sandmoon
-
Posts
92 -
Joined
-
Last visited
sandmoon's Achievements
Espresso Shot (4/10)
52
Reputation
-
Funding for International Students at UCLA/UCSD?
sandmoon replied to CorrelatingCausality's topic in Political Science Forum
Both schools gave multiple fully funded offers to international students this past cycle, so you should definitely apply if you are interested in their programs. The stipends are a bit lower than what private schools in the same area offer. UCLA is a bit different in that you have to pay non-resident tuition ($15k) for your second and third year. Some students (domestic and international) got accepted with no funding. This is all information from last year, so things might be a bit different this year. -
What sort of topics are you interested in? Econ gives better outside options (industry jobs), so you should probably consider that as well. Do you plan to RA for an economist? Then applying for Econ makes the most sense IMHO.
-
Do you need a US PhD if you don't want to work in the US?
sandmoon replied to AwwwJeeez's topic in Political Science Forum
Are the Australian universities you are interested in working at dominated by American PhDs? I checked ANU's faculty page, and a lot of their lecturers (meaning new hires) got their PhDs from places like Cornell, Princeton, Wisconsin. It's probably worth applying, especially if your advisor is on board too. A large proportion of quant-oriented UK academics got their PhDs in the U.S. as well. So I'd recommend the US over the UK. Funding is likely better too. -
I'm not sure what you mean by "focusing on undergraduate vs graduate". Your SOP should focus on research questions you'd like to answer in graduate school, so I personally wouldn't talk a lot about education credentials (classes, grades, etc.). If you did related research in your BA or MA program, then of course you should mention all.
-
Depends on what you mean by second-tier? If you refer to schools like Madison, Cornell, Rochester, then definitely go for the PhD. If you have a scholarship from MAPSS or still have second thoughts about doin a PhD, then go for MAPSS?
-
sandmoon reacted to a post in a topic:
2018-2019 Application Thread
-
nietzsche's moustache reacted to a post in a topic:
2018-2019 Application Thread
-
nietzsche's moustache reacted to a post in a topic:
2018-2019 Application Thread
-
Out of curiosity - what would you say helped you the most as a non-US student? I have a couple of friends applying from overseas universities, and they said research opportunities are hard to come by, and when they are available, they are typically not of the kind that people do in the US. Is it sufficient to have good grades at university and write a good personal statement that shows your passion and knowledge? Do your recommenders have to have US connections to make things work? They asked me for advice but I feel unqualified to give any as a US grad.
-
I feel you! I don't come from a prestigious US university, and we have massive grade deflation (relative to the Ivies). It's probably hard for Ivy professors to understand how B+'s are actually good grades (top 30%). Not downplaying your achievement in anyway -- you worked hard and earned every bit of it!!
-
Congrats! Yeah some schools are definitely more reluctant to admit international students with no U.S. degree. I think MIT and NYU have a much higher percentage though. Maybe I only looked at those.
-
No offense to those who noted their country of origin on the results page, I just wanted to point out that at most of the top programs, at least half (?) of the students got their bachelor's degrees from non-US institutions, many from non-English-speaking places. Definitely possible to get into a top US program from foreign universities.
-
GoodbyeLenin reacted to a post in a topic:
2018-2019 Application Thread
-
Amazing! wish I knew this earlier...
-
sandmoon reacted to a post in a topic:
2018-2019 Application Thread
-
HanZero reacted to a post in a topic:
2018-2019 Application Thread
-
IcedCovfefe reacted to a post in a topic:
2018-2019 Application Thread
-
Is there a way to filter the search so that we don't see the LSE results? I feel like I know way too much the various departments at LSE than any other school on the planet lol. There was another comment about how "uk grads" like to put that in the comment section. I thought that was funny too.
-
sandmoon reacted to a post in a topic:
2018-2019 Application Thread
-
Thank you!! Hope the rejection letter comes soon...
-
sandmoon reacted to a post in a topic:
2018-2019 Application Thread
-
I'm really curious why departments drag out the process for over a month. Is it just so that they can budget better while maintaining the lowest acceptance rate possible? It doesn't make sense to me to worry about acceptance rates, because unlike undergrad admissions, the U.S. News ranking doesn't take into account the acceptance rate. So why not accept the people you like all at once?
-
Congrats -- it must be really hard to pull this off as an international applicant! Just curious, did your letter writer get his PhD from the U.S.? I'm affiliated with a top university outside of North America, and although I'm sure the students there are bright and capable, their training seems different from the kind we get in the U.S. and the professors there aren't familiar with U.S. academia (in terms of research methodology and in terms of personal connections).
-
We have nearly identical GREs and GPAs! I wouldn't worry about the GRE at all if you scored 90% on the quant section. Again, I'm shocked and disappointed that you didn't hear better news. I know Econ programs are even harder to get into than similarly-ranked political science programs, but maybe that's worth a try? Your recommenders probably have better connections there? I recommended the Chicago MA and the econ RA routes only because I know people who did those things and got into good programs. But now I'm starting to think that there's so much arbitrariness in the process that it's impossible to give any meaningful prescriptions. At the end of the day it probably all comes down to what you do with your time and whether those on the admissions committee that year happen to appreciate what you do?