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Hope everyone is ok. I'm preparing to apply this December and I had a few questions. I'm in comparative politics and interested in questions of elections, democracy, and party politics. As studying elections requires some democratic standards. Europe is considered the continent with the highest standards of democracy and I'm particularly interested in Western Europe (France). As I'm from a North African state, I have extensive research in projects related to MENA, and am fluent in Arabic and French. I started developing an affinity for electoral studies in North Africa, and a lot of the work being done at Princeton has blown my mind, from the Arab Barometer to the research on polarization, it is really fascinating. So I am wondering if a double regional interest is seen as "bad" during PhD applications. Even though I think my profile and research experience can hold itself when it comes to showing proof of knowledge of both regions. In addition, is there any comparative electoral studies research being done on comparing MENA and Western Europe? I know that comparisons are difficult due to democratic standards etc..., but I'd really be interested in studying the question more. I would be thankful if anyone could help guide me to any scholars/schools in this area. Or also just any schools/scholars studying MENA on an electoral basis. Thanks!

I hope everyone is doing well and got their wanted results. Future and next-cycle applicants like me would appreciate your lessons in the thread dedicated to cycle results below. Wishing everyone a wonderful summer!

Hey, First of all, I wish you the best of luck with everything in the future. To answer your second question quickly, yes it is possible to apply for a US PhD after a European BSc but it would be very hard to get in, and/or you'd need a good strategy (RA positions almost every year/summer, perfect grades and a lot of advanced classes). Concerning which schools, my recommendations: your first choice should be Sciences Po (I think they're the best BA price-wise because you could even pay 0 if you're EU and your parents don't make enough), it also has exchange programs with schools in the US and if you can do a year at a top school that would help with PhDs in the US in the future. Otherwise, the University of Amsterdam is a good choice, as you have relatively low tuition for EU students. In Germany, Mannheim/Konstanz are a good choice, Switzerland ETHZ/UofZurich. Furthermore, you could also stay in Italy if you could get into one of the Scuolas (especially one of Scuola Normale Superior, Scuola Superior Sant'Anna) by passing the exams! They can place well + the prestige + the available funding and opportunities for RA/Summer Schools/International Opportunities.

Hey, I wanted to revive the thread somewhat for the 2023 cohort. Do any of you previous students have any advice on how to negotiate for more funding? I received a 1/3 scholarship. I wouldn't be able to attend without at least a 2/3 offer. I don't know if this was the case the previous years, but on the portal, you're able to apply for the Dean's Scholarship (full tuition), as well as for "additional partial-tuition scholarships". Do you suggest also emailing the program director? Would love to hear any success stories of anyone who managed to request more funding.

Thank you for starting the thread and thanks in advance to everyone who will be sharing their opinion. I'd also like to link to the older threads so that everything is available in one place.

Hey, fingers crossed for you! First of all, it really depends on each program, and not all of them have interviews. Sometimes they start interviewing in March so I don't know. I had a friend last year who received his invite in early March for the same program, so it really depends, whereas I never received the interview invite and when I emailed them in April after being waitlisted, they mentioned that they sent out the invite but apparently I never received it. So I would suggest you email them in early march (by the 10th) just in case there was an issue with you receiving the email. Concerning your question, it went really well and the person who interviewed me even said congratulations at the end haha. Feel free to message me if you have any questions! Hope you get some positive news soon!

Claiming the UChicago MAPSS in PoliSci. Does anyone have any experience with asking them for a larger scholarship?

Anyone here admitted for a MSc at LSE? If so did the "received" theory for docmuents work for you as well?

Hey, I'm starting a thread for Central European University (CEU) applicants. I applied for the 1-year Political Science MA and had my interview on the 17th of February. Wish you all the best of luck!

First of all, thank you for your thorough response! I haven't had the chance to talk with other candidates somewhat interested in elections in Comparative Politics, sometimes I feel like it's only political economy people in CP. Fair enough on the specializations, I'm interested in party politics and electoral systems, so that differently narrows it for me, although polarization is and interest for me as well. I'm defintely more on the formal theory side (currently in an MA in digital humanities and quantitative methods). I see, really interesting topics and comments on how to choose faculty! It is kinda hard estimating how much time and effort applications would take from you in advance to applying, but I think I would take my time choosing a balanced list and selecting carefuly, kind of why I started already thinking of which schools etc... I have checked a lot of faculty on an individuel basis, but haven't yet checked out of the top 7 for now. I should certainly look at some of the people you mentioned. Yes UNC Chapel Hill is really good for European Politics (also the case for Pittsburgh and Washington). I also read that Emory and Rochester are good for formal theory as well so I will look into them! But I want to certainly look at some of the faculty you mentioned as well so thank you for the recommendations and for taking the time! Concerning your point on prestige and rankings, yes that is also what I have read on here and PSR. In Canada I would go with the top 3 (UofT, UBC, McGill) as well, I know Montreal is top 100 only but I think for Europe they would be a decent choice as a safety for me, and a lot better than a lot of option in Europe. I'm also considering the US because I want to come to Europe later on. I just feel like I would like to pass by the US at one point, and it is a lot easier as you said to do a PhD there and then go to Europe than the other way around. If I get into a top PhD in Europe then I wouldn't mind that much as even a Post-Doc in the US would satisfy my will for a sejour there. I also think for CP the training and methods in the US are a lot better than Europe. I'm in France currently and the CP research done here is a joke (except a very few group of scholars). Everything is political sociology here... Yes Oslo are good and an option for me as well. Aarhaus kinda only accept people that do their BA and MA there, and Amesterdam is a very good option for me as well. Wishing you the best of luck with your applications! And would love to read your lessons in the lessons thread in a few months!

Hey, thanks for your comment! Yes Gary Cox is legendary, although I'm also wondering if by the time I start applying to PhDs (~two years) he'd still be taking people. I'm not American but the study of American elections is also of interest to me and I've followed MIT and UW-Madison Elections Research Center. I'm familiar of most of the scholars you've mentioned and it is reasurring that there are a lot of good options! I'm also in comparative and defintely more interested in the field from an international perspective. I asked because everytime I checked the schools and scholars, I felt like I had a lot of options (I think Harvard and a bunch of the UCs are doing great work too) and how people on this site talk about 'fit' and how in theory that shouldn't be more than 5-7 schools, whereas I think that according to my criteria I could get a match with almost all departments in the top-20 in the US. Add to that I'm also applying in Europe (where I currently am) to places like EUI, LSE, Oxford, Zurich, Vienna is also doing good work and possibly to Canada (UMontreal has Blais & Dassonneville). So I was kind of thinking that I maybe misunderstood departments but glad to know that my assemesment was right. Are you also applying in elections? Best of luck if you're applying this cycle!

I'm interested in elections and electoral systems, I would love to hear which schools and faculties you think are the best. Shugart is the type of scholar I'm interested in but not sure he's taking any more students at UC Davis. Any other suggestions in the US/Canada/Europe?

Hey, may I ask when you got the interview email and did the interview for CEU? I am asking because last year I never received the interview email (even though they said that they had emailed me) so I had to interview in April! I'm scared the same would happen this year ? What did the email include? Does it show anything on your portal?

Congratulations! May I ask what your profile/stats are like? I would like to apply to UofT next year and also currently in Europe. I'm interested in knowing what they look for at European candidates.

Yes it is!