ThisGuyRiteHere

Actually, Penelope could answer my question since she has an academic job already

To the advanced graduate student: How is the job market? Specifically, how to do you get an academic job (or how have you seen others do it)? Like what are these "job talks" and other things that students do? So lets imagine your defending your dissertation next may (2014), and you are hitting the job market. What would be a good timeline of things to do from now until you graduate next may?

I second applying for a bunch of schools. I knew exactly where my apps would fly, so i aimed 50-70 on USNWR list. Needless to say. Applied for 7 schools, with drew one app, rejected by 3, accepted by 3, funded by 1. Wish I would have targeted my application better, but I am satisfied.

Thank you for the answers. I am more mathematically prepared than the average student (I think), but I am going to sit formal methods out (for now at least). Comparative it is! And to jazzrap, I am starting in August.

So what does it have to do with? Can you give me some basic examples of the type of work it would consist of?

So formal modeling is: "Applications of game theory—and an alternative strategic theory called “theory of moves”—as well as social-choice theory to a wide variety of strategic situations, principally but not exclusively in politics, will be examined. Uses of strategy in voting in committees and elections, in political campaigns, in the defense and deterrence policies of nations, and in bargaining and coalition-building situations will be among the topics discussed. Secrecy and deception as political strategies will also be analyzed." I am debating on taking this with research design and statistics. Is this too much for your first semester? I do not want to overload myself and my funding is dependent on the first semester, so I cannot mess it up. Is formal modeling tough for someone with some statistics and game theory background (undergrad classes in each subject)

Stat major Econ minor You will be good. i dont think a whole major is needed in economics. Unless you are thinking about becoming an economist also

This is what I have been told: Summer 1: Research camp at UMich or some other methods camp if you get the funding to go/teach summer classes/etc. Summer 2: Comps Summers 3 - Completion: Some form of Dissertation writing, reading or outlining. So your time is booked.

Relax. I am the biggest person who is gung ho about all this, but I am taking a trip in 2 weeks. I won't have time to travel like this in grad school, unless I am doing research. Try and see if your old profs need help with research. I may have found something doing research for the summer. Something to put on the CV.

Look for 2 schools that are a little lower ranked. maybe a Penn State or something like that. Each of those schools get like 200 applications a piece. And LSE is iffy on funding.

Looks like UW Madison and UCLA. Think (s)he chose madison, Africanist Qualitative..

Sage advice for future appliers (2011-2012 forum post). If I wouldnt have read this, I am sure I would have completely struck out: Hello all, After four months' hiatus, I'm back for another cycle - good to see some old faces (handles?) around. To my knowledge, no applications are open for business yet, but with Yale's coming online Monday, I thought now would be a good time to wish everyone good luck. More importantly, to all the new applicants this year, I'm going to try and give some unsolicited advice. Here goes: Last year, I went into applications humble yet confident. I had a 3.90 at a top-10 national university with a reputation for difficulty, research experience, was doing a master's at Cambridge, had worked in government for 9 months in addition to various internships, was awarded Phi Beta Kappa and other honors, had 3 good recommendations from tenured professors, submitted a capstone paper for a sample, and had a 1570 GRE. I went 0 for 7. So this year, I'm focusing on what actually matters: the personal statement. It is the single most important part of the application. Never mind what the departmental websites say about holistic approaches and solid backgrounds; that all matters, but only as an initial check on the candidate before the real admitting and rejecting happens based on the PS. Focus on matching your research interests to specific professors, and write why they will want to supervise you and why your research will benefit from them. And spend some words doing so: I've been told about 40% of the PS should be discussing this (last year, I used about 15%). Don't just look at their subfield ("comparative politics") and confirm that their area focus ("Africa") matches yours. Read their bios, but then analyze their CVs. Find recent articles and/or books. Then read the works themselves. Quickly, you'll find the professor you thought was a perfect match is actually only tangentially related to your research. Which is the second most important thing: have your research absolutely sorted out. Have a research question. Make sure you could explain to your grandmother it in 100 words or fill 10,000 words discussing its intricacies, because you'll have to do both at some point. They won't take you on interest ("I want to look at political violence") and credentials ("I have an MPhil from Cambridge") alone. They want to know that you can formulate and articulate a proper scholarly inquiry. This should also take up about 40% of the PS, according to academic advisors with whom I've spoken (last year, I spent about 25% on this). Maybe these things were obvious to other first-time applicants and I just lost my way, or stupidly ignored it. But I certainly wish someone had drilled this into me before I started work on my applications. Perhaps I would have got an offer last year. Perhaps not. Either way, my personal statement was concise and well-written but completely useless for my application. I deserved my rejections. And so will you if you don't take this advice. Best of luck.

