ihatedecisions

Hey all:
I wasn't sure of where to post this initially, but I supposed that since students in different fields have to take different things into consideration when choosing between grad programs, I should probably stick to my home turf. Much of this, however, likely applies to fields outside of poli-sci.
After going back and forth between two excellent schools offering comparable funding packages, I've settled on a grad program [yay!]. I'm very, very fortunate and grateful to have been admitted to both of them, which is part of what made this decision so difficult. This post is a list of the strategies, exercises, and 'games' that I came up with [I'm sure others have thought of similar things, too!] to help me reach a final decision.
These are, of course, meant as a complement the usual deliberative channels. The most informative thing you can do by far is talk to the faculty and students. A lot. Ask different people the same questions. Annoy yourself with how many people you email, ask to be put in touch with, etc. Ask former advisors. Ask anyone you know in academia; it's a small world. [In fact, asking 'outside sources' about these different programs helped me learn a lot of things that I never would have learned through internal recon!] If you're a spiritual or religious person, it helps to meditate or pray, if only because doing so can remind you of what matters most to you, personally, in choosing a school. And, don't let any one factor overpower all the others.
I'd really love to hear what you all did/are doing to make a decision, too—ideally current and future prospective students will happen upon this, find it useful, and add to it themselves!
 
1. Go over your statement of purpose. If you haven't done so already, print out a copy of each of the statements your wrote for each school you're considering and re-read them. Pay extra attention to how you feel when you get to the POI parts—you know, the ones where you say how excited you are to work with Professor Professorson because of XYZ and can't wait to participate in the Center Institute's programs because of ABC. For which schools do those portions of your statement feel most true, or most exciting, now?
Then pretend you have to create an outline for your dissertation today. Yes, I know your topic will change. Pretend you have to write it out anyway. Using your statement as a reference guide, make that outline [it can be brief and general].
Now, look at that outline and decide what you know the most about researching vs. the least. What areas are you most comfortable with, methodologically? Where do you need help, even in terms of coming up with a basic research design? Look at the list of things that you know the least about and figure out what resources, professors, reading groups, or interdisciplinary colloquia are most suited to help you at each school. What, if anything, do you notice? 
 
2. Pre-empt your regrets. Imagine your lowest period at each of the schools you're considering. This will look different, depending, but imagine those times—we've all had them before and we all will again—where you'll feel behind, unseen, frustrated, stupid, lonely, like you desperately need a haircut but don't have the time or the money, and are you effing kidding me [insert The Last Straw here]. T
These are the moments when a little voice will pop up in the back of your head and say, 'if only I'd gone to _______ instead...' . Complete that thought. What's that second clause? What will you most readily regret about not going to Alternate University?
'If only I'd picked Alternative University, I would have been able to work with that professor who shares my quirky research interests and methods.'
'If only I'd picked Alternative University, I'd be able to afford something nicer than this glorified walk-in closet.'
'If only I'd picked school Alternate University, I'd have more research autonomy and a less rigid curriculum.'
Compare the 'if only's that you come up with for each school. Which internal monologues look easiest to recite? Which ones look the most painful? Which ones seem like the most valid?
 
3. Use numbers! Ranking systems get a bad rap for being overly simplistic. Which they are. So are all of these strategies. That's the point. None of these should be used to change your mind. Rather, each of these is just a new way to help you make up your mind. They're exercises for getting more information from yourself—the sort that's difficult, if not impossible, to come by directly if you just, y'know, think really really hard about your options. [Because you've probably done that already, and now your head probably hurts.]
One thing that I did, after visiting my prospective schools [and taking an aspirin], was to put a note card on my desk and—every day for a week—assign each day a number 1–10 to represent how close I was to choosing a certain school. You can either do this for each school individually, or if you're choosing between your final two, you can make '1' mean 'I am, at this moment, about to press the "accept offer" button for University X' and '10' mean 'I am, at this moment, about to press the "accept offer" button for University Y.'
After however many days seems prudent, look at your note card and see if there's a pattern.
 
4. Make a list of all the stupid reasons. You're smart. So you've probably already thought about what the smart reasons are to choose any given school. You know the sensible things to take into account. Maybe one university has a better cost of living, a better stipend, better study abroad opportunities, or a better placement record. Maybe another has a more engaged student body, more compatible faculty, more intellectual diversity, or a uniquely kick-ass comprehensive exam format that would just help so much when it comes to publishing.
Assuming that each of these 'good' reasons cancels out the others... what about the 'bad' reasons? The ones that aren't supposed to matter, but do? When you think 'this really shouldn't make a difference, but...' what are the siren songs that draw you toward each school? Better weather? Nicer architecture? [Personally, this UChicago kid has a thing for bad weather and ugly libraries, so those 'bad reasons' were flipped.] More TA office space? Is there a department dog? Do you want there to be a department dog?
Assume you're in a ceteris paribus scenario. I mean, if you're reading this, you probably are. All else is equal... so what are those final non-equalizers? Do any of them offset the others?
 
5. Hit "record." I was fortunate enough to have audio evidence of my absolute shock and delight immediately after receiving each acceptance letter. I use Voice Memos on my phone for... well, everything, so when I saw an acceptance email [within the hour] I would do a voice memo 'journal entry'/freeform gabble-fest about how excited I was to have been admitted. When I was deliberating between my final two schools, I went back and replayed those two voice memos. Yes, there was a clear difference between how I sounded in each one. And no, it wasn't one of audio quality.
You can do this retroactively, too. Take some time to really tap in and be completely present with your excitement over getting into one school. [At a time, that is.] Then start recording [or writing], stream-of-consciousness, about that excitement. Then read or play back each session. Again, observe what differences you notice without judging any of them or jumping to conclusions.
 
6. Plot your research trajectory. If you've done this right [and you have], you already have a pretty good sense of what your research trajectory would look like at each of the schools you're considering. You know what your core classes are, you know what 'normal progress' looks like, and so on. Now put that knowledge to use, and add to it.
Go to each university's website and make a 'mock schedule.' Don't limit yourself to core courses or options within the poli-sci department. Obviously, course offerings are going to change, so are your interests, and it makes no sense to 'decide' when you'll take different non-essential courses. But you can list courses, seminars, TA opportunities, reading groups, conferences, projects, and professors that look cool. Sketch out the trajectory of classes that you know you're going to need to take [field seminars, dissertation workshops, mandatory TA practicums, etc.]. Then get familiar enough with your other options to have some idea of what the rest of your time could look like.
Again, this is about familiarizing yourself with the possibilities, not making a plan. The idea is to use these exercises to move past any implicit rigidity you may be experiencing—not create more.
 
7. Practice saying "yes." In front of a mirror, without trying to manage your reaction, practice saying that you've decided to go to School X. Then do it for School Y. And so on. Imagine you're telling your friends, your family, your former professors, etc. How did you feel each time? Physically, emotionally? Was there a knot in your stomach when you said it? Did you feel like a weight was lifted off of your shoulders? Did you tense up? Relax? Where? Did you smile? Laugh? Make a mental note of it.
Then, actually tell someone—before you hit "accept." You should only do this when you feel like you're ready to make that final call. Once you do, give yourself some time [a day is ideal] to see if any last dissenting thoughts come up. They probably will, if you're a commitment-phobe. The point isn't that you shouldn't have any doubts. You should, because ideally, you chose to apply to these schools for a reason, and they chose to admit you for a reason. You both saw an extreme level of compatibility between yourselves. The fact that this is a difficult decision is a sign that you did this absolutely, perfectly right. Go you! Honor that.
 
