lev calderon

E-mail from Kimberly Morgan. Field: Judicial, Methods

Did Michigan send you official acceptance notification today?

To the Michigan PhD Admit: Did you receive the offer letter today?

My solution: The admissions committee invites the "top 60" candidates to a multi-day tournament where applicants sit on panels of 5 and have to answer questions from the faculty committee based on pre-assigned reading while also being evaluated on how well they critique the others' responses as well as the questions they form.

Right, but under your algorithm someone who wants to do public law has a better shot with a rec from a plsc professor than a law professor. Or someone who wants to do political philosophy is better off with a plsc professor than a philosophy prof. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Rawls was not a phd in political science ... But I bet he'd say a lot more about one's ability to do political theory than most psci phds. In the same vein, akhil reed amar is going to be a lot better at determining who would make a great constitutional law scholar than a plsc phd. Maybe this explains why several plsc departments have phd's in philosophy and jd's on their faculties whereas no philosophy depts have plsc phds and very few law schools have them. Legal scholarship and philosophy scholarship might not be archetypal of social science research but isn't the point of grad school to train talent and isn't evidence of diligence in research ultimately more important than whether someone wrote her honors thesis on skocpol and russian politics or on house cloture rules and economic efficiency? Otherwise, how does political science progress?

Has anyone here been rejected from nyu or princeton? I'm in the theory boat ... 790v 750q 3.85 from a top30 lac and I've been accepted nowhere (I also went to a top 20 law school and want to do public law as well). I'm wondering if adcomms are just not taking in theory folks - maybe because were the biggest risk in terms of placement?

Bsquar: are you a lawyer? If so, stats?

Theory applicants to NYU: Did you get a response? I'm wondering if they're not taking in any theorists.

I think I'm learning that dropping Professor names and showing interest-via-article abstracting is the way to get a bounce out of the SOP. I don't think you should be at all surprised that NYU admitted you -- you're stellar.

My rejections are in parentheses merely because they're not official ... But if posts of acceptances on this site are accurate,and calls to and responses from both schools indicative, offers have gone out at both schools.

I'm a theorist and applied to nyu. I called and was fairly forthcoming "the graduate website indicates offers are made by mid-february, so am I right to assume I didn't get an offer?". This call was to the dept specific coordinator and she told me she does not know/cannot comment on acceptances. I took this to mean the acceptances went out. I didn't hear any theory admits making any noises here but who knows. Nyu pretty much accepts in one day then rejects a month later.

NYU admits: anyone get in for theory?

Is this not the perfect example of why, as Mearsheimer's Minion indicates, one should start withdrawing acceptances? Not only is it ethical, it's rational: it gives the admissions committees better forecasting and therefore applicants get more efficient results.

I just called a school that gave people on this forum acceptances yesterday with "Hi, I'm a PhD applicant. Did all the acceptance letters go out already?" Response, "No, we have a rolling admissions process and final decisions have not been made." Me: "Do you know when final decisions will be made?" Her: "Within the next couple of weeks" So, according to your logic, she just told me I would see a reject letter in a couple of weeks because the offers have been completed?

How did they notify you? Phone, email?

What's the norm in Political Science for withdrawing an acceptance, e.g. someone gets admitted to NYU but is pending at Purdue and knows she will take NYU over Purdue, shouldn't she withdraw her application from Purdue?

I don't believe someone got into Yale. Oxon and Suddenly Paranoid clearly would've heard back from yale in the first batch.

Legal academia is a different ball game. Having a phd is now becoming the norm. Jonathan click, a jd/phd from george mason is tt at penn. If you can get a phd and do empirical research, you'll land a job at a law school. I also think there's always exceptions -- I think someone who can integrate political science with behavioral economics will be a strong candidate even if he went to johns hopkins. Also, hiring works different in professional schools and think tanks - a business school might like a notre dame phd who can do ethics or a texas phd who can do institutions and organizations. Someone who can teach law and economics is going to get hired at a law school even if not top 10 (see henry butler, gerrit de geest, etc). And for think tanks, phds are plusses because think tanks have become a lot more serious about empirical research and many are attaching themselves to universities (baylor college of medicine, george mason, and ucsd are going in this direction). And, look at the faculties of top 50 liberal arts colleges, many plsc profs are not from the top ... But they're excellent teachers, which matters there. And in terms of private sector ... A phd makes you a lot better at developing algorithms and forecasting at a hedge fund than does an mpp. There's a world outside political science departments for those of us who aren't lucky enough to go to a top 10.

Could the study be limited? I only applied to east coast schools and will only be looking for east coast placements post phd, e.g. I'd sacrifice placement if it meant staying in the region. If a lot of people, esp. Ivy league graduates behave in such a manner, then you could have a group of highly qualified phd candidates with a low placement percentage due to regional preferences. And, in many ways, even a brown phd can get away with this (eg avoid placement) with more ease than a rochester phd simply because the ivies have more cash. Under the east coast snob analysis, I'm not sure placement equates to quality. And to whoever said think tanks are academic backups: the center for neuroeconomics is a think tank with more nobel laureates than any political science department. Again, preferences matter.

Called Yale today. Facts: Decisions have not been made yet. Decisions are made in the month of February and they expect to make final decisions within the next 2 weeks.

Any news from Yale?

You could call Yale. 203.432.5241

Has anyone noticed that if you select the "I'd like to access a more current version of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences application" bullet on the apply.embark.com online application sign in, it takes you to the financial aid form? Wonder if this means anything . . .

Those Yalies who received feedback from the Department . . . did you call the Department to inquire about when final decisions would be made?

I think Thom Wall is a little busy: