Many PhD programs offer their successful applicants a full scholarship and a living stipend in addition to their admissions. What's not to like? The reality of the situation, however, is that there's no such thing as a free lunch. Doctoral candidates who accept these offers can expect to work for the university full-time and with poor boundaries. And that full-time labor would likely be more lucratively sold on the open market. Orion discusses some of the counterintuitive advantages to paying out of pocket.

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GRE Bites is a weekly podcast that delivers practical, relevant, bite-sized episodes about GRE prep and grad school admissions. It is co-hosted by Davis Evans, an educator with over a decade of experience, and Orion Taraban, a licensed psychologist and founder of StellarGRE. Its mission is to help students ace the GRE and get into their graduate programs of choice.

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