UCSD Physics and Financial info

[ddubs]

Has anyone that's been accepted to UCSD physics received financial or open house info? It's been over a week for me since I received an acceptance from the graduate school (not physics dept.) and I haven't heard anything. I noticed that the website says everyone receives full support, but it'd be nice to hear it from the physics department.

[quark314]

I see your post is from a week ago, so maybe you've already heard, but...

I was notified of UCSD's visit weekend. It will be Monday and Tuesday, Apr 5 and 6. They are offering only limited help with travel expenses (max $350 for round-trip flights from the east coast, less if you're starting from closer to cali). I haven't gotten any details about their schedule of events. I also still haven't heard anything firm about funding other than what they have on their website.

Also, what's up with a Monday/Tuesday visit? Who has time to miss TWO days of class/work? They should do like everyone else and have a sunday/monday or friday/saturday visit. Though I suppose it's my prerogative to book a flight that leaves early. I wish they had a schedule up so I'd know what I'd be missing...

[zxcv]

The weekday visits are because faculty don't like to come in on weekends. Not that you can count on most professors being around anyways...

[quark314]

clearly. But profs at the other schools managed to show up on a weekend. And I was duly impressed by their dedication (or willingness to be roped into the recruiting weekend activities, anyway). Or, for instance, at the Wisconsin visit (a friday/saturday visit), we met profs on Friday. Saturday we only saw the grad students (campus tour, tour of some of the big labs that operate on Saturday anyway, a talk about TAing... etc).

Like I said, I just really wish they had a rough schedule available so I'd know what I'd be missing if I were to take the redeye back Monday night. That would make it easier to decide if it's worth the stress of missing an extra day of work.

[grae313]

Like I said, I just really wish they had a rough schedule available so I'd know what I'd be missing if I were to take the redeye back Monday night. That would make it easier to decide if it's worth the stress of missing an extra day of work.

Um.... why wouldn't you just email the graduate admissions coordinator and ask?

[quark314]

I did. She didn't know other than scheduled events end at 8pm on Monday and 4pm on Tuesday.

[grae313]

I don't think you're talking to the right person, then. The visit days are usually carefully planned. Someone somewhere knows the schedule.

[YellowXDart]

All of the schools I'm visiting have/had a Thursday Friday schedule, so I don't think it's uncommon for them to expect you to miss 2 days of class or work.

[ddubs]

Yeah, I've been really disappointed with UCSD's lack of...everything really. I got the email about the open house, but the effing link 404'd me and I had to find it myself. And, now I find out they're barely reimbursing people. If they're not trying to competitive with something as easy as the open house, how do I know they'll be competitive elsewhere?

[quark314]

@ddubs

presumably by attending the open house. The link in my email (and presumably everyone else's) was broken too. Whoever wrote it forgot the beginning part of their address. It's true, though... $350 is not enough to fly from Boston to San Diego on only a few weeks notice. And I'm sure tickets are even more expensive for those starting from more out-of-the-way airports. But I guess that's the cali budget crisis for you.

[ddubs]

@ddubs

presumably by attending the open house. The link in my email (and presumably everyone else's) was broken too. Whoever wrote it forgot the beginning part of their address. It's true, though... $350 is not enough to fly from Boston to San Diego on only a few weeks notice. And I'm sure tickets are even more expensive for those starting from more out-of-the-way airports. But I guess that's the cali budget crisis for you.

I guess. Other UCs don't seem to have that problem. I thought the UCSD physics dept. had plenty of funding, especially with all their biophysics research.

And if you're trying to go from Boston to San Diego for as cheap as possible, look into flying JetBlue into Long Beach and taking the train down to SD. Don't quote me on it, but it may be cheaper.

[quark314]

interesting... Jet blue is nearly the cheapest anyway (and the only direct flight, making it probably worth the extra 20 bucks to save time and hassle of layovers). But I shall have to look into this Long Beach business...

thanks for the tip.

