[analog31]

When I was a student 30 years ago, the rule of thumb was: Don't get a graduate degree unless someone else is paying for it. In my field (physics), a first or second tier school would provide free tuition plus a stipend if they expected to get any students.

Don't know how things are now, or how they are in other fields.

Now, of course free wasn't exactly free, because studying in grad school was potentially at the expense of working a regular job. That's another topic.

[Fomite]

Yep. If they're not funding you, it's both a bad idea and a soft reject.

Hell, last I looked, Standford won't even let you self-fund all the way through, at least in my field.