amripley
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Everything posted by amripley
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Canadian Political Science Programs- Fall 2017 cycle
amripley replied to somuchtoread's topic in Political Science Forum
I have applied to UBC, McGill, and U of T (my undergraduate Alma Mater) for IR/IPE. I might fire off an application to the Basillie School at UW before their deadline on Sunday. Good luck everyone! -
Comments on my profile for PhD in Canada
amripley replied to boruchan93's topic in Political Science Forum
The Balsillie School programme is interesting -- definitely a bit unconventional, but extraordinarily well resourced and supported by some top-flight faculty. Waterloo the city is a bit of a snooze (grew up there, pretty suburban), but academic life in town could be lively and pretty fulfilling intellectually. Because the school is so new (est. 2007) it's hard to say what their placement record looks life. My understanding is that they gear their grads to policy/NGO/business careers rather than TT jobs, and that their alums are accordingly quite successful in those areas. Again, unconventional -- hard for us to use the same metrics we'd use for a more "traditional" programme like U of T or Western. -
Comments on my profile for PhD in Canada
amripley replied to boruchan93's topic in Political Science Forum
Your profile is impressive. Obviously admissions panels must take many factors into account, but I don't think you'll have any difficulty getting acceptances at most of the schools on your list. I'm surprised you're not considering McGill, UBC, or the Balsillie School in Waterloo -- they all have strong programs and faculty interested in your field. -
Can't speak to the US, but in Canada, any portion of the stipend that comes from regular wages (TA ships, etc) will be taxed (albeit at a very low rate), while fellowships/scholarships/bursaries are not taxed. For holders of really big awards, this is a huge boon. A $20,000+ SSHRC award would put most people up a tax bracket or two, so not having that count toward your total is definitely nice. Either way, the fact that tuition, ancillary fees, and textbooks are all (partially) tax deductible means that most graduate students will be getting their payroll tax back -- and then some.
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I'd like to get some thoughts on this -- hopefully now that the boards are heating up a bit people can comment!
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I'd like to get some thoughts on this -- hopefully now that the boards are heating up a bit people can comment!
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Now that the forums are heating up again, does anyone have more to say on this?
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As per their 2014 Senate Review, " Starting with the entering class of 2013-14, we now provide commitments of full funding for five years as well as two (or three) summers to all admitted students. The rationale behind this is that it is no longer realistic to recruit students without funding, if we are to continue to be competitive with peer institutions. While it has always been the case that our program does not successfully compete in attracting graduate students who are admitted to the country’s very top departments (Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, etc.), the institutions which with we regularly compete effectively for students (MIT, NYU, Duke, etc.) now offer full funding to all admitted students. Not moving to an equivalent model would have reduced our competitiveness and eroded our ability to attract the best students." So, what's the truth?
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University of Pennsylvania PhD Political Science
amripley replied to amripley's topic in Political Science Forum
@Penelope Higgins So it seems; that wasn't immediately obvious on the Department's website. Penn's still of interest, however. -
@PizzaCat93 Thanks for the insight. So you're saying that UNC fully funds (e.g. tuition + ) everyone it brings in?
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I'm a prospective applicant to the PhD program in the Department of Political Science at UVa. My focus is in the IPE arena, and I'm interested in working with Herman Schwartz or Sonal Pandya. I'd like to hear from a current student or recent graduate of the program about funding opportunities, RA, TA, and fellowship opportunities within the Department, student engagement with faculty, and perceptions of faculty overall. Is the general feeling that PhD students are well supported throughout their time at UVa? Side-comments about living in Charlottesville are also appreciated! Please feel free to PM me if preferred.
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I'm a prospective applicant to the PhD program in Political Science at USC. My focus is in the IPE arena, and I'm interested in working with Ben Graham or Jonathan Aronson. I'd like to hear from a current student or recent graduate of the program about funding packages, RA, TA, and fellowship opportunities within the program, student engagement with faculty, and perceptions of faculty overall. Is the general feeling that PhD students are well supported throughout their time at USC? Any general reflections on the quality of the program? Side-comments about living in South Central LA are also appreciated! Feel free to PM me if you prefer.
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I'm a prospective applicant to the PhD program in the Department of Political Science at UPenn. My focus is in the IPE arena, and I'm interested in working with Julia Gray, Jennifer Amyx, or Edward Mansfield. I'd like to hear from a current student or recent graduate of the program about funding opportunities, RA, TA, and fellowship opportunities within the Department, student engagement with faculty, and perceptions of faculty overall. Is the general feeling that PhD students are well supported throughout their time at Penn? Side-comments about living in Philly are also appreciated. Feel free to PM me if your prefer.
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I'm a prospective applicant to the PhD program in the Department of Political Science at UCLA. My focus is in the IPE arena, and I'm interested in working with Michael Ross (amongst others). I'd like to hear from a current student or recent graduate of the program about funding opportunities (is the program fully funded? is there competition for funding between students? I've heard differing reports on this, and the truth isn't immediately clear from UCLA's website...), RA, TA, and fellowship opportunities within the Department, student engagement with faculty, and perceptions of faculty overall. Is the general feeling that PhD students are well supported throughout their time at UCLA? Side-comments about living in West LA are also appreciated!
