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.

fail

While a substantial number of conflict scholars tout the benefits of looking at networks as future objects of investigation, there are a very small number of people, at least in poli sci, actually doing this work, especially if you get away from the guys doing terrorist networks. I am doing network analysis at Illinois, and several of my professors (Diehl, Vasquez, Dai, Cho) are all about using network analysis to study conflict processes (especially diffusion), but the main person who taught networks as a "method," as opposed to a "topic," just left (he was in the sociology dept.). If you really want to work with someone who has actually published on networks and war, then you should absolutely look at studying with Maoz at UC-Davis, he has a book coming out on the subject next year.

In my experience, work experience has little to no impact on whether you are or will be accepted to poli sci ph.d. programs. Also, the lack of publications won't condemn you either, it is more a question of whether your research interests and your potential capability for carrying out said research fits well with the school in question (as was my case).

In most cases, getting the MA doesn't help you get into ph.d. programs unless your undergrad record is not sufficient to get you there on its own. I would be more concerned about deciding whether a career in academia is something you want. if yes, then forget the MA, and apply for the ph.d. If not, then an MA in political theory is probably not going to help you outside of academia. If the answer is undecided, then don't do either. Instead, take some time off and reevaluate this time next year. That way you wouldn't have wasted your time and money on something that may not be any added benefit, regardless of the career path.

If you don't mind me asking, why do you want to study, or perhaps more importantly what do you intend to do with a MA in political theory?

I am at a rigorous department and have never regretted not taking real analysis.

Wait, so you have to write a Statement of Purpose and a personal essay? Strange, didn't have to do that for any of the schools I applied to.

Biggest thing to keep in mind is that this is not an undergrad personal essay. This is your opportunity to explain why your research interests fit with the department (specifics are a must), and why your academic and professional background (notice I said nothing about your personal background) prepare you do the kind of research that the department wants their students to do (like advanced statistics or math background, foreign language and/or travel, your congressional internship, whatever...). Treat this like a written job interview, explain why you are the best candidate for the specific position to which you are applying.

The question (at least what it came to be) wasn't whether someone should take these classes before going to grad school, but whether they apply to what's being done in the field. I would only recommend that someone take calculus and maybe matrix algebra in order to be comfortable in a grad stats sequence. Surely there are applications for such things as diff. eq., or structural equation models, but most people will never use these in their career.

On average, the math mentioned above is most applicable to those doing quant American or quant IR.