gjason

Picked FSU in a very close decision between the two. Placement is about the same. FSU is a slightly better fit.

Schmidt and Chingos ranked MSU at 17 and FSU at 22; however, those are overall placement rankings and are not broken down by sub-field. Not sure how well the two programs compare for my subfields of IR and methods (game theory). Any info/feedback on that would be appreciated. FSU has a rather complete breakdown of alumni placement on its website, but info for MSU has been harder to find. That has made it difficult to compare similar (same sub-field) candidates from the two schools.

My thesis advisor graduated from UF and said one of the drawbacks of FSU was the turnover. My guess is that their formal theory profs will be there a while. HeeMin Kim has been at FSU since 1989. Siegel (2006) and Grosser (2007) are relatively new, so I don't see them leaving soon either.

Methods and IR. Specifically, Behavioral Game Theory and Intl. Poli.-Economy. What fields are you into?

In the "Thurs.-Sat. group. Will just miss you.

Anyone going to be at the MSU or FSU recruitment events?

At least you still have hair to turn gray. Not so lucky here.

My flight instructor gave me two pieces of advice. 1.) Jet planes will kill you deader than dead. The little prop planes will just barely kill you. 2.) You start a flying career with a lot of luck and a little experience. You better hope that your experience catches up before your luck runs out. Not sure if the first piece of advice helps much here, but there is something to be said about the second. There are pros and cons to starting a PhD young and old. Personally, I lacked the maturity and experience to pursue a PhD in my 20s. At 32 I have the experience to approach a PhD like a job, which will suit me well. For those in their 20s, you have more luck than me,and probably more academic experience than I had at 20, so don't worry about it. Have fun and work hard.

Congrats on the Iowa acceptance. Sorry about the tougher decision, though. I went to ICPSR this past summer. Took matrix algebra with a couple of Iowa PhD students. You will get through it okay.

MSU has Ayoob and Bhavnani for the resource curse, although someone told me that Bhavnani might be leaving. (An unconfirmed statement, but from a reliable source. Definitely something to inquire about at the campus visit.) FSU doesn't really have anyone that has published on the resource curse; however, the department at FSU has several strong formal theory methodologists and democratization scholars.

There are certainly pros (and some cons) to both programs. FSU is very strong all-around in methods, esp. formal theory, and IR. Dr. Moore has completed some great work on conflict studies and the xs/fs lab is a great resource. MSU is strong in my particular area of study, the resource curse. Mohammed Ayoob and Ravi Bhavnani have both done research on the resource curse in SS Africa, which aligns closely with my proposed dissertation. I am pretty much 50-50 heading into the campus visits.

Congrats on the Maryland acceptance!! Looks like you have some choices to make too.

It's posts like these that make me wish there was a +10 button.

And a tough decision it will be. Egads. A whole new round of tension has started.

My fingertips and nerves can start healing and relaxing now.

I AM DONE!!!!!!! Every school has contacted me!! No more countless refresh clicks, multiple runs to the mailbox, or 5 email checks every hour.

I am still in limbo with IUB.

Congratulations on Harvard. That is an achievement. However, I would say praying to the baby Jesus is much more important if you want the Reds to make the playoffs.

Same here. I personally thought the snail mail letter was adequate.