Frank Knight

It's a cash cow for the department and people know it. Most MA programs are if I am being honest. Never pay to go to grad school unless it's a professional degree. Only do an MA if it very clearly addresses an issue with your application, e.g. you are transitioning from a different field, or you are doing it for fun. In 99.99 percent of cases it's better to enter a PhD program directly.

I'm just here to strongly discourage having theory as your primary subfield. It's a dead subfield in terms of the job market. There are maybe half a dozen theory specific TT jobs in a given year. Do either comparative or American politics as your primary. Theory as a secondary field is okay, just don't expect to get hired because of it. I +1 applying for PhD programs directly. Even if you want an MA, it's better to get into a lower ranked PhD program, get the MA as part of that for free (and getting a stipend along the way), and re-apply for higher ranked programs after.

Something simple you could do is do a simple survey where you ask people about their social media use and vote intention. Are people who use TikTok more likely to vote for Biden? You could probably field the survey among your peers to keep it simple.

Hello ya'll, I last posted here nearly a decade ago when I was applying to graduate school. I am now on the other side of things as an Assistant Professor. Something I have been giving a lot of thought to recently is how to better recruit students, especially from traditionally underserved populations. My sense from reading applications is that a handful of undergraduates get a lot of feedback on where and how to apply, and a lot of applicants are wandering around in the dark. Some of my colleagues run informational camps to provide interested undergraduates information on graduate school, but I suspect they tend to recruit students who are already receiving feedback from other sources. Out of curiosity how many of you attended such a camp prior to applying to graduate school? Even if you didn't attend one, were you aware that they existed? Off the top of my head, I know USC, Michigan and WashU St Louis all run some type of informational camp for prospective students. Were did ya'll receive information about graduate school before applying? Did you talk to one of your undergraduate professors?

Any other incoming UCR grad students looking for housing? If you're interested in possibly being room mates PM me.

Yeah, I really don't get why Claremont is like that. Their graduate rankings overall are okay, but unless they fund their graduate students I don't see how they expect to rise any higher. But yeah, congratulations on the offer. UIUC seems to have a substantially higher rank, so if you get off the wait list there I'd definitely choose them. However UCR is still in a decent ranking and cost effective if that doesn't work out.

Riverside is cheap in my opinion. Mind you, I'm from the urban core of Los Angeles so I have a skewed perception of what's affordable; I pay $1,600 in LA for rent. Rents in Riverside are $300-500 depending on whether you get a room mate or live alone. UCR students can ride the transit system for free, so transportation costs are low. UC tuition includes health coverage, so that's another cost you wouldn't have to worry about. I suspect you could survive on $600-700 monthly if you lived frugally. Getting a car, going out to drink, etc. etc. would obviously increase your costs but that'd be on you to budget. If you're considering between UCR or Claremont I'd recommend the former. The ranking is about the same and they're both close to one another physically. However Claremont has a reputation for being stingy on graduate funding. Which I find weird since they're a private university. Plus attending UCR gives you access to the resources of the UC system, including inter-library loans and potentially taking courses at other campuses later on. I'd only recommend Claremont if you feel your fit there is better than at UCR. Here are their respective placement records: UCR, Claremont I believe you have an offer from Kentucky as well no? Admittedly I know little about Kentucky, so I can't help in comparing it to UCR/Claremont.

Congratulations, I'm part of the incoming cohort as well. My understanding is that most at UCR get a stipend the first year, but all future funding is tied to TAships. As finalsenator pointed out though I'd contact the department to get the specifics of your case.

Yeah I got an email with an attached PDF. I'm still waiting out on a few public policy PhDs (GMU & U Washington Evans), but at this point I think I will accept my UCR admit. What about yourself? Or are you still waiting till your spouse finishes up their cycle so that you can decide jointly?

Just got the rejection email. Welp - I guess I can always try to get an urban planning faculty job, but for now it seems I'm going into Poli Sci. I hope you hear better news.

Have you created a Wolverine account yet by chance? I wonder if they'll update the decisions online before emailing us. Looking at the results from last year that seems to be what they do. Edit: I've checked my account. It only says "application complete".

I'm been admitted to UC Riverside. My interests are in urban politics - basically a lot of applying Tiebout competition to political science questions. Its a very small field and, from what I've seen, ill regarded among the wider poli sci community. That's why I applied to urban planning programs. Imo, urban issues don't seem to be popular in any field. Several of my letter writers expressed disbelief that you could get a phd in urban planning. Yourself? Are your interests in history also urban in nature?

I've noticed a lag of about a week between MA and PhD decisions. I'm starting to get nervous. I have a Poli Sci acceptance, but if I strike out in Michigan that's it for urban planning programs. What about yourself? Are you applying for any other fields or is this it?

Nothing on my end. It doesn't seem like they've given out decisions for the MA program either. And congrats @Mrobay.

Anyone claiming the Washington Evans acceptance?

You have my sympathies. With any luck we both get into Michigan.

Triple ouch. Woke up to a rejection letter from UCI. I still have Michigan as a hope but.. Congrats to those who got in.

Thanks for the head's up.

By chance has anyone heard from UC Merced?

Not a peep. I'm really hopeful though as its my last chance of staying in SoCal. I did receive a generic email from Michigan that they were beginning to review their applications.

What @finalsenator said. I doubt they'll send rejection letters until late March/April. Out of curiosity finalsenator, am I right to assume UCR is what you're aiming for as well? Also any word on Merced? They seem to have sent out some unofficial acceptances, but otherwise Riverside and Merced are the last UCs to send out official acceptances.

Ouch. Got rejected from USC and UI Chicago today. It looks like someone got an unofficial acceptance into Michigan's master program, so we'll likely hear from them for the PhD programs in a bit.

Whoever got the UCR acceptance, did you get any word on financial assistance? I got accepted to UCR in late January myself, but I was told that financial packages were still being discussed and would be emailed later.

@RamyaS I didn't. Admittedly my first choice is USC. I recently finished an econ graduate degree in a state school that cooperates closely with USC Price, so I'm optimistic about my chances there. I had initially planned to apply to MIT as well, but the researcher I was interested in working with (Joann Carmin) passed away recently. From what I hear no one left in MIT is interested on climate change adaptation, and her students mostly went to Europe.

I figure its safe to make this now. Anyone else apply to PhD urban planning programs this cycle? MURP applicants welcome as well. I applied to USC, UCLA, UC Irvine, UI Chicago and Michigan's PhD programs. Got rejected from UCLA. I suspect USC will begin releasing decisions this or next week. USC Price has already begun releasing decisions for its Public Policy program. Anyone else have any luck?