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Fully funded PhD offer at an R1 vs. a non-funded MA, isn't it obvious?

In my field (political economy) it is already very rare for candidates to be accepted without a Master's degree. It's almost as if a Master's was required, and some exceptions to the rule were being made.

I guess it can't harm.

I think it's day as usual, classes are in session.

Hard to give you any concrete advice without knowing what the schools are, your subfield, and what are they offering in terms of money.

This is a very good idea. I did that during my visits last year. In fact, I also specifically targeted professors who got their PhDs from the other school I was considering as these were the people who were most familiar with the relative strength and weaknesses of both programs. I got honest answers.

At my school, the initial cut is done by a professor who has been randomly assigned to your file, and it does not have to be a person in your subfield. It's more like the first person gets all people with their last name from A to F, the next one G to whatever, etc. It is at a later stage that your POIs may be notified.

Actually, there are a couple of current students at Duke who chose it over Princeton. It really depends on what your interests are, and money and location preferences can also play a role. Both schools are great and you can't go wrong with either one.

GRE scores are not a good predictor of math or whatever other skills but they are highly indicative of one thing: your resilience. Basically, with enough time spent, almost everybody can get a high score. The question is - how hard will you try/how easily will you give up? The way I see it, a good score will not really help your application, but a bad score can hurt because it can mean one of two things - you are just bad at math/language skills or you just did not work on it hard enough, which begs the question of whether you'll be willing to work hard once in the program. What is a safe score? There is not a one number because it depends on things such as your subfield, exposure to math and whether you are a native speaker.

If they do not engage in any way with students, there is little benefit, but not none, because there are always some spillovers, for instance the funding they may have. . Best to ask current students about it.

This has to do with the Grad School, not the department, and how fast they can process all those applications. Official decisions are made by the grad school They do create this pdf letter with your name and stuff, I guess that takes time.

In a smaller department, you can easily have more direct contact with faculty. It will be easier to get to know them. It will also be easier to get to know not just your cohort but also make acquaintances with older cohorts. All these matter for your success in a program.

Definitely, having an econ background gives you an advantage. Myself I have an econ background and will be entering a top 10 political science program next fall. One thing to consider is to think how to credibly demonstrate your interest in political science - perhaps through research, past coursework, letters writers, and of course, in your personal statement. Some programs to consider are Princeton, Harvard, Duke, NYU, WUSTL, Columbia, maybe UCLA.

In my case this info is very helpful for 2 reasons: - Actually, stipends do differ a lot and even twofold differences adjusted for cost of living happen. I wouldn't have applied to one of my schools if I knew what kind of stipends they offer (think California...) Sadly I've waisted a lot of money on this application - Some universities provide different stipends to different candidates - that means that there is space to negotiate the stipend, which is something very useful to know

That doesn't answer your question, but honestly, why would you enter a PhD program knowing that you will drop out? And even more so to transfer to UH Manoa or Idaho? I think any public university in Belgium offers a way better level of instruction and research.

I will just submit my decision on-line.

This is very risky, I thought I am too poor to be shut out this year, hence I must maximize my chance of getting admission by applying to many schools, even if it means borrowing money. Congratulations though, it seems like you chose wisely!

I am on NYU's waitlist. I contacted the director and was told there are 20 ppl on the waitlist and that my chance of getting off the list is very small (I suppose they overadmit and on top of that there is a waitlist). I was asked implicitly if NYU is my top choice (if so, it makes admission more likely, I think, because they don't want to extend an offer to somebody who will reject it - i think it is better sometimes to give an offer to a second best person and not first best because the first best might reject and at that point second best may have already taken another offer so you are left with a third best applicant). Anyway, the point is - if Yale is your top choice, contact the program and let them know. Tell them that you have other offers, even tell them what schools, but say that you prefer Yale over those schools (if this is the case, of course).

As far as I know, NYU waitlist has been already released. There are 20 people on the list.

Does anybody know when is NYU's visit scheduled for?

Duke is 23-25 March, Rochester is 3-5 April.

IMHO, doing an MPP is not really a good way to improve your quantitative skills. Usually the level is pretty low in those more quantitative classes, unless you would be allowed to take classes in other departments.

I would never consider such an offer, unless of course external funding somehow works out.

Yep, Duke has it online. I know that Rochester also has a math "prefresher" course, as they call it.

I mixed up 'positive' with 'normative' and 'demand' with 'supply' in my SOP I would just hope nobody realizes.