HOW TO GET FUNDED AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOR GRAD STUDIES

GETTING FUNDED AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY FOR GRAD STUDIES-

(The info in this article applies to most good schools)

(PART II)

How to get into Stanford from kanza on Vimeo.

(This article and video are solely based on the author's observations)

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW-

The only majorly difficult task you should focus on is getting admitted to Stanford. Once you are admitted, the rest of the issues including funding your studies become surmountable. Financial aid is great these days. Stanford meets 100% of the “calculated needs” of many of its students— which is really awesome. Most international grad students at Stanford are successful in obtaining funding at most by the second quarter, if not at the time of admission. Schools like Stanford are rich schools. According to the Council for Aid to Education’s annual college fund-raising survey, Stanford last year became the first university to raise more than $1 billion in a single year. So once you get into Stanford, the school is going to make sure that you don’t have to leave it just because you did not have enough money to meet your education expenses there.

TYPES OF FUNDING-

ASSISTANTSHIPS-

The most popular form of funding is ‘Assistantship’ which means you will be required to do some service at the University and in return you get a tuition waiver and a stipend to meet your living expenditures. Assistantship can be divided into two- ‘Research Assistantship’ (RA) and ‘Teaching Assistantship’ (TA). For RA, you need to dedicate some hours every week to research during your MS. Your research topic will be assigned on the basis of your Statement of Purpose. TA means you will be required to work for a professor as his assistant, and do services like help him/her in making notes, presentation, organizing stuff etc. At Stanford TA’s are paid slightly more than RA’s, but as a starter you will most likely begin as a RA.

The package you are offered with assistantship is dependent upon what percentage of Assistantship you have been allotted. 5% Assistantship (which means 5% of your MS time will be dedicated to research) is the minimum at Stanford. 50% is the maximum. The stipend you get is prorated accordingly. You can also join separate assistantships to form a 50% assistantship. The average assistantship amount that you get on a 50% RA is nearly $3000/month (may vary from department to department). You also receive a 50% waiver at medical insurance. The expenses you can expect at Stanford as grad student is presented on the school’s website at-

http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/gradadmissions/admitted/financing-expenses

FELLOWSHIPS-

This is what you get without doing anything in return. Most of the time fellowship is allotted to PhD Students or the topers of quarter examinations at Stanford. The amount is more than what one receives via assistantship.

EXTERNAL FUNDING & SCHOLARSHIPS-

There are too many external scholarships (funding from outside Stanford) to mention here and the package ranges. However external funding will not waive your tuition fee at Stanford.

STEPS OF GETTING FUNDED AT STANFORD-

Contact a Professor Before Applying-

Though admissions are FULLY & SOLELY in the hands of the Admissions committee, before applying it is always best to contact the prof. under whom you would like to work as an RA or a TA. This helps in two ways-

1.      Firstly, most grad school applications have a section that asks if you have contacted any professor in the department you wish to join. If you mention the details of some professor you did contact, it shows your seriousness towards getting admitted to that university. Note: Contact the professors whose profile matches with your interests that you intend to mention in your SOP.

2.      Secondly, you will have somebody at your intended university who may (just ‘may’) follow up with the admissions committee regarding your application or atleast will be curious about your selection. If you get admitted with funding, most likely he/she will be your research adviser. Otherwise, the admissions committee will assign you one, based on your SOP.

However, please don’t expect a detailed response from your professor at this stage. Just any positive response will do it.

Apply-

Application to every grad school has an option of financial aid. Check that option while applying.

Wait for the Response from Admission’s Committee-

Now when your application goes to the admissions committee and if they like your application, they will inform you with the admissions letter/acceptance letter that you have also been selected for an assistantship. It is really great if you are offered assistantship by the admissions committee.

If You Don’t Get Assistantship Via Admissions Committee, Follow Plan B-

If you are admitted to Stanford University but are not selected for any assistantship, don’t worry as by getting admitted to Stanford you have cleared over 80% of your journey towards higher studies! Now, plan B is to start writing emails to professors at the university with similar interests as yours, and let them know that you have been admitted to the school, forward them your CV and tell them you will be glad to work with them as an assistant. So if they like your profile, they will respond. You have nearly 4 months after your admission acceptance to find assistantship this way. Writing emails to professors for ‘funding’ before you get admitted won’t help. Usually they don’t respond then.

If Your Plan B Too Goes Unanswered, Follow Plan C-

Though I know people who got assistantships by email correspondence with professors, if due to any reason you don’t receive response from the professors you wrote to, you can then travel to the school and meet the professors in person. This may seem to be risky especially for international students but keep two things in mind-

1.      You managed to get into Stanford! This means, you are among those lucky ones who got admitted to one of the world’s best engineering institutes. 

2.      Most of the admits to Stanford receive some kind of funding. International students in most good universities are successful in obtaining funding to meet their educational expenses.

Once you visit the campus, you will have to have some steel nerves. This may involve visiting the professors again and again, but if you are persistent enough you will find assistantship. Most international students at Stanford are successful in obtaining funding at most by the second quarter. Schools like Stanford are rich schools. So if you get into them, they will try their best to make sure you don’t have leave them (especially at grad level), just because you didn’t have enough money to meet your educational expenses. They will do their best to help you out.

GOOD LUCK!

You may also like to visit PART 1 of this article series 

< HOW TO GET ACCEPTED INTO STANFORD? >

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