Again, I'd really dig hearing the unique strategies that others used to come to their own decisions!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I have heard of the cases when T10 did not get into any T20 program. So I think whereas it does not hurt and probably will get you looked at, it does not guarantee anything either.  A lot will depend on what you did with your undergrad, which courses you took, whether you TAd/RAd, etc. 
Regarding your alma mater - if you are in a good standing and have been somehow involved into research activities beyond undergrad scope, you probably will get looked at. However, that probably also does not guarantee anything. But it gives you a very good starting platform in terms of access to resources. Your professors are the ones that are best qualified to advise on how to get into the best program you can.
So I would definitely have as many of them as possible to look at my profile and ask them to estimate my chances. 

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad Institution: continental Europe
Major(s)/Minor(s): BA in humanities
Undergrad GPA:
Type of Grad: Europe & US 
Grad GPA:
GRE: V167/Q157/AWA4.5
Any Special Courses: n/a
Letters of Recommendation: 2 US profs, 1 European prof, most were probably lukewarm at best 
Research Experience: none 
Teaching Experience: none
Subfield/Research Interests: CP/IR

RESULTS:
Acceptances($$ or no $$): 2 15-25 ranked US schools ($$ & $$$) and 2 top Canadian schools ($$)
Rejections: variety of top 15 schools
Going to: idk????? very difficult decision because the job market looks very scary. 
 LESSONS LEARNED:
1. My major %&$! up was that i really underestimated time I would need for GREs and generally for the application. So advice no. 1 - START PREPARING NOW Write up first drafts of your writing sample and SoP and revise, revise, revise.
2. Take additional courses in maths, econ or similar if you can. Especially if you did not take them. This was told to me by a renowned polisci prof. I did not take these courses because of the time limits and personal situation and that might have disqualified me (together with quite weak GRE quant) at some better places
3. "Don't be scared of being a "different" candidate -- it can make you stand out if anything." >> I second this. 

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad Institution:  small unranked state school
Major: Political science 
Undergrad GPA: 3.5
First MA: SEC School GPA: 4.0 Second MA:Top 60 Political Science program (also SEC)- left PhD program after 2 years for personal reasons GPA: 3.85
GRE: first time V159/Q153/AWA5 second time V161/Q151/AWA5
Letters of Recommendation: 3 really good letters from well-published academics 
Research Experience: 1 sole authored publication in a good (not great) academic journal; 1 work in progress; 5 conference presentations
Teaching Experience: TA for 5 semesters; Instructor of American Government for 3 semesters
Subfield/Research Interests: IR/CP

RESULTS:
Acceptances($$ or no $$): Indiana University $$ University of California, Irvine $$, University of Georgia ($$ - funding info to come), Arizona State University $$, University of Nebraska $$
Rejections: Vanderbilt, Rice, Oklahoma
Going to: Indiana University 
 
Suggestion (copying and pasting one of my comments from another post): If you decide to contact a potential adviser, make sure your email is worth their while. Don't waste their time by saying how much their work interests you and that you'd love to work with them on some unstated future research project. What I did was contact potential advisors and asked if they could provide feedback on an original research idea related to their work. I put a lot of thought into these research ideas (e.g., I showed that I had a grasp of the previous lit, provided a well thought out argument with hypotheses as well as alternative hypotheses). All except one replied very quickly and expressed enthusiastically that they were interested in providing feedback, and indeed were very insightful about how to think about the causal mechanims involved, other possible ways I could approach the research question and what new literature (or important works that I did not mention) I should read. After having an in-depth discussion, I then said that I was interested in the program and that I may apply and that I would enjoy working with them in the program. One of the profs I contacted told me to mention her name in the application and that she would put in a good word for me (I recieved a fully funded offer from that school). I had a detailed discussion with a prof from another department who thinks my research is promising, but that program rejected me. I didn't contact any of the faculty at IU and still received (and accepted) a fully funded offer from them. So, it may or may not help to contact potential advisors, but it certainly doesn't hurt you. At the very least, you will be seen by your potential future advisor as someone who's very serious about research.

I would also say that incurring debt is never worth it, especially if you have a choice. I can hardly think of any career that Chicago offer opens that would make it financially sound to risk taking on c. 50k debt.  

