sandmoon
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Posts posted by sandmoon
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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.
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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.
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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.
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7 minutes ago, Corsette said:
Anyone have recommendation between accepting a MAPPS offer or taking a second tier Ph. D?
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?
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4 hours ago, pscwpv said:
I'm from the US but did my undergrad in the UK. I wrote it on a few of my results. It was always helpful to see when I was looking at the results page, so thought I'd reciprocate. It is also pertinent to admissions committees, partially because they might not know how to evaluate results or they might think UK degrees aren't rigorous, etc, so seeing someone get in with a UK degree meant it was possible.
As far as how UK degrees are evaluated, who knows. Outside Oxbridge and maybe the big London schools, there's likely a name recognition gap. Schools like Bristol, Manchester and Liverpool are really great but even they would probably be looked down upon by admissions committees in ways comparable US schools would not be. There's also the distinction in the number of courses: I had 9 courses and a thesis over the entirety of my undergrad and they all sound like introductory courses (comparative politics, international relations, political theory, etc.). So that might not be great because it's hard to specialize and show a deep interest in something. On the research area I applied to study, I've had zero coursework or instruction.
That said I got into a couple t-10s, and there are Oxbridge grads at Princeton, Harvard and Stanford right now. Granted, most of them also did an MPhil or MSc, but it's certainly possible to get into top US programs coming from the UK and elsewhere. Lots of people at good programs did the LSE masters programs.
I guess it's a different question of whether it's harder to get into US programs coming from outside the US, but yeah, there are a decent number of people from Europe, Latin America and Asia these days. I'd say far less than half at most top programs but a fair few. I went to a top level international program and was advised by a professor who had her PhD from Berkeley that it's hard to come from Europe without a masters, even from well known schools. Most of the people coming from my school to the US needed Oxbridge/LSE masters to get in. For instance, I just scrolled through half of Stanford's grad students, and while only a couple people who went to US schools had masters before starting their PhDs, every non-US student I could find a CV/linkedin for had a masters. Part of that is certainly a culture, particularly in continental Europe, of doing a masters anyway, but I would also bet there's some devaluation of the quality of non-US BAs.
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.
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23 minutes ago, pscwpv said:
Congrats to you, too! Ya, I've heard NYU has lots international students. I definitely faced no disadvantages with applications, that's for sure
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!!
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3 hours ago, pscwpv said:
I'm from the US but did my undergrad in the UK. I wrote it on a few of my results. It was always helpful to see when I was looking at the results page, so thought I'd reciprocate. It is also pertinent to admissions committees, partially because they might not know how to evaluate results or they might think UK degrees aren't rigorous, etc, so seeing someone get in with a UK degree meant it was possible.
As far as how UK degrees are evaluated, who knows. Outside Oxbridge and maybe the big London schools, there's likely a name recognition gap. Schools like Bristol, Manchester and Liverpool are really great but even they would probably be looked down upon by admissions committees in ways comparable US schools would not be. There's also the distinction in the number of courses: I had 9 courses and a thesis over the entirety of my undergrad and they all sound like introductory courses (comparative politics, international relations, political theory, etc.). So that might not be great because it's hard to specialize and show a deep interest in something. On the research area I applied to study, I've had zero coursework or instruction.
That said I got into a couple t-10s, and there are Oxbridge grads at Princeton, Harvard and Stanford right now. Granted, most of them also did an MPhil or MSc, but it's certainly possible to get into top US programs coming from the UK and elsewhere. Lots of people at good programs did the LSE masters programs.
I guess it's a different question of whether it's harder to get into US programs coming from outside the US, but yeah, there are a decent number of people from Europe, Latin America and Asia these days. I'd say far less than half at most top programs but a fair few. I went to a top level international program and was advised by a professor who had her PhD from Berkeley that it's hard to come from Europe without a masters, even from well known schools. Most of the people coming from my school to the US needed Oxbridge/LSE masters to get in. For instance, I just scrolled through half of Stanford's grad students, and while only a couple people who went to US schools had masters before starting their PhDs, every non-US student I could find a CV/linkedin for had a masters. Part of that is certainly a culture, particularly in continental Europe, of doing a masters anyway, but I would also bet there's some devaluation of the quality of non-US BAs.
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.
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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.
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5 minutes ago, eggsalad14 said:
Do something like "-london"
Amazing! wish I knew this earlier...
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Just now, eggsalad14 said:
It sounds like I'm getting rejected from Harvard too at this point, which hurts a little but is ok. Literally everyone but Harvard has emailed me today, which has caused a lot of heart racing.
I hope everyone is seeing this exchange on the results page about the LSE econ student from Bath. It's a little funny.
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.
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1 minute ago, trinityshot said:
Just got the email from Harvard FYI
Thank you!! Hope the rejection letter comes soon...
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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?
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12 minutes ago, irgradcafe said:
Applied 11 schools, got into 2 T20 programs and 1 T10 program this cycle (IR, international applicant). Two takeaways I got from my experience which I believe mattered to my application, for future applicants' reference:
- Letters written by people whom the DGS / POI know and cite. Two of my accepted schools have people who definitely know my letter writer.
- A writing sample that hits the main research interests (in my case, also the methods) of the DGS / POI.
Obviously my case is singular and there could be millions of other factors that mattered. Perhaps more people can share and we'll have large-N data!
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).
