amyvt98

Hi there - I am also married with children, and enrolling in a PhD program has been a career change for me. I briefly considered applying to a few CHYMPS schools that would require me to live away from home during the week. Eventually, I decided that the combination of the expense of maintaining two residences plus five years away from the family made that option impractical for me. I wound up at my first choice (ranked in the 20-40 range), which is about an hour commute from where I live. As you know, getting hired out of school is iffy at best, but in the end, I decided to go the route that would provide minimal disruption for the family. So far, I don't regret it. Logistically, things aren't that different from commuting for any other job. I spend less time on campus compared to others in my cohort so that I can maximize time at home (usually that means sitting on the sofa reading for a class while my son sits next to me and watches Survivor). It really is just like another job - my coworkers are just a lot younger than I am I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any specific questions - I'm happy to try and answer.

Yes, totally unfair. I hope there are better solutions out there, especially now that #metoo has started to change things. I just wanted to provide my experience so that you'll know that your'e not alone. I hope it all settles down for you!

I have some experience with this, albeit with a caveat. I'm an older student (I entered my program in my mid-40s after a career change) so I don't have the problem of getting hit on anymore. However, earlier in my career before I entered academia, I had this problem a lot. It sucked, and it did prevent me from forming close relationships with some people, especially men. I can't speak to how these types of things are handled in academia, but I can tell you what I did to cope since in my old profession, there weren't a lot of resources for this type of situation. First, I would limit my social time to a drink or two at happy hour before heading home. I found that the later things got, the more inappropriately people would act. Second, I would wait to get to know people pretty well in a workplace setting before letting my guard down and hanging out socially. I occasionally did become friends with some men at work, but only after getting to know them and their motivations. This didn't work 100% of the time - occasionally I would deem someone harmless and I'd be wrong. But it did work most of the time. If your experience is anything like mine, the longer you spend in the department, the more people will forget about surface appearance and start to see the person you are inside. Until then, I coped by watching a lot of Legally Blonde

I live in the DC area, too, and have a somewhat nontraditional background (I'm an older student switching careers). There are quite a few programs in our area that might find your military background interesting. Several of the schools I considered have students who come from the military, and it's my perception that they had positive experiences with these students. The first poster is correct that your undergrad GPA is not going to help you, but there are some good schools in the DC area that fall outside of the top 30-50 that are worth considering.

Check out political predictions markets, too. https://www.predictit.org/

I wanted to provide another perspective re: relocating. I went through the application process this past cycle and had similar geographic constraints. I'm in the DC area and only applied to schools that would allow me to commute from where I live. While not ideal, it's totally doable. You're lucky to live in a place that has several good options, so that's good news. The good thing about having geographic constraints is that you can get to know the area schools really well so that you can get a feel for whether doing a PhD locally is realistic. So if you're serious about applying to local schools, take the opportunity now to meet local professors who do research in your area of interest, learn each school's strengths and weaknesses, visit the campus, talk to other grad students, etc. You might also consider stretching your geographic area to consider schools outside of Manhattan (for example, does is Rutgers a fit?). That might give you more options when it comes down to applying and acceptances. Good luck!

Hi there - sounds like you'll have a strong application, assuming you get good GRE scores and have a strong personal statement. If there's one thing I've learned through this process, it's that admissions are unpredictable and appear to be arbitrary at times. I suggest applying to schools in a variety of different tiers (a few Top 10, some 10-30, maybe a few 30-50) and see what happens. As for specific schools, research fit is going to be the primary determining factor there. Think about what you want to study, then spend a lot of time figuring out which of the programs have faculty with similar research areas by reading faculty bios/CVs on university websites. Your faculty contacts can help identify good matches as well - I got a lot of good advice from my friends who are already in academia.

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: R1 with an unremarkable political science department Major(s)/Minor(s): Political science, Communications Undergrad GPA: 3.66 Type of Grad: Applied Politics Grad GPA: 3.8 GRE: 170V, 161 Q Any Special Courses: None Letters of Recommendation: 3 professors from my grad school (I graduated over a decade ago, but currently teach there, so I have strong relationships with all of my recommenders) Research Experience: None Teaching Experience: Adjunct faculty at an R1 school for the past four years Subfield/Research Interests: American/Behavior/Political Psychology Other: I have 20 years of professional experience working in politics (on Capitol Hill and as a political consultant), and my work in the field directly relates to my research interests. RESULTS: Acceptances($$ or no $$): Maryland ($$), American University ($$) Waitlists: GW, Georgetown Rejections: None Pending: None Going to: Maryland LESSONS LEARNED: Meeting faculty with similar research interests at each school helped me understand fit and write strong personal statements tailored to each program. It also gave me a good feel for the schools that would likely accept me. Demonstrating fit in the personal statement is crucial.

Nothing like that - just a short letter that said they weren't able to accept me and that I was on the wait list. Good luck! Hope you get better news! I applied in the American subfield, BTW.

Just got a wait list notification from Georgetown.

You're right! I've been searching political science this whole time, and since some 2018 acceptances came up, I didn't think to switch the search terms. Thanks!

Has anybody gotten accepted into Georgetown yet? I keep checking the results board, but I haven't seen anything from 2019 yet.

I received an acceptance via the portal in the early morning and an automated email a few hours later.

American

Does anyone have any idea what's going on with Georgetown?