Definitely not the norm. In my experience with grad administrators, they’ve all been amazing. This is from experience at schools that I’ve been both admitted and rejected from. 
 
while I obviously don’t know the specific school or specific situation, I’d only say that while it’s great and make your life hella easier to have a responsive and caring person In that position, ultimately it’s the professors that make or break a program. 

The best option is to be a Canadian citizen/permanent resident and to obtain a degree in the USA.  - If the aim is to get a TT position in Canada.
With all due respect to Canadian top-3 schools, those schools can not compete with the US schools located within top-40 (in terms of methods training, funding, networking, placement, etc).

@Paulcg87    thanks a lot! I am an international and I am considering offers from two US schools (top 25) alongside two top3 Canadian schools. So I am not really sure how the permanent residency in Canada works, that is, if one can get it while being a graduate student, so there is it. 

Assuming you graduate from a top 3, assuming your department/supervisor/committee have connections, and assuming there are open jobs in Canada in your subfield, the outlook is good. Keep in mind, the Canadian job market is extremely small. In any given year there might be only 2-3 open/hiring TT polisci positions within a given subfield in all of Canada. I've seen U.S. states that have more TT polisci openings than all of Canada combined in a given year.
The other really important part is citizenship/residency. Many schools (especially UT) put a strong emphasis on hiring Canadian citizens/permanent residents, which makes sense, given how small the market is and the extra time/complexity in sponsoring a foreigner for immigration for a TT job. It's absolutely possible to get sponsored for immigration to Canada for a TT job at a Canadian university as an American/foreign citizen and it happens every year, but it's only a handful of people. Canadian polisci departments seem to frequently hire candidates with American PhD's but they are, more often than not, Canadians who (like me) went to the US for at least part of their education. Don't be misled just because UBC, UT and McGill have a lot of faculty with foreign PhD's; many of the faculty you see in Canadian polisci departments who have US or UK PhD's are Canadians who went abroad for their education, not Americans/Brits. 
With all of this said: If you have at least permanent residency, went to a top-3 school in Canada, have interesting research and good references from your supervisor/committee, and there are open Canadian TT positions in your subfield, you will be extremely competitive for those positions in Canada. If everything else is equal and you've published and the rest is true, your odds are at least 50/50 if not higher, which is more than I can say for your odds in most places/circumstances. I hope this helps.

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad Institution:   Top 3 Canadian university
Major(s)/Minor(s): Political Science/History
Undergrad GPA: 3.61
Type of Grad: Top 10 U.S. university
Grad GPA: 3.78
GRE: V166/Q161/AWA5.0
Any Special Courses: Calculus, stats & calc-based stats in undergrad; inferential stats, research methods & modeling in grad school
Letters of Recommendation: MA supervisor, three work supervisors (two supervisors have PhD's in field; all three are senior positions in IR related field)
Research Experience: Professional work experience as a quantitative researcher in IR-related field; MA is a research-based degree 
Teaching Experience: 3 semesters TA experience
Subfield/Research Interests: IR
Other: MA is from a quantitative-intensive program that specializes in statistical modeling

RESULTS:
Acceptances($$ or no $$): University of Toronto ($$), McGill ($$), UBC ($$)
Waitlists: none
Rejections: none
Pending: none
Going to: University of Toronto
 
