elw

You call it hope — that fire of fire! It is but agony of desire.

Congratulations to all the California acceptances! All those Accepted on the results page — that's what we like to see.

For travel expenses for the open house, you mean? Told to book my own flight, they reimburse up to $250, plus one night's stay at the swanky Boulder Inn. LOL.

I'm amused, myself. Also: Whose parents pressure them into applying for a graduate degree in political science? Med school, sure, maybe. But this field?

Looks like Syracuse arrives toward the end of Feb. I should expect to hear from MIT and Minnesota before big orange. Any other Minnesota applicants? A lot of people speak highly of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul region — I wouldn't mind a visit.

Are we talking Harvard/Yale Ivy or Brown/UPenn Ivy? Regardless — we've got snow and classes are canceled. I pick let's drink!

I went with the "local option" per the previous poster, on the advice of then-current/recent graduates, and I don't regret the decision. It's a terminal two-year master's that typically serves as a springboard to PhD programs for one to two graduates each year. Ten to 12 students, and the ability to secure funding as a TA for the most qualified. I don't know how much reputation buys you in this situation, nor do I know of how selective applicable terminal programs might get. I would contact programs that you're interested in and directly inquire — it's not a unique situation. On the plus side, a weak undergraduate transcript is weighed far less heavily if you are able to demonstrate success in a master's program and all other components of a future PhD application are strong.

+1 with no news on the northwest front. We'll get our rejections soon enough!

Not to start a debate, but just to note — the U.S. News ranking is solely a survey of academics at peer institutions, so there's no weight per se on placement or research.

What rankings are people referring to, however?

Daww, New Haven isn't terrible...

To whittle away the time, here's something I'm curious about — how did folks pick schools to apply to, rank-/competitiveness-wise? I was advised to have 2-3 reach options, 4-5 good fits, and another 1-2 "safe" choices. Because of extenuating circumstances (attempting to co-locate with my significant other), I ended up with 11 applications, spread between NRC R rankings of 7-20 (high-low, OSU) and 38-70 (Syracuse). In hindsight, I may have more closely evaluated some higher-tier programs. But hindsight, 20/20 vision, and all that jazz...

N of 1, naturally.

OK... I will take the opposite stance. I am in my second year of a terminal master's at an institution that grants the option but where the faculty overwhelmingly recommends the non-thesis option (meaning: comprehensive exams this spring). Their rationale is the following: The thesis requires extraneous hurdles that have nothing to do with the actual quality of your work (or potential publication opportunities for that matter) but which have (in my advisors' experience) added a year onto the program before completion. Plus, the beneficial experience of comprehensive exams. Instead of getting mired down in (largely bureaucratic) hurdles related to the thesis, I've instead produced four 25-35 page academic papers, concentrated on coursework, and am in the middle of an independent project that is an experimental survey of undergraduates (involving coding the experiment, IRB approval, paper, conference presentation, etc.). I will be completing the master's on time, and have, suffice to say, been successful this application cycle to my own satisfaction. I'm willing to discuss the topic further with the OP via private message. But as a final note, rhetorically, I would hope that students place more faith in their advisors than on online forums. I know that I have good relationships with my advisors and I trust their advice. I don't see what value a thesis adds vis-a-vis a research project.

Per PSR (comports with what I've heard): "Baseline package at Brown: 23,500 + 2500 for 4 summers. You can apply for extra money for one year of fieldwork in 4th or 5th year, summer methods programs and writing fellowships for dissertation from the department. Other centers and programs can provide additional funds for summer fieldwork."

Perfect! Deal.

Our backup plan has been a food truck.

That's sadistic! Zilch from Minnesota to date, ryanira2.

Piggybacking off the late deadline conversation: There are a lot of terminal master's programs out there with later deadlines, at institutions that don't offer a PhD. Some do offer funding. As someone who spent several years between undergraduate studies and graduate school (where I entered such a program), there are various benefits and drawbacks to such a plan, dependent on the situation. For me, I was far removed from recommenders at my undergraduate institution, I wasn't completely confident graduate school was the correct direction, and my undergraduate record suffered from a low GPA and lack of methods training/research experience. In a different situation, schuaust — if you had ongoing research that you could continue work on, for instance — it might make greater sense to focus on that and to concentrate on building up the best application for next season. But it's too early! You've got plenty of applications still pending.

They're highly correlated.

Depends on the program. CU Boulder relayed that funding decisions would be made following the recruitment weekend. Other programs (Stony Brook and Illinois, in my experience) fund all incoming students, but funding details arrive later after acceptances. All conventional wisdom says a non-funded admission into a doctoral program is essentially a rejection because you do not want to be saddled with six-figure debt.

There was a thread on poli sci rumors, but again — anonymous and hardly to be taken seriously.

Agree with ultraultra that it's too soon to say for certain — but Stony Brook does top my list for myriad reasons. It's certainly not frowned upon and you might get a better idea of when a decision can be expected — just make sure to query an appropriate person (admissions director, or coordinator) and remember it's arguably still early on in the admissions process.

Stony Brook!

We submitted our apps two minutes apart.