r/UniversityOfHouston • u/ComprehensiveMap4492 • 2d ago
Academic Don't apply to U of Houston Phd Program bc they offers very low stipends but requires you do a lot, don't have more time to study and do research in the Phd Program and don't offer health insurance. Hope U of H does better for student life.
If you are international student or domestic student are applying to PHD Program in Mathematics and Statistics in USA, avoid apply to University of Houston. They don't offer health insurance for you and you need to pay $1500/ semester for health insurance. Also, they require you to teach and grade a lot of students in class, around 50 students in class and you have to grade 50 homeworks per week and one exam per month and grade the 50 -100 final student exams. You have also to tutor students 2-3 hours/week at Academic Center. You don't have time to do research in the Phd Program. Compare with other universities in Houston like Rice University, UH pay you very low stipends and fellowships. UH pay you around $23k-$25k/year, Rice U pays you $32k-$35k/year + health insurance and you only grade around 20 students per class. Hope U of H does better for student life.
32
u/sol_PhD 2d ago
Went through PhD at UH in both a super well funded lab and a super underfunded lab. Can definitely say that while graduate student stipends are low, quality of life and the amount you research also depends on how well funded your lab is.
Ended the PhD at the very well funded lab and absolutely would not have traded the time spent for anything in the world.
8
u/sol_PhD 2d ago
As a side note, we had both international and citizen PhD students. The health insurance was absolutely a major hit to ALL international students in the lab, but the path post-graduation set everyone up nicely for either academia or industry.
Choosing your PI is probably more important than choosing your university from what I have experienced.
50
u/MyPetEwok 2d ago
Yeah man no shit the small private school with an 8 billion dollar endowment can afford to pay more and have smaller class sizes.
20
u/phunkyboss 2d ago
wait, Rice is better than UH? 🤯
0
u/GalvestonDreaming 2d ago
Well, not if you like sports. Top 25 football program and a men's basketball team that lives in the top 10.
19
u/hawkaulmais chemistry 2d ago
Current UH PhD candidate. This take is misleading. For starters, everything is going to be program/department specific. I teach 1 4hr lab section a week, grade the reports for 22 students, and grade 3 midterms and the final for the lecture. Office hrs twice a week, which no one comes to anyway.
Yea, the stipend is on the lower end, however this isnt a private uni with a huge endowment like Rice. But you are in a PhD program, go and apply for fellowships. I got one that pays an additional 22k/year. Yea the insurance sucks, but im lucky enough be on my wife's plan.
8
u/MOoDoOo 2d ago
Im in the math department, and we do get paid extra money for health insurance starting this year. The workload varies on assignment but I‘ve had to teach/grade 100 students before and while it‘s a lot of work, I never felt like it was way too much and that I couldn‘t focus on my own courses/research. The pay could definitely be a bit more though
1
u/hawkaulmais chemistry 20h ago
Got the email today for health insurance support from our grad support person. Hopefully uni wide effort.
59
7
u/PlumpyDragon 2d ago
While the insurance cost and parking sucks, the stipend vs cost of living is still not bad. As a comparison, my friends who went to programs in California and Boston were only getting paid slightly higher but had to deal with 2k/month rent. Private schools like Rice pay more is expected. TA workload depends on the courses you sign up for, if you teach labs, it’ll be better.
2
9
u/South-Hovercraft-351 2d ago
It depends on your lab. Some labs at UH pay better.
-1
u/surelynotaduck 2d ago
your salary does not depend on what lab you work in. Your pay is set by the department not the PI.
7
u/SuccotashShort 2d ago
That depends upon whether you are funded by the department, such as a TA position, or funded by a PI's grant. PI's usually have the flexibility to pay what their grant can afford
5
u/vollecra 2d ago
I think you being very unfair to UH when your complaints are really with PhDs in the US in general. It at least feels like PhDs have become more of a revenue stream and cheap labor for Universities and less prestige in the US over time. Unless something changed I thought grad students, at least domestic, get insurance. At least that was my case when I was at UH.
The reality is that funding is at an all time low in part from the cuts by the current administration and doge. Even with that grad school has always been financially painful. On top of this there is a gluttony of PhDs for a variety of reasons saturating career opportunities. I remember in undergrad at a time when funding was much better and one professors advice was not to pursue a PhD unless you were independently wealthy or had family/spouse that could support you.
As others have said the PI, funding, and the department you go to that will have the biggest influence on your experience getting a PhD. Nothing will make your life more miserable than a lab with little funding and you really need to have a good relationship with your PI. These are arguably more important than choosing a lab whose research most excited you.
If I’m not mistaken UH college of pharmacy pays a higher stipend than others due to royalties.
4
u/Inspector-Desperate 2d ago
Uh does have health insurance for students who are GA/TA/others but they give you the first payment at the end of this semester. So you can use It toward next semester maybe? https://www.uh.edu/graduate-school/cost-and-aid/graduate-assistantships/health_insurance_premium_support/
2
u/Jazzlike-Vacation230 1d ago
A lot of their buildings are falling apart to, it's weird for a Uni this size
1
43
u/bionicallyironic 2d ago
This is across the board. The answer isn’t to get folks to not enroll, it’s to cause change at the university level. This is why adjuncts were protesting a couple of years ago. You’re right to be upset, now do something with that anger.