MastersHoping

http://politicalscience.jhu.edu/graduate/alumni-job-placement/ That's Hopkins recent placement record. Seems pretty decent to me, with people winding up at places like Arizona State, Boston University, SAIS - am I misunderstanding something? Hmmm... you guys are right. Perhaps a Ph.D isn't right for me after all. Maybe I'll apply to other things in addition to Ph.D programs. Does the same rule apply if I don't necessarily want to stay in the United States in the future? A lot of places in my parents' home country, where I would definitely consider living in in the future, place a lot of value on American Ph.Ds, no matter what the ranking. Often, an average American university will get the job over a graduate of the top university in that country (at least that's what I've been told). Oh and it's not that I have no interest in an academic job, just that it's not the only thing I'd be willing to do. I'd be perfectly fine working in a think tank or something.

Oh haha, darn! And here I was hoping that my grad transcript could make up slightly for my spotty undergrad transcript. I'm not the best student, probably average among my bright cohorts. But I am pretty decent with publications and research - I've coauthored a few things in peer-reviewed journals before, although they were almost all very obscure journals or low impact journals. And I've got two papers being submitted right now for publication that I think have a good shot of being accepted. I think I have good background in poli sci in terms of content (Georgetown is very good for this kind of stuff). Unfortunately, my quant is not particularly impressive. Not that I'm bad at it, just haven't gotten exposure to it in quite some time and also don't particularly enjoy quantitative training.

Wow cool! Never heard of anyone interested in applying to Mongolia before! What are you interested in doing there? Research or teaching English? Ulan-Bator is the coldest capital city in the world! So go prepared, haha.

Awww darn. Even Johns Hopkins and Tufts? Does the reputation of the university still matter if you don't go into an academic job? Also, do I have the stats to even be considered for one of these places in the first place? I want to go to a higher ranked place too, of course, but I just fret that my poor undergrad transcript, despite a fairly decent though not great masters transcript, will prevent me from getting into places like Harvard, Stanford, Michigan etc.

Sorry to hear that, OP! There is this one girl in my program who gets on a lot of people's nerves, and I had the misfortune of rooming with her this past academic year (naturally, we hated each other's guts). She would interrupt other peoples' conversations and was highly inconsiderate and annoying. To the point where someone else in the program told me that she had to put in headphones - without even listening to music - just so that girl would stop talking. One of my friends came to visit me, and he went to my apartment to study and then came back to campus. When I asked him why, he said "[annoying girl] was talking to me and distracting me." Nothing I could do about it, so I just tried to be as friendly as I can to everyone else, made friends with people outside my program, and found my own hobbies. Maybe you could try pursuing a new hobby or joining a club outside your program?

You can go ahead and tell him how you feel, but from the sounds of it, don't get your hopes too high. It sounds to me like he's not interested in pursuing a commitment with you, and unfortunately he might have only been interested in having sex (which, if true, is a big douchebag move on his part). As a 29 year old, he might be taking advantage of the naivete of a 19 year old undergrad - not cool. Also, the 10 year age gap is fairly large, and you are at very different points in your lives - you are still in your early years of undergrad, he's probably near the final years of graduate school. He'll be looking for a job or postdoc soon at who knows where while you're still taking finals. Finally, what indicates to me that he's not interested is when he agreed to get dinner with you and then rather than cancelling, just told you to drop the food off at his place. This is quite rude. I am a graduate student too (although I'm a younger one so if I were to date an undergrad it wouldn't be too far fetched in terms of age difference), and no matter how busy I got, this is not the way I would treat someone, especially a girl I'm interested in. No matter how busy I was, I would've done my best to keep my appointment with you, or at the very least contacted you to say something like "Hey I'm sorry, but I'm swamped with work tonight and won't be able to make our dinner. Maybe we could reschedule?" or something like that. In my view, it seems, from what you said, that for your best interests this is not a guy you should be pursuing further. Of course, you understand the situation better than I do so follow your gut instinct and I wish you the best.

I'm more interested in the reputation of the department as well as research fit than overall prestige of the university.

