GopherGrad

UC San Diego might be a good fit for you. Maybe look into WashU and Cornell. If you have the time, I'd consider just making a list of the top X IR schools and looking through the faculty and student profiles. I was surprised at some of the programs that jumped out at me as I did this.

I agree totally with adaptations and will try and add. 1) You would be far better off doing the MA than the PhD. That being said, you might even be better off without the MA. They are expensive and do not assure good employment upon completion. As you prepare for school, also think about preparing for a career change. Start surfing development websites like Devex and apply for a few positions. Find out about development organizations and fundraisers in your area and shake some hands. Do some volunteering. One of the biggest advantages of the MA is networking time, so network without it. At the very least, you'll improve your moves for crunch time during the degree. Look at professional and terminal master's programs as Columbia (SIPA), Johns Hopkins (SAIS), Georgetown (SFS), George Washington (Elliot), Tufts/Flethcer and IR/PS at UC San Diego for a sampling of the most prestigious. I think some people rate UC Denver's program highly, too, but I can't remember. 2) The distinction between political science and public policy is blurred and getting blurrier. In general, political scientists try to explain relationships and behavior by gathering data, theorizing and comparisons. Public policy looks more at trying to understand cause and effect of particular laws and programs. International Relations is NOT what you want for development. It's a branch of both polisci and policy that examines the relationships between governments (and, to some extent, other groups like super-national governing bodies, large firms, insurgencies, etc.) Obviously, foreign policy can have great effects on development, but if you want to do NGO/program work, you want to study systems at local levels. How does government and the market interact?, what sorts of policies or structures are lacking to drive wealth/quality of life progress?, etc.

Some time ago, last year's old hands said they'd be willing to read SoPs. Anyone still interested?

Keep in mind that professional programs like SAIS are very different in scope and effect on your career than PhDs (or MAs taken to prepare for PhDs). You can cut your options roughly in half by simply asking what you'd like to do with your life. Graduates from SAIS-like programs work as diplomats, with banks analyzing political risk or economies or with NGOs doing program design and implementation. Think meetings and powerpoints. PhDs usually teach and research, most often at universities and think-tanks. Think conferences and book chapters.

I think macro would be sufficient; at some point I looked into PP master's and both SIPA and SFS both told me specifically that econ grades are important. That being said, please make sure to spend a lot of time evaluating your career options coming from these programs. Collegeconfidential used to have a very robust IR/PP discussion and there was a lot of talk about working at Starbuck's after dropping $70K at SIPA. Jobs coming out of these programs are often still VERY entry-level and if you have good connections at the NGOs you might find it easier and less expensive to break into the field that way.

You're not alone. I went from at theatre BFA to law school to this. I hope, for our sake, that they appreciate the diversity of our life experience.

My two cents: Don't worry so much about the paper being related to the field; so long as the sample is of a topic that the adcomm can puzzle through, the most important thing is to show the capacity for original thought. I haven't spent a ton of time look at writing sample requirements yet (which might bite me in the ass), but I'm applying to many of the same schools and thought the samples were all allowed to be 20 pages. That being said, assuming that your thesis and one of your shorter papers are of comparable quality, take an 18 page cutting of the thesis for the 15-20 page samples and use a shorter seminar paper for the 5-10 pagers. I'm not going to stress if my samples are a couple pages too long or short.

Common opinion is that the AW is the least important facet of your application. If you are confident with the rest of your portfolio, apply despite the score. Your SoP and writing samples will give the adcomm a peek at your writing and analytical ability, so just take the opportunity to prove the exam wrong.

I wouldn't do it without some combination of funding and assurance that the experience would position me better for applications. In other words, I think it would be a waste to pay full price at a mediocre school purely for the purpose of aiding your decision. You can always drop out after a year in your (likely funded) PhD if it's that bad. In the interest of disclosure, I AM applying for one or two MA programs as a backup because I think great grades in a polisci MA might address weaknesses in my application. Clearly I think it's worth the investment in some cases.

I agree. Selection has so much to do with fit and gut feelings that it's hard under the best circumstances to say anything beyond whether a student is competitive. Your GRE scores will be a huge part of that, so we can't even tell you that much. I will go so far as to say that your school and GPA are good enough for your desired programs. Study hard and do well on both the GRE and TOEFL; your application will get a good look.

Thanks!!

Hi, I'm on this board because I'm interested in applying to PhD programs in political science, but at the moment I'm working on a consulting project with a non-profit that provides entrepreneurial training to groups that might have little connection to the formal economy. One of the goals of the project is to improve the non-profit's ability to assess the impact of the programs on the students and community. The organization already keeps good records on those students that DO leave to start a business, but they have a hard time figuring out how the courses affect the students that don't. The courses teach lots of basic business skills that might prove a boon to the small and medium size local firms that employ the students. I am interested in finding literature that talks about methodology to measure the impact of education on an economy. I have no training in this area, so I assume that my inquiry is uselessly vague at the moment. Feel free to ask further questions about the purpose of the project to hone the advice. Thanks! GG

Word. At, for example, a Big Ten uni, you probably won't get spitting distance from tenured faculty in more than three or four classes as an undergrad. If letters of rec are as important as conventional wisdom suggests, what really sets the top tier students apart is the having the foresight to make relationships with faculty at a time when most of their cohort is spending that energy trying to get a fake ID.

