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doubledyno

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    NC, USA
  • Application Season
    Already Attending
  • Program
    Comparative Politics Phd

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  1. For program rankings, I recommend http://www.phds.org/rankings/political-science The problem with the US News Rankings is they are highly arbitrary. All rankings are to some degree, but the US News rankings act as if certain factors don't matter more to certain people. The phds.org site gives you a range of rankings for each school based on different weightings of several different factors, and will allow you to weight those factors yourself. I feel like this is especially important in the top 25, as they all have departments that are only marginally better or worse, so it allows you to sort things based on what's important to you. When it comes to subfield rankings, pretty much any school in the top 25 should be decent in all subfields, so it becomes a matter of the faculty there. Look for faculty who share your same broad interests. Also worth asking people at your undergrad what they think of specific faculty you want to work with - personality shouldn't be a huge factor, but if you find out someone has a particularly bad reputation, that should raise some cautionary flags. Everything on your application looks good. Certainly more research experience than I had. Just focus on getting the best GRE scores possible and making sure your LOR writers have clear, current information that will allow them to portray you well.
  2. I agree with what everyone else has said. You're still fairly competitive. Your GRE scores aren't amazing, but they're solid, a 3.8 GPA in your majors is good, and the 2 senior honors theses look good on an application. However, with the GRE scores not being amazing and little research experience, the other parts of your application become very important and you'll have to put in a lot of work on them. I was in a similar boat (My GRE was 99% verbal, 60% quant, and 99%writing), and I think the main reason I was successful was that I spent more time on my SOP than I did on my senior honors thesis. If you don't think you can put in the work on other parts of your application to make up for your weaknesses or retake the GRE this semester, I think you'd be better off applying further down the line, when you can either get some more experience or improve your GRE. Which is a totally fair option by the way - applying the fall of my senior year was incredibly stressful. It worked out for me in the end, but I think it would've been better for my mental health to apply this year.
  3. The requirements are very vague, I've done it for two UNC schools now. Essentially they want you to prove that you have made NC your permanent home and have maintained that for 12 months and, supposedly, that you aren't in NC just to attend school. However, in practice what they want to see is that you have a year-round residence in the state (aren't spending summers with your parents at home) so basically any standard year-long apartment lease can support that, you've registered your car in the state, you have an NC license, you have NC voter registration, and you pay state taxes (really the important one, seeing as it funds tuition). Regardless of whether or not you actually plan to stay in NC after your degree, that will qualify you for residency. I also knew people in undergrad who established residency, and then subleased their apartments and went home in the summer anyways - just don't tell the school you do that. They aren't going to check up on it. More here: http://registrar.unc.edu/academic-services/residency/residency-classification/#require I hope that saves you some time, I know how stressful moving and getting started with grad school is!
  4. Hey there, I am not moving for grad school, but my girlfriend just moved for a job in a new state and I helped her out with some of this stuff, so I'll tell you what you now. As for the residency and dependency questions, it depends on the state requirements for residency and the health insurance plan. Usually you do have to be a dependent to stay on your parent's insurance, but not necessarily. Talk to them. You may even be able to have both health insurance plans, I know people who've had two and chosen which one to use based on the cost. Poke around on the school website to find out what you need to do to qualify for residency. I had to certify I wasn't a dependent of my parents even though I was going to a school in state my parents have lived in for 25 years and I have for my entire life, but the UNC system is notoriously weird about residency. You'll definitely have to both register your car and take out auto insurance in your new state, as you need an in-state auto insurance policy to register your car. As for registering your car, it's not too onerous, but generally you just have to go into the DMV, provide proof of residence and insurance, pay a fee, and take a written driving test. Again, requirements by state vary, so look on their DMV website. As for voter registration, once again, it varies. Some states "require" you to let them know you registered in a different state to strike you from their rolls, but there's really no way to enforce that. If your name is struck, then you would not be able to be called for jury duty there. However, if you didn't have your name struck, you would no longer be eligible for jury duty as you are no longer a resident, so you'd just tell them that, and it would cease to be an issue. Essentially, it's a lot of bureaucratic crap that seems more complicated than it is. Take it one thing at a time.I'd focus on the health insurance first, since healthcare is expensive and important. You probably have some time to figure out the residency issues, since I'm assuming the school only requires you to apply as soon as you're eligible, which in most cases takes a year. Hope that helped!
