jkaasik

Thanks for the response, GopherGrad. I appreciate the input. I suppose my problem right now has been that while I have a relatively well defined area of interest, I don't have any particularly well defined research questions... By the way, when I said I'm interested in European political economy, I should have elaborated. I'm referring specifically to the European Union as an entity. I realize that this necessarily encompasses the comparative political economy of member states to some extent, though.

I'm applying for PhD Programs this fall and am a bit frustrated with trying to figure out what to write in my SOP regarding research methodology. I've always been more of a qualitative methods person, but I have taken a couple statistics courses and am interested in developing that as well. All that to say, I'm hoping to do a bit of both qual and quant. What I DON'T understand is if that is enough to say (obviously more eloquently) in my sop or do I need to be significantly more specific? I'm also having a hard time establishing a good "fit" with certain departments/professors from the methods perspective, because I don't know if I'm generally just supposed to find out if they are quant-heavy, qual-heavy, or mixed? Or should I be looking for something much more specific in their research? If anyone could help, I'd really appreciate it! (About me: I just graduated this spring with a MA in international commerce and policy (mostly political economy) with a GPA of 3.71. My gre scores are 165V153Q and not sure about AWA yet. I have some research assistant experience but not tons. I'm hoping to study on European political economy and have done 2 traineeships with the European Parliament. Specifically, I want to focus on economic governance.)

That's great! Congratulations! I'm thinking about applying for that program next year. If you have some time, would you mind if I sent you a message with some questions?

For the PhD or MA? I look forward to finding out how your application goes! Best of luck!

Did anyone here apply for a PhD program? Also, those who got into the international economics program... did you have a strictly economic undergrad/bachelor's, or did you do something else? I'm graduating with a master's degree in international commerce and policy in may (econ focused) and am hoping to attend the graduate institute for a PhD, so I'm hoping to get in touch with some people applying there =)

Is anyone else here applying to the PhD in international relations at American University's School of International Service? Has anyone heard anything from them yet? Only two people have mentioned it on the results page, but theirs were so early, I assume they were just trolling.