Reading about the purpose of the SoP on various school websites, I get the impression that schools are soliciting a research proposal; what they really want to see is a breakdown, in as much detail as 500 words allows, of what you would like to study and what past thinkers provide your momentum. But the SoPs of many posters here from last cycle (many of them very successful) devote a lot of valuable word count to "I spent most of my elementary school tenure studying X with Professor Y, which resulted in a paper published in the Journal of Awesome, a MacArthur Baby Genius Grant and the first of my Nobel Prizes." The latter sounds more like a personal statement or cover letter for a job to me. How much treatment should my background get in this document?

Your particular weak point (GRE Quant) is maybe the easiest single element of an application to change. Consider studying and re-taking. I doubt NW would rubbish a near-4.0 with a master's on that one score, but it can't hurt.

My area of interest is similar to yours, although I don't have a regional focus. In addition to (some of) the schools you list, I've flagged Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, MIT and Duke as interesting enough to warrant an application. Don't worry so much about the money. I was very poor during undergrad and law school. I know from law school, my friends there and the dozen current and recently graduated PhD/MD students in my wider social circle that applying to 10-15 schools is worth it. I did not regret it and I was selling blood plasma every week to make rent (which is one thing I actually don't recommend, although it's an interesting experience). You can earn or save the money in the next few months and I can virtually guarantee that on graduation day you won't be saying to yourself "if only I'd not spent that money on application fees".

I know this response won't be helpful to the "where will I get in?" which is your real curiosity, but as potential political science PhDs we should have some understanding of costs versus benefits. This is a $70 application fee. If you think Harvard has a good program for your interests, I don't care if you have a 2.0 with dual 500s on the GRE. Write a great SoP and apply. Do the same with every school down the line until you get to the point that getting the degree seems meaningless.

Agree with adaptations. PP docs generally work for gov't or think tanks and focus on application, where PS docs teach and do "pure" research; that is, gather data and draw conclusions about cause and effect rather than write policy. If I understand correctly, the lines are fuzzy and blurring more. Harvard, too, had several cross-functional faculty and promotes some amount of cross-over between students.

You're a Minnesotan, too, eh? I don't know if there's an "affordable" option, but Marquette is near us and has a rep for feeding their MAs into great programs in comp. and IR.

Princeton [Never mind; I jumped the gun. You can register and start the application, but it will not allow you to continue after choose polisci as the department.]

I am not in a PhD program and have little qualification to give you advice that narrows your focus, which is why I suggest keeping your options open. I am simply an applicant for this round of admissions and have done some thinking on the questions you are raising because I have a similar GPA. With respect to where you might get in, it's important to recognize that your GPA is below average for any top tier program and may even raise eyebrows at the best. But common wisdom suggests that a 3.middle GPA from a decent school combined with a great GRE, solid letters from respected faculty and an excellent statement of purpose can get a person into even the best schools. Keep the GPA shortcoming in mind, it is serious. But you should take a look at your goals from pursuing the degree, identify schools with a good fit and pitch yourself to all of them. If a PhD is really your dream and you are not accepted to any programs that will aid in reaching your goals, you will need to improve your profile somehow. An MA is one option; researching with a respected professor to get a stronger letter or re-dedicating yourself to getting rocking GREs are others. This process offers little by the way of guarantees.

I'm skeptical that too many people would look down on your doing a master's at your BA alma mater. Diversity of instruction may be nice for a few reasons, but plenty of people get in with only a bachelor's degree. I can't see this communicating anything negative about your potential as a scholar. I'm not certain about doing the master's degree in general, though. A stellar GPA might make you more comfortable with your numbers, but I don't know how it plays to adcomms. GPAs from master's programs usually seem to be higher than undergrad GPAs, after all. Plus, terminal master's programs are usually expensive and, if I recall, finance is playing into your decision to stay where you are. Look, you're interested in a PhD, so obviously puttering around your uni for another year studying sounds like fun. It's not likely to hurt your application, so if you can afford it, do it. Don't underestimate the advantage of working for a year or two. I left law school broke3 and saving up a little cash, refreshing my threadbare wardrobe and upgrading to a car that doesn't break down every third week makes me far more confident that I am prepared to work a ton for very little money for awhile.

I think you should apply to both. On the chance you get into a PhD program you like right away it will save you $50K.

"Also, I have heard that UCLA has had somewhat shaky funding for those accepted." I did an informational interview with a Berkeley student a few months back and she mentioned that students throughout the UC system are nervous about future funding.

This is really wonderful of you guys, but I doubt I'll have my SoP in shape for another month. Hopefully you'll all still have time then...