dujingqiang

Hi all, I am applying for Comparative Politics PhD this year. My interest lies in the domestic politics of China (and into the details of its institutions, not macro theories), and primarily accountability of local government/officials. After screening relevant articles on topics I'm interested, I come with the list of professors who are doing interesting work. And then I realize almost all of them are in top tier universities, and simply from a "fit" point of view, the rank of universities for me would be MIT, Berkeley, Harvard, UCSD(if Victor Shih is indeed moving to UCSD), and Columbia. I got a Econ/Finance BA in a decent Chinese university (GPA 3.5) and just graduated with MPA at a top 10 government school (GPA 3.7, and because it is a policy school, none of my recommenders have contributed much in poli sci academia, I have ok quant training, but not much in poli sci). I know my profile is at most average (if not worse), so I am pretty realistic about my chances of getting into any of the programs listed above. Therefore, I am wondering if you could give me some suggestions on some non-top programs that might be a fit for me? I am thinking, besides a department with someone who does similar research, maybe a department with someone who studies accountability/legitimacy in transitioning/former USSR/Vietman while there is one or two people with a regional focus on China could also do? Thank you very much!

oh, the easier job hunting information is from the Chinese students in US and some of my teachers that have studied there, so I guess although individual competitiveness is the most important, but there's still difference between locals and international students, especially in the area closely related to politics.

I think why I favor NYU is because it's the only university I've been to and I do love NYC. About internship I just speculate that there're more posts open in NYC and I'm in Beijing and it's quite obvious that students from an inferior university in the city has better chance to secure a job in Beijing than those who's from top universities in other cities...also, the faculty in NYU would have more connections with business there. But these are just my own speculation, and I do appreciate that you point out it's not the case. So about CMU's faculty, how much do you think it'll matter? Or it's just a matter of PhD study. And How about the funding difficulty I mentioned about Michigan, do you have any information on that? It's pretty hard for me to gather related information because many foreign web are blocked here or it'll take really long time to open one, so I think Gradcafe is the only reliable source I have now. But I'll try to contact them on the phone though.

Thank you. What makes me struggle here is that I didn't get any funding from Michigan and I heard that it's tougher in this case if I want to apply for scholarship in future semesters, and because my family only support me with the first year, so I have to consider the financial burden if I apply for loan in the 2nd year, therefore job perspective become important here. Originally I thought this program would be a good choice as a cushion before PhD study, but after I consulted with Michigan's admission officer, they replied that it's not the case, like others, it's also a very occupation-oriented program, and since it's also professional program, the academic strength became less attractive compared with NYU's advantage in finding interns. I guess a good intern performance is definitely more competitive than an 'A' in a really tough class... And I put CMU at the bottom because its faculty really don't look good......but the good thing (also the bad thing) is that its location is okay, and they're known for their emphasis on quant, so it might be more flexible to decide whether to go to academics or job market after graduation. And it's bad because they don't excel in either of the area compared with my other choices. However this morning I received reply from CMU's career service director saying that "We are known for our analytics, our process-modeling, our empirical approach to decision-making." and other points that does make sense to me. So I'm getting even more frustrated now......

I'm a student from China, and it's really tough decision for me, so I'd like to hear from you local guys. CMU gave me 5k per semester and NYU a merely 2 credits scholarship. My family is supporting me with 50k so I'll neglect the financial matter first. My career plan is to work in a international organization or NGO, and go on for PhD study in my early 30s and then go back to China to get into politics. My field of interest is poverty and welfare system. And from my knowledge, Ann Arbor is especially strong in academics and from the US news ranking, it ranks highest among my 3 choices, so it might help when I apply for PhD study. And NYU's location is a big attraction to me, and I guess its easiest to find interns or jobs. However I probably go for public finance if I'm going to Wagner because of its faculty specialization. Which left CMU in the middle, so I'm more inclined to choose between NYU and UMICH. These are some rough thoughts I have, I know there must be other factors to be taken into consideration, so I hope you can help with my decision and especially I hope you can tell me what should I consider when I make decisions. Please take into account that I'm an international student, all the federal and state posts are not available for me after graduation. 15th is approaching, please HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!