I got this email:

Quote :

" Thank you for submitting your application to pursue a Ph.D. degree at NC State University. Your application has been forwarded to the Center for Plant Breeding and Applied Plant Genomics and has been considered by the Center's evaluation/review committee. This committee has recommended that you be admitted into the Graduate School at NC State University. However, no decision has been made by this committee regarding your eligibility to receive one of the fellowships or assistantships funded through the Center. Your application remains under review by the Center committee. A decision will be made by February 15, 2008. Best regards."

So I'm thinking this means I'll get in, but financial help is a maybe?
Another friend of mine says not to put any stock in this till I get the official letter thru the mail.

opinions?

12/23/2007 9:29:02 AM

congratulations to you!

12/23/2007 10:30:04 AM

Nothing is "official" until the Graduate School grants you admission.

12/23/2007 11:32:49 AM

What ^ said and funding will be one of the last things you find out. I would expect you will have a RA/TA ship but I'm not familiar with the center for plant breeding...

Congrats! welcome to the hell that is being a grad student

12/23/2007 12:38:21 PM

yall need to stop delaying the entrance to the real world, i guess after the masters you will get a doctorate...then have to leave that off when you apply for jobs because you will look overqualified.....

12/23/2007 12:46:38 PM

^ Don't exactly know why someone would be applying for a job for which they are overqualified when they went through the trouble of getting a doctorate when there are plenty of jobs for people who have earned a doctorate.....

12/23/2007 1:25:36 PM

Quote :

"yall need to stop delaying the entrance to the real world, i guess after the masters you will get a doctorate...then have to leave that off when you apply for jobs because you will look overqualified....."

gtfo

congrats sylvershadow

12/23/2007 1:57:50 PM

^^^ I find it amazing when people don't understand the value of a masters degree or doctorate. I went into the real world and because I DIDN'T have a masters degree I couldn't do anything that felt like it was worth my time. I know lots of people that are plenty happy with a bachelors, but they are doing stuff that I don't want to, and what I want to do requires a masters... so I left "the real world" and came back for a masters b/c the real world sucks even more when you hate your job and know that you could/can do better for yourself.

Masters is a unbelievable amount of work, and I know PhD is even worse... So best of luck to you.

12/23/2007 5:21:23 PM

^ /applause

12/23/2007 6:08:02 PM

my stepdad told me to wait like 5 years before i get my masters because i would look overqualified...he said wait til you are about 28 to get your masters...then with the experience you have + masters you can get a super good job...idk my stepdad went to community college but now currently makes more than most in his field(low 6 figs)

12/23/2007 6:18:25 PM

Quote :

"yall need to stop delaying the entrance to the real world, i guess after the masters you will get a doctorate...then have to leave that off when you apply for jobs because you will look overqualified....."

I have not delayed my entrance into the real world... I've been in the real world for 3 years, thanks, and the only way to make more money and get into a field I'm actually interested in is by going into grad school.

12/23/2007 9:07:10 PM

will some companies pay your tuition for graduate school if you don't get funding from the school or does that generally only work for business school, law school, etc where they have night classes? I would like to eventually earn a masters in statistics or analytics and am aware that those aren't offered at night.

12/23/2007 10:00:45 PM

i agree with ^...i definitely wouldnt mind getting a job that has a continuing education option

12/23/2007 10:39:25 PM

During the year I worked, the company had a very very nice educational assistance program. They paid for everything up front including all fees... Books weren't included b/c at this level you will want to keep your books so your buying personal property when you buy books and if the company bought them for you it would either be considered a gift or company property that you would have to leave behind should you ever leave... Regardless... I was signing up for classes each semester, but then work would present some reason that wouldn't allow me to take classes. So over the course of a year I never took a class, and I was a year later in life and no closer to doing what I really wanted to do.

Doing 1 class a time while the company is paying for it kinda defeats the purpose of making the money b/c most people I know that do it that way don't have nearly enough time to enjoy life over the course of the 3ish years it took them. I decided that 3 semesters of working my ass off while paying for it myself was a better option for me personally... I know that the first year pay increase + job satisfaction will easily pay off any loans that I amass... and considering NCSU is 1/3rd the cost of Johns Hopkins(where I was signed up to take classes while working) it's really freaking easy to pay back a year of loans if you live meagerly...

12/23/2007 11:37:43 PM

Quote :

"So I'm thinking this means I'll get in, but financial help is a maybe?"

Yeah you're in, I've never heard of a situation were the graduate school doesn't go with the department/programs approval. The second part about funding is two fold: (1) it may be true that they haven't made funding assignments yet for RA's/TA's/Instructors or (2) they have made there funding choices and are waiting for the first tier people who are getting funding to accept or decline.

I know our department gives out acceptances w/o guaranteed funding, but then funding becomes possible because some people who were originally offered funding decided not to come here.

12/29/2007 5:39:00 AM