<p>I'm a current graduating HS student planning to major in biology. My goal is grad school and beyond (possibly PhD or PhD/MD if I'm fortunate enough)
I would like to some insider's perspectives on graduate school financial aid. Namely:
1) How competitive are are research assistant-ships, fellowships? If you get in the school, does that mean you get at least assistant-ship or a select number of students get it while others have to pay tuition and other fees?
2) Is it common for grad students went on to PhD with debt?</p>
<p>I'm asking this in deciding between attending an undergrad school between a near full ride at a state school and Caltech with a costlier COA. If for grad schools, I have to pay $, I'll have to save and stay in state for the next 4 yrs. Any perspective would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Nobody should undertake a Ph.D program without full funding. Admittance to such a program without such a guarantee is tantamount to an admit/deny. The vast majority of doctoral students, and many/most master’s students, are funded by teaching or research assistantships. Of course, that’s one reason admission is so competitive - there are only a limited number of funded slots available.</p>
<p>Sounds like you’re interested in a biomedical sciences program. They are all fully funded with a stipend (even MD/PhD is free tuition). Instead of worrying about future debt, I would focus on determining which school will provide you with more research experience. I went to a medium-sized school with a lot of pre-meds and engineers, and everyone did research. It was fairly easy to find a lab to work in and in my major, and we were required to so a senior research project. I currently work at a large state school, and I’ve heard that getting a position in a lab is very competitive and even harder for students who don’t have work-study. If you really want to go the PhD route, you should get as much research experience as possible as soon as possible. More experience will put you ahead of other applicants. Work in a lab during the school year and look into summer programs. And if you don’t like it, you’ll find out early!</p>
<p>Thanx a lot for the prompt replies.
What I’m trying to decide is whether to attend UGA with almost a full scholarship and generous endorsement from the school and Caltech, which I may have to pay twice the money.
In terms of research, UGA offers great opportunities. In fact, I have already been accepted into a lab that I’m very enthusiastic about the research direction. In UGA, I suppose the workload won’t be as bad as Caltech and I can dedicate more time for research (and hopefully can carry on to summer if I can get grants). Nevertheless, the concerns are the tradeoffs in professors. Of course, there are great researchers here in UGA, but no where near Caltech.
Caltech’s research opportunity is of course 2nd to none. However, I suppose my GPA will be toasted, and even if I get a LOR from a well known prof. I don’t know if it would be that great since I won’t be top of the pack. Whereas, in state, I get a better chance to rise to the top (or somewhere near it), and hopefully get glowing LORs etc, more time for research (summer research grants in UGA is competitive, however, if I don’t get it, I can always apply outside).
What do you think?</p>
<p>“I’m trying to decide is whether to attend UGA with almost a full scholarship and generous endorsement from the school and Caltech, which I may have to pay twice the money.” </p>
<p>IMHO, I would go UGA if it were me. The career route through academia doesn’t pay that much and most people drop out along the way (ironically most likely into higher paying jobs). I would be leery about taking on too much debt.</p>
<p>“the workload won’t be as bad as Caltech”
I wouldn’t count on this being true.</p>
<p>“Caltech’s research opportunity is of course 2nd to none”
Second to a handful of places, but the difference between second to none and most major universities won’t be apparent to you as an undergraduate.</p>
<p>“I suppose my GPA will be toasted,”
Also not true. There is no linear relationship between undergrad gpa’s and research reputations.</p>
<p>Thanx for the replies. I would like to add Cornell to my list because its finaid package is very generous. I don’t know a lot about Cornell. its the one that I’ve done least research on. Can anyone else elaborate on my question?</p>
Getting into a PhD program is not like getting into an MD program – your GPA will not really matter if you’re coming from Caltech, so long as it’s acceptable (above ~3.0). Your research history and letters of reference will be much more important for PhD applications than your GPA, especially if you come from a program like Caltech that’s known to be both strong and difficult.</p>
<p>Have you visited Caltech? If not, you should visit, take the tour, and speak to some of the current students. My D, as an undergrad bio major, thought she wanted to go there until she visited and found she would be required to take 5 semesters of physics. (According to caltech, everything is physics!) </p>
<p>As to your questions, she is just finishing the process of being accepted to grad school. From her experience (she has switched into Sociology for her PHD):
1)the competitiveness of fellowships depends on both the the field of study and the school. She was offered 5 years of fellowships with 3 to 4 summers at 3 top schools.
Others offered only 3 or 4 years. Some awarded funding for a few summers, some none. And there were differences in what was required in return and how long you would need to perform it (RA’s, TA’s, teaching). At some places, the funding differs from student to student, causing more competition than others. Harvard and Stanford offer the same to all, which would tend to foster more collaboration within a cohort.</p>
<p>2) I imagine it is common for some to go on for a PHD with debt. A lot would depend on the amount of debt and whether or not a break is taken after undergrad. </p>
<p>mollie is right, it is important to have research, good letters of reference and in some fields, publications and/or presentations at conferences. Grad schools do recognize and account for the differences in the difficulty of undergrad institutions. And great GPA’s and GRE’s are helpful if you’re looking for admittance to the top schools in your field and for the best funding. </p>