Financing Graduate School

originaloog
Thu, 09 Dec 2004 12:19:07 +0000

Mini posted, “For what it’s worth, I graduated from Williams (back in the dark ages), went to graduate school for 5 years, and ended up with more money in savings (from fellowships, etc.) than when I started.”

Back in the pre-Cambrian time I graduated from Ohio State with no savings. At Cornell, an RA position paid for my room/board costs and a NHS fellowship paid for my tuition PLUS a $200/month cash stipend!!! Man o man did I feel rich!! Upom graduation in '75, my first tenure track position paid a whopping $18,500!

And how did I stumble on that good fortune. I was working at IBM Endicott the summer between jr-sr year on third shift and a friend had to go to Cornell and wanted to know if I wanted to tag along. I said okay and while he was attending to his buniness I ambled over to Hollister on the engineering quad. I was nosing about to see what the CE labs and classrooms were like when Prof White invited me into his office. He asked about me and, finding out I was a rising senior, asked what my future plans were. I said to him that, while I would like to go on to grad school, my finances(or utter lack thereof) precluded that possibility. He then gave me an education in grad school finances and suggested I at least apply to see what would happen.

I took him up on that suggestion and applied to exactly one grad school, Cornell. I wrote Prof White a short letter thanking him for his kindnesses and telling him that my application had been sent in. That spring on of my apartment mates yelled that I had a phone call. It was Cornell and they informed me that I had received both the RA and fellowship which would cover all my costs! Needless to say I suspended further job interviews!

While I love telling this story, it also illustrates an important point. I seriously doubt that all that good forrtune would have come my way if that chance encounter with Prof White had not occurred. Students should also visit prospective grad schools and visit with a faculty member or two. Our doors are almost always open and most enjoy chats with students or prospective students. Unfortunately in my experience it rarely happens. I would be more than happy to champion a prospective student who was personally interested in my department and was academically promising.

While I am on this rant about graduate education, one other point is important to make here. For PhD candidates the most important factor in choosing a graduate program is to consider WHO, the particular person, you want to study under. That is so much more important than any national ranking or perceived prestige factor. Ninty percent of your effort as a PhD student will be involved in research and a close working relationship with a top academic in your area is GOLD. If a person with those attributes is at MIT, go to MIT. If he is at Kansas State, go to KSU. It is that important. Believe me, if that person is at KSU, academics around the world will know him/her. These top academics will have state of the art facilities at their disposal and will be lead researchers on multiple research grants year after year. Their grad students will directly benefit from these advantages. And come graduation, assuming a distinguished portfolio of research activity and a glowing recommendation from your advisor, opportunities will abound.