ordinonuovo

Georgetown is probably done. They did the same thing last year. They contact the few that they are going to fund(their top choices: not many since their resources are pretty limited. Why, I never understood.) earlier in the process, and also those that are wait-listed for funding, and then send out mass e-mails to those that aren't receiving support(at least their first year). So it's just not the 25, but the 15 or so that they have contacted previously. Admittances to 40+ doesn't sound so outrageous, considering the state of things.

Deudney at Johns Hopkins, Nexon at Georgetown, Katzenstein at Cornell, Onuf at Florida International University all fall under the broad constructivist umbrella. Kratochwil and Ruggie, I believe, do not advise students anymore. There aren't many in the US.

If you keep up that attitude, and your professor's have the same impression that I do, then they should respond with sympathy and encouragement as well. Keep you chin up, there is no shame in not being accepted, just in not having done your best. I'm assuming that you are trying one more time to not leave any doubt about the latter. Let the professors know after everything has been finalized, and good luck next year.

Based on my experience, I'd e-mail Virginia if you want to get an answer from them. Their admissions office is not the most pro-active in getting out info to non-admits. I remember last year I waited on them for over a month and a half after the first batch got admitted, then got a one-line reply saying that I had not. They said the official rejection letter would come, but it never did. I could afford to be non-chalant about them, because I had gotten into a better program, but if this is your top-choice, or you have a lot hanging on whether you get in or not, e-mail them.

News from UCLA grad, the admissions committee meeting was held today at 3 pm. Members went in having reviewed all their student files. That's all I know.

Are you guys talking about the PhD program they have at SAIS, or the one at their main campus in Baltimore? I hear their main campus PhD program is decent in theory, but don't know about the other subfields. Not many people know about the IR PhD program in DC, and well, that explains alot I guess. since more people would know about it if it was a great program.

I know for a fact that UCLA, UC Berkeley, UCSD, and MIT did not provide full funding for all their grad students last year. These are all top 10 PoliSci programs in most ranking schemes. HYP Stanford and Chicago funds everyone, U of Michigan does also. Not sure about the others (Columbia, Duke, etc). The CA budget crisis seems to be the biggest problem for the UC schools, which will be exacerbated this year. The pinch has spread to the private schools the past few months, with endowments taking a hit. Each school, however, has a different policy of whether, and how much, of their resources and funding they allocate to domestic and foreign students. Americans may remain unaffected at some/most of these schools, even those cutting back. The calculations regarding this are different for the state and private schools, because state schools can fund 2-3 Americans with the money they need to fund 1 student(this is because of the different in-state and out-of-state tuition), but hard times strengthen the tendency to 'take care of one's own.' It will be interesting to see what the effect of the crunch will be on the proportion of international students at the top universities. Good luck everyone.

Aim higher. You need to get into a top 20 school(preferrably top 10) if you want to get anywhere with that Phd. Your GRE math is a tad low for the top 5 programs, but I imagine you still have a chance at the 6-20 range. Michigan, UCLA, UCSD as well as a quite a number of schools within the top 20 have excellent AP programs. Apply to 5-6 of them besides the 2-3 safety schools. And Good Luck.

You don't have an edge in any of the areas that admission committees will be looking, unless you haven't told us. Your research interest is way too broad. I would say that you still don't have a safety school among the PhD programs. Yes brutal, but that is my take on the situation.

You're right that your alma mater doesn't match your interests. If you're into IR, then I'm afraid that there just aren't many programs that will offer even a rough match for your interests. If that is what you really want to study, look at a few of the programs in the UK. Peruse through the journal Millenium, and I'm sure you'll find a few articles that will grab a hold of you. In the US, maybe Minnesota, OSU, Cornell(programs with varying degrees of constructivist tints) have faculty that could take you on, but not in the region that you are interested in. If you're just a junior though, take a bit slow. Go abroad and immerse yourself in that culture, take a few more classes in comparative and IR, look through what specialists on South Asia have been writing in the Polisci field. It won't be late even after you're done with your Peace Corps. I also agree with the above post that a few basic political science courses, as well as stats/micro and macro in economics would be a plus.

For me, UCLA it is..

Anybody been to their admit day? I'm interested in their IR program.

Still no funding info.. Has anybody heard anything from G-town?

There is a lot that is true with the old adage that 'extremes meet at the other end(or at least that is what we say in Korea)'. I remember Kissinger saying at a meeting that wasn't opened up to reporters that he thought the neo-conservatives were basically 'Trostkyists at heart," that sought for democracy across the world, like the old revolutionaries called for 'world revolution.' The throwback realist castigating the modern crusaders.. something to see.. He did give the neo-cons credit for good 'analysis' of world affairs though...

A little late, but just wanted to thank all the responses to the Northwestern/UCLA post: detroitfan, tidefan, silencio, eve2008, and realist. They've all helped. I've actually been waitlisted for funding at UCLA, and the letter from the dept said that even if I don't get it, 'most' students that 'do well' can get TA or RA posts starting their second year. I've asked students that I know at the dept for more concrete info and will wait for reponses before making a decision(No way can I go through 5-7 years without the support, but 1 year is a can do). And let's try to turn down the heat a bit here, the rhetorical edge of some of the posts is a lot sharper(ouch!) than the actual differences in opinion would seem to suggest.