Theory007

If you are serious about going to graduate school, I will very highly recommend that you apply to at least a handful of schools. I'm sure you can find more than just a single one that offers what you're looking for.

Check out the ASPECT PhD program at Virginia Tech! Seems like it would be right up your alley in terms of research interest. 

Hi!
You have one really great thing going for you - your work with that Duke professor is extremely valuable. It helps you narrow down your research interests, which is essential for your SoP and writing sample. If you get a recommendation out of it then that is even better and should you guys end up co-publish that paper then you'll be in seriously great shape and be, I think, a contender for the best phd programs in the US. If I was you I would pull then professor aside and ask him/her to ask if they think you may be suited for a phd program in political science. Undoubtedly they will be able to answer that and at some point you might float the idea of you joining Duke and becoming their student. See what they say.
EVERY other aspect of your application would have to be excellent; SoP, writing sample, and very importantly your GREs. I would really set some time aside to work on the GREs - if you can get a great score soon that is great. If not I would for sure wait until next year and then apply. And forget MA programs if you're coming to the US - if you do it right you will get into a great phd program. I am not saying it is easy (at all) but I think you will be able to do it if you get 90th+ percentile in both sections on the GRE and write an excellent SoP at least.
Hope that helps.
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Welcome everyone to the 2021-2022 application thread for political science!
Discuss the application process, ask questions, post results when they come out, and anything else related to admissions this year. Good luck to you all!

Welcome everyone to the 2021-2022 application thread for political science!
Discuss the application process, ask questions, post results when they come out, and anything else related to admissions this year. Good luck to you all!

Welcome everyone to the 2021-2022 application thread for political science!
Discuss the application process, ask questions, post results when they come out, and anything else related to admissions this year. Good luck to you all!

Duke is a top-10 program (ranked #10), but the academic job market is really tough these days so I doubt that the placement is great in any program.
Even if you are coming from a top program in the UK I'd encourage you to apply broadly. Top programs in the US are notoriously competitive and even great students like yourself have only a slim chance of getting in. I would advise that you apply to 6-10 programs where your fit would be good (fit is the most important thing) and then spend the next 6 months perfecting every aspect of your application including the GREs.
Good luck!

I'd look at UCLA and Johns Hopkins for as they are probably the centers of continental thought in the US. But lots of programs will have some theory professors who do continental thought and would be able to supervise what you are interested in. I'd look at the theory faculty in all programs in the top-50 ish and see where you'd be a good fit. Applications are tough and many qualified applicants do not get in anywhere so I'd encourage you to apply broadly.

Thanks everyone for another season on this forum!
I'm proud to be associated with you all (even if we're anonymous) and grateful that we are such a good community! The main application thread had, as you can see, well above 500k views since November, which is really quite mind-blowing to me.
To those of you who will be reapply next year, I'll be back then and look forward to reconnect. I'll sign in from time to time and please feel free to reach out if there is anything I can do, help with, or give you advise on. I certainly do not know everything but I do know some things and would be happy to help.
Best wishes to you all!

I'd look at UCLA and Johns Hopkins for as they are probably the centers of continental thought in the US. But lots of programs will have some theory professors who do continental thought and would be able to supervise what you are interested in. I'd look at the theory faculty in all programs in the top-50 ish and see where you'd be a good fit. Applications are tough and many qualified applicants do not get in anywhere so I'd encourage you to apply broadly.

Hello and welcome to GadCafé. I suspect the forum is less active than usual after each admissions cycle ends and before the next one starts. I am as far away from normative political theory as one could possibly be, and I unfortunately do not know many theorists. However, one of the moderators seems to be a theory person @Theory007. I leave the user mentioned here  

Thanks everyone for another season on this forum!
I'm proud to be associated with you all (even if we're anonymous) and grateful that we are such a good community! The main application thread had, as you can see, well above 500k views since November, which is really quite mind-blowing to me.
To those of you who will be reapply next year, I'll be back then and look forward to reconnect. I'll sign in from time to time and please feel free to reach out if there is anything I can do, help with, or give you advise on. I certainly do not know everything but I do know some things and would be happy to help.
Best wishes to you all!

