wcsy

1 month and 3 days left...but who's counting?

Briefly about me: I’m enrolled in one of the top 10 programs and I took Ph.D. classes at another top 10 school when I was an undergraduate. In the last few years, I also visited several other schools and chatted with a lot of professors and students about this topic. I might repeat some of the things that have already been said by other people, but here are some of the things I learned.
 
In general, the ranking of a program matters enormously for several reasons. First, the best students are selected for and self-select into the most prestigious programs. To some extent it really is a self-fulfilling prophecy and no single individual can change that. Second, the top ranked programs offer the best opportunities for networking – they have a lot of prominent visitors from other universities that you can get in touch with. Third, how motivated and determined your peers are makes a big difference for how much you learn during your graduate studies and also how much you publish in later years, for example as coauthors. You will usually find a lot of highly motivated people at the top schools.
 
Note that although the top 10 programs probably offer a better training on average, individual professors can still be real disappointments and often programs outside of the top 10 also have great courses.
 
Fit matters, too, but here are some reasons why it usually doesn’t matter as much as ranking. Many people (if not most) change their research interests while they are going through the first few years of a Ph.D. program. You will learn completely new methodological tools and have a different perspective on political science research after your training. The type of questions you ask and you can possibly answer are likely to be very different from what you originally intended to do. The top 10 programs usually have a faculty that is diverse enough to make sure that you can follow your interests even if they change.
 
The ranking that I found to best represent the views of people in the discipline about the quality of different schools is the US News and World Report Ranking, maybe because it is based on the opinion of people in the discipline.
 
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/political-science-rankings
 
Another useful ranking is the placement ranking by Schmidt and Chingos that shows how successful individual universities are at placing job market candidates. The placement record is arguably the most important criterion for which program you might want to attend (it’s from 2007 though, so the information is a bit outdated and not 100% accurate in some cases).
 
http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~gillum/rankings_paper.pdf
 
Generally, always check the placement record of a school before you begin your studies there. It might not be your main concern at the beginning of your training but it will be later when you look for a job. If a program is not transparent about its placements that is not a good sign.
 
The top 3: Harvard, Stanford, Princeton
 
These three programs are outstanding for a number of reasons. They have some of the very best scholars in the field. When those people are on your dissertation committee, their connections will make it easier for you to get a job. The reputation of these universities will also ensure that their graduates get a good job outside of academia if their academic career doesn’t work out. Also, as I said above, the best students usually self-select into these programs, meaning that their superior position is constantly reinforced (it’s nearly impossible to break this cycle). From my perspective, there would only be two good reasons not to go to one of these if admitted – personal reasons (if, for example, someone definitely wants to live close to family and friends) or if you have absolutely clear and focused research interests for which there is a much better faculty match at another program - ideally still a top 10 program.
 
The top 10 (excluding top 3): Berkeley, Michigan, Columbia, Yale, UCLA, Duke, MIT, UCSD
 
If you’re admitted to two or more of the top 10, I think that each of them is worth a visit. The difference between these programs is not as significant as between the top 3 and everything else. All of these universities have their good and bad sides. I think it makes most sense to make a choice among top 10 programs based on which professors appear to be the best supervisors, which departments make the best impression on you, and in which city you can imagine to spend the next 5-7 years of your life. In general, the reputation of all of these schools is great and if you go to any of these programs what will matter most is how productive you are as a researcher (i.e. publications in peer reviewed journals).
 
The top 20 programs:
 
In most of the top 20 programs you will find professors with a great publication record and many also offer a good methods training. However, when it comes to job applications, the top 3 experience a very strong positive bias and the top 10 (without the top 3) experience a strong positive bias. This doesn’t mean it’s impossible to get a job if you’re coming from a top 20 program but it is definitely harder, given the same quality of research. You might want to consider this when making your decision.
 
Important: This is just my opinion, based on what I have learned about the “political science world” in the past few years. Please don’t treat anything I say as the absolute truth, also take the opinion of other people into account, and make your own informed decision when you decide where to spend the next few years of your life.

Yale-please just send out the rejs once you've made the decisions. Thanks. 

Folks, just to clarify for those who are nervous: Political Economy and Government and Government are two different beasts. In the PEG PhD program you should write a dissertation in political economy and have persons from both Econ and Government department on your committee. For Government PhD you will be Department of Government graduate student, and while you still can write dissertation in political economy, typically you won't have Econ professors on your guidance committee and will work with professors at Government department. Competition for admission to each program is separate competition. 

