raptureonfire

Hey Ping, Well, I know absolutely nothing about UVA; however, I have a quasi-inside connection to George Washington. It's a great school, but not overly academically oriented. Placement hasn't been historically great in academic circles. That said, it has some really strong people. If, for example, you want to study Eurasia/Russia, international organizations, or humanitarianism, then there are some strong faculty there. So ... yeah.

Well, I'm not faculty, so take what I have to say with a grain of salt. Did you only apply to 4 schools? That might be one of your big problems right there ... that is a very narrow range of options. Many of us applied to 10+ schools, with some people as high as 15. It's costly and time consuming, but you have to know that the deck is stacked against you, even if you are an extremely strong candidate. So, that's my suggestion - expand your list of applications to more schools.

I'm inclined to agree with Lemeard. It's really important to remember how competitive this process really is. Even if we discount half of all applicants to a department as unqualified, most programs will have to decide on 15-20 spots from a pool of 150-200 candidates. I hate this expression, but let's "just do the math". Let's say SCHOOL X received 300 applications for its doctoral program, which has 20 available funded positions. We could make the assumption that half of those candidates get cut simply for not being as competitive as the other half. They may be great candidates, but for whatever reason, they didn't match up to the other half. That leaves 150 candidates. Let's cut the deck again, just to really narrow down the pool to the top quarter of candidates. Alright, now we're looking at 20 spots and 75 'top candidates'. At this point, 55 of those candidates, all of whom easily qualify for the program, will not get admitted to the program. This is exactly the reason that it is important to apply to a broad range of schools. The faculty contributors to this board also report having been rejected from multiple schools. So take heart - it's not something to take personally; it's just how things are.

Does anyone know the fields of the Georgetown admits? Edit: Ah - all initial acceptances made at this point!

Ah! Did you find out whether the other comparative spot is taken? Who are you hoping to work with?

Congrats! Which subfield did you apply to?

I don't think it means that they don't *care* about whether you attend, but it certainly means that they are less invested in you as a candidate than those to whom they did offer funding. Of course, it also depends on the resources of the department. Not being offered funding from a large department with big resources is a bad sign, but the same offer from a small department with limited resources might not be as meaningful.

Congrats!

upam, Thank you very much for your input. I had been thinking this, and I was looking to crowdsource some confidence from the GC forums. Mission accomplished! Thank you again.

This may be a stupid question, but is there a reason you would switch from public policy to political science? Why not pursue a PhD in Public Policy?

LOL, no doubt about that

Yep - we have. I think we're both on a similar track - moving from policy to academia. Both GT and GWU have a lag in their placement data, which is frustrating; but you can call and ask, and most programs will be eager to tell you where they've placed recent PhDs.

Consider me corrected - at least, about the beginning size of the cohort. Am I right about funding, though? I think that point still stands ... ? Columbia Heights is a nice area, but it's quite a schlep to get to Georgetown from there (unless you have a car). What about Rosslyn? Boring? Sure. But it's close to school, and the prices are comparable to CH.

What you're describing is the undergraduate approach to admissions. Per my understanding, at the doctoral level, this isn't how it works. Any time that an admission with funding is offered, that money has to be earmarked for that individual until he/she makes a decision. That's why there is such a push to have students reject offers that they know they are not going to take - so that they free up that space for someone on the waitlist. This is the reason that admissions trickle out over a period of months, and that people sit on waitlists seemingly forever. The doctoral admissions program is a much more nuanced dance than undergraduate or masters. Anyway, that's my understanding of it.

Hey all, Phew! What a great host of responses - thank you! I'm hoping to become an academic, which is why I'm really considering this question of ranking. I currently work in the policy world, and while it's interesting, it just doesn't 'grab' me the way that academia does. Maryland is ranked significantly better in US News and World Report than either Georgetown or George Washington, but when I look at academic placement, the picture becomes a bit muddier. Both Georgetown and Maryland have pretty nice placement records. From my understanding, Georgetown's name is better recognized, even if its department isn't as well ranked as Maryland. I would love to hear from current faculty about their thoughts on these programs. Thank you all for your insight.

Is it possible that, while applying, you clicked "YES" on a button that requested consideration for the MA program if there was no clear space in the PhD program? I've seen that in a few applications.

Congrats!!!

You'll have to ask the department whether it's a typo or not. It's not unheard of for an admissions committee to recommend a dossier to the MA program when they see promise in a candidate, but don't feel that the candidate is ready for their doctoral program. Or, perhaps they just ran out of funding, but hope you'll join the program. OR, perhaps it's a typo. I have no idea.

Hey all, I've been puzzling for about a week now about how one should rank these three schools in the DC area. These are the three schools in which I am most interested. I had some good news from Maryland, and I'm hopeful for the other two. I haven't heard back from them yet, but I thought I'd ask around for opinions anyway. In terms of quality and strength of the department, research, and placements, how would you rank Maryland, Georgetown, and George Washington? Different rankings (USNWR, NRC, Hix, Schmidt et al.) seem to be in contention, and rely on different criteria for rankings. I know that Georgetown and George Washington are in the process of transitioning from identities as policy schools, whereas Maryland has traditionally been an academic school. I'm a comparativist (or, plan to be!). I'd love to hear your feedback. How would you rank these schools?

Well, GWU normally sends them out the last week of Feb. UVA, UMD and Florida have sent out admits. Maybe there are a few stragglers, but I'd be surprised.

If I weren't so darned impressed by you, I'd have to hate your guts. Congrats!

I see one in Theory (unsure if it's funded), one fully funded (unsure of concentration), and one unfunded (unsure of concentration). Has anyone claimed these?

Man, it's a red dawn for Georgetown History and Philosophy hopefuls. Yeesh. Fingers crossed!

Well, that seems to be something that's both up for debate and changing. I don't think the school is particularly well known for preparing academics and placing them. At the same time, I think things are changing and getting better. For a long time, both GWU and Georgetown had reputations as policy schools. I'm not sure how true that is anymore, since professors in both schools have told me that they are actively working to boost their academic reputations. Georgetown's placements are pretty impressive. That said, if you can get into a well-known academic-focused program, I would recommend that.

I didn't go to this program in particular, but I do live and work in DC in a related field. I can tell you that schools like Georgetown and GWU are excellent for placing master's graduates into good internships and positions in the government. The connections that you get from these programs are excellent. That doesn't really translate in terms of academic placement, but if one's desire is to work in the government, he/she probably isn't worried about a PhD anyway (except in some rare cases)