arka

After much searching, I leased an apartment downtown, about a 10-15 minute walk from campus. For my first year I wanted to stay near the university so I can get a better idea of the town. How did you find life in Bloomington to be?

Thanks. I have already been in touch with HAND about the place, to see if they can give me some kind of record about the complaints and violations. They haven't gotten back to me yet, though, and in general, it seemed like they were unsure of what to do with my request since I wasn't asking in person but by phone. I was also in touch with university housing about getting an apartment in either the Evermann or Redbud Hill apartments. The very friendly lady on the phone told me flat out that the apartments aren't very good, not near any place for shopping and thus difficult to get around if you don't have a car, and that I shouldn't even bother with them if I have this other place in mind, which she said is a bargain. I still have a lot of reservations about signing the lease without seeing it, though. I'm considering just going to Bloomington this week and doing the apartment hunting in person.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm about ready to commit to an apartment that I found, about a 20 minute walk from the political science department at Woodburn Hall. Even though it seems like the apartment is a good deal, two things are worrying me: its on the ground floor and I'm concerned about burglary; and also that I haven't actually seen it in person. I know that Bloomington is a relatively crime free town but I've never lived on my own before. And for obvious reasons, signing a 12 month lease for a place one hasn't seen in person isn't the best idea. But traveling to Bloomington just to see the place is not the best choice financially. To top everything off, I haven't been able to find any ratings or comments about this real estate company online. So I really feel like I'm in the dark... Are there any native Hoosiers who can perhaps give a suggestion?

anyone decided one way or the other on the University of Pennsylvania?

has anyone come across places that lease for less than 12 months?

yeah, I have seen this one as well. I'm surprised that NYU was ranked that high, since they are generally not known for political theory. Also surprising to see Cambridge that low.

thanks for all the responses. I also checked the UIUC website and noticed they didn't have anyone from IU teaching there now, so maybe the person has moved on elsewhere? What rankings do people look at for grad programs in political science (or specifically political theory)? I've just seen the US News ones, but I've read somewhere on this forum that they aren't accurate. Is there a better survey to look at?

Sorry if it sounds vague. What I meant is that I'm not sure whether it is worth getting a PhD in general if it is not from an Ivy or a highly renowned institution. You're right in that I'm assuming Ivy grads get preferential treatment during job searches, which goes along with mostly everything I've heard from being in the field so far (and on this forum.) And yeah, I think I would have been feeling more confident about my future job prospects. But if I'm wrong, then please tell me how. I already have an MA in the field from the New School for Social Research. Going to IU would mean having to re-take some basic courses but also potentially transferring a number of credits from my previous graduate work. I'm not sure transferring from there with a second MA in hand would make my application look any more appealing.

As I've posted before, I was offered admission to Indiana Bloomington to study political philosophy/theory there. Yesterday I got back from my visit to the campus, which went fairly well. They are offering me a great financial package (full tuition coverage plus yearly stipend) for 5 years. William Scheuerman, Aurelian Craiutu, and William Rasch (in Germanic Studies, where I'll be doing my outside minor) are all widely published and respected scholars, and all were very forthcoming about their wish to work with me. Jeffrey Isaac, who is the current editor of Perspectives on Politics, told me there would be an opportunity to work on the editorial staff in the future, as well as that he would like to have me as a student. So I have little doubt that intellectually, I'd find myself in a good place there. What I'm more worried about is the competitiveness of the program, specifically when it comes to placing students of political philosophy. Historically, the subfield has not been emphasized there, although it does seem like in recent years they are making a concerted effort to change that (such as hiring Scheuerman a few years ago.) I was told that financial cuts will prevent them from hiring any junior faculty in the subfield for the next few years. The faculty and the grad students I spoke to were also all fairly straightforward about the TOUGH job market (especially for those having political philosophy as their first field, as one student told me). Their recent placements in the subfield were at places like Colorado State, Denver University, University of Illinois at Urbana, Kalamazoo, Butler, and Grinnell--all mid-low ranked places. And with the state of the job market today, I wouldn't be guaranteed to get even that far when having to compete with currently unemployed grads from Berkeley or Chicago. This is the only program I have a concrete offer from. As far as I see it, the pros of the situation are that I'd be in an academic environment where I could grow intellectually and would get the attention and support of some very high quality scholars. Furthermore, the strength of the department in comparative politics would allow me to get a good education in a subfield that I know little about now, and that could potentially set me apart from other theorists when interviewing for jobs. And overall, the department has a reputation as a solid program, usually ranked 20-25 and that could increase since Elinor Ostrom won the Nobel Prize in economics last year. But I still can't shake the feeling of uncertainty in my mind about this. This is my second time around applying for Ph.D. programs and I don't want to go through the process again. My choices are either to take up the offer or give up the prospects of academia in general. And right now, I don't know what to do.

ditto on the JHU rejection.

hey everyone, I was accepted to IUB for the PhD program in political science. I haven't decided for sure yet, but I'm going there for a visit at the end of the month. They gave me a great financial package so in all likelihood, that's where I'll end up.

that Columbia rejection felt like a slow impending apocalypse that just refused to get here...

My specific interest is in the concept of sovereignty, and the connection between the principles of sovereignty and state-sanctioned violence. In my statement of purpose I wrote that I wanted to focus my research on a post-sovereign conception of the political, partially by drawing upon the works of Marx and Arendt. I'm especially interested in working on this idea with Jeff Isaac, who has written a lot on these thinkers as well as on democratic theory in general, and Bill Scheuerman, who works on sovereignty and international law. My more general interests are also in critical theory (Frankfurt School, Marxism, etc.) and the history of political thought (particularly from the Enlightenment on, including theories of modernity.)

I was accepted to study political philosophy/theory here. I'm going to visit them in a couple of weeks to speak with the professors and get a better sense of the place. They are offering me full funding for 4 years, so it's likely that I'll wind up accepting, unless my wait list places call me up. It was one of the top 5 programs I was interested in when applying (in terms of correspondence between faculty and my interests) and my sense is that they do have a solid political science dept., which is always ranked 20-25th through the years. I have also searched around in this forum's history for some opinions, but it seems that the most recent of them are from 2 years ago. So if anyone has thoughts about this place, I'd love to hear them. Thanks!

Hi everyone, new guy here. I applied to study political theory. Accepted at Indiana Bloomington. Waitlisted at Cornell and UPenn. Rejected from Duke, Northwestern, Berkeley, and Chicago. Still haven't heard from Columbia, UCLA, or Johns Hopkins.