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Penelope Higgins

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  1. Upvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from rising_star in Voicemail from DGS- Help!   
    As a faculty member in a department that has to play this game often because of lack of funding, here are my 2 cents. The DGS knows exactly what the situation is - they may lose the funding if they offer it to you and they go elsewhere, but they may decide to do it anyway. Tell him/her the truth about where else you have applied, and they will decide how to proceed. Any other talk is cheap talk and everyone knows it.

    Edited to add: no need to reveal any information unless asked, or to be terribly specific about your other applications, but I would advise you not to be dishonest: tell them you are excited, but unable to commit until you hear from a range of other places.
  2. Upvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from CooCooCachoo in Voicemail from DGS- Help!   
    As a faculty member in a department that has to play this game often because of lack of funding, here are my 2 cents. The DGS knows exactly what the situation is - they may lose the funding if they offer it to you and they go elsewhere, but they may decide to do it anyway. Tell him/her the truth about where else you have applied, and they will decide how to proceed. Any other talk is cheap talk and everyone knows it.

    Edited to add: no need to reveal any information unless asked, or to be terribly specific about your other applications, but I would advise you not to be dishonest: tell them you are excited, but unable to commit until you hear from a range of other places.
  3. Upvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from orst11 in Welcome to the 2011-2012 Cycle   
    Public universities that rely heavily on university (rather than department) fellowships for funding grad students often operate with rolling deadlines in one sense. They admit a very small group of candidates early and nominate them for university competitions for funding. Because those competitions operate across departments, GRE scores tend to be the most important criteria. So if your GRE scores are high, and you applied to state schools that are not ranked in the top 40 or so (think places like UMass, Penn State, Temple, Georgia, not Berkeley, Michigan, Wisconsin), you may hear something as soon as late January.

    Other schools use rolling admissions in different ways; I don't know enough about the specifics to comment.
  4. Downvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from foosh in deadline   
    Most deadlines are postmark deadlines. And firm deadlines do not apply to letters of recommendation: those will just be added to your file as they arrive. Nobody will start looking at admissions files until late January at the absolute earliest, so no need to worry about late letters yet.
  5. Upvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from timeless90 in PhD in poli sci with little experience: prospects?   
    Can you connect your research interests to what political scientists study? If so, you will be fine, and time at a think tank, which will focus on policy or politics rather than academic social science, won't help very much. If you feel that research experience would help you refine your interests, that is a good reason to do it. But if you can articulate a research focus that falls in the arena of political science, you will not suffer for not having a political science background.
  6. Downvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from foosh in PhD in poli sci with little experience: prospects?   
    I think we agree more than I made apparent. Think tanks can be a good experience in preparation for grad school, but such work is neither necessary for admission like work experience is in some fields, nor a way to make up for not having a political science background in previous education. That is what I was trying to say; apologies for not being clear.
  7. Downvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from foosh in Welcome to the 2011-2012 Cycle   
    Public universities that rely heavily on university (rather than department) fellowships for funding grad students often operate with rolling deadlines in one sense. They admit a very small group of candidates early and nominate them for university competitions for funding. Because those competitions operate across departments, GRE scores tend to be the most important criteria. So if your GRE scores are high, and you applied to state schools that are not ranked in the top 40 or so (think places like UMass, Penn State, Temple, Georgia, not Berkeley, Michigan, Wisconsin), you may hear something as soon as late January.

