per week on campus). However, in a rich private university, that is equivalent to one discussion section with no more than 7 hrs of work per week. In a large public university, you may have three discussion sections and need to literally work for 20 hrs per week.

Weil98
Posts: 29
Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2021 3:03 pm

Re: Choosing an Offer Discussion

Post by Weil98 » Fri Feb 18, 2022 4:59 pm

Ah nice! I didn't know that.



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