wannabee

Thanks for those citations. There are a few that I didn't have. I think there may be a problem with the list you cited for the NRC results that were published a few months ago. I think the rankings list you posted is actually the one from the earlier data in the 1990s. (Chicago's position, for example, is different in the 2010 data than the earlier ranking.) Here is an interesting blog article from The Monkey Cage discussing the new ratings: http://www.themonkeycage.org/2010/09/the_nrc_rankings_of_political.html Also at bottom of the blog, there is a link to click through to get to some of the 2010 NRC data as posted on the website Phds.org: http://graduate-school.phds.org/rankings/political-science I also have an excel link that came from http://www.nap.edu/rdp/ where I paid to download the complete data. See also this: http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/Resdoc/ And good luck with your project!

http://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php?q=%28politics%7Cgovernment%7Cpolitical%29

There were certainly "bogus" entries listed in January and early February 2010. Those were mainly ivies and top 5 programs. I have no more information other than the listing on the website.

Looks as if the first acceptance for a doctoral program has gone up on the website from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Congrats to whoever this is!

Have you finished your applications? Are you pacing the floor or just plain bored? Here is something to keep you semi occupied for at least 10 minutes. http://www.allourideas.org/poliscirankings Note that they are asking about political science departments in general, not specifically graduate study. They threw up a number of foreign universities at me that I am simply not familiar with so I ended up choosing "don't know" several times. You can also click through to the final results. Interesting how they compare to actual rankings like NRC or US News. I am also surprised how quiet the political science forum is when compared with the posts for the past two years. Obviously, this is a dead time between applying and results. Still,in general we seem like a smaller and quieter contingent than 2009 or 2010 applicants.

Scalia - Did you change fields of interest? I am a poli sci applicant and remembered you posting there. Don't take this as a criticism. My own interests overlap discipinary boundaries and am actually applying for two types of degrees, both of which relate to my regional interests.

Is there any way to call (or email) and ask when decisions will be communicated? Unfortunately, I know nothing about this at all, but good luck to you.

Does this mean anything? I've written emails to a number of professors who "match" my interests as well as graduate studies coordinators. Generally, I've received brief friendly responses but nothing more than that. However, this time, I was told that I am a very good match for the program and was asked to submit my credentials directly to several professors. Incidentally, these are the same faculty members I had already discussed in my SOP. Perhaps they do this for a fair number of applicants, or does it mean anything more? Sometimes I feel that I am trying to read tea leaves.

I enjoyed it a lot. The work was not easy but I learned an enormous amount. I think it also gave me a foot up on later getting into CASA.

I had this same problem with one school. When I contacted them,they said it was ok.

Fire away, though I probably won't get it back till Sunday. I also did an application to Chicago. Sounds as though we are looking at the same schools in different fields!

I had SOPs ranging from 500 to 1900 words, according to what the application required. The shorter the SOP was, I tended to cut and condense my background and qualifications. I gave more words to my research interests and to the faculty I wanted to study with. I also became a master at cutting extraneous words! I also did the Columbia SOP as one of my schools. Good luck to you.

I was just reviewing an application I submitted online on November 25. To my dismay, I noticed that they specified that your name, DOB, and program should go at the top of each page of the SOP. (There are two pages.) This is not required for any other documents uploaded online--writing sample or cv--and I just didn't notice the requirement. I've written them an email but no response so far. They have grim notices on the website about the fact that no revised documents are accepted online or otherwise and ask people not to call about the status of their application. So am I doomed? Will my SOP be floating around with no indication of who I am, disconnected from my file? Anyone have any experience with this? Ach! I was trying to be so careful but I just plain missed this.

Is there anyone else in the Department who can "intercede" for you, just to find out if he/she is still planning on doing the references? Does the Department have an administrator? This is who I contacted when I recently ran into a problem (which still isn't resolved, however!). Or is there another professor you know who might be able to speak with the person? The fact that this is winter break is a BIG headache.

I won a CLS in 2009 for Amman, Jordan---advanced Arabic. I was initially waitlisted. I also received the nod from Middlebury (without funding). But at the last minute the waitlist came through. Anyone out there applying in Arabic?

One suggestion for the MA in Middle Eastern Studies. Try UT Austin. There is no doctoral program in Middle Eastern Studies so the top MA applicants are often given full funding. The deadline for this year has come and gone, but if you are looking for next year this is a real option.

