firefly28

That all depends on what your focus is--I think FSU is good all the way around, but I'm particularly interested in the prospect of working with Jennifer Jerit, William Clagget, and Brad T. Gomez (there are a few others, too).

This may be true, but I will note this: I graduated in the middle of my class out of high school (small class). When it came time to take the SAT, I got the third highest score in the class (and that was on 3 hours sleep, without a scientific calculator). Many people who graduated with grades better than mine scored lower than I did on the SAT. And many of them ended up never graduating from college, or going to some third rate college and getting a degree that's barely worth anything. So I'm inclined to believe that the SAT is a better indicator of ability to succeed in college than high school. I don't think the same necessarily holds for graduate school--I think that one should have demonstrated the ability to do high quality work in a college/university setting. But I also don't completely write off the value of the GRE, though almost exclusively the GRE-Q.

Well UNC finally lowered the ax, but being that I have three visits coming up at three great campuses, I really don't care. In hindsight, however, I do wish that I would've applied to Texas instead. Just as good of a program and better weather (and no state income tax).

There is no magic formula. Different departments weigh things differently, and people in the different subfields weigh things differently. Some schools demand a writing sample, some couldn't care less about one. Some expect a very high GRE-Q score, some are ok with only an above average one. My biggest recommendation for all people in the future is to honestly assess your standing. You may want to go to Stanford or Michigan, but the reality is that there are likely people with a better resume who will get turned down. Don't discount the possibility of going to a quality school that isn't one of the most famous ones. Don't apply to the ten most competitive schools. Pick a few that have outstanding fits for your research area, and then pick a few outside of the top 10. I applied to schools at which I considered myself to be very competitive. I've been accepted at 3 good schools (rejected at one, haven't heard a thing from the fifth). I am very confident that any of the three will give me the training to become a very good researcher in the field. I think that if I had applied at the top 10 schools, I might have been accepted at one. But I feel very comfortable with my position. Also, no more winter for me

haha, ah the advantage of having gone to a school within bussing distance

I'm contemplating getting a dozen cookies from a very good local bakery for each of mine.

Ah thanks for the pointer.

I think someone else beat you to the punch. And I'm still in limbo, which suggests that I may not be far behind you.

There's probably a thread about this somewhere, so I don't want to make a thread for it. I'll be visiting campus' coming up. Does anyone have recommendations for questions to ask? I figured on asking each of the professors I speak with what the current direction of their research is. Also asking the head of the graduate programs about summer funding and conferences. What else do you think is good to ask? Also, I have an interview for a fellowship at one university. I'm figuring they'll want to know who I am specifically wanting to work with, and to make sure that I'm familiar with the work of the professors there. Also they'll want to know what specific things I hope to work on. Is there anything significant that I'm missing?

Austin would be nice (I almost applied to UT), but one thing to consider: Tallahassee is notably cheaper. The weather is still warm year 'round, and you're outside of the range of most hurricanes. And FL ST is a quality school.

Indeed, it is All of the depts I'm accepted at are good for methods; the one that I'm highest on has a really great methods prof. who I would likely do a directed reading class with. I want to make sure I get a class on experimental design though, since some of my research instincts are experimental in nature. I also hope to try to do a summer at ICPSR; I hope to cover time series and geometric and spatial analysis at whichever uni I go to. Then do categorical and/or Bayesian at ICPSR.

Does anyone know what the general outlook of departments is concerning taking classes outside of the department, as well as if it's a wise idea? I'm contemplating taking a statistics course or two, if methodology becomes my minor field, and I would like to take a psychology course or two, too. I presume that they would expect graduate level courses in the departments. Think it's a good idea?

Na, the biggest poli sci fail is someone who is too scared to apply--you'll learn from your mistakes and do better next year, having a stronger SOP, perhaps a slightly different school selection, etc. and that's if no school comes through.

I don't know if I'll be going there, but I will be visiting there. If I go there, I may try to split a 2 BR apartment on campus with another grad student--it'd be pretty affordable.