[ddubs]

Oh, I didn't know JetBlue flew straight into San Diego from Boston. I tried to fly straight into San Diego from San Francisco and I couldn't so I just assumed. You're probably better off (time and hassle-wise) just taking that.

[noojens]

I guess. Other UCs don't seem to have that problem. I thought the UCSD physics dept. had plenty of funding, especially with all their biophysics research.

Apples and oranges, I imagine. I doubt research funding streams can be used to reimburse travel expenses of prospective students -- that's probably departmental funding, which is extremely tight in the UC system.

But it's a legitimate concern. These minor inconveniences are issues you will likely continue to face, at least for a couple years, if you attend a public school in California. Caveat emptor.

[grae313]

I guess. Other UCs don't seem to have that problem. I thought the UCSD physics dept. had plenty of funding, especially with all their biophysics research.

You're mixing up types of funding. Many of the UCs may be unaffected in terms of research because most research funding comes from grants, not the state. The hit from the budget crisis would more likely be felt in administrative things, staff cutbacks, etc. These things are more likely to be paid for by state money. UCSD could be swimming in money for biophysics research, but you can't use your research grant money to pay for students to come visit.

[zxcv]

Things may have changed since then, but when I visited two years ago, the UCSD visiting days were very poorly organized. Remember that you can always skip out of organized events to talk with grad students or profs or whoever. I highly recommend it, actually.

[quark314]

I'm definitely getting the "poorly organized" vibe from them right now. Best I can tell they still don't have a schedule, and the visit is only a couple weeks away. But maybe we will be pleasantly surprised. And anyway, any visit is better than no visit.

[quark314]

So I still haven't heard anything from them about financial info, but I did some poking around on the website and it looks like the typical stipend for a 50% TA is ~16.5k. But it was unclear whether that was for 9mo or 12mo.

Anyone know which is correct? Or what typical stipends were last year? Or what would be considered a living wage in San Diego?

[HappyQuark]

So I still haven't heard anything from them about financial info, but I did some poking around on the website and it looks like the typical stipend for a 50% TA is ~16.5k. But it was unclear whether that was for 9mo or 12mo.

Anyone know which is correct? Or what typical stipends were last year? Or what would be considered a living wage in San Diego?

16.5K/year sounds really low, especially for San Diego. I would bet it is per 9 months or possibly even per semester but don't quote me on that.

[quark314]

So has anyone gotten *any* details about the open house beyond the dates? It's less than a week away and I haven't heard anything. Even basic important stuff like whether we're being picked up at the airport (I assume they will pick us up since that's what happened at all the other visits I've been on, but they haven't asked for my flight arrival time or anything).

[quark314]

er, nevermind... they just emailed it... ask and ye shall receive, i guess.

[bfollinprm]

So I still haven't heard anything from them about financial info, but I did some poking around on the website and it looks like the typical stipend for a 50% TA is ~16.5k. But it was unclear whether that was for 9mo or 12mo.

Anyone know which is correct? Or what typical stipends were last year? Or what would be considered a living wage in San Diego?

Bump to 2011.


Here's a link to the pay rates at UCSD for TAships/Research (divide the numbers by 2, since most appointments are for 20hrs/week, not 40).
http://ogs.ucsd.edu/_files/financial/ac ... ES1010.pdf
Some of the RA rates are reasonable, others are super low (It'd be interesting to see what step rate is standard in the physics department). Looks like we should expect somewhere between 15 and 25 bucks an hour from summer RA's, which works out to $2700 to $4200/month in the summer, or if we work 3 months to $5400-12000 per summer. If it's 12k, I'm happy. If it's 5k, al vida zein!

[bfollinprm]

Also, the TA is set at 17k UC-wide because of a CBA between the UAW (random) and the UC system, which covers all titled student workers (like grad student researchers and TAs) across departments. I think that's why the fellowships are so widespread, it's a way of getting around the CBA in more competitive fields like physics, math, and comp. sci.