spin

For me, it came down to Berkeley or Michigan in the final week. Although Michigan was clearly the better department for me (and they were willing to match my funding offer from Berkeley), I concluded that quality of life is equally important as academic fit. Consequentially, I chose Berkeley. It came down to the wire, I wrote out an acceptance email for Michigan and was within "send" away from going there! This was a very difficult decision; I really wanted to go to Ann Arbor as I adored the department and I found a great adviser. But I knew that, for a variety of personal reasons (family, a significant other and my love of the Bay) I'd be happier at Berkeley. As I see it, this is the only time in my academic career where I'll have the option of choosing where I want to live. Best of luck everyone and congratulations to all!

Can you defer? If so, you should consider spending the next "season" looking for external fellowships, if possible. $27K is significant for Political Science, and it's not TA based at all? Not even a single year? I know someone who received a full fellowship and didn't have to TA. Upon graduating and moving on to a tenure-track job, he was mortified at having to teach a class. Given this, I think that even if you receive full funding, you should seriously consider teaching for at least one year. It's great training. I actually sent a funding offer from a school (fellowship based) to another program to see if they can at least meet half way on the offer. And I did this tactfully, stating the obvious "After much consideration, I've narrowed my choices down to X and Y. While I'm extremely excited about X, I am concerned about the funding package, as Y has offered me..." The fact is, if you have competing offers, you have every right to be aggressive; this is the ONLY time in your graduate career where you'll have leverage. Of course, this is only advisable for schools you're seriously considering (or you'll just be an arse).

It's also important to note the TAing commitment required in the funding package. Each of my offers have different TA commitments, ranging from one year to four years. I assumed that three years TAing was the norm, but was surprised to find so much variation.

What's your funding package? What's normal in Political Science? I've noticed that our discipline's package has been increasing in size over the years (no pun intended). :wink: While I know that the moderator may reprimand me for posting this here rather than the "Bank," I believe it's pertinent to this board given the fact that many of us are weighing competing offers from different schools or are generally curious about the funding package in general in Political Science (rather than all disciplines broadly).

Does anyone have Ann Arbor's placement record/data? I can't seem to find it on their website. I know their placement for American is pretty good, but I'm a comparativists/IR. Thanks!

Hello: I'm visiting Cornell for a campus visit; can anyone offer advice on flying in? I know there's a regional airport there but it seems prohibitively expensive. Will it be cheaper to fly into, say, JFK, and bus upstate? I'm flying in from California (San Francisco) and the travel stipend is $375 so I'm really trying to stretch the dollar. I also would like to visit NYC if possible. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Wow, I just received my funding decision from Berkeley; it's very generous by Berkeley's standards - Full five year funding, annual stipend of $21,000, two year $4,000 summer stipend, and here's the kicker: only one year of TAing (third year). I was very worried about funding at Berkeley as the department is known for either offering very little or expecting grad students to take a heavy TAing load (it is, after all, a state funded school and Political Science is the second largest department on campus). Time to do a lil dance...

Hello Anav: I see you haven't left to Africa yet! Regarding placement, do you have placement statistics from Oxford? If not, I suggest asking the department for this; it should be readily available (although the department may publish this online, they should have more detailed data on hand). Of course, since you're looking at the U.S. job market (and not the U.K. market) it may not be very comparable, but at least you'll have a decent picture. I am personally asking for this, the attrition rate, and the student-faculty ratio for all the schools I'm fortunate enough to be considering. I will say that I believe, in my opinion, a U.S. PhD is viewed as more 'rigorous' etc; but this doesn't apply to political theory (we tend to see many theorists from Oxford).

I'm relieved to have this all done...my life has been on abeyance since November. My final tally is: Official Admit: Berkeley, Michigan, UCSD, Cornell Official Reject: Stanford, Yale Unofficial Reject: Harvard, Columbia, WashU, and possible Princeton. I'm really sorry for those who struck out; I can't imagine how heartbreaking it is. I have the utmost respect for your dedication towards the 'nobility' of academics and Political Science; I sincerely hope you'll have the opportunity and/or the drive/perseverance to try again next year.

I browsed through this ranking; from what I've gathered, the ranking is done via looking at the quantity of publications in Poli Sci Journals; I don't think this is the most 'valid' method. For example, no one in their right mind will argue that UMich is ranked 27th (while Michigan State is ranked 12th).

I was cajoled in to paying for the US News rankings online; $15 for a month's access of information I already knew; moreover for poli sci rankings there's no detailed info. While I generally mistrust rankings, I'll make the claim that the USNews grad rankings are credible because they rely 100% on peer evaluations (done by Chair's of other dept.s)

Regarding Michigan, as you may know, the program is very quantitative and empirically rigorous. While you'll do the "theory," you'll also do lots of stat models, game theory, etc. Cornell, in contrast, is not so rigorous. I believe that you can learn the subsantive stuff anywhere (policy etc) but you should go to school that teaches you how to conduct rigorous social science research. While 'quant' has its limits, it's important to learn how to do and understand the stuff. The 'grand theorizing' I was alluding to was in reference to the 'realism, liberalism, constructivism' debate in IR security; as you know the sub-field is undergoing a tremendous transformation and is moving far far away from that stuff.

The odd thing is that I have dual competing interests, which of course I didn't note in my SOP (it would have made me look indecisive!) I did a lot of 'security' as an undergrad and, to be very honest, became pretty disenchanted with IR and security; in particular I feel strongly that, over the course of the last twenty years, the field has been driven by 'grand theorizing' rather than empiricism. Given this, I moved towards IPE and comparative (my honors thesis was on regional financial cooperation in East Asia following the financial crisis). In particular, integration and cooperation. On the comparative end, I'm interested in governance and foreign aid dependency (I'm currently working with a Prof. on this).

I'll also add that I'm leaning towards Berkeley; if you're on the waitlist (and if the list is small, as has been suggested here) you'll have a decent chance (of course if Cornell is your top choice). But Cornell has some very strong people for what I'm interested in, and the department is a great fit for me. They also just hired a new person who's interests are perfectly aligned with mine. So I can't commit just yet until after visiting Ithaca.

Before I post my stats, I'll throw in the obvious caveat that 'stats,' i.e. numbers, aren't really indicative of the strength of an applicant; equally important is 'overall fit' with the department. My undergrad was at a top 5 poli sci department, 3.87 GPA, high honors in my department, magna cum laude, and the 'outstanding honors' thesis award for my dept. GRE was 1280 combined (not so spectacular); had strong letters from well known faculty (including the 'expert' in my area of study). Did a lot of research during and after graduation with Prof's; recent grad (May 07). Interesting personal background, including dropping out of H.S. Focus is on IR and comparative with a regional focus on East Asia. I've been admitted to Berkeley, Michigan, Cornell, and UCSD Officially rejected from Stanford and Yale Unofficially rejected from Harvard, Columbia, and possibly Princeton