polisciphd

I graduated from ESIA and have a classmate who is now a senior public affairs officer with the Dept. of State after having been a White House correspondent with the AP. Go with GWU, you won't regret it...

I am right there with you on going back to D.C. I went to the Elliott School for my masters degree and even worked there full time for two years during my studies. I LOVED IT. Then I got a job at one of the major think tanks in town. I LOVED IT THERE TOO. The three professors who wrote my LORs all wanted me to get my ph.d. in the Poly Sci dept. there so that I could continue to work with them. The problem, though, is that D.C. is, as I am sure you are aware, crazy expensive. So I decided to limit my search to places where I could actually afford to live without taking out another $40000 in loans just to pay the rent...

There is not really an average per se, each school is different, although from looking on people's websites two or three classes would be what you could expect, granted they are directly translatable (both in content and in difficulty) to something that is offered at your new school...

GW takes a long time because most of the poly sci faculty are also affiliated with the Elliott School, which sends out admissions early, and therefore have to get through the ESIA admits first. Georgetown is a great school with some outstanding faculty, but they are to a large extent transient. Is the problem with all of the D.C. schools in my opinion, can't count on anyone being around for more than a couple of years. I kind of think that is why their ranking is as low as it is. It is also a pain in the butt to get to that campus, no metro stop in Gtown. You actually have to go to GW and catch a bus to take you to Georgetown, which I always found a little ironic...

Sorry for the earlier post, wasn't trying to start a fight.

Given the number of responses, I am thinking that the harvard admits are bogus...

Somebody posted a Harvard KSG admit on the results page...

Alright, I'll bite B.A. Asian Studies University of Alabama 3.76 GPA in my Major, 3.02 Overall GPA due to switching majors as a junior, stupid engineering 5 semester's Dean's List M.A. Security Policy Studies Elliott School of International Affairs 3.66 GPA 1 Conference Presentation, 1 Publication 5 years Research and Analysis experience for a major think tank and two government agencies GRE Scores 590V, 700Q, 5.5AW

In at Illinois, which has some great IR/Security folks, with full funding. Am pretty excited about this one, nice city, low cost of living, professors have been contacting me left and right, so feel like they really want me to come...

Thanks for this, haven't heard anything yet and am getting very nervous...

I found myself in this situation when figuring out which schools to apply to. I really, really wanted to go to WashU. Great program, wonderful professors, St. Louis is within driving distance of both mine and my wife's family. The catch, not a single professor doing anything even close to my field - IR/Security Studies. Seriously considered applying anyway.

It's in New Jersey...

You are wrong, I was totally serious in asking. I am a coffee house junkie, spent most of my previous graduate career living in coffee shops across D.C. I can tell you where at least 30 places to get a good cup of coffee in the district, not counting the requisite three starbucks per block. Thanks for the input on UI places though. I will probably check them out when I visit in March. Oh, and just to clear things up, I do like Mickey D's coffee, but breaking out a laptop and books in mcdonalds is not what I call an environment condusive to production...

Nope, not yet...

I agree with your assessment. My question is though, do schools often put people on a "waitlist" without actually informing them of that status? Have others that have been waitlisted by other schools actually been told that that was the case? If not, how did you find out?

I know that there have been a few acceptances posted to U Michigan over the past few days, so I decided to write to the graduate admissions person and asked if she could give me an idea of when decisions were being made on applications. I expected her to write back and say that "unfortunately, you were not selected for admission," or "congrats, you made it kiddo!" (or something to that extent) What I received is as follows... "We are still currently reviewing applications. Decisions will be made by end of March / Early April." So I am now thoroughly confused. I know that some schools do admits in rounds, but seriously I shouldn't expect anything until March/April? We all have to decide by April 15 whether to accept other offers, how can they reasonably expect that I can make an informed decision on whether to attend their program if I don't hear anything for another month and a half, when other schools are already courting me. This may be just me venting, but surely this has happened or will happen to others as well...

Not to be rude, but if you think that McDonalds has the best coffee anywhere, you seriously need to get out more...

Excellent advice, but what I really need to know is who makes the best coffee in town?

I indicated to them that I am hoping to visit towards the end of March...

Today has been the worst day for me so far in terms of wanting to hear something, anything, from any of the remaining schools I applied to. I especially want to know about UMich, I know that there have been some acceptances posted today, but so far I see no rejections. I would kill to go there, please someone at UMICH, send me a dang email already!

That is crazy exciting! WashU has a great program and St. Louis is a wonderful city to live in. If they had had any security/IR faculty their that would have been my first choice school...

I have received major outreach from the IR faculty as well. They were not my first choice school, but I am VERY impressed with them so far and their interest will weigh heavily in my decision making...

My primary research interests were Asian regional security (focusing on China and North korea, lots of security posture and nonproliferation policy stuff) and the use of Intelligence in the formation of National Security Policy. UIUC has a very strong security program, the majority of their IR faculty conduct research in the field, even the political economists have a security bent. The Chair wrote me and said that he was very impressed with my research background related to arms control and nonproliferation issues, and he suggested that I might be a good fit in their ACDIS program (Arms Control, Disarmament & International Security).

I don't have a degree in Political Science. My BA is in Asian Studies and my MA is in Security Policy Studies (albeit from an International Affairs School).

I only speak for myself when I say that I can out-neurotic any law school app any day. But, you are right about one thing, I have got to stop obsessing over this, esp. since I have already gotten an acceptance. This refreshing my email every 10 seconds and driving 110 mph home from work everyday to check my mailbox has got to stop. So, as of tonight, I resolve to not think about applications for an entire weekend. I will not even come close to a computer until at least Monday, or even Tuesday if I can make it (since Monday is a holiday). Maybe I'll even read a book, if I can remember how to do that...