polisciphd

Animal hospital at the crossing, we have a pug and they love her to death and take the best care of her. The doctor is Tegan Stoger. (217) 356-6387

A 15 minute bike commute in winter is going to be brutal. We are often in single digits with howling winds. Not a lot of snow, but often have ice on the roads (that don't get cleared expediently). We had a very mild winter this past year, but four years ago we had 3 or 4 inches of standing ice on the roads (and on campus). That being said, the busses go all over, so check the MTD website to see if your potential place is on a bus route.

Do not stay in university housing, it is horrible and certainly not worth the price. The person who said that Champaign is mostly frats and bars is only referring to Champaign on and immediately around campus and downtown. Champaign is much bigger than Urbana and is where most of the residential areas are for families. That being said, there are tons of apartments in Champaign and, unlike Urbana, they will get you away from campus, which is nice, especially since the bus system goes everywhere. I like Urbana, I go there frequently for restaurants and the market, but I wouldn't want to live there (they don't take care of their streets, not many places to shop, only two grocery stores, etc.).

If UNC is an option, absolutely go there.

If what you are interested in studying is IR theory, then John Vasquez at Illinois is the best of any of the scholars at any of the schools you mentioned

Illinois is the best of that group, in my opinion, for quantitative IR-conflict (with Diehl and Vasquez), with PSU a close second. For IPE, we have really good people (Pahre and Dai), but Maryland is probably better overall, particularly with Todd Allee leaving Illinois for Maryland. Indiana is good at both, but probably not quite at the same level as those schools mentioned previously in either.

It is not out of the ordinary for Tracy to call. Don't worry about it, it won't affect their admission decisions.

I echo Penn State as a good place to do quant IR/Conflict, they have come a long way in a few short years. I can also give advice for anyone going through the process, I'm a fourth year IR at a Big 10 school, working on dissertation (posted on this forum years ago under a different screen name tidefan)

Illinois is no sure bet either. Also, political violence, ethnic conflict, and identity politics are not topics that IR quant folks typically look at, they are more comparative politics questions.

Let me just ask, what is your career goal, i.e. what do you want to do with the ph.d? If it is to teach, what kind of job do you want after graduating? If you see yourself teaching at a top 50 research university, then going to NE might not be the smart thing to do. If, however, a directional or a community college is your goal, then a degree from NE wouldn't be so bad.

Illinois notified its admits the week before last

Has nobody told you that grades in ph.d. programs don't matter. As long as you continue to make progress, develop solid relationships with the people who will be on your review and dissertation committees, and pass your prelims, you are fine.

UIUC has reduced the size of our cohorts, from 15-20 people (a couple of years ago) to 8-9, but everyone admitted still gets the same amount of funding as before.

Acceptances for UIUC are out

I am at a school where the acceptances come out pretty early, when compared to other schools. Our adcom won't even begin looking at apps until the week before school starts for the spring semester. So, the best advice I can give is to relax and to try not to obsess about it, at least until the end of January.