Funding at US Universities – TA RA and Fellowships

Money follows research

A key attraction of US universities is that in addition to quality education and research, plenty of funding opportunities exist. Most of the applicants including the users of app2us.com are very much interested in getting funded. While there is no magic wand for funding, it helps to understand the root cause and the reasons behind the existence of funding. Lets start with a trivia quiz:

Q. US Universities provide funding opportunities to local and international students because:

(a) America is a rich country and universities have a lot of money
(b) They want to help bright students from different countries
(c) The funding helps increase the research output and in turn helps enhance the reputation of the universities
(d) Funding helps attract the best and brightest students

d is a good answer, a and b are correct to a very limited extent, but c is the best answer.

It is important to understand the following facts about the funding:

1. Funding is available to further the cause of the university, student welfare is a good side-effect of that.
2. The keyword is research output. Funding exists where research is done (MS/PhD). Funding is very limited for non-research degree programs (MBA, M Engg, MCS).
3. The criteria of funding is the same as admissions – but more stringent.
4. All US Universities offer TA RA and Fellowships.
5. All US Universities offer admissions with and without funding.
6. Higher ranked universities do more research and more research is the primary cause of their high ranking.
7. At top universities professors are judged, evaluated and promoted based on their research output, with very little emphasis on the quality of their teaching.
8. The best and the brightest are offered fellowships – they typically get paid more than TA or RA salary. The idea is to let the best students focus on research and not be burdened by a 20 hour responsibility.
9. While GRE score does not play a crucial role, but there are minimum standards of English prescribed for TA positions. This can be enforced by a higher minimum requirement at the TOEFL and the TSE or a university specific test of spoken English.

Here is what you should understand:

1. Your statement of purpose should focus on one thing – your planned research and past activities to support the plan.
2. A career goal in research is more coherent for funding rather than a goal of teaching
3. Opt for research based degrees and the research/thesis option as against non-thesis(project option)
4. A degree exactly named MS (Master of Science) is most likely a research based degree. Other variations like MCS (Master of Computer Science) M Engg (Master of Engineering)
5. Some universities have policies that prevent MBA students take up assistantship positions in other departments, whereas a non funded MS student is free to do so.

Now the key question: Who gets funded?

1. Students with exceptional academic record AMONG those who get admitted.
2. Students who have prior research and publications.
3. Students who demonstrate a potential and desire for research that matches the goals of the program.
4. Students who are good enough to get admitted to, say, 10th ranked program are likely to get funded at the 25th ranked program.

app2us key to funding:

1. Study and improve your marks CGPA and class rank.
2. Participate in research as early as possible and try to publish your work at a reputable journal, else at an ordinary conference.
3. Have a genuine interest in research. If you have no interest in research, the funding is not for you.
4. Apply wisely with a good distribution of realistic universities as per and below your perceieved ability.

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