jeudepaume

I suspect it is not a terribly useful advice, but look at some Canadian schools. After all, it's where it all started (communitarianism). Perhaps, the University of Toronto and McGill (although unfortunately already Taylor-less) would be good places to start with. Another good place would be Harvard (duh!), as they have Michael Sandel. Yale might be interesting too because of Benhabib, who worked extensively on the problems of the self and cultural rights. Unfortunately, I cannot remember of the top of my head which lower ranked schools might be good in this sense, but I agree with TakeMyCoffeeBlack. Take whoever research you liked in this sense; look at where these people work (assuming they're still alive). Hope this helps.

I sure hope you are right. I just received my AW score, and it is 3.5. What a disappointment, especially after 167/162 for verbal and quantitative. Although still acceptable for a non-native speaker I guess.

In my experience (BA in Philosophy, then Masters in Political Science) it shouldn't be a problem. However, it also depends on what type of research you want to pursue and the type of program you are applying to (PhD or Master's; with coursework or not). I agree with eponine997 that you should be able to tell a compelling story about your background and the transition you're making. If you want to continue with political philosophy that should be easy, since much of theorizing is done in PS departments anyway. You can also always tell that you're willing to back up your studies on politics (that you have done so far at your philosophy program) with an empirical methodology. (I did so) Another important thing is the 'magnitude' of transition. Again, applying to do political theory is not as dramatic as if you want to switch to quantitative methods. And depending on this, some programs are going to be more willing to grant you the time and training for this transition, whereas others are not. As far as my understanding of the European system goes, PhDs in Europe are much more research oriented (compared to the States), and most schools will expect you to be prepared for the project you propose. I don't have experience applying to UCL, but my last year PhD interview with LSE Government Department was very much focused on the research proposal. I think, MA programs would be more suitable to change majors, as well as more probable in accepting someone with a different major.

I'm with you guys. It's my second time (last year effort resulted in another MA admission, so I opted for a year off), and I have just discovered that I have to submit my Boulder application sooner than I expected. Good luck!

Hi Anthony! I have heard on several occasions that the New School has very tight funding. If this is essential for you, you might want to talk to their students about it. I was going to apply there too, but now I am not sure. However, in regard to their suggested requirement to apply to their MA first, I think it is no different from a usual MA component of all American PhD programs. I.e. you have to acquire an MA degree on your way to PhD, which implies that the first two-three years of the program you are completing coursework and writing a Master's paper; then you proceed to the PhD examination and ABD ("all but dissertation"). Hope it helps. Good luck!

steedyue, thank you very much; I'll check it. rising_star, and thank you; I didn't know I can change it.

Hi all! I have a question to people in political theory (or poli sci in general) who have already published something. I have just finished my master's, and am applying to phd this year. I've applied last year, while still doing my master's, and it did not turn well for me. A couple of interviews, a couple of wait lists and a funded place in a different master program – that's all I was able to get at this point. This year I really want to do everything to improve my chances. As I have some (presumably) decent material written in the course of my master's, I've been advised to go ahead and try to publish it. My question is: can anyone recommend me any journals to look at—the ones that would be good for a first publication? Where do people go when they publish for the first time (I assume they don't go straight to Political Theory or Constellations?) P.S. I've been on this forum for half a year, and I've just noticed that I had misspelled "Rawls". Shame on me.

Hi, Quigley! I was on a wait list too, for a long time. Received an email from them at the end of March, saying that they got enough people accepting their offers and so "finalized" their admission list. From that I assume that your letter must have just got lost or something. With that said, it's still not very pleasant to never hear anything back. Anyway, congratulations on being accepted elsewhere

Dear faculty, Would you mind commenting on the interaction with a department once being waitlisted? I am waitlisted by my top-choice, and accepted by my back-up school. I would like to contact the top one, and ask for some information about the structure of the list (divided by areas or not; different for visa students or not) and my chances of getting off it (in ideal, my position on it). But I am not sure whether this is a common practice (whether it is appropriate to ask), and whether I should honestly tell them about the nature of my interest (another acceptance). I am afraid that another offer might be interpreted as "this person is all set, let's bother about someone who is not".

Hi everyone! Congratulations on your admissions guys! Truly well done (especially as it seems to be a very tough year in terms of competition). I've a question. I made it to the Toronto's waiting list (almost "great success"). Does anybody know if the waiting list is divided into Canadian and international applicants? I mean I wonder if it necessarily should be an international applicant declining his/her offer for me to get mine (as I'm international). If anybody knows anything about how their waiting list functions, I'll be very grateful for any comments.

Porthos, my congratulations to you on your acceptance, especially as it is the second choice! (am I understanding correctly: by "second" you mean literally just one below the first? That's actually awesome) From my own experience (which is much worse, as all I have for the moment is a couple of wait lists that highly unlikely will turn into offers) and from everything I see and hear around, I judge that it's a very random process. The competition is insane, and in a situation like that you are never judged by your actual full potential; there is a whole bunch of other reasons that inevitably come into play instead. So this is not an effective evaluation of whether you are good enough or not, but largely a great deal of luck (so just repeating pretty much everything people already said on this forum, I wouldn't take rejections personally). Considering all that, it is a great outcome, that you got an offer, which you are happy with. A very brilliant person that I know and that currently holds a tenure position told me that in his case out of 11 applications, 9 came flat-out rejections, 1 wait list and 1 acceptance. That's frustrating and consoling at the same time.

Hi all! I have a " Schrodinger's Cat" question to the faculty members (or to anyone who has a clearer idea on the topic than I do). So I called one of my 'pending' schools, and found out that while all the decision have been basically made (admissions, wait lists, rejections), my application is still undecided. So it's not rejected, but it's also not on the wait list. I am confused about what it means "no decision", when all the decisions (positive, semi-positive or negative) have been already made. Since wait lists are there to define all the following offers, it sounds to me that "no decision" at this point is just a postponed automatic rejection. Does anyone has any opinion/experience on that?

i'm wondering, are there any other folks who still wait to hear from UCLA? "no decision" for 4 months is so frustrating. (feels like a rejection at this point, but would be nice to know for sure)

To the people who posted information on U of T and UCLA, thanks very much guys from a long-time lurker. Just as everybody here: freaking the hell out as April approaches. Also thanks to everybody here (and surely to faculty members) for very interesting discussions and useful comments. P.S. thought that actually signing up for an account on the grad cafe would be the final indulgence of my anxiety. Now the line is crossed and I'm damned.