<p>I just received a letter from Boston University-they accepted me to their Chemistry program. In adition to the tuition and other fees(health and registration), they also offered me a 12 month stipend of 24,000$. How is this offer? Should I accept it? I was thinking that I should send the letter to some of the other schools I'm applying to (which are much better ranked than BU)-would that increase my chances?</p>
<p>$24K is a very good stipend. You can let other programs know about your offer, but I wouldn't do it until they accept you. Then you can discuss financial packages.</p>
<p>Don't send in your acceptance until you hear about other programs -- just wait until early April, then think about replying.</p>
<p>Generally stipends in the sciences are the same for everyone, and are based mostly on cost of living in the area. Telling other schools that BU is offering you $24k is probably not going to cause them to increase their own stipends.</p>
<p>In the Boston area, $666 a month (1/3 of a $2000 monthly paycheck) will not go too far. You'll probably have to live with a roommate or two.</p>
<p>Also, if your going to be doing a PhD, you'll be spending a good five years of your life in and around the school you choose to attend. Be sure you like the area, be sure its somewhat affordable, and be sure you find a living situation that you enjoy. This isn't like getting a masters degree, where you can live on your buddies couch for a year, eating dry bread and water!</p>
<p>There's been a lot of discussion about stipends lately.</p>
<p>Stipends are dependent upon the cost of living in the area. It is enough for you to live a comfortable life; your needs will be more than comfortably met. You will even have enough left over to splurge on a car or an expensive hobby like photography.</p>
<p>The variance is mainly due to cost of living; ie a $400/m apt in 1 place might cost $2000 in another.</p>
<p>So, don't worry about the stipend. If you really want to get some bling bling, shoot for an NSF grant.</p>
<p>I think you should always go to the best program that you can get into, regardless of the money. You can always take out a loan, and pay it back once you get a job. Grad school is only two years (more if you're in the PhD program).</p>
<p>MBA,</p>
<p>I dont know if I agree with you on that.</p>
<p>There seems to be a school of thought that states basically " If Harvard lets you in, youre a FOOL not to take out an $70 thousand loan and attend!, " but in my mind, it all depends what you want to do. If you want to win a Nobel Prize in Chemsitry, than yes, go to Harvard, by all means. However, if you want to get an MBA and find a good, comfortable job afterwards, whats the point of blowing 60K+ on an education that, though impressive, doesn't necessarily fit your needs?</p>
<p>The reason to go to Harvard MBA vs. somewhere else is that brand matters a ton in MBA programs. Average MBA salary, upon graduation, is something like $45k. Average Harvard MBA salary, upon graduation, is $90k.</p>
<p>Los, could you please point me to some of the discussion on stipends?
I've noticed that molecular biology programs (25k ~ 30k) consistently give substantially higher stipend than computer science programs (19k~25k). Even within the same university in the same area. (One source I used it petersons.com to get a general sense, but I also checked what specific departments said on their own websites.)</p>
<p>Do you know what accounts for these differences? My first thought is that there is more industry and government funding in molec so they can pay more. Another guess I have is that in molec, they actually really need grad students in the labs. Where as in computer science and math, professors may be able to do their research just fine without grad students. Another guess is that molec programs need to pay more stipend to keep up with industry wages to attract people, but this doesn't make sense because computer science industry jobs don't seem to pay less than molec jobs.
But I am still confused because these hypotheses fail to explain is why somehow molec programs seem to also be more competitive than computer science programs. If they need the students more and they have more money to fund the students, then why can't they just admit more people?</p>
<p>My guess would strongly be behind the increased government funding in molecular biology -- virtually all biology graduate students are on NIH training grants for the first year of their programs, and thereafter are on their PI's grant money.</p>
<p>I'm not sure that molecular biology programs are inherently more competitive than CS programs -- MIT's CS admission rate is about 10%, while the top biology programs have admit rates closer to 20% or maybe even 25%.</p>