curvilineardisparity

This post is being really helpful to me! Thanks for everyone here! Hoping Pittsburgh's students are still active here, I have an additional question: I saw some posts from 2014 asking whether their scholarships would be enough. I've found a shared apartment for around $650 (incl. all utilities), will have transportation covered by the uni and estimate to have a budget of ~ $500/month for food/happy hours/clothing/small savings/etc. I'm a foreigner, so I have no idea about life expenses in the US or Pittsburgh. Is $500/month enough for living expenses (other than housing/transportation) in Pittsburgh? Thanks!

@southerncharm, I'm afraid I can't properly answer your questions but I have some advices that might partially help with all the mentioned issues. I'm 31 and have just got accepted into some programs. As you correctly said, Adcoms are looking for candidates which will be successful in the job market. Additionally, they are looking for candidates who will manage to finish their studies/thesis on time. Whereas age by itself could be a limiting factor, it seems you used your years outside academia very well. Further than that, being older means you're also more responsible and, potentially, more focused, meaning you are getting into the PhD knowing exactly what you want. I'd recommend focusing your cover letter on what exactly you want to research, how you want to do it (methods, methods, methods!!!!) and which are the contributions it will bring to your field (refer to specific theories and gaps, as it will show that you are very familiar with the current literature). This way you'd possibly address the issues of question (2) and gain some points on question (1), turning your age into a favorable issue. As for employability, I'd go in the contrary direction of your assumption: you've already proved yourself. You have a successful CV and even if you don't end up in academia, you'll surely have an outstanding position outside of it. You could use one short phrase to say that you want to divide your future into research activities and consultancy in the private sector. I guess it would settle the issue. Additionally, not exactly an answer to (3) but... As you've mentioned Georgia Tech and George State, take a look at their joint program in Public Policy. It might be a great option. Also in regards of the chosen universities, make sure you exchange e-mails with at least one potential supervisor in each of them. Send an initial message, present yourself, show why you'd like to work with him and ask whether he would be interested. It will surely add some points and help you to identify universities with a good fit. And, finally (4), I assume a high GRE/Math would show you won't have problems with calculus/algebra/stats/etc. Good luck!

Dear professors, Thank you very, very much for all your posts here! They are extremely helpful! I was accepted by two different universities. A high ranked one, which offered 5 years of funding, including two years of either TA or RA (second and third years), and the rest without any work obligations; and a low ranked one, which offered a renewable 1-year TA, 4 years of summer TA and an additional scholarship from the department. Both universities have at least one professor that I'd love to work with, and in both I'd earn fairly the same amount (the second one pays a little more). Whereas I'm very tempted to take the first offer, I really want to do a TA for as long as possible. I've been a lecturer before in my home country, and I believe that being a TA for longer increases my chances of being hired at a university afterwards. My questions are: 1) Is it true that being a TA increases one's chance of being hired after graduation? 2) Taking into consideration the first case, do you see any chance of becoming a TA, let's say, in the first year, during summer courses, after the third year, etc, other than the two assigned years? 3) In case the answer to (1) is yes, does it make sense to prioritize the university with a lower rank that offered me more possibilities of being a TA?

Also claiming the result from Texas Tech (TTU). Got the e-mail a couple of hours ago proposing TA for the first year, TA for all the summer vacations (4 years) and additional funding from the department. They also sent a very kind e-mail regarding visa issues after Trump's temporary ban and changes in migration policies.

I'm claiming one of the positive results from Pittsburgh. GRE and undergrad GPA were not high but I guess that some experience, two MAs, publications and a period lecturing helped in the end. Couldn't be happier!

I applied for their MA around July 2014 and got a response in early December. I'm not sure how helpful this info is...

Austin is also quite well-known in Latin American politics! Congrats! To cite someone, you should just write @ + name (together).

Although I'd really like to live somewhere warmer than Germany, it is among the top, yes. I'm just applying to 4 schools in the US, so it ends up being in the top anyway. We are in different fields, though. I'm somewhere between comparative politics and political theory.

Almost the same here. I'm the only one among my friends applying to the US. Another one is trying Canada and Australia but the processes are a bit different, I guess. Is Syracuse your first option?

How is it over there? Already met other applicants crazily looking at their mobiles? I'm expecting to hear from Syracuse only after 20 Feb... It will still take some time, I guess.

It totally makes sense, @dagnabbit. Now, @Comparativist and @dagnabbit, in regards of US News, what about the schools whose ranked was not published (i.e. Kent State, to follow dagnabbit)? Is it possibly because they are too bad to be ranked, or just because they were not evaluated?

Indeed. At the results page, the first announcement was on 3 Feb 2016. In a phone call before submitting my application they said the results are usually released in the first week of February. I marked 6 Feb 2017 on my agenda as the day to start freaking out. Is it your first option?

In this sense, choosing a program based on placement would mean going through the alumni profiles and check where they are (hoping the university provides a database on that) or expecting a correlation between ranking position (i.e. US News) and placement?

What's the weight of a good supervisor in such a choice? I mean, is a renowned professor in a low-ranked university better than a not-so-famous one in a higher-ranked one?

Anyone else waiting for UCR, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and/or TTU?