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Damn I thought it was a done deal, I even had chats with the folks at the research institute who would've offered the funding, and they were very optimistic. I was pretty much already expecting the next 4 years of my life to be done doing that.
Feeling kind of neutral about it tho. Maybe emotions will come later.
And this is the university where I am friends with a tenured professor, who was also pushing my application forward. If I apply to other places i'm certainly not gonna have that for any other applications. I don't even know what other programs to apply to.
Oh yeah this whole thing is DOA without funding, he (and I) were clear about it from the get-go. He made some vague suggestion of me seeking external funding, but nothing helpful.
I'm sure there's some horse-trading going on, and add to that that my prospective advisor ran out of funding this year and is applying to a grant for more funding next year, they don't have any money they can manage themselves, relying on the department to front the amount.
Yeah, it'd start in the fall, but all applications i've found for external grad school funding were closed last year.
god i do not miss the internal politics of that shit. they hem and haw over like $20K in payroll to develop a young scientist and act like its some huge favor, but drop like $600K on some administration building water feature or consultancy for a logo redesign and pretend like its an investment in some brilliant future.
anyway, my guess is that they'll scrape it together and the cost will be an ask to use some of your time on someone else's research as they realize you're willing to play ball.
but that's a total guess based on my own baggage.
That's a possibility I want to ask about when I get a chance to actually speak to my advisor (this has all been through text so far, but he's asked me to have a phone call tomorrow). I guess we'll see.
that'll probably do it, like signalling you're into that arrangement but also expressing some interest in whatever the well funded research subject is too. like demonstrating a curiosity about other projects ongoing, how the investigation is broadly designed and having the capacity/will to engage with it intellectually for your own enrichment.
i just assumed that's how everyone would be in graduate school, just a bunch of curious dorks doing the optional reading. but apparently demand exceeds supply frequently.