The Lorax

I' with Aunuwyn on this one. That is a terribly expensive strategy. But look at the 20-40 range, with a couple for aspiration's sake in the top 20, and make EVERY OTHER PART of your package top notch. DOn't let anything else slip. Be passionate, and have laser beam like focus. Know exactly what you want to study, who you want to study under, present it clearly in your personal statement, and make the extra effort to contact your POI's BEFORE you even apply. You'll get in somewhere decent. Remember: If you go to a top 30 school but you never publish, you won't get hired. If you got to a top tier research institution with a mediocre rating and you publish like crazy...you'll get hired.

Ok, we've decided to send one of us out on a housing visit. Any tips for how this is best organized? I plan to set a up a series of apartment go-sees...but should we aim to have one secured BEFORE the visit is over? Should we be prepared to fill out applications and submit to background checks before the visit is over? How long should such a visit be? I'm thinking four days - too short?

Lambspam - straight up on not having to drive over a mountain range crap in tow. I think, if it's comparable to uhaul (accounting for gas) that is what we would want. But it means I have to have an address first. Which means I'm back to the question: to go ahead of time or to try to do it from a distance.... I see your heading to UW also. Have you heard how quick the housing dries up over the summer??

Also moving across the country. Have done it once before, but it was fly by the seat of the pants. Looking for tips. Moving with my spouse, so bringing ALL of our crap. Pods vs. uhaul? Other ideas? House hunting from a distance: Is it better to get a place you haven't seen in person, or wait until you get there and try to find something inside of a couple of days? How imperative is it that one of us head out there for a housing hunt? many thanks for your thoughts.

I went through the same round of decision making. I'm now finishing up a Master's of Public Policy, and am headed into a PhD in Poli Sci. The conventional wisdom as told to me is that a PhD in Public Policy rules out academia unless you want to work in a Policy school, but these jobs are far scarcer than standard degrees, but that a PhD in Poli Sci opens up the job market both in Policy and Poli Sci as far as academia, and still preps you well for a think tank job. So Poli Sci gives you more options. Speaking to the concern about needing a PhD in policy when you already have an MA if you decide to work outside of academia...well, that's just snobbery talking. If you want to work outside of academia and you want to work for a high level think tank, you better have a PhD in something. Policy is as legit, if not more so, as a field of study as is Poli Sci in the world of practical application. So the question is, what do you REALLY want to do?? As a fence sitter myself...I picked policy sci, but I did not apply anywhere that didn't have a strong policy option as a subfield/ a strong policy school that I could moonlight in should I so desire. It is important to keep in mind the important difference in what a poli sci degree vs. a policy degree is all about. Poli sci is strictly academic. It studies the movement of political institutions, sure, but it often fails to ask the next obvious question...so what do we DO about it? Political science doesn't care about what people should/could do. It's not active. The entire orientation of public policy is answering the question, what to do next? It's involved with quantifying and assessing the outcomes/impacts of policy decisions, and calculating the consequences of the next set of potential policy moves. The cynical part of me asked my self "do you want to relegate yourself to a dusty shelf, answering narrow irrelevant questions, that even if they do change the field, will only reach a half a dozen other dusty, shelved people?? Or do you want to hit the pavement and at least try to make this place more just??"

the summer before my masters I worked and travelled. This summer I plan to work and read. When I start that PhD program I'm gonna hit the ground running and I'm not gonna stop until I'm tenured. Look out world, I'm focused, I have no hobbies, and I'm extremely caffeinated.

whoops, not Berkley, but UMich. Sorry bout that.

suck it up! *eslap* pull yourself together!! you got into duke and berkeley! Let your sorrow turn into jet-pack-fuel to produce and produce and produce, so in 5 years when they offer you a job you can tell them to suck it! Also, I'm with qbtacoma on this one. Cone head cats = hilarious. I would take pictures and carry them around in my wallet as a conversation piece.

I am officially reviving this thread, as I have a visit this weekend. Share your experiences with programs for those of us who don't get to make thorough rounds. Also, taking suggestions for MUST ASK questions while away.

Also still waiting on Boulder. I emailed last week and nothing. Assuming it's a reject. Or maybe *fingers crossed* an unofficial wait list. I would definitely interpret your response as unofficial waitlist.

it's not personal, it's business. No one, not even X at A expects you to do anything other than take the best offer. If X were your current advisor, they would tell you nothing less.

Great, Penelope, thanks for the perspective!

But you know, 30 or 33 isn't even old. Not to diminish anyone's life experience. But my spouse is 36, and recently made a career change. He's still young with many years of working toward...whatever it is one is working toward....ahead of him. Especially with life expectancy increasing, and retirement age likely being pushed back to 70. As a relatively young person likely to be sitting in a classroom with some 30 year olds - no one is looking at you thinking "isn't he a little OLD to be going back to school? He's getting grey around the temples for crying out loud!"

Thanks for sharing your experiences! And good luck to all of those who have a more difficult situation than my own. For myself, my spouse has already uprooted and trekked with me across the country for my MA program, and he is looking forward to the adventure of coming with me again for a PhD program...but every once in a while he lets something slip that indicates he's tired of moving around, is anxious to settle down, and doesn't want to leave his friends behind. All understandable stuff. But i feel like I can't succeed without him by my side, happy, and working toward his own goals with as much vigor as I am. Where I go to grad school is ultimately my choice....but like many posters I feel guilty and fear silent resentment...

I second Slaktivist's thoughts on the matter of job prospects. I guess I'm kind of going through a similar inner conversation, and may be trying to make myself feel better, but if placement records are what we have to go by in terms of job prospects at the other end, places like Irvine and Maryland are great options. Especially if you pair it with a kick ass publishing record and a cutting edge research agenda.