  5. Committed to UNC-Chapel Hill today after a visit on Monday that went great. Anyone else who ends up committing there and is looking to chat (or for a roommate) feel free to send me a PM. And thanks to everyone in this thread for the entertainment - I hope to work with you in the future!
  6. The package is $20k/year guaranteed for 5 years + health insurance and full tuition remission, but the student is responsible for just under $2k/year in student fees. Cost of living is also really low in Chapel Hill compared to many other major public universities.
  7. I can't attend as I'll be out of town, but it's where I'll be going. I'd love to chat with you or @Hopeful57 if you end up deciding on Chapel Hill as well! I can also answer questions about the area if you PM me - spent large portions of my life nearby.
  8. I'm claiming that, don't know if anyone else is out. Harvard wins the prize for most polite rejection letter haha. They make it sound like they wanted to admit you, but just didn't have the space.
  9. No problem @dinhmoun, I think we all know how stressful the process is. I'll PM you if I hear anything.
  10. I've heard - unofficially - from the head of my department that another UNCG professor's wife is on the committee and that they're making decisions over a period of weeks. I don't know if they've finished or not though, so that's really the only slim hope I can offer you. I'm going over there sometime soon to talk with a POI, so I'll see if I can glean any information from him and let you know.
  11. PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: Public universityMajor(s)/Minor(s): Double-major in political science and Russian studies, minor in GermanUndergrad GPA: 4.0/4.0Type of Grad: NoneGrad GPA: N/AGRE: V166/Q155/AW5.5Any Special Courses: MA level courses on Russia-EU relations at University of Tartu in Estonia, research methods, economics, and classes specializing on contentious politics, Latin American politics, and African politicsLetters of Recommendation: Two from tenured professors in the political science department, one the head of department, and one from head of Russian studies department.Research Experience: Wrote a senior honor's thesis, RA for project with head of department focusing on Moldova, a few conference presentations.Teaching Experience: None in academia, but I teach outdoor skills at the university's outdoor center.Subfield/Research Interests: Post-Soviet space, contentious politics, political economy.Other: Significant language and study abroad experience. 10 months in Russia on a US State Department grant when I was 16, 6 months in Estonia. Fluent in Russian, intermediate proficiency in German, basic proficiency in Estonian (useless language but I thought it was a cool point to have on my CV). RESULTS: Acceptances($$ or no $$): 2 funded offers, one full one partial (1 top 10, top 20 depending on what ranking you look at, the partial at a mid-rank)Waitlists: 0Rejections: 7 - all top 10.Pending: 1Going to: Most likely UNC-CH, unless I get into Harvard haha. LESSONS LEARNED: A better GRE score probably would've helped me out, but I got into one of my top choice programs regardless (the fit is almost perfect!). I heard from POI that my SOP was really what got them interested in me, and I worked on that for about 6 months and had 5 different professors give me feedback on it. Definitely workshop your SOP as much as you can, I know I ended up with a much better end product because of the huge amount of attention I gave it! Fit was also important here. Unfortunately there's been a real neglect of post-Soviet Eurasia area studies in the US lately, so most programs aren't very keen on students who want to specialize in it. I exclusively applied to schools with access to FLAS grants and large Eurasia/Eastern Europe interdisciplinary centers. SOP: PM me if you'd like to read it.
  12. Same here, only 21. I also knew I wanted to be a part of academia by the end of high school as well, but luckily I found a professor who supported me from essentially the beginning of sophomore year. Which was actually quite validating of my undergrad choices. I chose a lesser ranked school (UNC-Greensboro vs. UNC-Chapel Hill) because of finances, but the much smaller polsci department worked in my favor because it was really easy to establish personal relationships with professors who became my referees. Funnily enough, barring getting admitted to Harvard, I'm likely going to Chapel Hill for my Ph.D.
  13. Been lurking for a while, I've been admitted to UNC-Chapel Hill, and they consider the stipend essentially payment for TA duties of 12-15 hours per week, except in the summer, where it's assumed you're pursuing research or editing papers for publication etc. As if it's all a salary for work rather than a stipend + additional pay for TA work. I don't think that's necessarily the case anywhere else though, as I've also been admitted to Utah. They're pursuing funding for me, and I get the impression that they offer scholarships, and then TA pay is given on top of that. Not 100% sure though. The last question is interesting. I've certainly seen no indication that you're forbidden from taking other work from Chapel Hill, but I also haven't asked. It would be nice to have the flexibility to do temp work over a break if I was really in a jam with money.
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