hmm81

MSU in American Politics / Political Theory Hybrid

So any new update on MSU's living situation?

To rising_star: Thanks for coming up with an alternative, but suffice it for me to say that for personal reasons, that is somehow not an option. So, any other thought? Just out of curiosity, is MSU for theory that bad?

To the previous poster, Yea, I agree. That is my problem right now: the job prospect for a theorist after MSU sounds just too doomed for me to take the offer. As said before, though money is not the problem, I really hate to spend all that money to go to Chicago, which is essentailly a gamble, as you say. For now, I am leaning toward Chicago option, but if any other people have more thoughts on this matter, I would greatly appreciate it. In particular, anyone who knows a thing or two about MSU's theory program and its faculty members, please post your thoughts. Thanks.

Well, for all i know now, that would probably be very hard, as you can imagine. I mean, after all, though MSU is not as good--in terms of perceived prestige--as Harvard, its faculty probably pride themselves in being in the league of top 25 schools, though one might quibble with that. So, the most honest answer is, I dont know. I know for sure that I can leave after MA, but without burning any bridges or even more boldly, getting enthusiastic recommendations so that I can move to Chicago, Yale, Harvard, or Princeton? I am rather skeptical of that happening. What do you think?

so here is the quagmire that I find myself in: I got a full-ride offer from MSU for its Ph.D. program and got an offer from MAPSS with 1/3 tuition off. I suppose the easiest thing to do is to go to MSU and get it over with, but knowing that money really is not the issue, quite fortunately, I am also tempted to go to Chicago and use that as a stepping board to the top 10 theory programs the year after. So, what would you do if you were me? Anyone who has some idea of both schools? Many thanks!