tskinner

"Riots at Cal" is hardly news, let alone any indication of the UC system's status. Students at Cal would riot if a professor swatted a fly in class.

WOULD HARVARD AND UCLA JUST SEND OUT THEIR REJECTIONS SO I CAN COMMIT! >

Here's mine! I too kind of used the "since I was a kid" at the start of a second paragraph, but I never implied that I was interested in this field since then. Since I had only taken two polisci classes as an undergraduate, what I focused on was showing that I had the TRAINING to succeed, I just needed to be taught the theory a bit first. Take it with a grain of salt as I probably only got into 2 programs: By the time I arrived in Japan for my semester abroad, I had already made the decision to pursue a career in politics. With vague plans of joining the Foreign Service’s management track, I had decided to go to business school after graduating. However, on April 5th, 2009, North Korea fired the Unha-2 rocket over Japan. While watching the evening news with my host family, I realized that embassy work would not be enough for me. Wanting to know why North Korea, a country already shunned by the international community, would take such a risk, I thought back to my literature review for International Research Methods on the effects of missile defense systems on the probability of conflict. Before the attack, Japan did flex its defense muscles, but I knew that there were many variables, debates, and problems, such as whether “rogue states” truly act recklessly or if economic sanctions are actually effective, that I had yet to study. I decided to pursue graduate studies so that I could better comprehend the nature of interstate interaction and, through a career in academic research, contribute to understanding the nature of conflict and cooperation between states. Having had over a dozen foreign exchange students stay with my family while growing up, I have always been fascinated with and connected to the international world. This led to my eventual decision to spend my undergraduate career at the School of International Studies at University of the Pacific. Through their interdisciplinary approach to international relations, I have gained perspectives ranging from the anthropological to the historical, from the geographic to the political. My interdisciplinary training allows me to apply a variety of contexts to questions in political science. For example, when looking at the question of stability between states, not only can I consider realist factors of power balance in a uni-, bi-, or multipolar system in common examples like the Cold War and European conflicts, but I can also draw upon the fourth century B.C. warring states of China and the stateless societies of pre-colonial Africa. Moreover, I can consider deeper details, such as cultural conflicts between Israel and Palestine, the nuanced differences between Sunni and Shi’a Islam, and the geographic importance of a small island off the southeast coast of Korea. There is, however, always more to learn, both historically and theoretically. Also through my studies, I have gained a solid foundation in both qualitative and quantitative methods. In Cultural Anthropology and International Research Methods, I practiced ethnographic interviews and analysis with college students and community members. This, coupled with further cultural research methods from Cross-Cultural Training, was especially useful while studying and researching in Japan. The tools I acquired allowed me to take daily experiences and turn them into data for the papers I wrote on Japanese society and the Japanese state. Along with this qualitative training, my emphasis has been strongly quantitative. In International Research Methods, I also conducted quota sample surveys and used SPSS and tools learned in Statistics to form regression models and test hypotheses. Moreover, through my wide range of economic studies, I have learned how different economists have used models to describe the world. Next semester I will finish multivariate calculus and conclude my program with an Econometrics research project. Graduate school will allow me to take these tools and combine them with the foundations I have established in Comparative and International Politics to begin answering questions and testing hypotheses. After watching the Japanese missile crisis unfold, researching the effects missile defense systems, and debating the nature of conflict at the International Youth Leadership Conference in Prague, my interests in international relations have gravitated toward universal issues of warfare and cooperation. Some of the traditional topics that intrigue me include international politics, security policy, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. My primary research interest, however, is conflict termination. In the past, when enemies were as clearly defined as the Third Reich or the Iron Curtain, the endpoint of war was clear: defeat of the enemy. Now that the enemy is frequently ideas themselves, as we see in the War on Terror, it has become less clear when to cease fire. By using qualitative methods and looking at data on variables like goal achievement, domestic political unrest, and casualty trends in a wide range of conflicts, I hope to bring the field closer to understanding how contemporary conflict has changed and help mitigate its impact. University of California: San Diego will provide me with the necessary resources to answer these questions. By utilizing the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation’s work on international security policy, regional relations, and innovations in international cooperation, I will be able to further both my education and my research outside of the classroom. Moreover, the research topics of Dr. Branislav L. Slantvhev in interwar negotiations and war termination, of Dr. Barbara F. Walter concerning conflict termination and cooperation, and of Dr. Erik A. Gartzke in information and war particularly dovetail with my interests. Also, courses like Game Theory and Quantitative International Relations will be instrumental in supporting my future dissertation work. With these resources and mentors, I hope to make significant contributions to the field of International Relations. After earning my PhD, I plan to move into a faculty position to continue my research and bring the world closer to understanding the dynamics of the international sphere.

But Evan knocked it out of the park (rink?)! USA!

I asked Jennifer Evangelista for a timeline on funding at UCSD (so that I could have Davis save money on me and not go to their open house) and she very nicely told me this: I'm honestly not very worried. Students I have talked to are reassuring that we will get packages, and Evangelista also told me that they have admitted a significantly smaller amount of students this year.

I was also expectedly rejected from UC Berkeley. Two more to go! I'm now more or less convinced my UCSD acceptance was a fluke. I've been frequently told that acceptance comes down in the end to a crap shoot, and I feel very lucky and grateful.

Flaming Underpants (hee hee...how topical)

Veteran Affairs

Great news!

Convex sets of...never mind.

non-state actors [From Democracy to Osama in two degrees (of freedom?)]

"Let's do the fork in the garbage disposal! Let's do the fork in the garbage disposal! Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding...!" HAHAHAHA! :lol:

#2 is totally Gryffindor! Decision done.

My, my!

Beaver Fever

If those professors are leaving, it will be quite a loss for the department, but luckily none of them are listed under the IR faculty (none of them even list it as a sub-sub field). I'm much more worried about funding, but I'm trying to stay optimistic here.

Proof: based on the Pulitzer Prize winning play, Proof.

Not to mention that UCLA is the only Political Science department to produce a Nobel Prize winning political scientist. EDIT: Never mind. This is false (black bear). UCLA is one of the few...

I do think it may be rather limiting. Say you got your bachelors and doctorate at a small private, then a large research institution may be hesitant to hire you. And vice versa

California's a beautiful place! Lived here all my life! My top choice is UCSD! It's a perfect fit, the weather is amazing, it's only 2.5 hrs away from home (my undergrad right now is 5), and it is simply beautiful down there. If I got into Harvard (which I am not expected to happen in any way, shape, or form), it would be an extremely difficult decision to make. I'd have to visit both campuses, but I still think I would take UCSD first.

+odd irish/scottish/demonic/high school punk kids tap dancing and fiddle playing! Who wouldn't expect this hedonistic debauchery from a socialist state like Canada!

Please just don't give them 餡子!

For the most accurate source on life while working towards one's PhD, please consult the following peer-reviewed source: http://www.phdcomics.com/ PS: GRADUATE GENERALS WARNING: PhD comics has been known to be a "time suck."