silencio1982

UCLA

hey there- current first year student at a less prestigious program than cornell. i am a comparative student so i don't know that much about cornell's IR people but they have some amazing comparative politics people. i mean, peter katzenstein is going to be chair of APSA, tarrow, bunce, etc.... cornell is a great dept. in my opinion. i would take the offer for sure. HYP are not the be all, end all of political science. are they great programs? yes, of course. but cornell is a wonderful opportunity. take the offer and enjoy

I went to college in Worcester- not WPI, so can't say much about the school or housing in that area. Generally, since there is a lack of reliable public transport in Worcester I found that most (at least at my school) who lived off campus lived relatively close to the school. It doesn't seem like that would be a problem at all in the WPI neighborhood. It's a pretty campus and the area directly around WPI seems to have a college-towny sort of feel. There is a pretty good grungy but fun Mexican restaurant Tortilla Sam's (BYOB!) right near WPI that we used to go to alot. I think there was a record store near there too. The Worcester Art Museum (WAM), which is actually a decent museum, is in walking distance of campus. Nightlife in Worcester is very college-y... there are a bunch of fun dive bars but be prepared to encounter lots and lots of drunk undergrads from all the area schools - Worcester State, Assumption, Clark, Holy Cross and WPI. I liked Mahoney's best, it's a bit more low-key than the others. I don't really know what the grad student set would go since I went to an undergrad-only school, but I imagine they'd be going to most of the same places. There's also a bunch of cute coffeehouses, particularly one on Shrewsbury St. - Cafe Dolce. Restaurants- there are some great ones- 111 chop house is amazing. Lots of independently owned restaurants on Shrewsbury St- including some great Italian food. Diners and dining cars are a staple of Worcester... definitely check those out. Best of all Worcester's only an hour from Boston and 45 mins from Providence so when things start feeling too Worcester-y you can easily escape. In general Worcester is similar to any 100-something year old mid-sized city that was dominated by industry and now is a little run-down and sad, but somehow charming at the same time. It hasn't really entirely found a new identity but it's continually making a comeback in the form of good restaurants, minor league hockey and baseball, etc. It's really not a bad place to spend 2 (or 4) years. It's also waaaaay more affordable than Boston, so that is a bonus. It could take some getting used to if you're from a major metropolitan area but there are definitely things to like about Worcester.

FYI- i visited recently and would check out hampden and roland park for housing. charles village is apparently where many of the undergrads live and rents there are going up. roland park is suburban and hampden is more of a walk-able neighborhood with its own restaurants and bars. both are reasonably affordable.

good luck tidefan. i hope everything works out for you.

hey, i think your inclination is probably right as far as external fellowships go. normally, i think your program would be the best bet for funding, but my feeling is that it might be hard to get extra $$ at chicago because the program is pretty large. if i were you, i would call the director of my program and just explain that you are in need of additional funding, and ask if there are any opportunities to be a research assistant, etc. this way, they will keep you in mind when these opportunities arise. i would also check out centers and related departments within the university and see if they are hiring grad assistants. if you ask around, you never know what might come your way-- i think people are often reluctant to ask, but the worst they can say is no. the other thing is i would definitely fill out a FAFSA if you haven't already so you can become eligible for work study. a lot of times you can get a pretty decent paying job at the school through that. probably won't be enough to cover tuition but might help defray costs. by the way- as a terminal MA student (not at chicago) i assumed that i would get no financial aid. the summer before i started i got a call from the department with a research assistantship and tuition waiver for 1 year. the second year i got a tuition scholarship for all but 3 credits of my degree. so, i don't think it's that unusual to get funding for an MA. i think it just depends on the size and resources of your program.

thanks yticnineb. i will actually be commuting to baltimore, so the train won't be an option-- hopefully the traffic is not as bad to baltimore. but if my husband gets this job in frederick, we would have free housing- so it would be worth a longer commute for me. it seems like it would be a pretty nice place to live, actually.

without a doubt, stanford- just make sure to come out with a quality research paper (not necessarily a thesis) AND be sure you are aggressive in making connections with faculty- which is sometimes tough to do in the space of a year. but, it is worth to go for the money and stanford is a very, very high quality school, everyone knows that!

anyone know anything about Frederick, MD? there may be a good job opportunity for my husband there.