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I'm a prospective applicant to the PhD program in Political Science at NYU. My focus is in the IPE arena, and I'm interested in working with Shanker Satyanath, Peter Rosendorff, or Eric Dickson. I'd like to hear from a current student or recent graduate of the program about funding opportunities (they seem generous), RA, TA, and fellowship opportunities within the program, student engagement with faculty, and perceptions of faculty overall. Is the general feeling that PhD students are well supported throughout their time at NYU? Side-comments about living in Manhattan (or maybe Brooklyn, more realistically?) are also appreciated.
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I'm a prospective applicant to the PhD program in Political Science at UC San Diego. My focus is in the IPE arena, and I'm interested in working with Lawrence Broz or Peter Gourevitch. I'd like to hear from a current student or recent graduate of the program about funding opportunities (they seem generous), RA, TA, and fellowship opportunities within the program, student engagement with faculty, and perceptions of faculty overall. Is the general feeling that PhD students are well supported throughout their time at UCSD? Side-comments about living in San Diego/La Jolla are also appreciated.
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I'm a prospective applicant to the PhD program in the Department of Political Science at UNC Chapel Hill. My focus is in the IPE arena, and I'm interested in working with Thomas Oatley, Layna Mosley, or Tim McKeown. I'd like to hear from a current student or recent graduate of the program about funding opportunities (is the program fully funded? this isn't immediately clear from UNC's website), RA, TA, and fellowship opportunities within the Department, student engagement with faculty, and perceptions of faculty overall. Is the general feeling that PhD students are well supported throughout their time at UNC? Side-comments about living in Chapel Hill are also appreciated.
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@AFRH I'm applying to start fall 2017 @alphazeta Thanks for the heads up about the funding situation at UCLA. This is where forums come in handy. Thanks for all the helpful insights! I had a very long and fruitful talk with my MA advisor last week; we began to refine the list according to suitability of faculty, overall quality of program, methodological competency (esp. quantitative), and funding opportunities. UCLA and Michigan have been moved down the list (far in the latter case); Harvard, UCSD, Princeton, and NYU are tops. Second-tier choices at this point are GWU, UVA, UNC, USC, McGill — in approximately that order. Can anyone speak to the quality/overall character of the program at Chapel Hill? They obviously have some solid IR/IPE people on faculty (Oatley), but beyond that I'm not really sure what to make of the program.
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@alphazeta This is reassuring to hear! I was hoping that my strong MA and strong references would help balance out a good but otherwise unremarkable undergrad GPA, and your comment seems to bear this out. For all the reasons you list, I'm more interested in American schools than Canadian. Briefly responding to your other points: - Barry Eichengreen is a big part of why I'm interested in Berkeley, so your caution is much appreciated. - Harvard, for all the reasons you list, seems like a very sound choice. It still feels overly ambitious, but perhaps it's better to let their admissions ctte. do the weeding out. - After some shuffling, I feel like my top four (not that there aren't others, there are) go something like this: (1) Harvard, (2) UCSD, (3) UCLA, (4) Princeton. - What thoughts do you have about Ann Arbor? @ipe11 Thanks for your helpful insights on UCSD. Quite a few people there I'm interested in working with (Lake, Broz, Haggard). I'm also grateful for your (dissenting!) take on USC. Does the work going on at Dornsife seem particularly innovative, the advisors/faculty dedicated and engaged? General: any comments on UCLA, and the suitability of their large department for this kind of work? There are some faculty members there (Michael Ross, Rogowski) whose work I really admire, and their grad program seems pretty well sorted.
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Hi all! I'm applying to doctoral programs this fall, and am looking for some advice. I have an Honours BA from a top Canadian university, with a GPA in my junior and senior years of just under 3.7. I did an exchange to the University of Edinburgh as an undergraduate. I also have a newly finished MA from another top Canadian school, with an A coursework average and a thesis which was called "one of the best we've ever seen." So, I take that as a good sign. I also have many conference presentations and a co-authored paper (with a professor) on my CV. I'm planning to write the GRE in August. My MA work focused on the behaviour of regional economic organizations during systemic financial crises. I'd like to build on this going forward, while branching out at the same time. Broadly speaking, I'm interested in the political economy of finance and investment, and in how factor endowments help determine state behaviour (especially regarding international cooperation and treatment of foreign investors). I have a running list of about ten doctoral programs I've identified as being good fits. I'm unsure about whether of not I could get into some (they'll be obvious, I hope), and about the quality of others (ditto). Any guidance — including other programs which might suit me well — would be most appreciated. The bold choices at the top are my top four, for now. USC is a big question mark, which I hope can be addressed. - UCLA - Berkeley - UCSD - McGill - NYU - Penn - Southern California (really interested in the people and program, unsure about quality/rep?) - Balsillie School at Waterloo/WLU (as above) - Columbia - NYU - Toronto I'd like to ultimately apply to 5-7 schools. I've left off the Harvards, Yales, etc. because I'm not confident I could get in. Is this reasonable? I want to be realistic about where I'll get accepted, and not waste money on long-shot applications…but, I also understand the academic job market, and want to come out of all this with a competitive CV. Thanks again. Also looking at: UVa, UBC, Michigan, GWU, and a few schools in the UK (LSE and the University of Edinburgh).