I hope Princeton will mail responses on Wednesday. Good luck to all, especially to those who, like me, did not get any good news yet:) 

Claiming one of the Columbia admits. I'm letting Wisconsin and NYU know that I won't be attending soon so hopefully one of y'all gets it. Good luck!

This is a good point. After battling through a PhD I do think many find it utterly devastating if they can't get the kind of job they imagined. It's quite natural really.. years of training and socialization for a career you might not make it into.
 
FakeCoach is right that there's a systematic overproduction of PhDs and the academic job market just can't take them all. It's grim, but it's the truth. The question is where you draw the line. Many of the denizens of PSR would say being outside the 'Top 5' dooms you to a life of failure. That's true if your idea of failure is working anywhere that's not H-Y-P-S/acronym of choice.
 
I miss the real coach

It's me Got a phone call from a 202 number and it was one of my POI. He said that the official letter will be sent out on Monday (not 100% sure) but he was on the committee and wanted to say congrats. 

It's me Got a phone call from a 202 number and it was one of my POI. He said that the official letter will be sent out on Monday (not 100% sure) but he was on the committee and wanted to say congrats. 

It's me Got a phone call from a 202 number and it was one of my POI. He said that the official letter will be sent out on Monday (not 100% sure) but he was on the committee and wanted to say congrats. 

I feel sheepish. You're right. Program administrators do a lot of thankless work and they're the glue that makes a graduate program run smoothly.

Anyone else in my position, don't do what I did!
 
EDITED TO ADD: This process is a little crazymaking—I can't imagine what it would be like to have no decisions at this point—but take a moment to think about the workload of the administrative staff.

Having been through this process two years ago -- I encourage all of you to hold off on this talk of "implicit rejections."  Nothing is final until you hear from the school.  
 
Some schools (including the department I attend now) will release offers in waves.  Even if the bulk of offers have gone out, it's very possible that you're really on more of an implicit wait list.  I was rejected from 2 schools many weeks after the rest of the rejections went out.
 
For many of you, the next month is going to be one of the most emotionally taxing times of your lives and a lot of your friends and family have no way to understand what you're going through.   I know this is easier said than done, but do what you can to take a deep breath and relax.  If you can, try to find some way to distract yourself.  
 
When I was going through this 2 years ago, there was a frequent user on here who had been rejected by every school that she applied to during the prior cycle, and she ended up at a top 5 program after re-applying the next year.  If you don't make it this time, it's not the end of the road.  That being said, I know exactly what it feels like to be in your place.  Just hang in there a few more weeks.  Best of luck to all of you.

The silence of UCSD is deafening...

Yes, my app status says "You have been Provisionally Admitted. As a Provisional Admit you are an officially admitted student and may register for classes in the quarter to which you were admitted..."

Ugh. Protip: don't go back and re-read your Personal Statement months after you've sent it. What an overwrought piece of garbage I wrote.

The same Gary King who got his Ph.D. at Wisconsin?

Same. Now all I wanna do is eating cakes/ sleeping...

Accepted to FSU!  Totally thought I was going to be rejected since several acceptances were already claimed, and I mentioned wanting to work with Will Moore (among others) even though he is apparently leaving.  Huge relief ;~}.

Hi all  - 
 
I posted the Duke info on the results page.  I applied to the dual PhD program in public policy and political science; however, that is through the Sanford school of public policy, not the political science department.  I heard from the Sanford school regarding my admission status a week ago -- apparently, the political science department does not have a say in joint admits.  Since I am coming straight from my undergrad, Sanford wanted me to complete their MPP program and then reapply to their PhD program afterwards.  Anyway, I ended up switching my application to the poli sci department this week, and they informed me that admission results should come out soon (I'm guessing within the next few weeks).  
 
I hope that puts you all at ease.
 
Best of luck!

Plans A-N are the 14 schools I applied to. 
O is an Anti-human trafficking organization
P is the FBI
Q is a National Geographic photographer
R is marry into money. 

Moving to stage 2: checking spam regularly

I know it's difficult [i'm inclined to assume the same about my own pending status], but I wouldn't be quite so quick to assume a rejection--per the search, no one else appears to have received any sort of notice in either direction from UW-M.  Furthermore, at least in years past, the department emailed those they accepted on the Monday which corresponds to tomorrow.