Niels

You believe these fools have still not told me officially? For Christ sake, I live in NYC too so it's not "in the mail." BTW, I heard that NSSR offers something like $44K a year for full-time profs. NOT an enticing offer. I would imagine many of them leave.

TA's have a very heavy teaching load. Sometimes instructing up to two courses per semester every semester starting second year (the deal they offered me). Living on 18K in NYC is do-able, but you're gonna have roomies and live far (in terms of time of commute) from the CUNY Grad center. Also, your teaching stint can be at ANY CUNY campus throughout the city. God help you if you get sent out to the College of Staten Island and you live in the Bronx. But more importantly, their INDIVIDUAL health insurance plan is over $2000 a year. That's outrageous given the fact that SUNY grad students pay about $110. ALl things to consider...

(btw, I'm going to UChicago)

I totally agree!! One stress after another! Ah, the life. Good luck for your first year everyone!

Make your decision carefully, my friends. I really love CUNY's polisci faculty and the students seem great. But, cost of living in NYC is outrageous (I speak as a native), their teaching load is comparatively heavy, and the CUNY health insurance issue is huge (although I think it is likely to change in the next couple of years, check out the opening post on this thread). I was fortunate enough to get a great offer from one of my top choices, so I actually turned down CUNY's $16K aid offer. I hope they pass one on to all of you! Good luck in all your endeavors!

No dice. I received the letter via post today (April 11). I live in NY. The letter was dated April 4. 1200 predoctoral applications, 60 awards. Good luck everyone!

I received an email from the MA program assistant today informing me that I was put on the waitlist. She attached a letter from the admissions committee: "The Admissions Committee recently met and considered over two hundred applications for the Master

I didn't get it. The letter came couple days ago, dated March 24.

I've heard nothing yet. They really have to get on the ball with this. I'll be calling on Monday.

God, NSSR is SO SLOW! I called last Tuesday. The secretary told me I was in and my file was being sent "back to admission" so they gauge some sort of financial offer (a pitiful one, I imagine). We're getting really close to April 15....

They all seem pretty satisfied. Of course, there's all sorts mild debates/issues within the subfields (TAing for specific profs, what courses are being made available, ec.). However, no one has seemed disgruntled. The stipends are decent, the community is tight, and the department has great resources for the graduate students (that is, offices, a nice lounge, $ for conferences, etc).

wow, typos are embarrassing. "their may be..." Ha HA!

The Program: This is a little misleading. According to their Graduate Guidebook, available on their website: " The rules of the Indiana University Graduate School require the doctoral student to have completed 90 hours of graduate credit. Typically, two-thirds of the 90 hours are taken in formal course work and one-third in thesis credit. " Most of the students I talked to had very few or no classes in their third year. They were studying for the exams or doing independent work for credit. The guidebook also has the options for the quantitative requirement. My understanding is that basic stats courses are required for all except theory students, who can do qualitative methods. I'm not sure though, I'd check the fine print. I find the program to be solidly well-designed. Here's their (ambitious) outline (most students don't finish in under 5 years. That is the absolute fastest): First Year

I just came back from visiting the campus. Their program is really solid, at least in theory (they call it political philosophy). If anyone has questions/cares, I can write more about my impressions.

I called the department todays. They told me to call next week if I don't hear anything from them. They also told me they look at applications from visa students (Americans and other international students) last. They also don't have an April 15 matriculation deadline like everyone else. Great.