PoliSwede

Happy to report that I've been offered a tenure-track position in my parents' basement! 

I saw "Texas A&M" in my new unread email this afternoon, and thought, dread. I know this program has yet to send out rejections, so I knew it was the day of reckoning. 
 
Well, I was wrong, it was an acceptance letter. I just now read it another time just to be sure. I literally can't believe this. I'm not even happy or excited yet, I am just in disbelief since this was my top dream program, and I never thought I had a chance. (Okay, it's starting to sink it, and thus, the happiness and excitement!)
 
Looking forward to meeting everyone else who is  A&M-bound next Fall!

Whichever program I end up attending.

I just got the formal notification, so I'm ready to go public:
 
I am delighed and very, very relieved to claim a Duke admit.

THIS.

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.

A couple of thoughts on the rarity of European PhDs in teaching posts in American universities. This is a general statement that should be read as a description of reality that is neither an endorsement, nor without exceptions.
 
There are few recent PhDs from non-US schools teaching at US universities. Of those, the vast majority come from Canada and England. This is largely a result of the fact that American political science is quite different from political science in Europe. Different research questions, different standards for qhat makes good research, different emphases of methods, etc. The result is the emergence of two largely separate communities. These overlap to some extent in studies of European politics, and in some parts of the political theory subfield, but otherwise they largely exist independently of one another. US universities tend not to consider hiring European PhDs partly because of the lack of network connections between the two, but largely because they are concerned that PhDs trained in Europe are not equipped to teach classes or train graduate students in ways that reflect the American version of the political science discipline.
 
I have co-chaired a dissertation with someone at a prominent university in a non-England European country, and discovered that we had completely different expectations, not only in terms of the formal dissertation requirements but in terms of what constituted good research. These are the sorts of bridges that are hard to cross. And that, in my view, is why doing a PhD in most places in Europe, in most areas of study within political science, will limit your access to jobs in the US.

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.

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.

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!

The same goes for answering questions about Rochester---and lots of good luck to all.

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!

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!

GOPHER GRAD'S DOWNHOME R COOKBOOK
 
As an appetizer, consider a zesty bruschetta with parsely and white pepper to punch up the basil:
meetbinom<-function(appetizer,hearty){
    K<-choptomatoes
    tempd<-onions,garlic
    for(k in 0:(n)){
        K[k+1]<-k
        tempd[k+1]<-dbinom(k,n,p)    }
    barplot(tempd,names.arg=K)}
meetbinom(fry, bake)

results<-NA
pool<-c("Tomato","Onion","Basil","OliveOil","Salt")
NumberOfSimulations<-100
for(i in 1:NumberOfBreadSlices){
    sample<-sample(pool,size=3)
    results<-0
    if(sum(sample=="parsley")>=1 | sum(sample=="whitepepper")>=1) results<-1
}
table(results)
 
On summer days, I find a pacific style seafood chowder gives you the energy to stare at Marx texts all day without leaving you feeling bloated:
 
results<-NA
pool<-c(rep("coconutmil",8),rep("fishstock",10),rep("currypaste",5))
NumberOfStirs<-100
for(i in 1:NumberOfStirs){
    sample<-sample(pool,size=onegallon)
    results<-0
    if(sum(sample=="Snapper")==2 & sum(sample=="Shrimp")==3 & sum(sample=="CrabinaCan")==0) results<-1
}
table(results)
 
For hearty fare, consider seared flank steak with roasted asparagus and a balsamic reduction:
 
normprob<-function(F1=-shallots,T1=flank,
  F2=-1,T2=1,NPOINTS=1000,TITLE="",FNAME=""){
    curve(asparagus,from=counter,to=oven,main=steak)
    x<-c(F2,seq(F2,T2,length.out=NPOINTS),T2)
    pan<-c(steak(EVOO))
    y[1]<-0
    y[NPOINTS+balsamic+orangerind]<-0
    polygon(x,y,border=NULL,col=2)

    postscript(file=paste("norm",FNAME,".ps",sep=""))
    curve(dnorm,from=F1,to=T1,main=TITLE)
    x<-c(F2,seq(F2,T2,length.out=NPOINTS),T2)
    y<-c(dnorm(x))
    y[1]<-0
    y[NPOINTS+2]<-0
    potato(x,y,border=CRISPY,interior=SOFT)
    dev.off()
 
printto->plate
 
 
Enjoy!
 

Just in time for application season, this new report presented at the APSA annual meeting provides some very interesting data on PhD program placement and institutional prestige, with a particular emphasis on assistant professor placement over a six (?) year period. It also raises ethical arguments about the role of reputation in hiring. One of the authors made headlines some time ago for an initial version of this study, and this expands it. I expect this to be of interest to everyone here.
 
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2303567&download=yes

As I recall, after I showed up last year someone else pointed out that signature blocks might contain important clues, and a lot of people immediately deleted their acceptance/rejection info. (As if we don't know how to use the Wayback Machine. Sheesh.)

I was going to come here and make this point. While this isn't the case for everyone (there is that occasional star that probably can get a US-job with a PhD from Asia) it does make it harder for you to market yourself in the US (and I assume Europe).
 
Studying in Europe or the US, learning methods and how the discipline works, coupled with extensive field research in Asia might be a better option.

Passed through customs yesterday. I had no problems at all and it was just like it's been the past three years. 
 
I wouldn't worry if I were you

Passed through customs yesterday. I had no problems at all and it was just like it's been the past three years. 
 
I wouldn't worry if I were you

Right back at ya!

I was going to come here and make this point. While this isn't the case for everyone (there is that occasional star that probably can get a US-job with a PhD from Asia) it does make it harder for you to market yourself in the US (and I assume Europe).
 
Studying in Europe or the US, learning methods and how the discipline works, coupled with extensive field research in Asia might be a better option.

Where do you want to end up? In academia? From what I understand, for academia, doing your PhD in Asia is very difficult (i.e. getting your PhD from an Asian institution). As someone working on Asia myself, I did consider doing a PhD in Asia, but it seemed like if anything, NUS in Singapore is the only school where you have a realistic chance for getting an academic job outside of Asia, and even they have mostly US-educated peeps on their faculty.
 
Did you look into joint programs/the possibility of doing research years in China/India? I met a guy from GWU while in China, and know of at least one program in Germany that explicitly has 1 year Germany, 1 year China, co-supervision.
 
I also believe that doing a PhD at a Chinese university is even more difficult than at an Indian uni, bc of censorship, which is real. An acquaintance of mine had to write two M.A. thesis, because the first one did not pass the censorship. For India-China, where Tibet is likely to play a role, that could be a real concern. Even if it isn't a concern for your research, it'll likely be a concern for people seeing your diploma. Fudan is amazing for IR, but (1) censorship happens even there, and (2) most of my friends doing English-language programs were quite disappointed with them, since the quality of education/supervision etc. was not what they expected.

Never to late too join the dark side!   

My quant score was an abysmal 153 and I still got accepted to programs ranked 20ish and I'm not even a theorist.
 
Just remember that the GRE scores are simply one part of your application and that you should spend time on improving other aspects of your application (like the SOP).
 
There's definitely hope for you!

Never to late too join the dark side!