Hello, I am interested in applying to Ph.D programs in Political Science (or related departments) for either Comparative or IR. A little about my background: I came straight from undergrad to a masters program and would like to apply to Ph.Ds programs this upcoming fall semester. My major in undergrad was East Asian Studies (although at my undergrad it was very humanistic), and I'm currently in an Asian Studies masters doing politics and security in asia. Unfortunately, my undergrad transcript is a mess. I ended up with about a 3.3 - 3.4 GPA, although believe me the transcript is pretty messy. Fortunately at a university that is known for being rigorous. I will probably have about a 3.6 or so in my masters program at the time of applications. Out of my 8 grades, I have 6 A-s, 1 A, and 1 (unfortunately) B. Although the B was in an elective class on a totally irrelevant topic. My interests are in things like human rights, refugee resettlement, sex trafficking prevention, etc. particularly in Asia involving North Korea and China (although lately I've been taking interests in Japan as well). I have a few very minor publications, as well as a book translation on a relevant topic published. Unfortunately my quantitative skills are not that good. Not that they're bad, just not something I've worked on since undergrad. Currently, some schools I'm interested in are: George Washington University Johns Hopkins University of Washington George Mason American Tufts etc. Open to suggestions as well - prestige of the school isn't that important to me. GRE Scores of 163 V, 162 Q, and 5.0 W. Are these good enough or should I retake the test? There are a few people at most of these schools that I think have a good research fit - how does one go about contacting potential advisers? What should you say to them? Any other advice on what I should do? I am pretty lost. Is it possible to get into Ph.D programs with my profile? Will my grades prevent me from getting into any programs? I've also taken some MOOCs that are possibly relevant that I probably want to include in my application. Thank you!!!

Hello! I am interested in Comparative. I'm looking at Johns Hopkins, GWU, American, University of Washington(JSIS), Tufts (Fletcher), maybe a few others. Regionally, I am interested in, of course, East Asia. What about your list? We should help each other out during the application process!

You have a very, very nice profile. A good SOP and solid GRE scores should land you at some top 20 programs. I'm also applying to Political Science Ph.D programs for Fall 2016...hope we're not applying to the same schools cause I'd hate to have to compete with you for admisson, haha.

I am guessing that belongs in the Personal Statement rather than the Statement of Grant Purpose. I think the Statement of Grant Purpose should moreso describe your preparation for the program and what you propose to do/how you propose to do it. Whereas being an alternate last year is a description of yourself that might belong in the Personal Statement. I'm no expert though, just a hunch, so I'd double check. Ultimately, I feel like either way shouldn't be a problem whether statement of purpose or personal statement. Good luck!

In that case, I think it's more of an academic relationship, as we have written several papers together. Unfortunately, he's also someone who has a professional relationship and a personal relationship with me.

Hello, As I am thinking ahead about the admissions process and who to ask for rec letters, I have someone in mind who would probably be willing to write me a letter. He is a professor in a different country. The only thing is, we don't really have a formal relationship (he wasn't my supervisor, advisor, professor, etc). We've known each other for about 2 years now and have co-authored a few papers together, and will be writing a few more papers together soon and publishing them. Is this someone from whom I can ask for a rec letter for Ph.D programs? And English isn't his first language, so the letter will likely be rife with grammatical errors and typos. Would admissions committees hold that against me? Thanks!

While I always waive my rights to view the rec letter anyway, I am very skeptical about this being the procedure. Also, " if the recommender says something which you feel ruined your chance at graduate school you could sue the recommender." Lol if someone actually did that, good luck getting a rec letter for anything ever again.

Just got notified that I was awarded FLAS! :D So happy!

Good luck everyone! What made you all interested in the countries you're applying to? I've been interested in Korean politics for some time now, particularly in relation to the divide between the North and South. I've also been super interested in the language that I have tried (unsuccessfully so far) to learn. That's why I'm applying for South Korea! I've also done some language exchanges and tutoring before, so I feel like I could do a decent job for ETA. What about everyone else?

