ugurcanevci

A pleasure! I saw that topic very randomly and I had to reply

I am not sure how does it work with waitlisted applicants, but if you are ever invited for an interview, it is almost certain that you were admitted to the program already.

I’m currently a PhD candidate at UCI and I can confirm that everyone that I know in my cohort had interviews before receiving their admission letters. The interviews were not like really official interviews, but they were some sort of a check-in before the school sent admission letters.

I was a Fulbright Scholar at NYU MA. The stipend is $2k. It's barely enough even if you live far enough in Brooklyn or Queens. Rent for a room in Manhattan can easily be higher than the stipend.

The answer from Georgetown: "Georgetown is on Easter break now but we'll get back to you after the break with an update (hopefully tomorrow)" I don't know if the update will be on the decision, or if it will be simply something informing us about the waitlist.

I don't think it's worth the investment. Lack of interaction with the faculty, and one year is not enough to get strong enough letter of recommendations. You can find many other ways to evaluate how strong was your application.

This is what I wrote somewhere else. " Hi all! These are some answers that I sent to someone who is considering the MA Program at NYU. I thought it could be beneficial to submit the same information here. Answer about funding: I came here as a Fulbright Scholar, and when you have some external funding, GSAS waives the tuition fee. But other than that, I believe that some people did act as graders, although I do not know how much as the pay. Lastly, there were RA positions available (I was indeed one) but they are extremely scarce. Like, the first year there was only one opportunity, and the professors were seeking for two RAs. I got lucky because they were looking for someone who is interested in the ethnic conflict in Turkey and well, I am Turkish. Therefore, I would not rely on a RA expectation. It was 12 hours per week, and $20 per hour, although I wasn't paid due to my Fulbright stipend. NYC Answer: Not dangerous at all (Except some areas that you would never go anyways :)). You just have to be street savvy, but if you lived in a big city, you'll be fine. It's very fun here, all kind of food, bars, entertainment... Literally, you can find everything you want. Any kind of opportunity. Any type of music, art, conference, UN events... It's quite impossible to capture everything that's about NYC in a single message. Also, being an international here is extremely easy because everybody treats you as if you were a local. It is very expensive. Rent is quite high. A room in Manhattan would be around $1300 to $3000. If you go to Brooklyn and Queens, you can also find expensive rooms, but there are others available for as low as $800. You'll also need a metro card in that case, which is $120. For the rest of the costs, you can try to have a look at numbeo.com. It is mostly accurate in terms of prices. Answer: Nicole Simonelli is going to be your advisor. There are no topic specific advisors. You pick your thesis advisor later. It can be anyone who approves to be your advisor. Including the faculty members. But, you have to have a good explanation on why you want to work with them, and it is better if your subject is something quantitative. Answer: Professors get along well, but the problem is that the core courses are taught by the adjunct faculty. So, many people in our program actually end up taking no single class from a faculty member, but they only met adjunct people. Their advisors are also the adjunct faculty members. You can see the link below, some of the classes are only open to MA students, and some others (including Przeworski, yes) are open to both MA and PhD. However, I believe that no single MA student could take his class because it required extensive knowledge on game theory. http://politics.as.nyu.edu/object/ma.scheduleFall2016 As an RA, I was working with two faculty members. They were super helpful, and now they are also my thesis advisors. They were indeed the best thing happened to me in this program. I am sure that other professors would also be willing to advise you, but you have to have a very specific idea that why you wanted to work with them, and how is your subject is in line with what they do. Because it is very likely that you will end up not taking any courses from them, and they won't know you. So, it will be your task to convince them to advise you even if they don't know you. "

I'm a student at NYU's MA and I'll update here today with some more info.

Claiming a Georgetown waitlist. I don't expect much though. I've already accepted an offer anyways.

Lots of people I know got accepted to the programs you mentioned with less competitive files than yours (no funding though). As long as you get good references and write good letters, I don't see any reason for you to be rejected.

If you want to increase your chances in a comparative/American PhD , just try to take any quantitative class and research project you can find there. In your position, your undergrad career should be sufficient to prove your qualitative skills anyways.

I have a friend who finished Columbia's MA program last year. She's been applying to places for the last two cycle. Didn't get into somewhere unfortunately. I know her personally, she is ambitious and I believed that she had a great potential to be an exceptional political scientist, but she couldn't get into the programs that are not T10. Therefore, Columbia's MA might not be very cost efficient. Additionally, I assume that you are applying for theory sub-field due to your philosophy background. But, if it is comparative or american, it really helps to have some quantitative education and quantitative research agenda.

Hi all! These are some answers that I sent to someone who is considering the MA Program at NYU. I thought it could be beneficial to submit the same information here. Answer about funding: I came here as a Fulbright Scholar, and when you have some external funding, GSAS waives the tuition fee. But other than that, I believe that some people did act as graders, although I do not know how much as the pay. Lastly, there were RA positions available (I was indeed one) but they are extremely scarce. Like, the first year there was only one opportunity, and the professors were seeking for two RAs. I got lucky because they were looking for someone who is interested in the ethnic conflict in Turkey and well, I am Turkish. Therefore, I would not rely on a RA expectation. It was 12 hours per week, and $20 per hour, although I wasn't paid due to my Fulbright stipend. NYC Answer: Not dangerous at all (Except some areas that you would never go anyways :)). You just have to be street savvy, but if you lived in a big city, you'll be fine. It's very fun here, all kind of food, bars, entertainment... Literally, you can find everything you want. Any kind of opportunity. Any type of music, art, conference, UN events... It's quite impossible to capture everything that's about NYC in a single message. Also, being an international here is extremely easy because everybody treats you as if you were a local. It is very expensive. Rent is quite high. A room in Manhattan would be around $1300 to $3000. If you go to Brooklyn and Queens, you can also find expensive rooms, but there are others available for as low as $800. You'll also need a metro card in that case, which is $120. For the rest of the costs, you can try to have a look at numbeo.com. It is mostly accurate in terms of prices. Answer: Nicole Simonelli is going to be your advisor. There are no topic specific advisors. You pick your thesis advisor later. It can be anyone who approves to be your advisor. Including the faculty members. But, you have to have a good explanation on why you want to work with them, and it is better if your subject is something quantitative. Answer: Professors get along well, but the problem is that the core courses are taught by the adjunct faculty. So, many people in our program actually end up taking no single class from a faculty member, but they only met adjunct people. Their advisors are also the adjunct faculty members. You can see the link below, some of the classes are only open to MA students, and some others (including Przeworski, yes) are open to both MA and PhD. However, I believe that no single MA student could take his class because it required extensive knowledge on game theory. http://politics.as.nyu.edu/object/ma.scheduleFall2016 As an RA, I was working with two faculty members. They were super helpful, and now they are also my thesis advisors. They were indeed the best thing happened to me in this program. I am sure that other professors would also be willing to advise you, but you have to have a very specific idea that why you wanted to work with them, and how is your subject is in line with what they do. Because it is very likely that you will end up not taking any courses from them, and they won't know you. So, it will be your task to convince them to advise you even if they don't know you.

I am sorry to tell you these news but UCI is probably done. The visiting day is on March 3, and the last day to RSVP was February 15

And, for those who may consider the MA Program at NYU, you can shoot me a message, I am getting my MA from NYU Politics Department this semester.