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irfannooruddin

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  1. Like
    irfannooruddin reacted to icemanyeo in How To Check Past Admission Results Release Dates   
    Hi all,
    Just wanted to plug this app by Martin Devaux (https://martindevaux.com/2020/11/political-science-phd-admission-decisions/) where you can check past admissions decisions over the years in a more organized fashion, so you can have an idea of when to expect releases for this year, COVID disruptions notwithstanding.
    Good luck and don't stress too much!
  2. Upvote
    irfannooruddin got a reaction from MastersHoping in Outside work while pursuing PhD?   
    I had several classmates who worked during grad school. I imagine I've had several students who have done so too, though they didn't necessarily tell me. You do what you have to do to pay your bills, but the truth is that a serious PhD program is a very serious time commitment. At times I struggled to fulfill my TA obligations and complete coursework, let alone make progress on a dissertation. Adding an outside job to that mix would have sunk me.
  3. Upvote
    irfannooruddin got a reaction from Tsunami2000 in At what age does your age become a disadvantage for top programs?   
    My point was there are insufficient data points for that to be a basis for your decision. I've served on admissions committees and on more search committees than I care to count. Not once did the candidate's age come up. EVER. That's not to suggest that some committee members didn't factor it into their analysis, but no sensible committee would discuss potential age discrimination openly. 
     
    And, (most) departments don't admit people based on place-ability, other than as indicated by the quality of ideas. 
     
    I'm not trying to minimize your concerns. Lots of biased people out there. Fortunately they're countered by lots of pretty well-meaning intellectuals who are much more interested in the quality of one's ideas than anything else.
  4. Upvote
    irfannooruddin got a reaction from wb3060 in Seeking Advice RE: Decision Georgetown/GWU   
    If you can, you should make sure to attend both programs' open houses. And, yes, I think both Masters degrees would be overkill.
  5. Upvote
    irfannooruddin got a reaction from mooneyed in At what age does your age become a disadvantage for top programs?   
    Who knows, who cares. Too little data to make valid inferences. If you want to study political science, apply for the PhD. A smart department won't care about age. Fwiw, in my cohort at Michigan in the fall of 1996, the median age was closer to 28. There were just 3 of us who had come straight from college. And at least two of us were well into our 30s.
  6. Upvote
    irfannooruddin got a reaction from OriginalDuck in At what age does your age become a disadvantage for top programs?   
    Who knows, who cares. Too little data to make valid inferences. If you want to study political science, apply for the PhD. A smart department won't care about age. Fwiw, in my cohort at Michigan in the fall of 1996, the median age was closer to 28. There were just 3 of us who had come straight from college. And at least two of us were well into our 30s.
  7. Upvote
    irfannooruddin got a reaction from cooperstreet in PhD in Political Economy/ PoliSci after an MBA   
    I think you'd be a very strong candidate. i don't get the list of schools though and would advise you to talk to your UR polisci profs sooner than later about your plans.
  8. Upvote
    irfannooruddin got a reaction from yaddayadda in Preparing for Graduate Studies   
    Fwiw, if I could change one thing about my undergrad/grad training, I would have taken more political theory, or at any rate have read more of it outside of class. That others might deem it "irrelevant" is, well, "irrelevant." You're preparing yourself for a lifetime of scholarship in a particular discipline. Why one wouldn't want a solid background in the core texts of the field escapes me.
  9. Upvote
    irfannooruddin got a reaction from fakeusername in Preparing for Graduate Studies   
    Fwiw, if I could change one thing about my undergrad/grad training, I would have taken more political theory, or at any rate have read more of it outside of class. That others might deem it "irrelevant" is, well, "irrelevant." You're preparing yourself for a lifetime of scholarship in a particular discipline. Why one wouldn't want a solid background in the core texts of the field escapes me.
  10. Upvote
    irfannooruddin got a reaction from mseph in Preparing for Graduate Studies   
    Fwiw, if I could change one thing about my undergrad/grad training, I would have taken more political theory, or at any rate have read more of it outside of class. That others might deem it "irrelevant" is, well, "irrelevant." You're preparing yourself for a lifetime of scholarship in a particular discipline. Why one wouldn't want a solid background in the core texts of the field escapes me.
  11. Upvote
    irfannooruddin got a reaction from law2phd in Mechanics of LOR Strategy   
    Don't overthink things. 3 letters from people who know you well, ideally as a researcher, is what you want. But connections do matter, especially if your LOR writers are willing to do some lobbying on your behalf too (i.e., beyond writing the letter). 
  12. Upvote
    irfannooruddin got a reaction from yaddayadda in USC or Pitt?   
    With all due respect to the collective wisdom represented on these boards, to crowdsource this decision strikes me as crazy. You should be talking to your advisors, and to key faculty at the two excellent programs to which you've been admitted. Then follow recent placements at each and see which place does better placing graduates doing the kind of work you wish to do at the kinds of places you wish to work.
     
    Congrats on your admission and best of luck.
  13. Upvote
    irfannooruddin got a reaction from Username 2 in Preparing for Graduate Studies   
    In general, yes, if only because it's an appropriate level of abstraction and provides the fundamentals you need. The more comfortable you are with differentiation and integrals, the easier most of what you see in a standard first-year sequence will be. Of course, the list of math "wants" is long and in a perfect world you'd find time to take a good linear algebra course too.
     
    I am old fogey on this point and can't imagine learning anything, let alone math, from an online course. But if it works for you, sure. But if you're serious about learning it, you need to make sure you're solving problems by hand yourself. So, for my money, a good workbook would be far more useful.
  14. Upvote
    irfannooruddin got a reaction from yaddayadda in Preparing for Graduate Studies   
    Tips:
    1) Study calculus. Get as comfortable with derivatives as you can. If you find you have an aptitude for math, push forward to even a basic intro to matrix algebra. All of this will make a standard first year methods sequence easier.
     
