Count de Monet

They're going to feed you a very particular perspective and point of view during your visit; however, there are things you need to look at seriously while you are visiting and you need honest answers to these questions because, at least in my opinion, these would be very important for your graduate school experience and also for your future after grad school. 1) How cooperative are students with each other? **sometimes students in graduate programs become competitors as opposed to peers as they look at their future prospects. You, ideally, will want to be at a place where students are not overly competitive with each other and are fairly cooperative and friendly.** 2) How are relationships among faculty members? **it often happens that certain faculty members don't get along, don't like each other, and, in turn, they take it out on students of that other prof. You don't want to get caught into that sort of situation. You need to make sure that you go to a place where professors are, at a minimum, respectful of each other and ideally are friendly towards one another. Otherwise you could get caught in the nasty political nature of certain departments.** 3) How much funding does the department give for academic conferences? **Papers, papers, papers...you need to get them published, but you also need to go to those pesky conferences and present them. They can be expensive if you have to pay out of pocket, so how much money does the dept. set aside for conferences? Is there a certain cap on how much they will give you? Are there any limits on what conferences they will fund? etc....** 4) What is the cost of living in this particular city, and where do most grad students live? **Perhaps there is on campus housing, but in many instances there isn't. So where will you possibly be living and how much is it going to bust your budget?** When I visited a couple of schools for my Master's program two years ago these were things that I was told to ask by my undergrad adviser. After finishing my official visit and talking to faculty and some grad students I stuck around, went into the graduate lounge and just started being pesky and asking the students who were there about their opinion about the program. It was wonderful to hear their opinion in addition to the opinions which were being presented to me and really helped me make the decision to go to that school.

Good idea for a topic. I'll throw in my two cents... What program are you applying for? PhD in Political Science, political theory as my primary field. Why grad school and what's your journey? Why grad school? Well, for me the answer is simple: I love to teach (I've taught Sunday school, CCD, been a moot court instructor, and a TA), I want to teach, and my passion is political philosophy. I want to teach political theory. I would gladly teach high school government/civics if grad school doesn't work out, but I ultimately want to teach political theory courses be it at a 4 year college/university or at a community college. What challenges does your field present and what hurdles do you need to overcome? I'm not a big quant guy. Stats gives me headaches, math is the bane of my existence and I'm going to have to really work hard at it. I'm going to need a second and possibly third field for my PhD in addition to theory so quant skills will become necessary. I also speak a language which doesn't do me too much good when it comes to theory (Italian) so I will probably need to learn a 3rd language, probably French or German. What skills are you working on? Math, math and more math. It's my biggest issue so I'm making it a priority to freshen up my math skills. How are you keeping motivation and what perspective have you gained from the process? My perspective is somewhat different than it has been in the past since I now have an MA. This is my third time doing grad school applications and I feel like I know what to expect and what I need to do in order to succeed in both the application period and what I need to do in order to do well in a graduate program. That's also my biggest motivation for keeping positive. For me there's no more mystery to how the process works and what I should expect from it. I feel oddly at peace compared to my frantic panic state of the past 2 times.

I think they contacted me regarding my transcript because I stated in my application that I had earned my BA in 2009 and so if they, for whatever reason, can't find it on my transcript, it's a problem. Although it's kind of all silly since I also have an MA so obviously I have to have graduated from undergrad.

Thanks Strangefox; however, with the Christmas and New Years breaks there is no one in the office until at least Monday. I figure if I don't have a response by Tuesday morning I will call them to figure out what the heck is going on. They're the only people to have contacted me with any problems regarding my transcript.

So I got an email about 10 days ago from one of the admissions staffers from a PhD program which I applied to. I was informed that my undergraduate transcripts did not indicate that my degree was conferred. I am thoroughly confused because my diploma is hanging on my wall and I have a copy of my transcripts which show a BA in poli-sci conferred in 2009. I have emailed them asking them to please take a second look at the transcripts, but haven't gotten a reply back and there's no update on-line regarding my transcripts. I am bewildered.

I get asked every day "so...where are you going?" In addition to "when are you getting a job?" and "so, why are you not going to law school" or the dreaded "why not go to law school first?" from my father.......ugh

I'm freaking out because this is my third go around with applications. So after doing an MA, teaching, doing conference presentations and boosting my GRE between every time I've applied I don't know what more I can really do to make myself more appealing. I fear that if I don't strike gold this time, that this is it for me.

Is it really so bad if a professor mentions something negative in their LOR? I mean, let's say your undergrad adviser has taught you in a couple of classes and is writing your letter. He/she, however, knows that you are shy and don't speak up as much as you should in class. Your adviser knows that in grad school classes are small and seminar style courses which require students to engage and discuss with each other and the professors. He/she mentions this in the letter as something that is a weakness for you. Does this admission by your adviser help or hurt you? By acknowledging your weakness, I would argue that it helps you because now not only is the committee reviewing your application able to trust this letter as fully honest (I mean, come on, how many times have they gotten letters claiming the applicant is God-like and perfect? Believable...hardly!), but they can fairly evaluate you and see whether or not you and your personality will be a fit for the school you have applied to.

24 if I start a PhD program in the Fall

this is my third time doing the applications and I'm a seasoned pro at this point. 13 applications to PhD programs in Theory. First time around got me into a great MA program since no PhD programs would give me funding. Second round produced nothing. So with a year off, some more work experience, my MA and grades in hand, and a couple of conference presentations, I'm hoping for some positive results; however, I wish everyone on here the best.

I applied to 13 PhD programs including the program I previously got my MA at. Probably 2 are "safe", 3-5 are decent shots and the rest are hard to get into just because of the fact that they're top schools.

It is a filtering mechanism, but sometimes it's used to decide who gets fellowships as opposed to who gets in. I know at Catholic University of America, for their Politics PhD program, they have a GRE cut-off for fellowships but not for admission into the program. True that it's not a tip-top program but it is still rated pretty well when it comes to poli-sci programs.