I am not a technical genius and tried every trick in the book. I finally gave up and took the documents to a commercial place and waited while they did the work. They got everything in order and emailed back the attachments. I paid $15 total for four schools. It was an enormous relief. Even they had trouble doing it because one of the schools specified 500KB. They ended up scratching out the background with all the funny doodles but leaving all the print and seals in place.

I am no good on guessing anyone's chances since I am having trouble guessing my own! But I do know Georgetown is a longshot for money. Only about a third of admitted students have funding. Also, despite Brown's "lower" rating, their admittance percent is less than 10%, probably because of location and the fact it's an ivie.

Have you tried calling the staff in graduate admissions? If the transcripts are being mailed to them, rather than the actual department, this is what I would do.

Thanks very much for the helpful comments and suggestion. Any other ideas or observations out there?

Yes.... I know that there is no "safety" when applying for a doctoral program in Political Science, but there have to be some schools that are "safer" than others. Still, I have been reading acceptance/rejections posted online and groaning that I will get in nowhere! I am applying for comp pol/IR. I have a 4.0 from a top twenty private university. My GRE is lopsided with 99% verbal and 66% quant. Great recs but from Middle East experts in area studies. Professional fluency in Arabic plus Hebrew. Now spending a year in the Middle East doing intensive language study(in addition to several other semesters/summers abroad.) Given the list below, which ones are more likely, and which ones a longer shot? Brown George Washington Georgetown U Chicago U Maryland U Mass Amherst U Penn I had three main criteria in selecting these: a school comfortable with a qualitative approach, a school that had someone doing the Middle East, either in comparative or IR; likelihood of funding if admitted (except for the DC schools which are dear to my heart but are notoriously short of money!). I am still considering these departments in poli sci --Syracuse, American University. Any suggested (relative) "safeties"? Any reactions to these schools?

I know this sounds crazy but I am having a real problem with this. At least four of my schools require that scanned transcripts be uploaded. The problem is that the schools all have maximum size listed for the files. Some only allow you to upload 500kb per transcript. Others are more generous. My undergrad transcript is 3 pages, however, which doesn't help. I tried scanning at home on a HP C4280 but couldn't get the size down that far. I even had my computer person come and try to do it and he had no luck. He is taking them home to try and scan them on his computer and printer, as he thinks there could be a problem with my printer. Any suggestions on getting the size down? We scanned in black and white. Does it make a difference whether you scan an official or unofficial transcript? (We did official.) Can I take this somewhere to do it quickly? I would gladly pay money. Kinko's no longer exists but has been taken over by FedEx. Thought I would try FedEx tomorrow. Any other ideas?

This is a longshot, but.......is anyone out there familiar with the interdisciplinary doctoral program at these two schools? I am talking about Columbia's Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department and the Near Eastern Studies program at Princeton. I am primarily interested in modern Middle Eastern History and Politics. There are profs at both programs who would be good for this. I especially liked Columbia's program with its overall emphasis on the modern Middle East. The prof I studied with for undergrad went through Princeton.

Thanks for the suggestion. I know some departments are comfortable with using outside profs, and others less so. Glad to hear that NYU allows students to do this. I'll look into this.

I've been searching for doctoral programs in Poli Sci that will let me do comparative politics with an emphasis on the Middle East. I have a very strong background in Arabic language and Middle Eastern Studies. There aren't too many polisci programs that have a Middle Eastern specialist. When I took a look at the University of Chicago, I was very excited at the program and the fact that Prof. Wedeen does research in this area, and her methodology is close to my own. That is I was happy till the NRC rankings came out.... I really don't care about a list of ranked schools, but there are three things I do care about: length of time to get the degree, percent who finish the program, and job placement figures. I was stunned to see the data recorded by NRC about Chicago. According to the survey, it took an AVERAGE of 9.0 years to finish the doctorate. Just 6% get it within 6 years. About 23% find academic jobs of any kind -- teaching, post docs, etc. Overall, %55 find some kind of job. Only %12.5 finish the program. I understand these figures reflect 2005-2006. However, they are much worse than comparable poli sci programs. They pulled the Chicago department down in the rankings, though I am much less concerned about the ranking than the raw data that was reported. What do I do? Should I write the graduate advisor and politely ask for a sense of recent figures on job placements, time till completion of degree, and and percent who finish the program? Dare I politely mention that the only access to figures that I have are on the NRC and I was not sure about the accuracy of those (without saying anything else disparaging)? Chicago was my first choice and I feel I can not simply ignore this dismal set of statistics. Oh,yes, here is a link to the NRC rankings overall if you want to look and go in to look at poli sci or another program: http://chronicle.com/page/NRC-Rankings/321/