<p>I am hoping to get some perspectives on the math PhD program at Berkeley. My son is fortunate enough to have been offered a spot and is very excited at the prospect, knowing it's one of the top in the nation. </p>
<p>While I realize it's his job to figure out what's the best fit for him (and he's doing that, talking to his profs and headed to Berkeley's Open House next week), I can't help turning to CC for your thoughts about: how competitive is the atmosphere (I've heard that more grad students are accepted than the profs can readily handle, making for a competitive environment); how difficult is the process to declare in-state residency after the first year; and realizing that Berkeley is the flagship of the UC system, is the solvency issue taking its toll on the graduate program?</p>
<p>Or any other thoughts you care to offer--thanks very much!! (also posted on the Berkeley site, but we parents are usually a bit more responsive!)</p>
<p>First of all, congrats to your S. My S is a first year engineering PhD student at Cal. At least engineering side of the program, he hasn’t mentioned too much about program being too competitive. He is putting a lot of hours (as expected) but he is really enjoying his time there. As for the in-state residency after the first year question, I think the school will provide specific guidance… I think all you need is driver’s license (or MVA ID), utility bills, and such. As for state’s $ problem, we were concerned about the same issue last year but hasn’t been a problem at all. The biggest problem he had was finding an apt from 3000 miles away.</p>
<p>thanks much to both of you. I’ll reach out to TheDad and appreciate the perspective from 3,000 miles away, FromMD, as we’re in exactly the same boat!</p>
<p>If he is going out this week, ask him to consider getting out there a day early or stay another day to walk around. See the areas, check out a couple of APT and stuff. S is finding out the cost of living is as high as (if not higher) than D.C. area where we are. Again, congrats and best wishes…</p>
<p>Why is in-state residence an issue at all? Isn’t tuition fully funded? Medical insurance?</p>
<p>For most purposes – certainly for state tax purposes – a graduate student will be a California resident essentially the moment he shows up to start graduate school. All of the rules restricting state residency or requiring waiting periods relate to specific state benefits, like reduced tuition or Medi-Cal, but I wasn’t aware those would be relevant to a PhD student.</p>
<p>My S was told that the school will “pay” OOS tution for the first year and will pay IS tution starting the second year. He had to establish instate residency by the time he starts his second year. I think OP’s S was told the same thing.</p>
<p>Congratulations, OP. At doctoral level, Cal is as good as any other institutions in the world, if not better (in my biased view).</p>
<p>For PhD students, the real competition is NOT with your fellow students, but rather with ANY and ALL researchers in your field. Hence, yes, he has to have the drive and confidence to compete and to succeed.</p>
<p>Note that graduate students are requested to apply for in-state residency; this is less restrictive than for undergraduates in terms of the financial independence (from parents) requirement.</p>
<p>Yes, as FromMD says, the acceptance letter says he must establish residency there after the first year, which I’ve heard is a bit of a chore. thanks all!</p>
<p>California makes it very difficult for non-resident undergraduates to establish state residency, due to the association with parents (similar definition as for financial aid dependency on parents). It is less difficult for graduate students.</p>
<p>When I visited the math department at Berkeley two years ago, getting in-state status did not seem to be a concern for any of the graduate students I talked to. However, they all complained about the high teaching loads (frequently exceeding 20 hours/week, and departmentally-funded students need to teach every quarter) and relatively low stipend rates (compared to the cost of living). Berkeley certainly has the worst funding packages among the top math PhD programs. </p>
<p>Of course that’s not a concern if your son is funded by other sources, e.g. national or university fellowships.</p>
<p>The graduate student instructors are typically doing the discussion sections for lower division math courses (they are listed with “DIS” and are associated with a faculty led lecture listed with “LEC”). You can count how much class time each graduate student instructor is doing by looking at the instructor names on the discussion sections. Of course, each hour in class comes with associated preparation, grading, etc. time.</p>
<p>It’s easy to underestimate the time required for grading. If I remember correctly, grad students at Berkeley do actually have to grade weekly problem sets.</p>
<p>Also make sure that your son inquires about summer funding. According to a friend (grad students at Stanford who travels to Berkeley on a regular basis), there’s a shortage of funded summer positions… I don’t know whether that’s true but I thought I’d pass it along.</p>
<p>PCHope, I think I didn’t phrase my question about being competitive well. I had heard that Berkeley accepts more grad students than it can easily handle, so that the students have to compete for professor’s attention.</p>
<p>You may want to look into how long it takes to get a PhD. Years ago – don’t know if this is still true – Berkeley Math had the reputation of making their PhD students stay for a long time to “fatten their theses” (Princeton had the opposite reputation). While a fatter thesis can be beneficial for job search and tenure progress, there is a trade-off being made.</p>
<p>how difficult is the process to declare in-state residency after the first year; and realizing that Berkeley is the flagship of the UC system, is the solvency issue taking its toll on the graduate program?</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>If this is a Math PhD program, then it should be FULLY funded covering ALL of his tuition (OOS), and ALSO a good amount of a stipend…like $25k+ (and if the stipend is less, wait a bit, a larger offer may come forward a short-time later).</p>
<p>Do not let your son accept ANY PhD program that isn’t fully funded. If he hasn’t rec’d his funding paperwork, that should be coming very soon. Every decent Math PhD program should be fully funded. These schools are used to paying out $80k per year for PhD students.</p>