... cheaper to pay Ph.D. students than full time staff you mean? Or am I reading this wrong?
As I wasn't exactly an all-star in undergrad (3.52), I'm trying the route of getting a masters at a second tier school (and attempting to be an all-star while I'm there) in the hopes of leveraging that to get into a top tier school.
Also gives me an easy way to bail if I find I don't like it as much as I hope I do.
Of course, if this plan is idiotic, someone should point that out. The CS school employs a lot of Masters students for TA/RA positions, so I'm not too worried on the money front.
No, he means its "so much cheaper" to pay for American Grad Students versus foreign ones who need Student Visas. I've been told by a professor who's brought in Chinese grad students (he himself is Chinese) that its really hit and miss. And you put up a bond for their visa -- they bail on your program or commit a felony, that's your grant/research/grad student funding money going out the window. It doesn't happen very frequently, but it does happen.
Another situation with foreign grad students is that they get here, and after a year or two of abuse in a lab, they go get a life, and get married or (iff female) get pregnant. Then, their work ethic trends "Average American" and they adopt the "take this job and shove it" attitude.
... cheaper to pay Ph.D. students than full time staff you mean? Or am I reading this wrong?
As I wasn't exactly an all-star in undergrad (3.52), I'm trying the route of getting a masters at a second tier school (and attempting to be an all-star while I'm there) in the hopes of leveraging that to get into a top tier school.
Also gives me an easy way to bail if I find I don't like it as much as I hope I do.
Of course, if this plan is idiotic, someone should point that out. The CS school employs a lot of Masters students for TA/RA positions, so I'm not too worried on the money front.