Bobb Cobb

My ultimate goal is to do both, and I am prepared more than adequately on the language and abroad experience, contacts in the region, area studies background etc. The problem is that I am unsure of how I can connect my interests and put together a project that combines both approaches in an interesting way. As for the surveys, I realize that they are expensive and that is part of the reason that if I did it, it would be way down the road and with some major grant. That is why I am not counting on it to happen. I will say that I do not want to be pegged as an Egyptianist or Omanist, but rather a ME scholar if even that. I have enough experience with ME studies that I would love to have a position that requires teaching that area, but I would hate to get boxed in that research area.

To elaborate on this further, it all depends on your plans. There are many CP profs out there today that do not speak another language and focus solely on cross-national quantitative approaches. In my case I leaned the language long before I planned to get the PhD, but I do not plan to use it in the foreseeable future. Having said that, if I get a chance to do fieldwork then I would be all over it simply because I love to travel and I love the region. I would still need to find a way t incorporate that into my research agenda, and I really an unsure how that would happen. If I ever get the chance to do surveys (as ME countries open up) I would want it to be on a large scale (like the ArabBarometer), and have collaborators at local universities in the region. Other details would have to be worked out later, but I am talking something much bigger than walking around saying "hey can you fill this out?" That is so grandiose and far fetched that I am not sure it could ever happen, but it is my ultimate goal for the language and research down the road. In the ME, many things need to happen before I would be interested, so we will have to see. It is useful to know the language in order to avoid reading translated primary source material. In the end, it simply depends on your plans. If you want to be an expert on Burma, then I would suggest learning Burmese. If you want to study political behavior or institutions cross-nationally, then crank up the AC in the office and have at it.

Wow, the Chinese would be ambitious on top of the others. I know someone that monitors elections in Eastern Europe every chance they get, that might be worth looking into just for the language practice and on the ground experience. I have been doing some in Africa, and I must say that I have had some of the best experiences of my life. I think you just missed Ukraine though. I have the same issues trying to teach myself Farsi so I think I am going to stop that for now. So to be clear, do you want to focus solely on Russia the and immediate area for now, or is that just your first priority?

How much do you plan to use your language in your studies? I mean do you plan to focus on that area exclusively? I speak Arabic quite well these days, but I am skeptical about whether I will use it in the future for my political science research. I do plan to continue to travel to the ME and study Arabic, and it would be great to administer surveys there one day, but for now my interests (and it seems the discipline) are elsewhere.

Now that is the best plan so far! I wish I had time to attempt such an endeavor before I dig in.

Yeah, this is what I meant except it would be cool to put one together to post here for future scholars, and us too of course.

Before this is said and done we should compile reading lists for each subfield for all to enjoy.

Here is the original thread from the Realist: In reading through it, it went remarkably similar to this one although it did get a bit more interesting in a few places. There are also some good links regarding jobs and finishing the PhD that I had never seen before.

Sound advice, although I am not sure we potential political science PhD students need to be streaking.

That is sort of what I did after last year, and I was successful this time around so it can definitely work.

That is understandable, and my plan is similar in terms of proving myself. The season is still young for most places so I am sure you will end up in a good spot.

I thought maybe we could discuss other aspects of political science while we wait. What are the plans for the summer before digging in? Are you going to attempt to further prepare or just take it easy? Does anyone have any specific items for reading or preparation suggestions? Personally I am going to the AP grading in June and then to ICPSR. I am also going to read as much general comparative literature as I can handle. I was supposed to go Yemen for more Arabic, but I think that is going to fall through for obvious reasons.

Everybody knows that A&M is better. Good luck tomorrow if Texas does indeed announce anything.

Wow, two years in a row of that sort of talk.

That is a worthwhile project. I would like to do a project that considers all institutions at all levels. Of course that would take forever, but the results would be interesting. I think some would be surprised by how may top 25ers are now working in the bottommost tier, and how many 26-50s are working in that same range with some ending up slightly above or below. The job prospects are currently dismal, especially in the top 25. I still plan to remain optimistic about the situation 4-5 years from now.

I wonder how the size of their applicant pool compares to others in the top 25-30, and if that "larger than recent years" applies to most places.

Thanks MM, that is what I am saying as well. It is not fair to the depts. or to those on wait, hold lists to be held up for no reason.

I like the way you worded the last part, and I think that is a fair thing to tell folks here are considering starting down the path to the PhD. My only issue is that I want people to follow their dreams and make the most of things, and at least then they will have tried. If we do not try, then we can never do. The Realist, you, and others are all giving good advice and warnings. I appreciate the warnings as I am sure most others do, I just prefer the courtesy of assuming that most of us have considered the situation and choose to press on anyway.

I agree, and that is why I said to be absolutely sure. Last year I let most of them know, but I did keep two open until the April 15 deadline. As this progresses and you get into more schools you may see that some are so much different than you thought, or some just are much worse than others. At least this was my post-visit experience last time.

I do not know what the norm is, but that is exactly what I did last year. I felt it best to go ahead and let them know so they could offer the spot to someone else. I know I would like that if I was on a waitlist. That seems to be the fairest way to all parties involved, but I would be sure before I did it.

That is, unless you applied to only 1! No, seriously I know what you mean. I was accepted to 6 places last year, and once I got the first I could not wait to get the second. It is sort of like getting a tattoo.

What are these points for anyway? I think everyone is entitled to their views and opinions without some anonymous rating system. I had not even noticed that until you guys brought it up. I also missed the American/International status on the results page, I am glad these were not snakes! By the way, I wish there was some sort of system for curbing those false results posts. I am not sure how it would work, but it seems to be an issue. This also should apply to that psycho post by that Duke rejection.

I am going to get a job where I can have lots of time to come back here and tell the current applicants that they are making the wrong decisions and that they should pursue any career besides political science. Who knows? We can also work in some aspects of government. I have an MPA and some experience with the USDA so I am sure something could work out. I also worked in retail for awhile, I suppose that is always an option. As scpol put it, I am hoping for the best!

Any word on whether or not the first ones from last month were a hoax?

Cool, I stand corrected.