for current and prospective graduate students in mathematics
https://mathematicsgre.com/
This is how I make my decision among my offers, from higher importance to lower:CoffeeBean wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 12:40 pmI'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 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 12:53 pmThis is how I make my decision among my offers, from higher importance to lower:CoffeeBean wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 12:40 pmI'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?
- 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
Agree, stipend, and teaching duties actually affect research.CoffeeBean wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 6:39 pmI'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.CoffeeBean wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 6:39 pmI'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 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 6:39 pmI'm trying to prioritize high stipend for the cost of living of the area and low teaching duties when I'm making my decision.
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.Weil98 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 3:31 pmAren't teaching duties in every university the same? What makes one TA duties less than the other?CoffeeBean wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 6:39 pmI'm trying to prioritize high stipend for the cost of living of the area and low teaching duties when I'm making my decision.
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 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 3:31 pmAren't teaching duties in every university the same? What makes one TA duties less than the other?CoffeeBean wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 6:39 pmI'm trying to prioritize high stipend for the cost of living of the area and low teaching duties when I'm making my decision.