Thanks everyone for another season on this forum!
I'm proud to be associated with you all (even if we're anonymous) and grateful that we are such a good community! The main application thread had, as you can see, well above 500k views since November, which is really quite mind-blowing to me.
To those of you who will be reapply next year, I'll be back then and look forward to reconnect. I'll sign in from time to time and please feel free to reach out if there is anything I can do, help with, or give you advise on. I certainly do not know everything but I do know some things and would be happy to help.
Best wishes to you all!

Thanks everyone for another season on this forum!
I'm proud to be associated with you all (even if we're anonymous) and grateful that we are such a good community! The main application thread had, as you can see, well above 500k views since November, which is really quite mind-blowing to me.
To those of you who will be reapply next year, I'll be back then and look forward to reconnect. I'll sign in from time to time and please feel free to reach out if there is anything I can do, help with, or give you advise on. I certainly do not know everything but I do know some things and would be happy to help.
Best wishes to you all!

Thanks everyone for another season on this forum!
I'm proud to be associated with you all (even if we're anonymous) and grateful that we are such a good community! The main application thread had, as you can see, well above 500k views since November, which is really quite mind-blowing to me.
To those of you who will be reapply next year, I'll be back then and look forward to reconnect. I'll sign in from time to time and please feel free to reach out if there is anything I can do, help with, or give you advise on. I certainly do not know everything but I do know some things and would be happy to help.
Best wishes to you all!

Thanks everyone for another season on this forum!
I'm proud to be associated with you all (even if we're anonymous) and grateful that we are such a good community! The main application thread had, as you can see, well above 500k views since November, which is really quite mind-blowing to me.
To those of you who will be reapply next year, I'll be back then and look forward to reconnect. I'll sign in from time to time and please feel free to reach out if there is anything I can do, help with, or give you advise on. I certainly do not know everything but I do know some things and would be happy to help.
Best wishes to you all!

Thanks everyone for another season on this forum!
I'm proud to be associated with you all (even if we're anonymous) and grateful that we are such a good community! The main application thread had, as you can see, well above 500k views since November, which is really quite mind-blowing to me.
To those of you who will be reapply next year, I'll be back then and look forward to reconnect. I'll sign in from time to time and please feel free to reach out if there is anything I can do, help with, or give you advise on. I certainly do not know everything but I do know some things and would be happy to help.
Best wishes to you all!

Thanks everyone for another season on this forum!
I'm proud to be associated with you all (even if we're anonymous) and grateful that we are such a good community! The main application thread had, as you can see, well above 500k views since November, which is really quite mind-blowing to me.
To those of you who will be reapply next year, I'll be back then and look forward to reconnect. I'll sign in from time to time and please feel free to reach out if there is anything I can do, help with, or give you advise on. I certainly do not know everything but I do know some things and would be happy to help.
Best wishes to you all!

I stand by what I said in this post earlier on a closely related topic. In short, you should stay with the original offer because that program has turned applicants down because you had signed a contract verifying that you'd be studying there.
 

