mstama123

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: Lower-ranked private LAC Major(s)/Minor(s): Political Science, History, Psychology Undergrad GPA: 3.94 Type of Grad: MA Political Science Grad GPA: 4.00 GRE: V157 Q153 AW 4 Any Special Courses: Advanced statistics courses in graduate school & intensive summer language training in foreign language specific to my expected dissertation research. Letters of Recommendation: 1 tenured professor in grad Political Science department; 2 assistant professors Research Experience: 2 semesters RA, 2 research internships, undergrad senior and MA thesis. Teaching Experience: Worked as a TA for 2 classes (1 in undergrad, 1 in grad) Subfield/Research Interests: IR/Comparative RESULTS: Acceptances ($$ or no $$): Michigan State ($$), UVA ($$), University of Toronto ($$), George Mason ($$) Waitlists: - CUNY Rejections: Columbia, Penn State, Georgetown, GWU Going to: University of Toronto LESSONS LEARNED: 1) Don't sell yourself short. In my case, there were definitely some schools that were going to be out of reach given my GRE scores, but at the same time I sold myself short by applying to lower-ranked schools (they aren't listed here) that I wouldn't necessarily be happy attending anyway, just so that I would have a 'safe' choice. In the beginning of the process I was so focused and nervous about 'getting in' somewhere that where I applied became a game of numbers and calculations. Of course I am happy with my choice ultimately, and with the schools that I did get accepted to, but I could have saved myself a lot of money by not applying to schools that had little else for me other than being a 'safety' school. 2) Your preferences might change. I went into the application process (like most other people) with a clear ranked ordering of which schools I most wanted to get accepted to. This is a great thing to do because it allows you to prioritize, but what I have found is that the schools I thought I liked the most on paper did not hold up in person. Schools (and professors) can be great online, but my expectations of schools that I thought were my "top choice" did not exactly pan out during the visits. 3) Visits matter. The point above leads perfectly into this: visits matter!!!! I cannot stress this enough. What you see and read online is often quite different from reality. Professors that seem great based on their bios might be unreachable, unfriendly, or disinterested in working with graduate students, and the only real way to get a feel for this is by visiting the university (and the professors) of interest. My mental rank-order flipped completely after my visits based on (un)met expectations. If you absolutely can't visit, then I would suggest reaching out to professors of interest and setting up a phone call with them so that you can gauge their level of interest and availability. 4) Professor match matters. I can't say this enough: your match with professors matters! My rule of thumb was that if there weren't at least 2 professors at a school that I could foresee myself working with, then I didn't even bother applying. It might be your dream school, but if you can't find a good match with a professor, it won't be your dream school by the time you're done. 5) Quality of life matters. This might be a controversial point given the competitive nature of jobs in our field right now (and may also be somewhat specific to my situation), but I think it should be said. A lot of the advice that I got from people in my field was to choose the place that will give you the best job opportunities down the road. While I don't suggest that you choose a school that is ranked light-years below another school based on the fact that you want to be close to your s/o or live in a particular city/town, I do suggest to keep these things in mind when comparing similar schools. My choice ultimately came down to two schools (one Canadian and one American) that are objectively the same in ranking and prestige (although it is hard to gauge the rank of an American school that isn't in the top 20 with a top Canadian school), but were quite different in terms of program characteristics and quality of life. One was in a big, exciting city with a big program to match (but with less $), and the other was in a small (and isolated) town with a small program to match (but with more $). Putting money and job prospects aside for a moment, remember that wherever you go, you are devoting 5+ years of your life (and in my case, the rest of my 20s) to a difficult degree that can often be isolating and can take a toll on your mental health and happiness. While job prospects are obviously important, if you are comparing relatively similar schools with wildly different qualities of life, think hard about what the pay-off of a lesser quality of life really is in the long-run for only a small difference in money offered and job prospects afterward. I ultimately ended up choosing a school that might not be the most obvious choice: it's Canadian (which presents some hurdles for getting back into the American market), and I am getting less money to live in a more expensive city. In my decision, more money did not necessarily equate to a better quality of life, because I knew I would have been unhappy if I had chosen the option with more money, despite the potential for a slightly better outcome in terms of job prospects. My opinion is that if you are doing what you should be doing in grad school anyways (publishing, networking, doing interesting and relevant work), then minute differences in ranking don't mean much, especially in the face of the potential for a better quality of life. Perhaps I would have better job prospects if I chose the American school with more money, but ultimately I would not have been happy with that choice (and student unhappiness is a large factor in attrition). The point of my long and winded explanation is this: the only thing we have in this life is time, and slightly better job prospects or slightly more money ultimately don't buy you more time. Once schools are ranked relatively equally and there are only minor differences in program quality and the money offered, choose based on your own happiness.

Yes absolutely! I'm lifting this info word-for-word directly from the letter. "A sampling of recent academic placements (within the past 10 years) is as follows: Tenure Track Positions: University of Alberta, Arizona State University, University of British Columba, Brock University, University of California-Santa Cruz, Cardiff University, University of Cincinnati, Cornell University, Dalhousie University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, McGill University, University of Moncton, University of Montreal, University of Northern Illionois, Ohio University, University of Oklahoma, University of Ottawa, University of Oxford, University of Toronto, Wesleyan University, University of Western Ontario, York University Post-Doctoral Fellowships: University of Alberta, University of California-Berkeley, Carleton University, University of Chicago, Columbia University, Harvard University, Hebrew University, London School of Economics, University of Ottawa, University of Oxford, Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Princeton University, University of South Carolina, University of Toronto, Yale University."

Yes, I got my funding package email late last night (10pm EST). Also within the funding package it has details about their placement record for the last 10 years in TT and post-doctoral fellowships. On a separate note, does anyone know anything about the Ontario Trillium Scholarship for International Doctoral Students? UofT has nominated me for it, but I wouldn't find out if I got it until early April, which is after the deadline for me to give them an attendance decision. I've found that the total funding package for the Trillium scholarship is $40k for 4-years, but no breakdown of the scholarship. But I'm assuming half of that will go toward tuition costs, no?

Yes, I will definitely be asking Toronto for a list and will share any info here. It's good to know for prospective students, regardless of the market you are trying to enter.

I agree, that fact doesn't seem very promising. Further, I can't even find a Canadian placement list for Toronto, meanwhile other similar institutions in Canada do have a published placement list.

Thank you! All of this is very helpful to know.

I disagree. McGill has some fairly decent placements in the US, though obviously their focus is the Canadian market and not the American one because that's where the bulk of their students are from. Toronto also specifically advertises that their students successfully place both into the Canadian and American markets. I'd just like to see for myself via a tangible list, which I have yet to find.

Would you happen to know of a place where I can find Toronto's placement record? I've been scouring the website, but to no avail! I'd like to know how their students place, particularly in the American TT arena.

Hey everyone - long time lurker here. Claiming the U Toronto PhD acceptance on the admissions results!

I'm in the same boat with a number of schools.... plus, Northwestern is still teasing me with silence.

I'll be at Michigan State's!

Maybe that's why the results page has been static for the whole day... I thought it was unusually quiet.

Not necessarily. As a current student I do have some insider info. The preliminary admit list is around 20 (more or less, I can't say) and only a number of those slots will receive funding. It is quite possible that they are only notifying those admits that were on the initial funding list, and will release the rest at a later date. I find it hard to believe with so many on the admit list that only 2 of us posted, and both of us happened to receive the funding package (assuming it is all released on the same day).

I got an email from the Assistant DGS with details

Claiming the GMU acceptance