this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2026
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Just heard back from my prospective PhD advisor. I was accepted into the PhD program, but the university can't offer me funding. (hexbear.net)
submitted 1 week ago by TraschcanOfIdeology@hexbear.net to c/chat@hexbear.net
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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.

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[–] came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net 24 points 1 week ago (1 children)

im sure you already are, but i would be pretty blunt to your friend and whoever else about not accepting entry into the program without somebody kicking in funding. you're not some emirati prince... you aren't paying for grad school.

these clowns seriously cant find some funds to un-ass for a grad student stipend?

that's peanuts and the whole system runs on grad students working for peanuts.

its gotta be some kind of bullshit horse-trading going on in the department.

when would your official term start? fall?

[–] TraschcanOfIdeology@hexbear.net 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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.

[–] TraschcanOfIdeology@hexbear.net 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

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.

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.

[–] came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net 2 points 1 week ago

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.

[–] juniper@hexbear.net 15 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I have no advice except to say I feel your pain and have friends that have went through this in the past year. I'm not sure what your field is but science funding in the US is so fucked. It's part of why I'm leaving, I literally see no future in my present career. Stay strong comrade kim-salute

[–] TraschcanOfIdeology@hexbear.net 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

The program i'm applying to isn't even in the US, but yea... Academia is fucked anywhere you look. I'm only insisting on this path because I've bounced from job to job for almost 10 years and research work is the only one where I don't feel like I have to kill a part of myself to be barely functional. Idk what the path forward looks like tbh.

[–] juniper@hexbear.net 13 points 1 week ago

research work is the only one where I don't feel I have to kill a part of myself to be barely functional

yea

[–] Llituro@hexbear.net 10 points 1 week ago

RIP sorry to hear that comrade. funding struggles are such bullshit.

[–] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Shoot, that sucks. China's nice this time of imperial collapse. Would they be interested in what you're doing?

[–] TraschcanOfIdeology@hexbear.net 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Gotta say I'm not really aware of what the political food geography field looks like in China, but I can't imagine there's a lot of interest there in understanding how rural and indigenous peoples in the global south use the taste of food as a tool of resistance.

From what I know, China is interested in attracting STEM researchers, mostly. Social sciences seem (understandably) pretty saturated with local scholars studying the huge diversity within the PRC.

[–] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 2 points 1 week ago

Where the hell is the National Endowment for Socialism with Chinese Characteristics? picard