astreaux

Them: "So which one is your safety school?"
Me: "None of them are safety schools. They are all top programs and anyway, there's no such thing as a "safety" when you're applying to PhD programs in this field."

I love this thread!

I get this one frequently. The more I hear it, the more it bothers me.

"Your husband is going to leave his job? You're all going to move? The kids too??"

I liked the question initially because I feel incredibly fortunate to have my family's support. Nobody thought it was odd when we moved to advance my husband's career, though. Other moms are (disappointingly) the worst. They often say "shouldn't you wait until the kids graduate?"

I love this thread!

I get this one frequently. The more I hear it, the more it bothers me.

"Your husband is going to leave his job? You're all going to move? The kids too??"

I liked the question initially because I feel incredibly fortunate to have my family's support. Nobody thought it was odd when we moved to advance my husband's career, though. Other moms are (disappointingly) the worst. They often say "shouldn't you wait until the kids graduate?"

A couple of thoughts on the rarity of European PhDs in teaching posts in American universities. This is a general statement that should be read as a description of reality that is neither an endorsement, nor without exceptions.
 
There are few recent PhDs from non-US schools teaching at US universities. Of those, the vast majority come from Canada and England. This is largely a result of the fact that American political science is quite different from political science in Europe. Different research questions, different standards for qhat makes good research, different emphases of methods, etc. The result is the emergence of two largely separate communities. These overlap to some extent in studies of European politics, and in some parts of the political theory subfield, but otherwise they largely exist independently of one another. US universities tend not to consider hiring European PhDs partly because of the lack of network connections between the two, but largely because they are concerned that PhDs trained in Europe are not equipped to teach classes or train graduate students in ways that reflect the American version of the political science discipline.
 
I have co-chaired a dissertation with someone at a prominent university in a non-England European country, and discovered that we had completely different expectations, not only in terms of the formal dissertation requirements but in terms of what constituted good research. These are the sorts of bridges that are hard to cross. And that, in my view, is why doing a PhD in most places in Europe, in most areas of study within political science, will limit your access to jobs in the US.

I love this thread!

I get this one frequently. The more I hear it, the more it bothers me.

"Your husband is going to leave his job? You're all going to move? The kids too??"

I liked the question initially because I feel incredibly fortunate to have my family's support. Nobody thought it was odd when we moved to advance my husband's career, though. Other moms are (disappointingly) the worst. They often say "shouldn't you wait until the kids graduate?"

I understand the problem of a profession where a masters degree is required for low pay.  Hello social worker, meet teacher.    It sucks.  I have a huge debt for a relatively low pay.  However, I love my profession and it's worth it.  I don't have anything to add, just my empathy.

With the caveat that I am a grad student who has only limited idea of what goes on inside admissions committees, this seems like at best an extremely high variance message to convey in an SOP. The people you are writing this for have made a career out of publishing in political science journals and are looking for the next generation of scholars. Some may read this the way you intend, but a lot will definitely read this and go "She has no idea what academia is about"
 
My biggest problem in general is a lack of specificity about political science. Every time you approached the parts that I was hoping to read more about, you moved on.
 
 
This has partly been covered, you can certainly save some words here that you may want for later by skipping over the judgements about the large amount of noise on social media. 
 
 
Ok, right here. The honors thesis is kind of free floating (and could possibly even be skipped unless you can tie it to your interests), but the real thing is tell more about the research you are doing on your own. Also, when you have done it may be personally compelling but if I'm reading this to admit you as a student, I want to know more about what you did. What trends were you looking for? How successful were you in identifying them? This where you can show that you know what political science research is and are ready to do more of it. 
 
 
More of what I just said. What theories interested you? Was it because you thought they were right or wrong? Did your work in voter registration change your opinion on these theories?
 
 
A lot here can be shortened into a sentence or two if you need the space for other things. The bit about the GRE was covered by someone else. The score is low, but at this point it is what it is, drawing extra attention to it in your SOP seems counterproductive. The best way to deal with it is if there is a way to have a letter writer say something about it. Barring that, mentioning the class and having it on your transcript should be sufficient. "Quantitative research within the scope of minority voting patterns" sounds nice, but it is so broad as that it loses some meaning. This is one of those times I was hoping for something more specific.
 