Don't know much about Medford and I've never been to the Tufts campus but I live in Boston (been in MA for the past 8 years now) and have lots of friends living in Somerville. It is a fun place to be- Davis Sq. is just a mile from the Tufts campus and it has a lot of great restaurants, bars, coffee shops and things to do- teeming with students and young professional types. Living in Somerville is fairly affordable for the Boston area. I have several friends that live in the Porter Square area which is only one stop from Davis on the red line towards the city. It's also a quick trip on the T (boston subway) to Harvard Square (2 stops on the red line) and Central Square (closer to Boston proper), both with more cool bars, restuarants, etc. if you get bored of Davis. Anyways I live on the Boston side of the river but got tired of it- if I were going to stay in Boston I think I'd move to Cambridge or Somerville. More my style, eclectic and laid back, less preppy and trendy than Boston (though Boston in general is waaaay less trendy than New York, for example). If you have any other questions I can try to answer. I have three favorite places in Davis- The Burren which is an Irish Pub, Diva which is an Indian restaurant, and Diesel Cafe, which is basically the coolest coffee shop in the world. Davis is awesome... but beware- friends from the Boston side of the river will complain about coming out there. I know I do. The T stops running at around 1230am, which is a pain. If you're going to Tufts, though, most of your friends will probably be in Somerville anyways.

i think this is a good point. in my earlier apps i listed only 1 faculty member i was interested in working with. by my last app (submitted a month later), which happened to be the school i got into, i listed 2... but i also found out (after i submitted my app, actually!) that the department is starting up a concentration in the topic i'm interested in, and there are several profs that are working on this topic. in the end, i think that helped me a LOT! i knew i wanted to work with the 2 people there, but when i found out they were actually formally developing a concentration in my proposed topic, it gave me even more hope. so, my point is try to figure out what work is going on at the department-- if there is a large enough group of faculty clustered around one area it helps to try to tailor your interests. then again- if there are too many students already working on these topics then they might go in a different direction with their admits. i got really lucky that i was in the right place at the right time, so to speak. but in terms of SOP, the above poster is right- if you only list one faculty member, it makes sense that you are narrowing your chances of getting in. it's better to show that you fit with at least a few faculty and the general trend the department is heading in. FWIW.

my husband is applying for a job in the georgetown neighborhood so i am considering this question as well. (though, if he gets a job in baltimore we are planning to live there since that's where i will be attending school.) but, if we do end up in DC we'll consider takoma park and silver spring. not bargain prices but cheaper than rosslyn/georgetown area, it seems.

The area around JHU- charles village and hampden- is supposed to be very safe and trendy. I am visiting in a couple of weeks- I'll post my thoughts here. By the way- I was born and raised in NYC so I know that "center of the universe" mindset... but other places really aren't so bad

one thought - you might be able to go abroad in the summer to do some language study... most PhD programs require knowledge of at least one foreign language. i'm not sure what the situation is if you're an americanist though... and it depends on what language you want to study as far as how hard it is to get funding goes. i definitely think you might be able to do some comparative work on law and courts, or if you're interested in international law at all you could make the case for going abroad. most people go abroad for fieldwork, not coursework... i think language coursework might be an exception to that rule.

maroonwings- according to delta it costs $155 to ship your cat. http://www.delta.com/planning_reservati ... /index.jsp and, i know what you mean about cardboard boxes. our cat jumps into our luggage when we're packing or unpacking from trips. i just read a news story not too long ago about a cat that ended up traveling from Florida to Texas exactly that way. i figured if that cat survived being stuffed in a suitcase mine could survive flying in a carrier. haha. monkeyorama- congrats on your acceptances, have you made a final choice yet? while i don't have kids- my mom went back to college for her BA and MA when my sister and i were young. i admire her so much for doing it. i can remember her writing papers on a word processor after dinner (which of course, she made!)... best of luck to you!

Oh- also wanted to suggest if you are going to NYU look into living in Bay Ridge in Brooklyn. I love it there and you can find some really affordable apartments. You can take the R train right to 8th st/NYU.

Hey, Jersey City is alright but I would recommend Hoboken. I grew up in NY and a lot of friends around my age (25) are now living in Hoboken, from what I can tell its relatively affordable for the area and there's a lot to do and a lot of young people- lots of bars and coffee shops, etc. My sister is actually thinking of moving there too. Jersey City, while close by, is mostly people commuting in for work, and is a crappier area in my opinion... however, I haven't been to Jersey City in at least 4 years so things may have changed. Just a suggestion.

