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PoliSwede

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PoliSwede last won the day on June 14 2013

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  1. There are those who say that if FSU would've been able to retain some of the people that have left over the years, they'd be one of the premier programs in the country. Of course, that can be said for a lot of programs whose faculty are attractive to more prestigious/wealthy programs.
  2. What's this UIUC you speak of? Oh wait. That'd be me. I'll take PMs (can't guarantee instant replies though!)
  3. Just to reiterate what everyone else said: The short answer is "Yes". If the programs you're applying to have funding available for graduate students you will, just like the American students, receive funding through research assistantships, teaching assistantship, and/or fellowship money. The offer will vary depending on the school/program and what your record looks like. It might also change during the course of yours studies. I'm currently on a fellowship but since it is limited to one year I will either receive a teaching or research assistantship through the department next year. Good luck!
  4. A lot of things have already been said on visits to programs. The general answer that has been provided in this thread tends to be correct. Most schools offer at least partial reimbursement for travel expenses acquired when you visit the program (some programs have visitation weekends, others schedule individual visits). The more prestigious the program, the more likely you are to have all of your expenses covered, but most programs are rather generous. At some programs, those who they really, really want to recruit might receive full reimbursement for their travel while other students receive a bit less. Oh, and these visits generally (as far as I am aware) happen before you make your decision on whether to attend the program or not. The visit is supposed to help you make up your mind about whether the program is right for you, get a feel for the department and its faculty, etc. I recommend going to as many visits as possible. If you really can't make the "visitation weekend" for some reason you should make sure to ask whether it is possible to schedule an individual visit at a different date.
  5. Congratulations to all of you who have received acceptances so far! If any Illinois admits have questions that they don't dare pose to Prof. Mondak you can just shoot me a pm and I'll be happy to chat.
  6. I'm pretty confident that most of the people who are hearing back are in other disciplines. No need to be anxious yet. Use the search function in the results database and you'll find that most schools get back to their applicants in late January to early March.
  7. BFB: Although visitation weekends for all graduate students have many advantages, I'd also like to point out that individual visits shouldn't be frowned upon. In my experience, individual visits can be great experiences for admitted students. I appreciated being able to spend quite some time with the students already in the program(s) because it allowed me to get a sense of what the overall program is like (and not just my own cohort) and bombard them with questions for hours at end. The fact you might be the only one visiting at the time gives it more of a "rolled out red carpet"-feel as well. That said, I understand that it also may be stressful/chaotic for the faculty members.
  8. I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far. The collegiality among graduate students and the availability of the faculty are some of the things that have stood out to me (it did so during the visit as well). Even though all students are assigned two first-year advisors, you are still able to approach any member of the faculty to ask questions/discuss research/etc. Last weekend I walked into the office of our acting head and got stuck there for 45 minutes and ended up walking out with two books... Due to timing of when I entered the program my first year is mostly spent on methods (depending on whether you want to consider 'formal theory' to be methods or not). Unless they have neglected to share with those of us currently in the program, I don't believe that an official methods subfield is opening up. However, all students are required to take a substantial amount of methods courses and almost everyone takes more than the required amount. We have at least one advanced student who is specializing in methods as a compliment to their primary subfield. If anyone has specific questions about Illinois, or general questions about this wonderful process, I'm happy to reply via PM or here in the thread! Good luck to all of you!
  9. New DGS. Might affect the speed at which they get back to applicants.
  10. Hey there TMM. Not really all that nervous to be honest. I am more excited/eager to actually get started. The cohort seems really friendly/nice and we've managed to arrange/attend a few get-togethers already. I think some nervousness is natural/to be expected though. A professor I know described starting a PhD program as "being tossed to the wolves".
  11. The first thing you should know is that it's going to be hard (if not impossible) to find PhD programs that will allow you to only take qualitative methods. I didn't specifically look for them when I went through the top 50 or so when I applied, but that was the sense I got from my survey. Now, there are some departments that will allow you to substitute some of the quantitative training for qualitative training. In the book "Perestroika" (edited by Kristen Renwick Monroe) where Pelegrine Schwartz-Shea conducted a survey of graduate programs in an attempt to investigate what departments were more friendly/specialized in qualitative methods. It was a while since I read it so I don't exactly recall the method she used. However, it did for example look at the number of courses offered in qualitative methods. This study was published almost a decade ago, so keep that in mind. A lot can change in a department in ten years.
  12. Wow. That's a tall order/a bit unusual on your first day of class as a first year. I have a few pieces of advice: 1. You are (most likely unless you have public speaking experience) going to talk too fast. Remember to slow down. 2. Have a plan for what you want to/will do during the 50 minutes/whatever you lecture for. Just a simple outline is a great aid. 3. Ask the students questions and try to engage them. Most students enjoy classes more when they don't just have to sit there but get to be active. 4. Depending on the size/nature of your class you might want to consider one or two activities that they can. Think-share-pairs are usually easy and effective. 5. Have some sort of hook/interesting puzzle in the beginning. It will catch their attention (hopefully) Good luck!
  13. Agreed with the person above. They're not very likely to care much about your gap or exactly why you had it. If you feel like mentioning it I'd limit it to one sentence that you drop in passing. As long as you spend time carefully crafting your SOP I believe that you will be a competitive applicant. Remember that the application committees want to see that you've thought about a problem/issue enough to be able to propose future research within that area. Also keep in mind that what you put in your SOP doesn't necessarily have to be your dissertation down the road. Good luck!
  14. In Political science (my field) one applies to the program that you want to study in and there's usually a committee that decides on whether they will admit or reject students. That doesn't mean that one shouldn't pay attention to the faculty in the department (which probably is the main reason why're applying there) but you don't need to find a specific professor with a research grant that will fund you.
  15. Not sure what you're asking. If the question is whether you would get into a program that's on the list I'd think that it is very likely that at least one of them will accept you.
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