 
 
This paragraph was covered well by someone above.
 
I'd skip the first sentence here, but again: show, don't tell. What did you see in state agencies that shaped your perspective? What do you now know about the interaction between bureaucracies and citizens? This is a great chance to show off some keen observation.
 
 
I appreciate the sentiment here that you want to bring academic insights outside of the ivory tower. I'm not as sure about the delivery of said sentiment. It just feels like it has the chance to rub someone the wrong way. I might try something like "After finishing my doctorate, I want to be able to conduct research on American voter behavior and share my findings both inside the classroom and also beyond the University..." It probably needs a bit more to punch it up and fill out the ending but that seems like something more likely to get a positive response from a reader who has spent their career conducting academic research.

I love this thread!

I get this one frequently. The more I hear it, the more it bothers me.

"Your husband is going to leave his job? You're all going to move? The kids too??"

I liked the question initially because I feel incredibly fortunate to have my family's support. Nobody thought it was odd when we moved to advance my husband's career, though. Other moms are (disappointingly) the worst. They often say "shouldn't you wait until the kids graduate?"

I love this thread!

I get this one frequently. The more I hear it, the more it bothers me.

"Your husband is going to leave his job? You're all going to move? The kids too??"

I liked the question initially because I feel incredibly fortunate to have my family's support. Nobody thought it was odd when we moved to advance my husband's career, though. Other moms are (disappointingly) the worst. They often say "shouldn't you wait until the kids graduate?"

Wisconsin puts folks out of their misery as early as January 24th. My spreadsheet tells me that the vast majority of my answers will arrive during the 8-day stretch when I will be celebrating my tenth wedding anniversary in Italy. I hope my husband finds frequent e-mail checks romantic!

Although I mentioned my teaching experience and interest in all my SOPs, I emphasized it as a particular fit with programs that mention teacher training in their statements of department philosophy. And although I didn't mention this, I have to add here that if not for having great teachers as an undergraduate, I wouldn't be applying to grad programs at all.

True, but on the other hand, I suspect nobody at those December 15th schools will look at anything before the Christmas / New Year break. So I feel like it could have all been Jan 1st

Last year Urbana-Champaign started announcing second week of January. Don't know if I'll be applying yet.

By the way, congratulations on the 10th anniversary! That's great! And in Italy no less. Where will you be going?

Wisconsin puts folks out of their misery as early as January 24th. My spreadsheet tells me that the vast majority of my answers will arrive during the 8-day stretch when I will be celebrating my tenth wedding anniversary in Italy. I hope my husband finds frequent e-mail checks romantic!

I submitted all of my 12/15 and 12/16 applications a few days ago because I convinced myself that the entire internet would break if I waited until today.
 
Now that I'm done, what on Earth am I supposed to to with myself for two months? I keep opening my spreadsheet of schools, or revisiting the schools' websites to make sure (again) that the applications are complete.

Hello everyone,
 
I was wondering if teaching interests should be mentioned if you are applying to programs that predominately place people in teaching roles.  The programs I'm applying to are ranked in the 25-50 range, and several of these programs tend to place most of their grads in teaching roles.  
 
That said, a large part of your phd training anywhere consists of developing strong research skills and hopefully publishing a dissertation, and I would guess virtually all programs have a desire and incentives to place their grads in research positions as much as possible.  
 
From my own perspective, my motivations for wanting to go for the PhD are a combination of research interests, as well as being interested in teaching college level political science.  I know research interests should be central to the SOP, but would talking about teaching interests, reasons for wanting to teach be excluded and/or potentially perceived as weak desire to be a successful research scholar? 
 
Thanks!

Oh, bless your heart. I vacillate between glorious fantasy interludes in which I have to sort through multiple acceptances, and maudlin fits of despair in which I have to tell everyone I know that I didn't get in anywhere.
 
Fourteen applications. It's like buying fourteen Powerball tickets. The odds are better, but they're still frightening close to zero.

I've been lurking here for a few weeks while working on my applications, and just wanted to come out of the shadows to say 'hi'.

I've been lurking here for a few weeks while working on my applications, and just wanted to come out of the shadows to say 'hi'.