Hi Quarex. I think I may have shared this info with you at some point but figured I would post it here- I have a "terminal" MA in poli sci- from a Ph.D. granting program but I was only admitted for the M.A. straight out of college. I don't think my MA hurt me at all- in fact, I think it helped immensely in that it proved I could do graduate work and be successful, and also helped me get new recs- from profs in a new subfield. My MA was concentrated in theory but my interests began to change to more IR and comparative stuff. So, anticipating that I would switch subfields for my eventual PhD, I wrote a big research paper on IR/comparative before I left (which I ended up presenting at a conference) and worked closely with comparative and IR profs, 2 of those wrote my LORs. So I guess my point is, in general I don't think the actual fact of having a terminal MA would hurt or help you either way. However, If you can use it to your advantage to boost your application by creating proof that you have experience to research in your chosen subfield and forge new relationships with profs who can write you LORs, I think it helps. I jumped a lot in the rankings between my MA program and my PhD program. (Depending on whose rankings you use, my PhD program is on the cusp of top 25, and my MA program was more in the 60-70 range.) So, I certainly think there are benefits to a terminal MA. Also, FWIW, students and faculty I talked to in top 25 programs said it would not hurt to have an MA, and that there's usually a significant minority of students who enter already having an MA. (Then again, I didn't get into any indisputable top 25 programs, so I guess I'll never know for sure.) All that being said, since I'm switching subfields I will probably end up getting another MA anyway- though it seems my program may be receptive to transferring over some coursework. So, it won't really help in terms of speeding things up, but I might not have to repeat some of the courses I've taken. Frankly, I would go for the money- you'll do all the right things to strengthen your app in your MA program, and can easily say in your SOP that you used your MA to explore X topics of interest and prepare you for doctoral work. I'd rather do that and improve my chances of getting into a better, funded PhD program. Good luck!!

I did this- it sucks, but my husband and I want to buy a car (need one soon!) and a house (not yet, but eventually) and with me making only 16k as a grad student I couldn't justify eating into our savings. However, I'll also probably be doing fieldwork abroad in the next few years so I will postpone my travels til then. As others have suggested I would shorten my trip or stick to a few key destinations- the dollar is incredibly weak right now and I can't see you getting away with spending only 2k in all those places. Last time I was in Europe for 10 days I spent about 1k and that was with a better exchange rate. Train tickets were expensive for traveling around... I stayed in really cheap hostels and ate mostly from street vendors and that was still 1k for only 10 days. Of course I was in more expensive places like the UK and France... but it can all add up.

ooh! Pods! i have seen those in the street. i wonder if i could make that work.. i live in a residence hall. FYI, though, i got a moving quote for $1400 which included having actual moving men. that's for a 1 BR apt moving about 400 miles. maybe movers are more cost effective than pods?

Thanks for this advice- very helpful and makes me feel better about my plans to bridge comparative and IR

i'm going to take a break from contributing to my IRA, but still plan on putting some money into savings. i have a high interest savings account (well, about as high interest as you can get nowadays) and take advantage of CDs through my bank... my husband and i have a "buy a house" fund which is in a CD. but, as far as my grad school stipend goes i have budgeted to continue paying on my student loan debt (approx 14% of my stipend per year, if i keep paying at the rate i am now) and set aside 1/10th of my stipend in savings. the rest will go to living expenses. if i were just living on a stipend and didn't have my husband's income to rely on, i don't think i could save anything and would probably have to put my loans into deferment. you all must be getting some pretty big stipends!

wow- 2000 miles with a cat- i can't imagine doing it!! have you considered flying her? if i had gone to school in chicago which is about 1000 miles from me, i probably would have tried to have a friend take the cat to the airport on the day we were arriving in chicago- apparently you can send animals as air cargo. good luck to your husband in his job search! i wish we could just fast forward a few months so we were more settled.

hey scratchawl- i have heard that a number of grad students (at least in my dept) live in DC and commute to baltimore- it takes about an hour. i am considering doing this depending on where my husband gets a job. might make sense if you don't want to live in b.more. however... it is a hell of a lot cheaper than DC!

Here's a link to the document from the APSA that I had posted before... it compares placement in the various subfields between 2003 and 2006. http://www.apsanet.org/imgtest/EJobsWri ... 202006.pdf