jr77msu

Undergraduate Education GPA: 3.93, Summa Cum Laude Majors: B.S., Economics and Finance School: Public Third-Tier State University Graduate Education GPA: 3.81 Program: M.A., International Affairs School: Private Top 15 University GRE 620 V, 670 Q, 5.0 W Additional Information: Before applying to PhD programs, I spent three years working for a major aerospace corporation, two years of which I spent in a highly selective leadership development program Accepted: Michigan State, Indiana-Bloomington (Public Policy) Waitlisted: Colorado-Boulder Rejected: Wisconsin-Madison, Minnesota-Twin Cities, Northwestern, Illinois-Urbana, WashU Enrolled: Michigan State University

Michigan State University with American Politics as my primary field, Public Policy as my subfield

Thanks TheBends. I was told basically the same thing by a PoliSci Professor at the University where I'm finishing up a Master's in International Affairs. He said if you want to go outside of academia, a public policy degree from Indiana is hard to beat. If your intention is to go into academia, then Michigan State is likely the better fit. Since I do intend on becoming a professor and since I don't have any overriding desire to teach in a policy school, the odds are high of me accepting Michigan State's offer. Update: I did accept Michigan State's offer.

Tidefan... you couldn't be more right, haha. I think I let my own preference at this point (Michigan State) come through a little strong on my post by how I presented the information about the two programs, but I do think that the facts speak for themselves. Mainly I was just writing to see if anyone knew something about Michigan State that I should be aware of before I commit to their program instead of Indiana's or if there was some reason unbeknownst to me that could possibly sway me to Indiana's program. If anyone else wants to comment, feel free. I'm leaning towards Michigan State and if the campus visit goes well this Friday, I foresee accepting their offer over Indiana's.

Could someone please comment regarding the choice between Michigan State's Political Science PhD program (American Politics major field, Public Policy minor field) or Indiana University's Joint PhD in Public Policy (American Politics in Political Science department, Public Policy in School of Environmental and Public Affairs)? I'm not concerned about both of these being questionable top 25 political science schools (though Michigan State's rankings could potentially place it in that category: ranked 17th in Chingos' & Schmidt's PS article for placement, 9th overall in a ten-year study for placing their PhD graduates in U.S. doctoral institutions, 22nd in US News for political science, and 16th in US News for american politics subfield). Indiana's Political Science is not as strong as Michigan State's but its Public Policy is top-notch (ranked 3rd overall in public affairs by US News though its strenghts are in environmental affairs, public financing, and public administration, not public policy analysis). The problem is that I feel either program would probably be a good fit for my particular research interests in terms of faculty support, cross-disciplinary opportunities, research methodology, etc. Fortunately I have little interest in getting placement at a top R1 political science department when I graduate, and so that is the reason I'm not worried about being near the top 25 cut-off. In fact, I may even find that I am more interested in a good LA college rather than an R1 since I could spend more time teaching. My main concern is what the job market in academia is like for political science versus public policy and the difference in quality between Michigan State's program and Indiana's program. Is Michigan State's better placement record an indication that the quality of the program is better? Would I be limiting myself by choosing public policy over political science (i.e. would there be less job opportunities for me)? If funding was better at one program than another, would that be an important factor? (MSU's funding package is quite good and provides full funding for 5 years; I'm still awaiting Indiana's funding package details... funding will probably be good but Michigan's will likely be better.) Does anyone have any thoughts?

To the poster considering coming to WashU (Washington University in St. Louis), I thought I would post a response on this board to give you a little info about St. Louis. I'm originally from an hour south of Chicago and lived in the Philadelphia area two years ago. I came to St. Louis for work and have to say that I've been impressed. For one, St. Louis is a community of neighborhoods! That means each neighborhood has its own strengths and weaknesses There are a lot of neat things to do in the St. Louis area and the cost of living is very reasonable. I have been accepted to Washington University's PhD program and will likely be attending there. I had a chance to visit the area and was very impressed with the university, the faculty, and the area. I talked with current graduate students from different parts of the country and they had only good things to say.