Hello, I applied to a PhD in Civil Engineering in the US, I am Brazilian and have been granted a modest scholarship in my home country that covers some expenses to study abroad.
The thing is I have been admitted to UC Berkeley and UT Austin with in-state tuition or paying no tuition at all, but no additional support; I guess they believe my scholarship is enough, which is not. These two are top schools in the civil engineering field.
I have also been admitted by four other schools (UW, Arizona, Buffalo, Tuft) and all of them offer me a better aid package that covers 100 % of my expenses. I could even send some back to my family in Brazil or save for the future.
I need help in deciding where should I go, by May I have to have a definite answer, and I just couldn’t forgive myself to reject the top civil engineering schools/dream schools over a little financial burden vs. some decent schools for a few bucks.
@TomSrOfBoston I actually received a tuition waiver, so no tuition at all, but I do have to pay fees, health insurances and other costs. I did received a In-State tuition award at UT Austin plus some money (not that much) so that I pay as a local.
@123Mom456 Unfortunately my family is poor, they do not have the means to support me. The gap is about 5000/year at Berkeley and 6000/year at UT, this is a significant amount in Brazilian money, maybe not so much for locals. The way I see it is to get some sort of in-university job or stretch living conditions and food allowance as much as I can… All of which is unnecessary if I accept any of the other schools… but, you know… Top Rank…
The PhD admission offers did not come with a full tuition waiver and a stipend for living expenses (often in exchange for work as a teaching assistant and/or research assistant)?
@ucbalumnus Some of the schools I applied did in fact offer me GRA or TA positions, others offered scholarships or grants. UCB and UT did not offer that. By the way, some of the offers are unofficial as I have not received official letters, but the info comes from the department committee directly.
Agreed with previous post about forgetting the rank. I say take the money that’s being offered, especially if you don’t have any. The 4 schools you list are respectable, esp Tufts.
I agree with other comments above. I think that you will do very well with a degree from any university that you listed. However, it will be a LOT easier for you to focus on your education if you don’t have to worry about financial survival. You are going to need to work hard on the academic side of your education once you are here. Pick one of the four affordable options.
Ask them if this is their best offer. Remind them that you will not get your student visa if you cannot demonstrate that the full International graduate Cost of Attendance is covered. If they can’t come up with more money, drop them. A PhD program that does not offer you full funding is saying that it doesn’t really want you.
Choose between the places that offered full funding. They want you and will give you better opportunities.
Read the offers carefully. Think about your purpose in grad school. What are the individual faculty members there working on? What have they published recently? Which projects and research teams are most appealing to you?
How do they coordinate their TA and GRA positions? Will you be a TA for a couple of years and then a GRA? Are there expectations that you must meet in order to renew a scholarship or grant?
Will you need to complete an MS along the way, or will you be admitted directly to the PhD?
A TA job is generally a temporary phase of grad school. You work as a TA until you are accepted into an advisor’s lab. For those offers, ask how many semesters you are allowed to TA until have to find a lab. Ask current students how hard it was to be accepted by an advisor and how they went about finding a match. Try to get a feel for whether most students match to a lab or is there a lot of “weed out.”
A GRA is a job that’s already in a lab. You would want to talk to the advisor you’d work for and if possible their students to see if it’s a good fit. A GRA which is a good fit for what you want to do is usually the better type of offer. You’ll be on the path to becoming a coauthor sooner.
Your family is struggling. You have an amazing opportunity to get an outstanding education that will lead you to a well-paying job, allowing you to help your family. You have two options:
Opt for a "top-name" school, where you need to come up with extra money - that you don't have - to meet costs and you cannot help your family until you graduate
Opt for a "lesser-name" school where all costs are covered and you can perhaps help your family some while still in school.
Now, list your pros and cons:
Option1 Pros:
Better name recognition of school - what does this really mean? What is your expected return on the investment? Conventional wisdom is this will not translate into higher pay. What are the long-term positives of this choice? What makes these “dream schools”?
Option 1 Cons:
You need to work additional hours while still keeping up with a demanding field of study. Extra stress, possibly lower grades. More worries about your family since you won’t be able to help them financially while in school. Risk of having to drop out of the program if you can’t come up with enough money or if you can’t maintain the grades and the workload
Option 2 Pros:
Less stress, more time to focus on your studies. Possibility of helping your family financially while a student and/or having savings when you graduate. More time to take advantage of research opportunities and to network for your future.
Option 2 Cons:
You attend a “lower-tier” school. What does this really mean? What impact will this have on your life at graduation? Five years after graduation? Fifteen years after graduation?
You need to understand your goal. Is your goal to graduate from the highest ranked school possible, regardless of consequences, or to obtain an education that puts you on track to have a stable, successful future? Don’t let prestige cloud common sense.
These choices aren’t even really “lower tier.” I might scratch Buffalo due to the weather or prefer one school to another for a specific research niche, but these schools are all good options.
@hanks864 - For what it’s worth, here are some of the factors that I would consider. First, I agree that you should rule out any school not offering to pay your full tuition and give you a good stipend ($2000-$2500 per month). Living in Berkeley is extremely expensive. Austin is not as expensive, but not cheap.
Assuming UW is the University of Washington, it’s a top-20 (US News) civil engineering graduate school. Seattle is rainy, but snow is rare in the winter. Seattle is a great town too. I don’t know about the cost of living.
Buffalo is in the top-30. Winters in Buffalo can be brutal, especially for someone from Brazil. Buffalo should be very affordable. I don’t know anything about the campus or what it’s like to live there.
Tufts is in the top-60. Winters in Boston can be almost as bad as in Buffalo. Boston is a great college town, but will be very expensive to live in.
Arizona is a top-40 program. (I have spent quite a bit of time in the area.) Tucson is wonderful in the winter, but very hot in the summer. The sky is blue more than 300 days a year. Tucson is very affordable, and the campus is quite nice. The engineering school is relatively small. The city of Tucson is nothing special, although there are the usual student hang-outs nearby. If you like the outdoors, the hiking in the nearby mountains and the high desert is as good as it gets; mountain biking too.
Do not assume or tell your family that you might be able to send money back. It’s very doubtful that you would be able to do so. Living as a grad student is often more expensive than living as an undergrad. Your rent will be high, you’ll have utilities, insurance, transportation.
What stipends were you awarded? When my older son was applying for grad schools, the stipend awards ranged from about $15k to about $28k. The school he chose offered the $28k stipend and believe me, that was barely enough and he didn’t have to buy health insurance because he was on our family plan…a benefit you won’t have.
Your question seems a little crazy. Your family can’t help you and therefore there’s no way you can “stretch” anything. And for you to get the education visa, you have to show that you have all costs covered. Any earning opportunities will be limited. And you’ll have summer costs as well. And transportation costs from your home country.
Great advice from everyone – the only thing I have to say is that you should consider the costs associated with living expenses at the four affordable options. #17 offers very helpful information.