First of all: it freaking sucks coming to a program with a dream of getting outstanding political science training and then get disappointed. I'm sorry you are going through this. It's painful and difficult and you should do your best (as you are) to get out of there asap.
But I agree that you cannot transfer. But some programs, also good ones, accept a ton of transfer credits. So you can go to a new program as a new student but skip out on 2-4 semesters of coursework. Also if you were to start over, it's not the end of the world. Many students join new programs and have to do or redo coursework. I would also consider using my original recommenders and not rely on the new ones. If you want to leave a program and you ask current professors for recommendations you risk not getting in anywhere. If you then choose to stay in the current program it would be no surprise to me if you'd have an even harder time getting support from anyone.
Would you mind DMing me the program name? And if you'd be willing to elaborate on your experience I'd love to hear about it (without names and all that stuff). For one reason or another people ask me for advise about where where to apply and what programs to attend. so I'd very much appreciate getting a first-hand account of a program that does not work out. And I could give you mine if you were interested
I basically agree with @MrsPhD. But would:
1. Spend the summer researching new programs. Look at every program in the top-50 or so and write a list of programs that you could complete at an accelerated pace. When you have this list of 3-6 suitable programs, add a handful of programs where you'd be a good fit even if you had to start over.
2. Take an honest look at my application material. Depending on your GRE score most people would benefit from redoing it. Study all summer for it and take it 3-4 times in August-December. Use the Manhattan Prep Books to prepare and sign up for the online Magoosh and complete the full program within your time constraints. It's cheap and best bang for the buck. There is lots of advise on what material to use to prep for the GRE but if you use what I suggest you'd be able to get 160 at least in both sections, which will make you a contender for most programs (except top-10 programs maybe).
Work on your writing sample. Adcoms are not looking for an incredible original paper I think but one that demonstrates your research interests, one that shows that you understand the basics of social science research methodology, and one that is fairly well written. Others may weigh in on this.
Your SOP is the most important element of your application. It's the only piece of writing that you KNOW that adcoms will read for sure. So it has to be perfect, or almost perfect. There is also lots of advise on how to write this well, but I'd recommend asking @BunniesInSpace who knows a thing or two about how to write a good application.
3. Given that you said above, I'd then ask my original recommenders for a new set of recommendations. You'll have to come up with a good way of framing your request otherwise they may refuse. Other people may disagree with me on this though.
I'd also consider not returning to your current program this fall. You'll have to weigh your options though.
Hope this is somewhat helpful. 

Thanks everyone for another season on this forum!
I'm proud to be associated with you all (even if we're anonymous) and grateful that we are such a good community! The main application thread had, as you can see, well above 500k views since November, which is really quite mind-blowing to me.
To those of you who will be reapply next year, I'll be back then and look forward to reconnect. I'll sign in from time to time and please feel free to reach out if there is anything I can do, help with, or give you advise on. I certainly do not know everything but I do know some things and would be happy to help.
Best wishes to you all!

Thanks everyone for another season on this forum!
I'm proud to be associated with you all (even if we're anonymous) and grateful that we are such a good community! The main application thread had, as you can see, well above 500k views since November, which is really quite mind-blowing to me.
To those of you who will be reapply next year, I'll be back then and look forward to reconnect. I'll sign in from time to time and please feel free to reach out if there is anything I can do, help with, or give you advise on. I certainly do not know everything but I do know some things and would be happy to help.
Best wishes to you all!

I stand by what I said in this post earlier on a closely related topic. In short, you should stay with the original offer because that program has turned applicants down because you had signed a contract verifying that you'd be studying there.
 

Thanks everyone for another season on this forum!
I'm proud to be associated with you all (even if we're anonymous) and grateful that we are such a good community! The main application thread had, as you can see, well above 500k views since November, which is really quite mind-blowing to me.
To those of you who will be reapply next year, I'll be back then and look forward to reconnect. I'll sign in from time to time and please feel free to reach out if there is anything I can do, help with, or give you advise on. I certainly do not know everything but I do know some things and would be happy to help.
Best wishes to you all!

Thanks everyone for another season on this forum!
I'm proud to be associated with you all (even if we're anonymous) and grateful that we are such a good community! The main application thread had, as you can see, well above 500k views since November, which is really quite mind-blowing to me.
To those of you who will be reapply next year, I'll be back then and look forward to reconnect. I'll sign in from time to time and please feel free to reach out if there is anything I can do, help with, or give you advise on. I certainly do not know everything but I do know some things and would be happy to help.
Best wishes to you all!