Ah sorry to hear that, hope another program works out for you

I enthusiastically second the Khan Academy recommendation. I never took calculus in school, but I now can do what would be expected after a year of taking calc, thanks to him. Two more very impressive math resources: http://www.patrickjmt.com http://www.integralcalc.com Both of these are very good, and I would use them in conjunction with one another: I've found that Khan is very good at explaining some things, but on a few things, I get more out of PatrickJMT. I liked Integralcalc's limits videos, and I just covered cross product through the videos. In terms of material to learn: * Statistics. Try to learn everything through ANOVA. Generally schools will go over this in the first methods course, but you want to make sure that this isn't new to you, since for many students it will and thus the professor may move at a speed that would be uncomfortable for you in that instance. Make sure you also learn fundamental probability concepts. * Calculus. Learn derivatives and integrals. This leads to... * Differential Equations. Very useful for modeling. Cover this AFTER you have the fundamentals of calculus down. * Linear Algebra. This can be very important, as some of the more sophisticated quantitative techniques make use of linear algebra. Learn this after your basic stats and calculus are good, because some of the linear algebra topics coincide with multivariate calc topics. If you get a chance, cover predicate logic too. If you take a class on formal methodology, this will be important. As will game theory. I recommend this website: http://www.gametheory101.com/ Some programs require a game theory course, so having a head start will certainly help you

Only the board (http://thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php?q=%28politics|government|political%29+unc), so it could be fake. I haven't worked up the courage and call to see if I can get a little hint

I'll be visiting there late this month. So, we'll see!

Apparently UNC is starting to send out rejection e-mails now; I have yet to receive one, or any news in general (the site says that my decision is not yet available). That probably just means that they haven't gotten around to e-mailing me the rejection yet

Glad to see some answers for this--I have two visits coming up. The second one involves an interview for consideration for a fellowship, so I was figuring on wearing a dress shirt and tie for that one. The other one already has given me a nice fellowship, so I figure on the khakis and a nice top (it's a warm weather climate, yay!).

One bit of advice: consider the weather if you're thinking about relying on public transportation. Waiting outside in sub-freezing temperatures with freezing rain batting you in the face while waiting for the bus is not fun. Pittsburgh has a fairly extensive public transportation system. Unlike a few other cities, they don't have an electronic tracking system to tell you where the buses actually are, and the buses are usually late in the winter time. Sometimes they just break down. Every winter when I was an undergrad, I vowed to never stay in Pittsburgh for graduate school, and when it came time to apply, I applied to almost all warm-weather schools. If you've never had your face go numb (as in literally numb, unable to clearly speak numb) while waiting for the bus, trust me you don't want to find out what it's like.

Cream song

Be sure to post if you like it--I've been looking to convert someone for some time now. And then if you like it, 'like' this facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/HelpNathanBuyFF#!/HelpNathanBuyFF In news relevant to the original thread topic, I think that I will include 'niceness of university staff and faculty' as a variable. There's one university that really stands out in terms of how friendly it's been so far, and that's really going to weigh in its favor.

Me too. Honestly, I'd much sooner go to VFU than RRU, even if RRU is higher ranked. Rankings matter, but so does my happiness, and I would not be happy at RRU.

I haven't excluded a school due to rudeness (in part because I have not experienced it), but there is one school that has been incredibly nice in our interactions, and even though that school is ranked a little below another school that accepted me (mind you, it's still a good school and there's one faculty member that I am particularly interested in working with), I am absolutely giving the VFU (Very Friendly University) as much if not more consideration. In fact, so far, with the three schools I've been accepted to, I'd say the following: 1) VFU (Very Friendly University) 2) FBLU (Friendly But Large University) 3) FBIBU (Friendly But Inefficient Bureaucracy University) Note that 3) is not the fault of the PS department--the department was actually very helpful and it's full of very good researchers. So I'm not going to hold it against the PS dept that there was some real inefficiency in the general bureaucracy of the school.