sianover4o

I thought Maxwell had Pr. Mehrzad Boroujerdi and Pr. Miriam Elman as specialists in MENA.

Thanks a lot! I will try to make my decision very soon because I get quite anxious.

I'm quite interested in the Middle East and authoritarian regimes. Both schools are a good fit for my interests and they have at least one professor dealing with the Middle East.

Hey all, At the end of my application cycle, I am quite distressed how to make the right decision for PhD in Political Science (Comparative/IR), and I hope some of you could give me advice. I have been offered admission to Syracuse with TA+ 2 summers funding, and to Temple with Fellowship + TA. The financial packages are quite similar. I have no idea which university gives more opportunities in terms of research activity, conferences, summer schools; Syracuse seems to be ranked a bit higher than Temple (#50 versus #70), but the placement histories also quite identical. If anyone has some experience with the PhD program at both schools or have heard about them, please let me know! Instead of being happy about the offers, I am quite confused and nervous

Hey, I got the email from Brandeis a couple of hours ago from Kerry Chase: "I write to let you know that the Graduate Admissions Committee has placed your application on a wait list for admission to the PhD program. The Committee was very impressed with your dossier, and I'd like to emphasize that an offer of admission is still possible, but not guaranteed." I was also surprised that there are no news for acceptances...

I have read so much about Philly and housing options in the forum, and I feel even more confused than before. I am an international student from Germany, and I will be going to Temple for PhD. I have no idea how pricey it is, but I have a stipend of $20,000 and I hope it will be enough. The university recommended their graduate housing next to the School of Podiatric Medicine, which happens to be in the City Center, or they say so... Any information if it is worth applying for it (double bedroom apartment for $850 month per person), or should I start browsing aimlessly for other options..

I will look into Rutgers and JH, thanks I thought that language is just a bonus but not a requirement, and I haven't had much time for language classes after I was sure I want to focus on MENA

Thanks, Today. I wasn't sure if it was good for the admissions committee to see me taking the exam two times, and decreasing significantly my Q score the second time. I guess if they really look at the highest scored sections, it would be in my advantage.

I actually haven't found any Middle East supervisors in Rutgers and John Hopkins. Can you recommend me some if you know? As for Princeton, it is also on my list but I am reluctant due to their high GRE Quant cut offs As for my language skills: fluent English and German, intermediate French and Russian.

Thanks for the advice. I feel like I am quite limited with my possible supervisors in Middle East research - they are mostly either Emeritus or assistant professors. But hopefully, I will be able to get to at least one good program with relevant supervision. I am really frustrated about my Q scores. I have taken the exam before and I scored 163 in math and 160 in verbal and I'm so divided which score to send that would hurt me less. So far I am inclined to go for the higher verbal....

I'm a comparativist and yes, Lisa Blaydes is not tenured, but I'm also going for Jeremy Weinstein (civil wars and political violence). As for NYU, Prof. Farhad Kazemi looks like a pretty suitable choice for my research interests. My publication is single-authored in a peer-reviewed journal and it is also a conference paper. I was very disappointed about my math score but in general I am not very good in math I thought maybe the verbal score will give me some push.

I am very impressed by the strong backgrounds everyone has and I'd like to share my humble profile. I'd be happy to get some feedback and advice about my chances to end up in a good PhD program with MENA focus. So here are my stats: International student BA double major in Political Science and International studies; minor International Business from a not-very-well known US public college GPA 3.8/4.0 I guess not high for top-10 programs MA in International Relations from a top German university (top 200 in international rankings) 2012-2014 (expected) GPA 3.5/4.0 (kinda hard to estimate it rights since they have different grading system) GRE V: 165, Q: 158; AW: 4.0 Proficiency in SPSS, R, and MAXQDA One conference paper and publication. Two Research internships in Germany One NGO internship in USA My wishlist: Yale Stanford NYU Rochester Upenn WUSTL Georgetown Brandeis Northwestern Illinois, Chicago I guess I should add some lower universities, since I do not have very outstanding GRE and GPA scores.