<p>Hi everyone,</p>
<p>I'm from Scotland and very interested in applying to few American colleges for my masters degree to start in fall 2014. Unfortunately due to the costs this would be impossible without a graduate assistantship! As much as the graduate assistantship would be necessary, it is also something I would really like to do for the experience it gives.</p>
<p>May I please ask a few questions:
I've read the assistantships are limited but how difficult are they to obtain? What your personal experience?
What do your grades have to be like? </p>
<p>I am looking to study history and will find out my overall grade from undergraduate degree in around 4 weeks, however I am on course to receive an overall 'A' grade or a 'B+'</p>
<p>Thanks very much for your time!</p>
<p>There is almost no money for MA candidates. You would be best off applying directly to PhD programs. If you decide not to continue to the PhD after completing the intermediate work that would yield an MA, well that would be your decision.</p>
<p>For advice on specific programs, you probably should post your questions in the Grad School Forum. Go to the main page where all of the forums are listed, and scroll down there to find it.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>
<p>It really depends on your field. Of the ten masters programs I was accepted to, 8 offered money in some form and 3 offered full tuition+ with an assistantship. However, many are upfront about the fact that they don’t offer aid to international students. Others won’t let you apply until the summer or only after your first year. In the meantime, you’d have to prove you can pay without the assistantship. </p>
<p>I agree that PhD might be a better route. Really though you should contact the schools you’re interested in directly.</p>
<p>Your best bet for a master’s assistant ship would likely be a university that does not have PhD students so uses master’s students to teach undergrad intro classes.</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone who answered.</p>
<p>The programs which I have found offer full MA graduate assistantships and wouldn’t apply to a university without the chance of one as I really would need one to study in the States.
I have contacted a few of the schools and the replies I received were very welcoming and friendly, and I was also told I can submit the application without the financial support proof and wait until I hear about the graduate assistantship as that can be used as my proof.</p>
<p>I was just really wondering about the chances of getting an assistantship, like how many are usual to the number of people of accepted etc.</p>
<p>Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to answer.</p>
<p>somemom - Sorry I have no yet replied to you. I am unable to reply until I have 15 messages posted on the forums! Nearly there :)</p>
<p>I was just really wondering about the chances of getting an assistantship, like how many are usual to the number of people of accepted etc.</p>
<p>Your chances really depend on your stats. How did you do on the GRE?</p>
<p>In my experience, I have seen some students offered full assistantships, others a partial award, and others nothing. My DDs roommate had no offer in the spring, got a partial award over the summer and then ended up fully funded for the 2nd year. Each department will have their own culture, some will fund all students equally, some will fund the strongest students more to encourage them to attend.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids - As I am only properly looking into everything now (now that I am finished with my first degree) I have also only just found out about the GRE and now realise I would have to take that too. Unfortunately, I don’t know if I would even pass this as the Math section would really let me down. I still have a lot of research to do into studying in the States, but thank you and to everyone else who is helping clear many things up for me! In Britain, subjects can be dropped at 16 years old and Math was a subject which I dropped and instead I continued with the subjects I was good at. </p>
<p>somemom - I have heard it’s slightly unreliable with some years being awarded and some not. Unfortunately, I would need the full time funded, so it’s a pretty big risk!</p>
<p>It sounds in general that I would be risking a lot, and spending a lot of money and time (GRE etc) for a very low chance of success. But I will keep researching and hopefully it can still potentionally work out :)</p>
<p>mom2collegekids - I am on an ‘A’ average for my undergrad degree though, just waiting for the final results to come through.</p>
<p>“I was just really wondering about the chances of getting an assistantship, like how many are usual to the number of people of accepted etc.”</p>
<p>Those questions you would need to ask the different programs that you are looking at. They will be able to tell you how many assistantships are offered each year, and how many students usually are in competition for those assistantships.</p>
<p>Get a GRE prep book and take a look at the math. You may need a bit of a refresher, but this is almost certainly all stuff you did learn at some point in the past. If your field is not particularly numerically-based, then your math score will be less important than your verbal score. Read through <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/68210-xiggis-sat-prep-advice.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/68210-xiggis-sat-prep-advice.html</a> for some excellent do-it-yourself exam prep advice.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info happymom. I’ll definitely take a look through the advice thread. I think I’m going to study and take it at the beginning of September.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I don’t know if I would even pass this as the Math section would really let me down</p>
<p>The math on the GRE isn’t that hard. Get a GRE practice book and practice. You probably can get one on Amazon. That said, a high math score isn’t probably req’d for a history person. But, do well on the Verbal part (or whatever it’s called now. The GRE has recently changed, so not sure what all the section names are.)</p>