Determinedandnervous

@Bubandis, this one's for you.

It seems like you're interested in a combination of the political economy of development and democratization. I would suggest off the top of my head that you check out all the top programs in the US (consulting the US news and world report rankings), and also check out Ohio State, Penn State, and Pittsburgh for conflict. Unfortunately, any PhD program worth its salt will not allow you to take courses remotely. You may get some credit from your master's but that's about it. You could maybe break into the US job market with a prestigious postdoc but it's still highly unlikely, considering there is an overproduction of American PhDs for those jobs. If you're serious about the US job market, choose a US PhD, the higher ranked the better.

I have officially committed to Penn State.

With US or UK programs, I would look into what you wish to do (I'm guessing peace studies) and then find faculty in PhD programs that do that. We can't really recommend anything beyond that without knowing your interests. EUI is a great school, and it would likely open doors for you in the European market. However, the US market is almost totally reserved for US PhD's, so if you want to go into the American market, that's something to keep in mind. I'm confused on the online program thing, what do you mean by that?

Is anyone else going to be at the OSU event Monday-Wednesday?

Canadian and British programs tend to be much less quantitative than American programs, though quantitative methods really aren't all that bad once you get the hang of them. However, if it's a policy program you're looking for to do applied work, we in the political science subforum are less apt to recommend you a good place than the professional program in government/public affairs subforum, so I recommend going there for more comprehensive advice.

Narrowed it down to a handful of places, and I've done 2 visits thus far.

Plus, I've seen quite a few polisci PhD's in communication departments, but not the other way around.

We should be getting funding decisions today or tomorrow.

Absolutely ask for an extension. Is this a program in the US? If so, they have to give you until April 15, so the offer shouldn't expire on March 14 anyway.

I didn't post my SOP because I didn't want adcoms from the schools that I applied to to identify me. Anyone can PM me for it though if they wish to see it.

I say if it's April 15 and they did not render a decision then you should ask for your money back.

The way you're doing it is exactly how we all did it - find the schools with 2-4 professors in your research area of interest. The fact that you're finding said schools is good - keep them in mind as you'll likely apply to at least 7. With your research interests, I would also suggest looking into PhD's in public policy and look up the faculty in those programs.

I wasn't sure because some were reporting HKS rejections today.

Did you apply to the Harvard Department of Government or the Harvard Kennedy School?

There is no set visit day for UIUC. You have to arrange your visit with the DGS. I think that's a great way to do it, since not everyone can make it for a predetermined visiting weekend, plus it's an experience tailored to you. I'll be going there to visit soon, very excited.

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: Public LAC Major(s)/Minor(s): Double-major Political Science and History Undergrad GPA: translates to 3.9/4 Type of Grad: N/A Grad GPA: N/A GRE: V170/Q161/AW5.0 Any Special Courses: Research Methods in Political Science, Research Methods in History, Econometrics Letters of Recommendation: Two from senior members of the Political Science Department, one Assistant Professor in History Department (1 from PS and 2 from HIS in a handful of places) Research Experience: Senior thesis, currently working on 1 working paper, revising another Teaching Experience: None Subfield/Research Interests: Comparative/American/institutions Other: Applied political experience in undergrad, internship in Canadian Parliament. RESULTS: Acceptances($$ or no $$): Six funded offers (1 top 20, 3 top 30, 2 mid-rank), 1 unfunded master's Waitlists: 0 Rejections: 5 (3 top 10, 2 top 20) Pending: 3 Going to: Don't know yet LESSONS LEARNED: Fit matters a lot, so read up as much as possible to find which people are the best to work with. At the same time, it doesn't have to be a perfect fit, though that has helped me. The adComs work in a low-signal, high-noise environment, so send as many positive signals as possible in your file to make it less ambiguous. Also, make contingency plans for if you're not admitted - I made them and was less anxious because of it, though I ended up not needing them. SOP: I don't feel comfortable posting it publicly, so PM me for it.

I think I'm the runt of the litter here - I'm 20, and went straight from high school ---> BA ---> applying. I didn't put this on my SOP because no one would have believed me (and rightly so, so many people use it as a cliché) but I knew academia interested me starting at around the end of high school. Just like @ultraultra, I was also pretty heavily involved in the political world during my undergrad. I was vacillating between those two worlds until about a year ago, when I got more acquainted with the literature and found academic questions were much more interesting than applied questions.

Didn't get one :/ Doesn't look too good for me, but I can't complain since I have other offers I'm happy with.

I am also planning on going to three, and I would say only drop one if you absolutely have to or if there's a scheduling conflict.

I didn't receive an email from any of my POI's there, do you think I should be worried?

Anyone have any insider info on Cornell or Rochester? I know I probably sound like a broken record asking about Rochester, but I'm really not sure what's going on there.

Is anyone going to the Penn State campus weekend event?

I'm not sure how it works with Canada, but maybe try explaining your situation and see if you can get an extension?

Congrats on getting into those schools! That's a huge achievement. I think you should visit all three, talk with the faculty, and get a feel for each place. If you end up not being able to decide from that, take a look at placement record for people in your subfield. If you still can't decide, then use a random number generator, assign a number to eachs school, and see what it picks. Either you'll find that you're okay with the option that it chose, or you'll find that you wish it chose a different school. In the latter case, choose that different school.