Offers of Admission
Offers of admission to a specific program for a specific semester and year are sent by graduate programs following the evaluation of applications. Offers of admission for a fall semester are not valid for a previous summer term. Such offers are limited to the conditions included and are subject to the final approval of the Dean of the Graduate School. If specific application documents are missing, the applicant has deficiencies to remove upon arrival, or the cumulative GPA is below 3.00 on a 4.00 scale, the offer will be conditional upon fulfilling all remaining requirements. Offer letters will indicate a deadline date for accepting or declining the offer. As a member of the Council of Graduate Schools, Stony Brook University gives all doctoral applicants until at least April 15th to reply to an offer of admission.
Offers of Financial Support
Offers of financial support may also be sent by graduate programs following the evaluation of applications. Such offers are always subject to approval by the Graduate School and are conditional on the existence of adequate funds to provide this support.
Financial support to a graduate student may be provided in form of a State appointment or a Research Foundation (RF) appointment. Teaching assistantships and Graduate assistantships are State appointments and are governed by the GSEU contract with the State of New York. Research assistantship appointments are made via the Research Foundation and are governed by the RA Union contract with the Research Foundation. Research Assistantships are funded by grants.
The campus establishes a minimum academic year stipend for state appointments. All appointments (TA, GA, RA) are subject to a campus maximum stipend level. In order for a stipend appointment amount to exceed the prescribed maximum, the employing department must obtain written approval from the Dean of the Graduate School.
Students are entitled to know the conditions under which offers of financial support are made, and to expect that explicit commitments of support will be honored, subject to conditions that are stated explicitly at the time of offer.
Consequently, both letters of admission with support and subsequent offers of renewed support should specify:
- Amount of financial support, including tuition scholarship if applicable.
- Nature of support - teaching assistant (TA), graduate assistant (GA), or research assistant (RA).
- Period for which support is given.
- Level of support - e.g., full, three-quarters, one-half.
- Time and/or effort involved at level of offered support for graduate or teaching assistant, or certifiable percent of effort for research assistant.
- Academic and assistantship obligations corresponding to the level of support. A written description should be provided before the obligations begin.
- Conditions for renewal of support.
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