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rwillh11

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    2015 Fall

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  1. I would think you would have a shot at all of those higher ranked places you listed, as long as the faculty fit is good. There is obviously a tradeoff when applying to higher ranked schools, in that you are less likely to get in, but if you want to get a job at the end you really want to go to the best place you can get into. Look at the placement pages for BU and Brown...as I recall BU doesn't even list placements?
  2. Any reason you aren't applying to Oxbridge-is it a bad fit, or just a don't want to? At the MSc level, I would think you would have a very good chance at Oxbridge/LSE. MSc admissions standards are substantially lower than both PhD and undergrad standards. I would disagree with the above that university prestige is less of a thing at post grad level..at least in the social sciences/politics world, where jobs are scare, it really does help to have the right name on your CV. Beyond that, if you do want to do a PhD eventually, it will look great to have gone to a top school for the master's, and you will have better letter writers as well. If you are really averse to Oxbridge that is fine...and I think the LSE in particular could also be a great fit (its where I did my MSc....), but no if you reason for not applying is doubt over whether you could get in, you should go for it.
  3. I don't think it is particularly selective. The big question I would ask, if you are thinking about getting a PhD there, is what do you hope to get out of it? What do you want to do with the degree? The academic job market is super competitive-and there isn't a ton that you can do with a poli sci PhD outside of academia-and the few interesting jobs for PhDs that don't go into academia are likely to go to people from top schools. Fwiw, they don't even have a section detailing job placement after completion, which is standard at pretty much every school. Not saying you shouldn't do a PhD, or shouldn't do one at Kent State....just something to be aware of and think about.
  4. your profile is pretty similar to mine, and I ended up getting into my top two choices, and am attending a "top-5". I actually regret not applying to more "top" schools-I think I would have ended up where I ended up even if I had applied and been accepted to all the top schools, but I definitely undersold myself when I was applying. The only thing I had that you don't was a 170/170 on the GRE, but I have no idea how much that matters. My advice would be, sure apply to a few top 50, but if you are going to apply to 10 programs, maybe 3-5 top 10, 3-4 10-25, and a few "safety" if need be. Fit really matters...but I would be very surprised if you can't get into a top-20 program. Also, apply widely...the application fees suck, but if you are on the fence about whether to apply to a specific school, but could see yourself attending if accepted, apply. I am in comparative, but know nothing about Indonesia, but I would suggest maybe broadening your focus to all of SE Asia...I don't think there are a ton of "Indonesia" scholars per se, but I know that a lot of the big departments do have people doing SE Asia generally. And of course, the comparative methodology traditionally does involving comparison of multiple cases.
  5. Usually these fund too, because you can establish residency after 1 year. It is more of an issue for international students. Maybe not all the UC Schools do, but the 'good' ones do.
  6. Brendan O'Leary at UPenn might be someone to look at. Sumantra Bose at the LSE is another one if you would look outside of the US.
  7. This. I got a master's, did the above, and got into all of my top choices. Pretty certain I wouldn't have gotten into those schools w/o the master's.
  8. to second what the last poster said, you should shoot high, and you would be doing yourself a disservice if you only apply to McGill and UT, those are good Canadian schools but the fact of the matter is any top-20 (maybe even 25-30?) US school is probably going to be a better bet for job market in the future.
  9. Pending GRE, you should be reasonably competitive anywhere. I wouldn't say any of those "special" courses are special, but IQMR could help if its relevant to what you want to reserach. What will determine where you should apply is what you are interested in researching, as if you are a strong fit at a department, you should have a good shot at admission.
  10. From your post its not clear if you want to do the Political Theory subfield, or if instead you plan on carrying out empirical research that is less quantitatively oriented. If it is the former, I can't imagine that your quant matters much, but if it is the latter then I think to get into a top program you would need to send some kind of signal that you can do math, either by finding a way to take math classes (some of my calc was done at a community college, it was ~$600 a course) or by acing the quant GRE.
  11. Can...but even to get a non-adjunct position at a community college, don't use usually need a PhD? Or at least, won't most applicants have one?
  12. What is your goal for doing an MA? What kind of career do you envision yourself having after you do one. I am sure that there is an MA program somewhere that will take you with that kind of GPA, but I doubt too many people here know very much about the specifics of getting one in Ontario. I think the most important question is what is your motivation for pursuing an MA
  13. If you have a compelling research interest and SOP, do well on the GRE and really do have good letters, I don't think those GPAs are poor enough to make it impossible. As far as doing one in the UK-are you an EU citizen? If not, funding is almost impossible to get (The LSE funds, and sometimes you can get scholarships at Oxbridge). I'm fairly confident (not 100%) that there is little to no funding for foreigners at the SOAS or Aberswyth. You should really weight the pros and cons of going after a PhD from a decent, but not top-tier program. What do you see yourself doing with a PhD? What outcomes would you require to be happy with doing the PhD. You may have a chance at some ~Top-40 programs, look at their job placement records (They should be on the websites, and be very suspicious if they are not) and decide whether the median and lower placements at these places would be the kinds of jobs you would be OK with.
  14. PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: Mid-Tier Private Major(s)/Minor(s):Political Science Undergrad GPA:3.9 Type of Grad: Master's in Poli Sci from Top-3 UK Grad GPA: Distinction (4.0?), Won prize for top overall grades in program GRE:170 V/ 170 Q/ 5.5 W Any Special Courses: Game Theory, 1 grad Quant Class (mostly regression techniques) Letters of Recommendation: 3 Political Scientists-1 from UG 2 from Master's Research Experience: RA as UG, Won award for Best Master's Thesis Teaching Experience: a TFA type thing for a year Subfield/Research Interests: Comparative, Europe, Parties and Elections, Migration Other: RESULTS: Acceptances($$ or no $$): 11 Waitlists: 0 Rejections: 4 Pending: Going to: Princeton Learned: 1. I couldn't really tell you why I got in where I did, and was rejected elsewhere. My rejections were mostly in the top 25 range, but I got into all the top 10s that I applied to so who knows? Fit matters for sure....but I thought I had good fit at some of my rejects. 2. I think its worth taking the time to take GRE twice. I went from 166/160 to 170/170 after taking the time to study. 3. Get your recommendations early. I was told at multiple schools that I had really excellent recommendations. 4. See above for SOP. Also I made mine super dry, and more like a cover letter, and was told by several people who had read my file that this actually made it stand out. I got right to the point, and nearly every word was about research in some way. SOP: PM me
  15. Oh right....you should be naming faculty (at least 2 I would say) who you would like to work with. But it seems less important to have a specific POI who you will work with, due to the nature of the discipline (you won't be working in someone's lab or generally jumping right on a research project). I would always name people whose work interests me, and meshes with mine-but I think in general decisions are not made by one person, and it is more about showing a general departmental fit, not targeting one person to work with.
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