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1 hour ago, nerokoala said:
Haha no worries. I'm a little perplexed - I have pretty reasonable scores 165/165/5.0, a not amazing but decent 3.5 GPA from a t15 liberal arts school, and have experience working for a big-name think tank doing empirical research and have consulted for another. I know two of my letters were great, but don't know how the letter from my third - an economist who I work for- was. Applied to both pub pol and poli sci programs, and the only positive(ish) response was a waitlist at Rochester. Yet to hear from Harris, but somewhat resigned at this point.
If I were to apply again, I'd probably rethink fit and make sure I only apply to places with faculty who specifically do empirical & comparative political economy of development work. I can definitely do better on the quant for GRE, but other than those two things not sure what else I'd redo. My sample was highly technical and empirical, so I might submit a more poli sci ish next time round?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?
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26 minutes ago, nerokoala said:
I was an econ/poli sci undergrad and work as an RA in health econ/public econ; happy to chat about the process. That said, this cycle applying to Poli Sci programs hasn't been successful for me, so can't say for certain it's a path that will guarantee a place in a Poli Sci PhD. Might be in love with the wrong discipline tbh
I'm so sorry things didn't work out for you! I would've thought Poli sci and Econ are very similar disciplines (same methodologies, different substantive focus), and if you excel in econ and get a good letter from someone who does empirical research, you'd be a super star in Poli sci!
I'm curious to hear if you have any reflections on your experience this cycle. Do you plan on applying next year?
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35 minutes ago, polisci1 said:
Has anyone been successful in getting an RA position after undergrad? If so, do you have any advice?
I didn't personally do this, but if you want to check out economics RA positions, lot of jobs are posted on NBER, the @econ_ra twitter, and the Yale (?) economics page for example. Academics also post jobs on their own Twitter, but you kinda have to be on twitter all the time to see it, which you really shouldn't. The skills required are probably some knowledge of Stata/R and statistics, as well as some knowledge of the substantive area. I assume these positions become available throughout the year, so there might be ones you could be applying to right now! If your undergrad major is political science, you probably have to come up with a convincing motivation for applying, etc. I've never done this before, so I'll leave this part to more experienced applicants.
If you do any type of theory (political theory or formal models), I'm not sure whether there are RA positions in those areas. Will let others chime in..
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To get into the Chicago MA program or to get a full-time RA-ship, it also helps to have one or more of the following things:
- research skills
- connections
- money (if you can’t get a scholarship)
I understand that this isn’t ideal but from the people I’ve talked to it seems like those of us from non-prestigious undergrad institutions have only a few options if we want to have a shot at the most competitive programs.
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43 minutes ago, quesadilla said:
I’m not sure if this is helpful for those reapplying but I’m really realizing the importance of connections. The two schools I got into both have professors who were in my recommender’s cohort, one he went to for undergrad, and I got waitlisted where my other recommender went. Don’t be afraid to ask your recommenders or other mentors to reach out to their colleagues when you apply! Emailing professors at schools yourself won’t carry as much weight as a colleague telling them to keep an eye out for your application. And it may not hurt to consider where your professors have connections when deciding where to apply. This isn’t to say that this matters MUCH but it might matter ENOUGH when admissions committees are looking through hundreds of stellar apps and trying to decide between two great students. Obviously don’t apply somewhere that’s not a good fit just because your thesis director knows the DGS.
Second the comment on connections. If you’re not from a prestigious university, perhaps consider doing an MA at Chicago or working as an RA for a social scientist. There are lots of economists hiring full-time RAs fresh out of undergrad.
I would also add that how much your connections are willing to vouch for you is a function of your own ability as well. They’re putting their reputation on the line, so you have to be good enough to make them go that extra mile.
Fit didn’t really matter in my case. Two out of the three schools whose fit paragraphs I spent 30 seconds writing (because I knew the professors’ work by heart) rejected me. Two schools with the worst fit both accepted me. And these are all equally competitive programs where my recommenders had equally weak connections, so I don’t know what worked or didn’t work in those cases.
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8 minutes ago, PBandMachiajelly said:
Claiming a Yale rejection! Also got a generic email to check portal. Generic emails are the best. If you haven't gotten the email yet go log in obsessively until you're notified.
Really appreciate schools that send out all decisions all at once. It's not that hard!!!
- kp_87 and peggy.olson
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claiming a Yale acceptance!
I thought its' a rejection because it was a generic email to check the portal.
Assuming a Harvard rejection I'm finally done!!! Thanks to everyone on this forum who made January and February less stressful. Best of luck to y'all.
- olieb0llen, HanZero, lukadoncic and 3 others
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4 minutes ago, IcedCovfefe said:
They might be spreading things out over a couple days, so I wouldn’t lose hope yet. Calling each admit personally takes time. They said the emails will go out within the next couple days.
Thank you!! Best of luck making that very difficult decision come April 15th!
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I guess that's a rejection for me -- hope to get the rejection email soon. I went to check the "application proof" but it doesn't seem like I left my phone number
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8 minutes ago, Onwarrdz said:
I'm assuming if we haven't heard from Columbia it's a rejection? One of the entries on the survey page says it was a generic email, so it makes me think they sent them all out at once, and aren't like, going slowly through the alphabet/by subject. Oh well!
I'm not the one on the results page, so idk what's happening there. The email I got has me as a recipient and the DGS cc'ed. I would guess that the emails are still being sent out alphabetically or by subfield. DON'T LOSE HOPE!! No news = you're still in play!
Funding for International Students at UCLA/UCSD?
in Political Science Forum
Posted
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.