Hi there! I'm in a somewhat similar situation (not an attorney, but I'm an older student with a lot of career experience making a career change). I did a lot of due diligence before applying, including taking a bunch of professors out to coffee and picking their brains, meeting with grad directors, and talking to friends who have been through the process and now have tenure. and have been accepted at a few places and I thought it would be helpful if I passed along my experiences. Feel free to DM me if you have any specific questions. I'm going to preface this by telling you that I didn't apply to any Top 10 programs - all of my schools are in the 20-50 range, and even those schools had different reactions to an older student seeking to make a career change. So if you're looking to go to Princeton, I don't have anything for you. But on the whole, the best advice I can give you is to think about your entire application package (your work experience, your research interests, your writing samples) as a story that you are trying to tell the admissions committee. Are you seeking to study something related to your work as an attorney? Has something you've dealt with in your career sparked a question that you want to answer? All of that can build a compelling narrative that can turn something that could be seen as a downside into a huge upside for you. Spend a lot of time thinking about how you want to package yourself, and each of the elements in your application package should support that narrative. In real world terms, you are writing a proposal to a potential client - you are trying to sell them on you. To address your questions specifically: Re the writing sample: Do folks dust off and revise UG papers, or spend time researching and writing a new paper altogether? I'm not remotely opposed to the latter, but would welcome any suggestions you all can offer. If you have something that you can stand behind that you wrote over 10 years ago, then you might be okay. I ended up writing something new. If you decide to write something new, think back to the work you've done as an attorney - is any of that work at all relevant to your research topic? If so, use that as a starting point and write something related to that. Then, in your personal statement, reference your writing sample, why you chose to submit it, and why it's relevant to your application. How does work experience factor in (if at all) to an AdCom's decision making process? I don't see how someone with my background can compete with a candidate of the same age range but who got a MA in PS or worked in a similar field. I am wondering if the JD/years spent as a lawyer has any appreciable merit. (I do not harbor any illusion about how much a law degree is worth outside of, you know, the law). This is where your research interests can help. Ideally, your research subject is related in some way to your work as an attorney. You should use this to your advantage and talk about it in your personal statement. For example, talking bout how working as an attorney led you to ask questions X, Y, and Z, and now you're applying to graduate school so that you can answer those questions. OR something like that. I can tell you that two of the schools I applied to were really interested in my work experience and two of the schools didn't care. So it'll probably vary for you. Is it self-sabotage to state in one's SOP that one does not want to be an academic? Does the desire to pursue a non-academic career post-doc make someone with my background more or less desirable? Probably. Schools want to educate future scholars. They are going to be less likely to give funding to someone who doesn't plan to use their degree to do research. That doesn't necessarily mean that you need to seek a tenure track job after you finish - maybe you want to go work for a think tank or something. Based on my experience talking to different schools, some places are more okay with this than others. In the end, it would help if you asked yourself this question - why do I want to get a PhD? Based on all of the advice I've received, if the answer isn't related to wanting to do research for a living after you finish school, then you might want to reconsider applying. I'm leaning towards American or theory, but I've read horror stories about theory candidates having fewer options after their degrees are conferred than a HS drop out. If not pursuing a teaching pos, does the subfield matter as much? I can't speak to this question, but am curious if others have something to add. Any suggestions on programs for someone with my background? I don't feel the need to pay too much attention to the rankings. I'm open to the DC, Baltimore, PA, NJ, NY areas. DM me

If you applied to AU's School of Public Affairs, check your portal. I was surprised to see a acceptance letter there this morning (no email, just randomly checked and it was there).

In politics, alma mater matters very little, especially once you get past your first job. I have worked in public affairs/public policy since the late 90s, and people care more about who you know and what you've proven you can do on the job than they do about pedigree. A big name college education makes very little difference in DC.

Dude. You're on fire. I'd love to know what's in your application. Congrats!

I talked with the grad director yesterday, and he said that one of the sub fields hadn’t finished their selections yet. It sounds like they started to send acceptances this week, but they didn’t all happen on Monday. And that lagging subfield (I don’t know which one it was, but it wasn’t American) could take longer than that. He also said that they wait on wait list/rejections until later in the process, so it could be a while if you don’t hear anything this week.

I'm not a biology student (I'll be studying political science), but UVa's polisci program advertises itself as family-friendly. The university has a few options for on-campus housing for graduate students with families. https://housing.virginia.edu/graduate-students I don't know much about the child care situation, but it may be worth investigating: http://www.virginia.edu/childdevelopmentcenter/about.html

I've heard back from half of my schools.

My note from the grad director was personalized (we've met before, and he referenced that in the note). I'm guessing he's sending them out one by one. No update to the portal yet.

Claiming a Maryland admit. Funding was included in the offer letter. I'm so excited and relieved!

I haven't been in the position to ask/answer questions at this stage in the process (haven't heard from any schools yet,except one wait list), but I'm am executive at a political consulting firm, so I field a lot of questions from people who are looking to go into the field and I interview a lot of people for jobs. One question that I think translates well to email is "what is something that I should know about your school that I can't tell from reading about it?" Or something to that extent. That type of question is open-ended enough that people can answer the questions any way they want. Their answer often ends up telling me more about the question answerer than the institution itself, which can be informative if the professor is someone that you might work with.