I take back what I said earlier about 2nd year students not getting FLAS in the Georgetown Asian Studies program. I know of some rising second years who have gotten it. I am still waiting on results though. Something was wrong with my FAFSA unfortunately, and if this is the reason I don't get FLAS, I am going to be very, very upset.

Yeah I estimate I will have around a 3.6 - 3.7 in my masters program at time of application, and around 3.3 from undergrad. Not particularly excellent sets of grades, but hoping the schools I went to will help mitigate that even a little (University of Chicago undergrad, Georgetown masters). Ah I see. I think that my research interests fit very well with a few schools, notably my first choice University of Washington. I hope that a 3.6 in a master's program should be indicative of ability to handle grad-level coursework

Ah okay phew what a relief. Especially since the grades in the more relevant classes have been A- or so. =] But in general I would assume that a lower grade in an irrelevant class is preferable to a lower grade in a pertinent class right?

Hello all, I am in a master's program for Asian Studies (politics/IR/security type stuff) and am interested in applying to Ph.D programs in things like Political Science, Government, International studies etc. The vast majority of my grades will be A-. However, it looks as though I will probably end up with a B or a B+ for a French literature class I am taking this semester. This literature class has zero relevance to my intended Ph.D studies or my research interests, and literature is not something I'm particularly interested in nor is it my forte. It was simply to keep up with my French. How much does a grade of B/B+ in a master's program impact Ph.D admissions? Especially if the class is totally irrelevant to your field? Thanks!

BiochemMom: Congratulations on overcoming your mental health concerns and surviving, as well as on becoming a successful mother! I myself have a tattoo that I really like as well. It's hidden, the vast majority of people don't know that I have a tattoo, and it's a personal reminder to myself. I've probably never had anything as serious as the issues you had, but still I have had moments of extreme self doubt during undergrad and this tattoo is just a reminder to myself to always move forward in life. Anyway, I agree that it would be nice to live in a world where people don't get judged for their tattoos. I don't think that most people who judge others for having tattoos think the way Fred Garvin does i.e. that we're just sheepl following the tattoo trend. In fact, most people who judge you for tattoos probably don't even do it consciously. There have been studies done about racism, and even people who were not overtly racist demonstrated adverse reactions to minorities. It could be the same for tattoos. My best advice for tattoos in academia is, and will always be, get it if you really want it and it means something important to you. But if you do ultimately decide to get it in a highly prominent location, carefully evaluate the pros against the cons of doing so. There will always be those judgmental people out there, people who decide things like fellowships and job offers, who might not even do it purposely. There's also the annoyance of having to explain it each time someone asks (which will happen a lot if you get it in a highly visible area). And you definitely don't want a tattoo to distract from your other accomplishments.

Hello, I am currently at Georgetown and love it. The city is great and the school is great. Although Washington, D.C. is probably 100000x better than Hanover (and the very thought of living in Hanover... *shudder*), in this case the choice is easy. Go to Dartmouth. Both are highly prestigious universities (well, I guess Dartmouth is a college but you get the point), both would definitely be great names on your resume when applying to Ph.Ds, but the cost of living in D.C. is extraordinarily high and it's not worth going so much into debt for a master's, especially when you got a full tuition funding on top of a fellowship at Dartmouth. Whatever you decide, good luck and congrats to you! But I strongly advise you to pick Dartmouth.

Georgetown MA Asian Studies will release their FLAS results on or before April 15th, according to an internal email.

Applications are now open!!! I started mine yesterday. Good luck everybody!

I have a small tattoo (script with a personal message to myself) on my back shoulder blade, which has never ever been an issue, but that's because it's totally hidden. Only a few people even know I have a tattoo. If you get a visible one, it might not pose problems directly, but it might distract from you and your other accomplishments. Also, you will never be held back in any way for not having a tattoo, whereas discrimination based on visible tattoos is possible, even in highly open-minded and quirky fields. In my opinion, it might be a good idea to get it in a place that is more easily hideable, i.e. shoulder, back, hip, upper arm, etc. unless there's a specific reason you want to get it on your forearm. When I was considering where to put mine, being able to hide it was one of the biggest considerations, and I haven't regretted it since. Just my $0.02.