LESSONS LEARNED:
1. Fit is the most important part of the PhD application process in my opinion. If you aren't happy, you'll be spending 5-6 years regretting your choice and you might even drop out. "Fit" includes not just your department and how well you get along with your mentor/supervisor, but also, location, funding and quality of life. 
2. Despite what some might tell you on here and on PSR, rankings do matter when it comes to getting hired for a Tenure Track/postdoc job after your PhD. Fit is vital to your happiness but rankings are still an important part of your post-PhD job success, as are the connections that your supervisor/committee have. 
3. If you want to work in the US afterward, go to a US school. If you want to work in the commonwealth afterward, go to either a top-30 US school, a top-3 Canadian school, Oxbridge/LSE or ANU/Melbourne. This is not a hard and fast rule, but it's the advice that most professors gave me based on hiring committee preferences and reputation.
4. Only go somewhere if they're funding you for your PhD. Please please please do not go into a program that will require you to take out a lot of student loans, even if it's a good program. The chances of you getting a decent paying job the first few years after you finish your PhD vary but in many cases you might be a postdoc, visiting prof or adjunct for a while, and it's not worth taking out a lot of student loan debt for a PhD in a field that generally doesn't pay very well unless you're Tenure Track (TT) at a top-20 program. Go somewhere where your program is paying you to be there, not the other way around. 
Some additional comments.. Despite what the derelicts on PSR constantly trash talk about, you can go to a non-US school and still get a decent TT/postdoc job in the US. It's difficult and you'll have a harder time than if you go to a US school, but it's absolutely possible and that is an objective fact based on a cursory search of polisci department faculty at US schools. With that said, if you go to a lower ranked, lesser known school in the UK or Canada, you're really going to have a hard time getting anything in the US.
So, I recommend that if your heart is set on doing a PhD in Canada or the UK, you go to one of the top 3 polisci programs (Toronto, UBC, Mcgill for Canada; Oxford, Cambridge, LSE for the UK), and if you can't get into one of these programs, go to a US school instead (even if it's a middling or lower tier program) or re-apply in another year with stronger credentials. Go to some political science department faculty pages and look for yourself if you disagree with me; there aren't many faculty in TT jobs at US schools who got their PhD in war studies online from KCL or at the University of Victoria, but with an Oxbridge or Toronto/UBC/McGill degree you at least have a chance. And if you are 100% sure you have no interest in working in the US and you don't care if you close the door on that option now, just go wherever you have a good fit and good funding.
Above all else, do what makes you happy, but know what you're getting yourself into and understand that if you're one of the small group of political scientists who some day is making six figures in a prestigious TT job, it's probably not going to be at any point in the next decade of your life. More likely, unless you go to a top program, you will either be unemployed, working in the private sector (including non-profits & consulting), for the government as a civil servant, or you'll spend at least the first year or two after graduation in a postdoc, visiting/adjunct professorship or teaching at a community college. Accept this before you commit the next 5-6 years of your life or you might regret doing this. 
 
 

glad to hear that. I am also waiting on Chicago, but I think it will be a big fat reject

Congrats on your awesome cycle. I join those who are eager to look at your profile

Yeah. I got three acceptances. One is clearly better than the others. I'm just waiting Chicago that would might make me have second thoughts, but I don't think is gonna happen. 

thanks for replying & sorry to hear that   did u get any offers of admission? 

Congrats on your awesome cycle. I join those who are eager to look at your profile

Claiming a rejection from Columbia (email to check the portal this morning). Also claiming a Harvard acceptance (got a call this morning). Only have Yale to hear back from, and after that I'll post my profile. 

Welp, I received my last application decision last night. So I guess this cycle is over for me! I'll be posting my profile in the other thread once I make my decision (probably on Sunday). 
I wish everyone the best of luck with the remainder of the cycle! 

I am claiming a theory acceptance to Harvard, notified via phone call. So excited!!!

Got a super strange acceptance from Columbia just now. Email was "decision letter available" via portal implying a rejection but it was in fact an acceptance. Odd. 
Nothing from department.

Yep--I got the same thing!

Same! I'm so happy!

Got an offer from Columbia! I got a notification to check my application and my offer was posted as an update.

Good on MIT for sending out rejections and acceptances at the same time. That seems so rare these days. 

I bet MIT will release their decisions any day now.....
 

I was among those who could not receive some e-mails due to some errors in OSU e-mail system, and I have contacted to DGS few days ago whether I still have the same problem or not. She told me that I am waitlisted for the funding, and they did not share information on campus visit yet.
While all other schools that I am admitted send couple of personalized e-mails through faculty members and encourage to be in contact with them, I am pretty surprised with OSU's indifference to its potential grad students. I think it is fair to contact them and ask about your funding situation.