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Tedmonkey

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  • Application Season
    2019 Fall
  • Program
    Political Science

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  1. This would be helpful. I have no clue what I'm supposed to ask or talk about in any of my meetings.
  2. Just wanted to point out that this is the Political Science PhD thread and so you may want to go over to the Ed.D forums to get better information.
  3. For those looking for how many posted Harvard admits, don't forget to check under "Government" and not just "Political Science". Some post under one and not the other, just be aware there are a few who post under both.
  4. I've also got to consider my spouse and health factors. I'm still waiting on a personal top school's decision. I'm likely going to go to the school that is better ranked (the one I'm already accepted too) but not quite as good of an academic fit due to these additional factors, no matter what the outstanding school's decision is. It isn't a bad fit, however, the faculty there do research more tangential to my research area than the school I'm waiting to hear from that has multiple faculty directly in my research field.
  5. I felt two major things helped this cycle be successful. One, I did a thorough analysis for fit to decide which programs were worth my time and money to apply to. Two, I spent a lot of time researching each department I was applying to and their faculty and personalized my SOP for how I fit and would benefit their program, including naming whose research I felt would work well with my own. Last year I was 0a/1w/10r. This year I am 2a/0w/1r/1p (plus one that would have been an acceptance but I withdrew my application right before they sent the offer because I knew I wouldn't pick it over an acceptance I already had). I did also retake and raise my GRE score but I felt the two points above were bigger factors in my success.
  6. Last cycle was unsuccessful for me. I ended up taking a gap year and am currently working on a research paper independently and submitted it to present at conference. Also, I studied and retook the GRE, since I knew it could stand to improve that, and doing some intensive sorting of schools to apply to the next round. Trying to get work failed for me as well, even with a Master's in hand, but luckily my spouse was able to support me focusing on improving me applications. Things worked out this year to be accepted to multiple programs, so I guess something in there worked. My suggestion is to soul search on what you need to do and get creative on ways to do research.
  7. When looking at PhD programs you always use the ranking of the PhD program and not the university as a whole. US News does renew the list every year but from the years I have looked at there usually isn't any major changes unless something serious happened with a department. I believe you can find the old rankings with a simple Google search if you are interested in looking them up yourself.
  8. Overall, Notre Dame is ranked 37th. I don't know their IR field ranking though. They will have a solid placement record but mostly it comes down to you. Get good teaching experience with good evaluations and publish, publish, publish as a grad student. Those things will really help you have a better application package for placement. Also, check to make sure you will have a good research fit with them as a good mentor is invaluable in reaching those goals.
  9. I'm very likely accepting the offer from a T-50 school. It really isn't whether you can get a job, it is the type of placement available to you. A T-10 school would allow more of an opportunity to get placement at an R-1 research institution (especially the higher ranked ones). Whereas, a mid-tier school would be more likely to lead to placement in a lower R-1 or an R-2 school. Low ranked schools are more likely to lead to LAC placements. Of course, the biggest influence within those tiers is teaching experience/evaluations and publications. And these placement trends are primarily only the first faculty job. It is hard but possible to publish your way up, somewhat. Many mid-ranked schools, especially the higher ranked mid-tier schools, have very good placement records in mid to lower R-1 and in R-2 schools. Rank has some importance but without good fit it is unlikely someone will get a great placement due to a lack of a strong mentor.
  10. I got in to University of Kentucky and Arizona State University. I also withdrew my application from the University of Cincinnati, but I was told they were about to send me an acceptance with funding that day. CUNY will probably get results out next week, based on a comment on the survey. I already turned down UK in favor of either ASU or CUNY (if CUNY accepts I get to decide between those two). Likely I will go to ASU (ranked 51), however, I'm not making a final decision until I hear from CUNY (ranked 65) and visit schools. I was financially limited in the number of programs I could apply to and didn't apply to as many upper ranked programs as I probably should have. UCLA, NYU, Columbia, Harvard, UC Berkley, and more all have faculty doing WGS related research in poli sci. Fit of each school would depend on what subfield you are in and whether you do quantitative or qualitative work (I'm comparative and quantitative). With this research area, and other esoteric ones as well, the best way to find schools to look at is to look at what schools have people presenting the type of work you want to do at conferences and getting it published. Feel free to DM me and I can talk more about what schools have people in this area and/or research topics or whatever.
  11. I've got an invitation for Arizona State's visitation day in three weeks. They said in the email to were business casual. Button-up or blouse and slacks or khakis would be perfectly acceptable and no tie or jacket needed.
  12. Don't give up hope until all schools have responded. However, if you do need to reapply next round I can let you know what I did for my second round that has been successful. I studied and retook the GRE to improve my scores, I personalized all of my SOPs with detailed information on my fit to each individual department, I also have been working on an independent research paper and submitted it to present at conference (and was accepted). One other thing I did was to create an Excel file of every PhD program in the country, and a few Canadian ones, where I created a formula that weighted different factors of fit. For example, since my research deals with the LGBTQ community, does the school contain a PhD, Master's, or Graduate Certificate in a field related to gender or sexuality studies or political science faculty that did research in this area. These columns were weighted at 3 times value, other things that are more wish list were weighted at 1 times value, and some between at 2. Then I sorted by the total of the weighted value and chose high, mid, and low ranked schools to apply to. Last year I applied to 11 schools and got 10 rejections and 1 wait list (that failed). This time I only applied to 5 schools and so far am at 2a/0w/1r/1p and 1 withdrawn application (back-up school and already got in somewhere I prefer more). The school I am thinking of going to, at this point, is ranked around 50 so a solidly mid-ranked school. Also, reevaluate your reference letter sources and see if you could have done better there.
  13. I feel it is more professional to reply to the emails than to ignore them. Although they have already accepted you, you don't want to start a program somewhere with them already thinking you are unresponsive and unprofessional. I basically thanked them for the congratulations and for reaching out and mentioned that all of my questions so far have already been answered but I would keep them in mind for any future questions.
  14. I had one of these a week or two ago. Basically, it is a chance for them to answer your questions about their department and to try to sell you on picking them out of your acceptances. Best suggestion is to write out your questions ahead of time. This is a great time to ask things about the publication rate of PhD students in their program, the activity level of the department in conferences, if there is any funding for visit days, questions about the city the school is in, ect... Even if you feel like you know everything you need to know to make a decision, ask something. This will indicate to them you have interest in their department. As far as things to avoid, I would avoid any indication of where that school fits in your personal ranking of your applications/acceptances. You wouldn't want to tell them they are your second choice school and then not get an offer (or get a substandard offer) from your top choice and end up going there. Really, there is nothing to be nervous about with it. It is pretty casual and just a way for them to sell their department to you and personally introduce themselves.
  15. It can be very defeating. Last year I applied to 11 schools, all ranked in the top 100 but spread out throughout the rankings. I only got one wait list, that didn't open up, and no acceptances. I already have a Master's so I ended up taking the year to study and retake the GRE, reevaluate fit for the schools I was applying to, work out much more personalized SOP's and made them individualized per program, and I started an independent research paper that I submitted to present at a conference (luckily it was accepted) to boost my CV some. Like you I have some limits on my applications this year but instead of location, my limit was how many I could afford to apply to. In the end, I could only apply to 5 schools this year but I already have an acceptance and had an interview from another school (that I should hear from any day...). Sometimes taking a step back and reevaluating whether this is really what you want and where the best fit is can be a huge benefit even if it doesn't feel like it when you get all the rejections and you feel delayed a year from your future. Hopefully my experience helps.
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