styliane
-
Posts
21 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by styliane
-
-
On 4/2/2018 at 7:58 PM, elmo_says said:
Honestly, the IR universe could use more people with highly specialized, technical skillsets. But it's a tough sell, because people with those degrees can get much higher salaries elsewhere.
I clearly agree; I'm mid-MS in physics and switching to IR.
-
On 3/13/2018 at 10:32 AM, rheidzan said:
If you want to make an impact on a SE Asian region that doesn't have any water, why not study civil or mechanical engineering? Not only you will make an impact with you technical skills, you'll also have a tangible skills and knowledge to make a living wherever you are.
Not agreeing or disagreeing with OP, but what the hell do you study in environmental science and policy that is not covered by going to a state school and studying BS in ME or Civ E and then a MS in Environmental Engineering? The reverse is actually true that you probably get a lot more with BS in ME/CE and then a MS in environmental engineering.
Engineering masters degrees are not much more likely to be funded than IR masters degrees (and most IR candidates are not qualified for an engineering MS).
-
7 minutes ago, politicalScience said:
For those who applied to Columbia: I briefly spoke with a Professor there and was told that they plan to release decisions towards the end of February. If true, that would be later than previous years.
So is that confirmation that the results posted so far aren’t real?
-
-
Is there a reason we're assuming admits don't come out over weekends?
-
3 minutes ago, toad1 said:
Thanks, I'll look into these when I have time. But, I can speak from experience with friends in those situations: it is sometimes the case. I quickly glanced at the first article and it claims it costs thousands of dollars of prep material to study for GRE... I don't know, one of my best friends who was in a similar situation as I described above just bought one prep book for LSAT and killed it, and it got him into virtually every top programs and full rides. His background, outside of that, was good but nothing memorable: good GPA at a mediocre state university. He was able to overcome because of the LSAT, not in spite of it. But I'll look into these with an open mind.
With all due respect: the plural of anecdote is not data.
The data shows that the GRE underpredicts the academic performance of minority students. Other fields are moving to GRE-optional applications for a reason (e.g. http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/199607/gender.cfm).
Do forums overstate the importance of the GRE? Likely; it's the easy thing for us to compare. If schools are really using it heavily, I'm judging them pretty hard tbh.
(... and this argument isn't because my GRE score is low; I have a 169V/168Q/5.0W. It's still a bad test that tests nothing. My last GRE required me to know the definition of quotidian on three separate questions; I am pretty damn sure that this indicates exactly nothing about my ability to conduct independent research.)
- jnewcomb08 and SerenityNow!
-
2
-
8 minutes ago, toad1 said:
Personally I'm a huge advocate for the GRE (and standardized tests in general). I'll try to explain my reasoning.
Firstly, everyone's GPA largely boils down the around the same area (3.6-4.0) which is a difference less than one letter grade according to most grading systems--a metric which, comparing grades in different classes taught by different professors in different universities (possibly in different countries in different years). This hardly is an accurate way to assess people.
Conversely, the GRE is 'the great equalizer', in that everyone is subject to the same exact rules and questions that are constructed in order to be of near equal difficulty, testing people on their skills regardless of their background. Of course you can have a bad day, but then you are able to take it again (literally as many times as you want) so that you think it actually reflects your ability.
This works in favor of people that aren't as privileged. If you are well off such as being a legacy at an Ivy League college or having enough family wealth to pay for expensive prestigious schools your whole life (kindergarten through undergrad), you have a huge advantage on nearly EVERY metric except the GRE. The GRE is literally the ONLY metric that allows someone who has grown up in a poorer neighborhood, maybe only had one option of attending a less-than-ideal public school their whole life (K-undergrad) and is still swimming in debt from a public university.
Just my 2 cents. I understand completely how people can be frustrated with one test weighing so heavily, but someone else could argue that everything else has been against them their whole life in this fight for top spots--and this is their one truly equal chance to show they can compete too. So, I say: good.Not true: https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/03/the-problem-with-the-gre/471633/, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5226333/, https://www.nature.com/naturejobs/science/articles/10.1038/nj7504-303a
-
Any news from UC Davis?
-
5 minutes ago, JMCrawfordNJ said:
This too. The first thing I did was get school suggestions from my rec writers. Those were the schools I researched first and gave the most weight to. But I checked out every school that was ranked top 45, minus places like princeton, stanford, harvard, etc.
My method was googling the author(s) of every interesting paper I've read for the past year and noting where they work. (that being said: Michigan didn't make my list and probably should have, so like, Mistakes Were Made.)
-
2 minutes ago, styliane said:
As has been remarked on before, there are at least 15 schools in the top 10 and at least 30 in the top 20.
(but my actual mostly top-10 list was determined by putting a blank piece of a paper in front of my rec letter writers and saying "you know my interests; where should I apply")
-
5 minutes ago, sfirus93 said:
Out of mere curiosity, where exactly is this line that separates the 'top 20' from what are not? I mean, if we follow the US news ranking, Emory is #24 and NU is #23 while Upenn, WUSTL, UT and Cornell are #19 but can we affirm that the latter are the better than the former? If we follow the somewhat outdated NRC ranking which is posted on this thread, MIT is #21 while Illinois, Indiana, and TAMU which are out of T20 in US news ranking are in T20. I mean, I understand that Princeton or Yale would be firmly better than the most of the schools except the 'presitigious' few, but where would be the exact line between the 'worthy' school and not?
As has been remarked on before, there are at least 15 schools in the top 10 and at least 30 in the top 20.
-
11 minutes ago, deutsch1997bw said:
Interesting. Hopefully 6-7 years from now the CP market is good! Your field is CP, right?
I'm a weird mix of CP/IR/methods.
[check your PMs for the rest of my comments; I realized I don't want to identify myself that much because I've already identified my school]
-
17 minutes ago, deutsch1997bw said:
I was being dramatic/sarcastic. I know how brutal the market is, etc., etc. But, I think the only top 10 thing might be a bit extreme. My goal is a top 20 program.
Yeah, top 20 seems fair.
[comment redacted for identifying information]
-
21 minutes ago, deutsch1997bw said:
I'm starting to wonder whether I would have applied to more schools in the 30-40 range.
FWIW, more than one of my professors basically told me that if you have any interest in a reasonable post-PhD job, it's top 10 or bust. One of them even straight told up if I didn't get into a top 10 school, I shouldn't go to any lower ranked school; I should work on my CV, rather than trying to make a career out of a [redacted] PhD.
That prof is somewhat of a drama llama, but tbh, looking at placements/PSR, he doesn't seem that wrong. Even at the ~15 level, placements start looking worse. I applied to [redacted] because a prof there asked me to, but I'm... not sure I'll go if admitted.
-
anyone want to claim the Yale rejections?
-
Anyone get an “informational interview” request from RAND?
-
there are masters programs designed for what @heyitsme is looking for - MPA/ID is usually cited as one, Chicago’s MACRM, even UCSD GPS turns out some (if only a few) future economists
-
-
FWIW, as of last week, faculty were definitely still evaluating UCSD applications.
(I don’t know why there’s not more love for UCSD in these threads; we’re a perfectly respectable school with not-awful placement.)
Graduate Institute Fall 2018
in Government Affairs Forum
Posted
Any IHEID alumni lurking around? Maybe?