Frequently Asked Questions for New Students
Frequently Asked Questions for our new graduate students
A: April 15. The official offer letter will provide details.
A: It wouldn’t make sense to have two in-person visits. However, prospective graduate students are welcome to participate in both the all-virtual visit (Feb 20 & 21) and one of the in-person visits.
A: The Astronomy & Astrophysics Department can provide travel support for prospective graduate students residing in the continental US. Travel reimbursements are subject to Penn State policies, so it’s important to read and follow the instructions you’ll receive. Please do NOT book flights until you have received those instructions.
A: For those coming from farther away, e.g. the US West Coast, combining trips with a visit to another school to save on carbon emissions/time/cost is allowed and even encouraged. Combining visits does trigger extra policies and coordinating with multiple schools does take some extra planning. For example, Penn State will limit the reimbursement to what the cost would have been if you traveled directly to Penn State on the regular dates. Usually, this is not a problem, since both schools can save some money with a combined trip, but it does create some extra paperwork to document that. Please be sure to check with supporting staff via ASTRO-GRAD-ADMISSIONS@lists.psu.edu to discuss your particular case before finalizing your travel plans.
A: Prospective graduate students currently residing outside the continental US who would like to arrange a visit, should contact ASTRO-GRAD-ADMISSIONS@lists.psu.edu to discuss your particular case. For example, If you are able to make one trip to the US to visit multiple schools, then it may be practical to split travel costs between Penn State and other school(s). Reimbursement policies for such trips can get tricky, so be sure to get approval before booking flights.
A: Each prospective graduate student should be contacted via email by at least one faculty member and one graduate student offering to answer questions about the Astronomy & Astrophysics PhD program and/or grad student life in State College. If you haven’t been contacted by the end of January, then please let us know via ASTRO-GRAD-ADMISSIONS@lists.psu.edu.
If you’d like to ask questions of another Astronomy & Astrophysics faculty member about their research group, then feel free to email them directly.
For non-research questions, prospective students can email ASTRO-GRAD-ADMISSIONS@lists.psu.edu and someone will either address your question or direct it to someone who can. That email currently goes to:
Prof. Eric Ford <ebf11@psu.edu> is coordinating with the Eberly College of Science and Graduate School to get official offer letters approved and sent out.
Prof. Joel Leja <joel.leja@psu.edu> is chairing the committee that is organizing the campus visits.
Chelsey Fisher <cms5993@psu.edu> is the staff member who focuses on the Astro graduate students/program. She'll help with things like travel reimbursements and official paperwork.
A: It refers to Penn State’s payscale for graduate students (make sure to scroll down to the table for half-time assistantships). Currently, the Astronomy & Astrophysics Department policy is to pay all graduates at least Grade 18 (prior to passing their comprehensive exam) and at least Grade 19 (after passing their comprehensive exam). Each year the university decides if/how much of a cost-of-living increase will be applied, typically a single percentage that is added to the stipend for each pay grade.
A: Graduate students are expected to devote full time effort to a combination of their studies, research and TA/RA, during the academic year and summers when they are paid as an RA/TA. A 50% TA or RA is the standard appointment for nearly all Astronomy & Astrophysics graduate students (except in unusual circumstances). Formally, a 100% position would average 40 hours per week. Typically, graduate students are paid assistantships for contributing to teaching or research (occasionally assistantships are available for related activities like leading outreach programs, curricular development, etc.), and not for being a student. Therefore, it is important that students have sufficient time allocated to take classes, attend seminars, participate in journal clubs, learn/develop skills needed for their research, readpapers to help frame their next research project, contribute to writing proposals to support their future research, etc. A 50% assistantship should not require you to work more than 20 hours per week (on average) on tasks specific to the assistantship, so you have plenty of time to devote to the other tasks expected of graduate students. Of course, astronomers sometimes need to work unusual hours for things like observing runs, travel to meetings, Zoom meetings with international collaborators spanning multiple time zones, or time-critical tasks for developing/using instrumentation. It’s a good idea to discuss expectations (both in general and specific to a particular project) with any faculty member before starting a research project with them/their group.