guest789

Congratulations. Relatedly... I wonder if this is indicative of a general pattern this year, i.e. will most applicants who get into to a top school be shut out from all but one?

Another plus for UT Austin @nivy25: if you decide to go industry route, the tech startup scene in Austin would mean you a) are less likely to have to move afterwards assuming you get a job in data analytics/science/tech public policy - all of which are common routes post poli sci grad school - and b) are likely to be in that small proportion earning 6 figures as @BunniesInSpace implied. [Another way to get into that group is to go a top school (generally like Princeton or quant methods wise like NYU) or otherwise get outstanding methods skills in some other program.]

I think most standard political science programs (not the "boutique" empirical/formal programs like Rochester or NYU) consist of 90% of the cohort struggling through the methods sequence, then doing simple regressions throughout their career. That's to say I wouldn't rule yourself out of attending a standard or "quant" program. There are only a few programs that really train methods-heavy political scientists (NYU and WUSTL immediately come to mind, as does Stanford), and basically only one that actually trains proper methodologists without substantive interests (Harvard with King and Imai). Keep in mind, however, that even Harvard has a substantial body of qualitative faculty and students and you only need to take one quant course there. Many comparativists at Harvard are qualitative (e.g. Steven Levitsky). So, in sum, I would suggest looking at broad programs that have a variety of methods and epistemological approaches.

It's a business expense - not personal - for them, so I think you should relax in terms of what you would look like. Which school is doing in-person visits during COVID anyway?

Spirling is also a really good example of someone whose research interests notably changed from starting PhD program #1, then went to Rochester to presumably do formal theory (otherwise why would you go there...), to the work he does now in methods. FWIW for those who think their research interests will stay the same...

I saw a twitter thread on this a few months ago, let me dig it up... he went to UBC.

Let them know. If you get the NSF, for example, it's not uncommon for departments to admit you after the fact especially if you were borderline.

I'm thinking very seriously about whether a PhD is worth it. These numbers are terrible:

I think you're in a rude awakening at any department if you expect tons of help from professors all the time. IDK.. Grad students are adults, they need to manage their own publications, timeline, etc. It's not like professors at USC are likely to be any more available than UChicago... I think BrownSugar should just wait and see what the admit days are like.

I'm not who you asked @BrownSugar, but UChicago already decided that you fit their program! That's what fit refers to and they all expect us to change our research interests anyway,

It depends on the school, but at the UCs it's like 80-100K/year (it increases quickly though, particularly with outside offers). It would be less at other schools. Public universities often have to release this information, by the way, so you can check. And obviously, a job at a UC is very very very hard to get and very prestigious.

Woops, didn't read - I thought you were talking about "admittances" to MIT.

If you still want to do law in political science, like say election law or gerrymandering, he would be a great person to work with. And don't worry about the prestige - he's a full professor.

Agreed with all of this. I found it really helpful to have a research idea when I was learning R as well. I was learning it for a reason - it was the only way (given I didnt have access to Stata) to answer my research question. So I kind of had to learn it.

Ah, what I said really only applies to people in the same department as the one to which they're applying. And people still do get admitted to their home departments and choose to attend; I just think it's generally discouraged.