<p>Most</a> Public Colleges Face Budget Cut Threats in 2011 - US News and World Report</p>
<p>Okay so I'm thinking that these budget cuts might reduce the number of graduate students many of these universities can take. And as a result, they might make graduate admissions at these universities more competitive. I'm considering applying to the universities with less stringent budget cuts - not only because they might make graduate admissions more competitive, but also because they might decrease the quality of the graduate student experience too. Do I have a valid concern in this?</p>
<p>I'm mostly focusing on astrophysics departments although I might also apply for physics departments.</p>
<p>All universities have been hurt by economic downturn, but public universities in particular have taken huge hits. Look for programs that are well-funded from outside sources or which are the jewels of the university’s reputation; these are unlikely to feel the pinch as much as less influential programs. When you research programs, look at the faculty pages of PI you might work with. Do they list recent or active grants? Are their colleagues also well-funded? Use this metric for both private and public universities.</p>
<p>It is true that many graduate programs, both well-funded and not, cut the number of supported students last year, making admissions more competitive. When you add a hefty percentage of students choosing to go to grad school sooner rather than later, to avoid a dismal job market, then it got even tighter. That said, people still were accepted and still received full funding for PhD programs. Just because things have gotten more competitive, it doesn’t mean that admission to such programs is impossible.</p>
<p>There are so many variables at play here that modifying one’s application decisions because of a glance at a list of hard-hit universities seems ridiculous to me.</p>
<p>Some programs at hard-hit universities increased grad admissions, but reduced funding.</p>
<p>Some programs that fund their grad students through grants (NSF, NIH, etc.) increased grad numbers because some kinds of federal funding sources for the sciences increased.</p>
<p>Some programs changed not one whit, while others cut back in various ways.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that as usual, you should apply to the programs that contain the faculty you want to work with. Period.</p>