    2) Identify some data that you'd want someday to analyze. Methods are much easier to learn when you have an application.
     
    3) Don't every use the phrase "undergrad cherry" again.
     
    Congrats on your admission and best of luck.
  15. Upvote
    irfannooruddin got a reaction from Doe comma John in Preparing for Graduate Studies   
    Tips:
    1) Study calculus. Get as comfortable with derivatives as you can. If you find you have an aptitude for math, push forward to even a basic intro to matrix algebra. All of this will make a standard first year methods sequence easier.
     
    2) Identify some data that you'd want someday to analyze. Methods are much easier to learn when you have an application.
     
    3) Don't every use the phrase "undergrad cherry" again.
     
    Congrats on your admission and best of luck.
  16. Upvote
    irfannooruddin got a reaction from AuldReekie in Preparing for Graduate Studies   
    Tips:
    1) Study calculus. Get as comfortable with derivatives as you can. If you find you have an aptitude for math, push forward to even a basic intro to matrix algebra. All of this will make a standard first year methods sequence easier.
     
    2) Identify some data that you'd want someday to analyze. Methods are much easier to learn when you have an application.
     
    3) Don't every use the phrase "undergrad cherry" again.
     
    Congrats on your admission and best of luck.
  17. Upvote
    irfannooruddin got a reaction from fakeusername in Preparing for Graduate Studies   
    Tips:
    1) Study calculus. Get as comfortable with derivatives as you can. If you find you have an aptitude for math, push forward to even a basic intro to matrix algebra. All of this will make a standard first year methods sequence easier.
     
    2) Identify some data that you'd want someday to analyze. Methods are much easier to learn when you have an application.
     
    3) Don't every use the phrase "undergrad cherry" again.
     
    Congrats on your admission and best of luck.
  18. Upvote
    irfannooruddin reacted to stolper in 7 rejections, 1 admit, 1 waitlist - thoughts?   
    I know you've already decided, but here's some honest advice. Stop wasting your time with this. 
     
    I'm somebody who went to a top 5 and did pretty well for myself. From reading your responses here, it's clear that a PhD program is not right for you. You're treating it as some type of credential that you need to get that federal government job. A PhD should NEVER be just a credential. It's a career, a lifestyle choice. I'm betting that the people sitting on admissions committees can see this from your personal statements and they are doing you a favor. If you're using the PhD as a stepping stone to a federal government position, you will be miserable for 5-6 years of your life. You're better off finding another path to it or even a new career altogether.
  19. Upvote
    irfannooruddin got a reaction from fakeusername in USC or Pitt?   
    With all due respect to the collective wisdom represented on these boards, to crowdsource this decision strikes me as crazy. You should be talking to your advisors, and to key faculty at the two excellent programs to which you've been admitted. Then follow recent placements at each and see which place does better placing graduates doing the kind of work you wish to do at the kinds of places you wish to work.
     
    Congrats on your admission and best of luck.
  20. Upvote
    irfannooruddin reacted to Xniso4ka in USC or Pitt?   
    Oh, I am of course talking to them and I already checked out the placement record. The thing is that it's just sometimes hard to evaluate the reputation of the department and it's potential rather than previous achievements. Also, it's quite hard to tell if the difference in rating will actually matter much ( 40 vs 54)...
     
    And, overall, some advice would never hurt! =)
  21. Upvote
    irfannooruddin got a reaction from kaykaykay in USC or Pitt?   
    With all due respect to the collective wisdom represented on these boards, to crowdsource this decision strikes me as crazy. You should be talking to your advisors, and to key faculty at the two excellent programs to which you've been admitted. Then follow recent placements at each and see which place does better placing graduates doing the kind of work you wish to do at the kinds of places you wish to work.
     
    Congrats on your admission and best of luck.
  22. Upvote
    irfannooruddin got a reaction from mseph in USC or Pitt?   
    With all due respect to the collective wisdom represented on these boards, to crowdsource this decision strikes me as crazy. You should be talking to your advisors, and to key faculty at the two excellent programs to which you've been admitted. Then follow recent placements at each and see which place does better placing graduates doing the kind of work you wish to do at the kinds of places you wish to work.
     
    Congrats on your admission and best of luck.
  23. Upvote
    irfannooruddin got a reaction from AuldReekie in USC or Pitt?   
    With all due respect to the collective wisdom represented on these boards, to crowdsource this decision strikes me as crazy. You should be talking to your advisors, and to key faculty at the two excellent programs to which you've been admitted. Then follow recent placements at each and see which place does better placing graduates doing the kind of work you wish to do at the kinds of places you wish to work.
     
    Congrats on your admission and best of luck.
  24. Upvote
    irfannooruddin reacted to Doe comma John in Afraid of LOR fatigue   
    Professor, 
     
    Thank you so much for your input! It is incredibly valuable and I feel more confident in my decision to try for another cycle because of it.
     
    I really can't thank you enough.  
  25. Upvote
    irfannooruddin got a reaction from astreaux in At what age does your age become a disadvantage for top programs?   
    My point was there are insufficient data points for that to be a basis for your decision. I've served on admissions committees and on more search committees than I care to count. Not once did the candidate's age come up. EVER. That's not to suggest that some committee members didn't factor it into their analysis, but no sensible committee would discuss potential age discrimination openly. 
     
    And, (most) departments don't admit people based on place-ability, other than as indicated by the quality of ideas. 
     
    I'm not trying to minimize your concerns. Lots of biased people out there. Fortunately they're countered by lots of pretty well-meaning intellectuals who are much more interested in the quality of one's ideas than anything else.
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