anav

Both me and my husband went to Penn, so I know the area pretty well. If you do live in the Old City, it will kinda suck to have to commute to Penn everyday. (Just because one of you has to, it does not mean you both do). Septa buses are not very good and the metro only takes you so far as Market and 30th: you would still have to walk 25 minutes to Wharton. Check out Campus Apartments. They have plenty of buildings around campus, some not so great, some pretty nice. Ask me specifics when you start searching, I would love to help. As for dog park, there is a park near Penn (38th Baltimore) which is not bad. That's what I used. It's got that West Philly feel where people stop and talk to you about your dog. Plus, most of the year there is a nice little Amish market there on Thursday afternoons and Saturdays. Parking downtown is a nightmare, although the areas you mentioned are nice. Parking around Penn is actually not too bad, we did it all the time. Also, I think it will be much better for your husband to commute from Penn than downtown. He can talk the ramp to Jersey right from 30th Street (no traffic). (We are getting married in Princeton, so we did the Penn-Princeton route more than one time). Seriously, consider living around Penn. It will be so much fun for you and equally easy for your husband. If I was not associated with Penn and did not need to commute, I would live in South Philly. Considering your school, the dog, the car: around Penn, I think, would be great. It's quite nice.

Regarding the African Studies question: There are great African scholars in the US, I just don't think any of the departments is exceptional in general for an African studies graduate degree. Too few scholars in any one school, in my opinion. I think UPenn, Columbia, Berkeley, Yale, Harvard, WashU have one or two well-known Africanists. Again, I was not thrilled about the focus of African Studies in the US, as they approached it from a cultural/anthropological perspective. Mad respect for a lot of that work- just wanted a more rigorously polisci focus. Thus, I looked outside the US. Seriously, African Studies is much better in the UK. I have US degrees, too, and for certain things I definitely want to be back in the US, but when it comes to the study of Africa I find academia is thoroughly lacking. Just my opinion. Look into Oxford, SOAS and Edinburgh. They all have MSc in African Studies and there are dozens of scholars that work on any aspect of Africa you might be interested in. There are African weekly seminars, more than one, invited scholars, conferences: it's really happening.

I have an MA in Middle Eastern Studies and one in African Studies, so I did my research on this. However, when area studies are separate from the Polisci departments the rankings differ. Middle Eastern Studies: Georgetown (Arab Studies), Columbia, and maybe Harvard. African Studies: Stanford, Columbia (getting better: they are hiring new people), Harvard has Robert Bates- he is great. African studies is tricky, because there usually is only one or two African scholars, if any, and there is no solid African Studies MA or PhD (with a focus in polisci) in the US. A rather neglected continent. So yeah, study Africa! Lot's to do!

Quarex: Well, it seems that the prejudice is not quite internalized by the Brits and other Europeans: meaning that they DO NOT consider a PhD from top US universities better than a DPhil from Oxford/Cambridge/LSE. Less than a top ten PhD would have a VERY tough time competing with an Oxford DPhil in the UK. It's the Atlantic gap: works both ways, apparently. PS: thanks spin! Will ask.

Yeah, that's what I hear a lot. However, people at Oxford and Cambridge say that they have placed most of their students very well in the States. In fact, the professors I talked to (over in the UK) are puzzled that the question even arises and do not understand why there is such a perception. Nevertheless, having studied in the US, I am aware of the perception that a PhD is 'superior' to a DPhil. I am wondering if there is any validity to the claim, especially for students who already have previous masters. Trying to figure this whole thing out - making the best decisions for the job market in the future - is much harder than I thought...

How do you guys think the two compare? Do you think a DPhil in IR from Oxford/Cambridge/LSE carries the same weight and possibility for academic employment in the US as a US PhD in Polisci from a top 10 university?

Maybe it was personalized, it certainly was very nice. You are right, you never know. Congrats to you, spin. It's great!

It is not that weird, actually. They have a very small program and I knew that when I applied. Twelve is still smaller than I thought. It makes me more worried, too, since with such a small admitted class, who knows how many will actually turn it down and give us waitlists a chance. We'll see.

Oh, no, the 12 out of 350 thing was real: it was in my wait-list email. It said "we offered admission to 12 out 350 applicants, and waitlisted a very short number" (not specific.)

I was wait-listed. Email said just that 12 out of 350 were offered admission and very small number are put on a wait-list. Hope it helps. Good luck!

Thanks, but I am quite anxious as I have no idea if they rank the wait-listed students, and if so where I stand in the list. What are my chances? Seriously, this is nerve-wrecking. Good luck you all!

I am the Cornell wait-list... I believe (not entirely sure) that all accepts and wait-lists have been sent. Nervous. Really want it.