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minoxum

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  • Location
    United States
  • Application Season
    2017 Fall
  • Program
    Political Science

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  1. Thank you all for your helpful input! Good luck to current applicants as well as current PhD students.
  2. Thanks Monody. Although I'm definitely interested in American politics and international relations, I'm still not certain as to which I want to major in, so I'd need to go to a school that is strong in both fields.
  3. Hi phagocytosis. I'm going to guess by your handle name that you're an applicant in the natural or applied sciences, so what I have to say may not apply. However, I had a phone call with a POI almost exactly like the one you describe: POI contacts me to set up a phone call; during the phone call, POI says that my application is impressive, even though admission decisions are not finalized yet; POI asks if I have any offers on hand and whether I'm still interested in their program; POI says a number of things seemingly indicating that the school wants me to attend their program (for example, telling me that faculty members X, Y, and Z would be great dissertation advisors considering my research interests and that the school has a lot of great resources catering to those interests); I ask a few rehearsed questions, and the call ends. This call was with the University of Pennsylvania political science department. According to the POI, the purpose behind the call was essentially to ask candidates about the other schools they applied to, and if they already have offers on hand (The POI, of course, did not use these exact words.) This, to me, indicated that Penn is calling to screen out what they see as the more competitive candidates who, if admitted to Penn, would simply decline the offer and jump ship to a higher-ranked school: Penn's political science department has a USNWR ranking of 28, whereas some Ivies with similar brand-name values are ranked in the top 5 to 10. My observation was borne out, albeit anecdotally, by some of the other candidates who post to the political science PhD applicants' forums: they got the same calls from Penn, had impressive numbers, and eventually ended up with what I consider to be better offers. However, my hypothesis is not confirmed because Penn's political science department has not yet issued any offers, as far as I know. Finally getting to your questions: in my opinion, 1) I don't think there's much you could have said to make them view your application more or less favorably, unless you did something to indicate that you are not at all interested in going there if you were to be admitted (for example, by indicating that you don't really know anything about the program or the school). If you did do something to indicate a lack of interest, they might think that you have better offers on hand but aren't telling them. 2) I don't think you should send the e-mail of continued interest. In my opinion, it is inadvisable to do something that a person centrally involved in admissions has explicitly told you is unnecessary. (In this case, I think "unnecessary" means "don't do it," like how they tell political science applicants not to e-mail their POIs before the admission decisions are made.) Moreover, I think that sending a statement of continued interest might lead the school to think that you are desperate, because you already indicated to the Chair of the MA program that you are interested in the program. If my hypothesis about Penn holds in your case, the school might no longer consider you as a competitive candidate once you do something that indicates that you don't have better offers. Incidentally, I'd be very interested to hear others' opinion on this issue as well.
  4. Hello everyone! A newbie here (although I wish I had found GradCafe much earlier). As the application cycle might take a bit of a lull in the long weekend, I thought I'd ask for some information on Michigan and Columbia. If you have any insider information about the two schools, or have lived in Ann Arbor or Manhattan, please share! Here is the thread I created for that purpose: Thank you all in advance!
  5. As I understand that current Ph.D. students may not visit GradCafe much, I'd also love to get secondhand advice from reliable sources. There is always the option of asking the faculty and students at visiting days, but I am skeptical of their ability and willingness to give straightforward answers.
  6. Hello GradCafe! I'm a Fall 2017 applicant for U.S. political science PhD programs. I really appreciate the camaraderie and kindness displayed in the applicant discussion forums, as well as the invaluable pieces of advice and information. To that end, I'm here to ask for some more advice! As the application cycle is wrapping up, my most likely options will be Michigan and Columbia. I haven't made a decision yet, but one thing that holds me back from Michigan's otherwise outstanding program is their funding situation: they have a so-called ten-term rule (http://lsa.umich.edu/lsa/faculty-staff/graduate-education/policies/the-ten-term-rule.html) that limits funding from the College General Fund for doctoral candidates to ten semesters. Could any insiders provide some insight on: 1) how realistic it is to get funding beyond the fifth year; and 2) anything else about Michigan or Columbia that might help in making a decision. For example, I'm wondering what the departmental culture is like at each institution. I have heard that faculty at some top-ten departments overwork their students--as in this thread (http://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/86719-some-words-of-caution/#comment-1058436012), some students work 70+ hours every week and are told that they are "falling behind if they're not reading in the shower." In contrast, another poster in that same thread states that a (well-focused) 9-to-5 work schedule was sufficient. I of course understand that a PhD will not (and should not) be a picnic, but I'm trying to get a sense of whether the coursework component at either school is more like an excuse to torment students than an opportunity to prepare students for their dissertation phase. 3) the relative strengths of the international relations departments in each school. Thank you all very much in advance!
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