    Other schools use rolling admissions in different ways; I don't know enough about the specifics to comment.
  8. Upvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from adaptations in Post-deadline publication   
    Definitely let the department know by contacting the admissions secretary. The information should be added to your file.
  9. Downvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from foosh in Post-deadline publication   
    Definitely let the department know by contacting the admissions secretary. The information should be added to your file.
  10. Upvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from blaspheming in deadline   
    Most deadlines are postmark deadlines. And firm deadlines do not apply to letters of recommendation: those will just be added to your file as they arrive. Nobody will start looking at admissions files until late January at the absolute earliest, so no need to worry about late letters yet.
  11. Upvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from RWBG in Advice on adding schools to my current list of applications   
    Because of the selection problem you describe, your question (as you know) can't be answered without specific knowledge on individual grad students. The answer is also complicated by the fact that placement is subfield and specialty-specific, even in top 10 departments and especially as you move lower in the rankings. I can think of some Emory grads who placed very well (like Dan Slater at Chicago) and certainly the funding and training seem strong (I have no connection at all to that department) so I don't see the downside to applying. But that's me: if you really believe you will only be happy at an Emory once you've taken your best chance at an NYU, there is a downside because if you get into Emory this year and turn them down, it may affect your chances in applying there the next year (I have not seen this situation much at the departments where I have done grad admissions, so I don't know how it would play out to be honest).
  12. Downvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from foosh in Advice on adding schools to my current list of applications   
    Because of the selection problem you describe, your question (as you know) can't be answered without specific knowledge on individual grad students. The answer is also complicated by the fact that placement is subfield and specialty-specific, even in top 10 departments and especially as you move lower in the rankings. I can think of some Emory grads who placed very well (like Dan Slater at Chicago) and certainly the funding and training seem strong (I have no connection at all to that department) so I don't see the downside to applying. But that's me: if you really believe you will only be happy at an Emory once you've taken your best chance at an NYU, there is a downside because if you get into Emory this year and turn them down, it may affect your chances in applying there the next year (I have not seen this situation much at the departments where I have done grad admissions, so I don't know how it would play out to be honest).
  13. Downvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from foosh in Do I have a chance   
    What? Why would you include Hopkins on that list? Columbia and (less so) Brown make sense, but why Hopkins?
  14. Downvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from foosh in I Need Help! Please!   
    First, nobody on admissions committees looks at the writing score of the GRE. Your scores alone are probably not competitive for top-20 PhD programs, but that's because of the Q and V scores. You've got lots of time to retake the exam before applications are due, so that should be easy to fix. And it sounds like you have research experience (though I would not mention the high school experience in any detail in your application) and potentially strong letters, including one from someone whose opinions I would take seriously were your file to land on my desk.

    But I wonder how carefully you've constructed your list of schools. Unless there is something I'm missing (which is certainly possible!) the schools you list have nothing in common in terms of ranking overall or in any specialization I can think of in the field of political science. This suggests you've got some work to do in refining your list of departments to apply to - and my sense is that this and the GRE retake should be your focus in the next 4-6 months as applications come due.
  15. Downvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from foosh in I Need Help! Please!   
    Having served on admissions in poli sci programs at 2 universities, I can honestly say that I've never seen the writing score matter. It can't save an application from a bad personal statement and writing sample, and it won't sink a good one. After all, we can read your work quickly rather than relying on some weird exam. In fact, at my current department, our admissions spreadsheet doesn't even include a column for the writing score.
  16. Upvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from kaykaykay in I Need Help! Please!   
    I actually agree with much of what the previous poster wrote. My point was that the list of schools seemed completely random to me. It is neither a list of top schools (Irvine? Penn? Davis?) nor a list of schools strong in a particular area (unless, for example, Chicago and Rochester have something in common I can't think of), and this suggested to me that the original poster had not yet put enough thought into the application process.
  17. Downvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from foosh in I Need Help! Please!   
    I actually agree with much of what the previous poster wrote. My point was that the list of schools seemed completely random to me. It is neither a list of top schools (Irvine? Penn? Davis?) nor a list of schools strong in a particular area (unless, for example, Chicago and Rochester have something in common I can't think of), and this suggested to me that the original poster had not yet put enough thought into the application process.
  18. Upvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from kaykaykay in Do I have a chance   
    What? Why would you include Hopkins on that list? Columbia and (less so) Brown make sense, but why Hopkins?
  19. Upvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from troika in Waiting it out--Polisci   
    You published in The Onion? I'm can't think of another journal I read for fun.
  20. Upvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from CooCooCachoo in Waiting it out--Polisci   
    You published in The Onion? I'm can't think of another journal I read for fun.
  21. Upvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from kaykaykay in Waiting it out--Polisci   
    You published in The Onion? I'm can't think of another journal I read for fun.
  22. Upvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from Sigaba in Marxist or critical analysis   
    A couple of things: first and most importantly, Marxist-critical approaches are not common in political science except in some parts of political theory. Are you sure you want to be in political science rather than another social science (sociology? anthro?) where they are more common? Second, if you want a decent chance at a teaching position somewhere you're willing to live for the rest of your career - which will last a LOT longer than six years - you would be well served to be flexible on the geography front. Third, your list of schools above doesn't make much sense to me. None of your reaches (as RWBG notes) are places that have a real concentration of people doing the kind of work you describe, nor do many of the big ten schools you list (to my knowledge).
  23. Downvote
    Penelope Higgins reacted to lordvader in Revised GRE Test Scores are available   
    I am happy with my results

    Q: 168
    V: 156
    AW: 5
  24. Upvote
    Penelope Higgins reacted to catchermiscount in Marx on Hegel, what's his view regarding:   
    Clearly, math can fix this.
  25. Upvote
    Penelope Higgins got a reaction from Sigaba in Marx on Hegel, what's his view regarding:   
    Someone has a political theory paper due, I suspect...
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