Wouldnt that be more PP than poli sci

^^Referring to funding that is, you are already in. If you do not accept your offer, defer for a year and ask to be placed at the head of the funding list for next year. But you need to call. All movement was probably done by friday. Also, remember sometimes funding does not open til summer time. I was told that what schools do now are simply percentages. If there is a large uptick in students, they may be able to afford another TA. I heard of someone getting the call at the beginning of August!

Call now. If you are rejected, end your agony. If you are in, start the celebration. They may have forgotten about you (either good or bad), you would not be the first this has happened to this cycle

Ahh thanks. I have decided what I want to study, atleast generally at this point (which is enough for now), good convo!

Are you in the program, or just thinking about applying?

I heard Yale and Harvard were good for Asia. Though I would not know personally

What is the difference between conflict studies and security studies?

You are going to need some type of MA. If you can find a local one, then I would recommend that. However, if you do not. You may have to do it. Isnt the program 1 year? That is not THAT bad, and this is coming from someone with substantial loans. I do not know if you can find a better MA than CIR, so my advice would be to do some job hunting immediately. Like now. People talk of this "social science research" jobs, but I couldnt find any and I LIVED in DC for a year AND have an applicable degree. So I would look for a job now, and see if you can find something. You also have to think about this economically. This strategy is being utilized by other people in your situation. There are less people with good MA offers than there are just trying to find a research job for next year. And the job market stinks. So if I was you, I look for a job until the last day you can and then if you do not have a list of 50 jobs (you may get like 5 interviews), take it or a local MA.

Dont just think about acceptances. REMEMBER FUNDING PERCENTAGE. You can get into a school (a public uni), but may not get funded.

This is how i do it. Top Down Analysis. 1. Look at the top 100 according to whatever ranking you choose (they are all pretty much the same name of schools, just in different rank) 2. Find some area of the country you may want to live (if this is not a factor, skip to step 3) 3. Look at each department and see what the schoars are doing work on 4. Try to find admission standards AND funding percentage (some schools are 100%, some may give 3 offers out of 15 accepted students) 5. Read said research of the scholars 6. If you want to, email the scholars SPECIFIC questions about their research OR email the grad assistant/DGS and ask for basic information about the program (If you dont feel comfortable doing this, skip it) 7. Fill out applications, financial aid info, etc. 8. Profit *Note - In terms of school selection, you MUST have a fit with a prof..preferrably 2-3. Fit is most important in PhD admission. A political scientist work is no difference than a biologist work. You need to find someone who can teach you how to do the research they do. It is like an apprenticeship. ALSO, try to find FULL PROFESSORS who do what you want to do . AP's can leave while you are there and if there is no one else there who does your topic, you will have to transfer. This should be a good starting point

Is this a PhD?

Well I am not saying that I want to do india and north africa. I am just saying, two areas you would not think of studying together..

This is a whole new level of lazyness in freshman. I could see how if you posted what you thought and asked for opinions..but to just come and blindly ask the question, is super lazy. I see why no one cares about teaching these days. Students are lazy and do not try to do any work themselves.