midwest513

Yep. And Keith Poole as well.

Again not sure if I agree on this one. Pretty different focuses I think. Fowler is productive in focusing on genetics and social network analysis...otherwise UCSD is pretty focused on urban/local politics...with the exception of Seth Hill (who is young). Wisconsin on the other hand has a more standard department with focuses on Congress, voting, political communication, etc..in their American folks. I think if I had a strong prior about what I wanted to research in American politics, the departments are both strong but clearly have different strengths if that makes sense.

Easy. Vanderbilt UNC NWU Gtown UW UVA UCSD Penn Duke is a weird one. As neither Rohde or Aldrich really publish all that much or are on the cutting edge of the field.

I think the applicant is a bit confused as well. In the US you don't apply to specific faculty members. You can mention them in your statement to the department in general, but it's not the case that you would apply directly to Walt for example.

I did my undergrad at GW. Placement looks odd because they are on such a lag from when they really started revamping up the political science program. Expect the new grads to be doing decently on the job market. Depends on specialization obviously.

Economics is very different from Political Science in this case, for a variety of reasons and also because they are less specialized and everyone takes the foundational courses. Also, your friend has little to worry about if he was RA'ing for Imbens or Athey. In a sense your personal statement is probably half signal, half actual plan.

Isn't there a simple explanation that gradcafe usernames might not reveal (AKA last names)?

Sounds like you need to just turn off the phone.

As does ProQuest.

That's because you guys will do whatever it takes to get anyone to spend more time that is necessary in Rochester!

Great idea...what a way to build a relationship with an institution!

Many schools require you tell them where else you are applying in the apps.

WashU has some good people...look for young folks who are publishing in this area. Diana O'Brien is a recent WashU grad. http://www.dianaobrien.com/

Jacobsen doesn't publish all that much and Fowler, Hill and Zheng are all great, but at least in American Politics if you aren't doing the genetics stuff, placement hasn't been all that hot.

If your interest lies in experiments, NYU and MIT offer people who do that stuff very well. UCSD might not be so much your alley from what I see of your interests.