rustytrix

there is difference between market signalling less poli sci spots specifically and all phd spots in general. and as things stand, the market is not signalling for less poli sci phds only. I agree that it would be irrational for anyone to whine about the economy and use it as an excuse for suboptimal preparation but it would also be irrational to say that a contracting economy has no effect on phd placements

...and besides, the age factor probably starts to matter a lot once you are 21+

i think the economy issue is different from the other "higher gre" etc etc issues ... because funding for schools have gone down in real terms...and # of quality applicants have gone up ... so i dont think its an issue we can brush aside so easily

Thanks! Great info as always..too bad for me though, was hoping to become "fluent" in Arabic

is it just me or is there a growing convergence between economics (political, development and the likes) and some of the subfields in poli sci? ...it seems there is a lot of tussle between economists and political scientists for space in the literature (esp. political economy)... nevertheless it seems economists, more often than not, seem to come out on top...possibly because the average economist has a far more extensive training on mathematical/statistical modeling than an average poli scientist ?

that really seems like a great opportunity except for the fact that it costs a min. of $6000, which i cannot afford at this point. also, i am planning to take some calculus based probability (and probably mathematical statistics) before the app cycle. will these courses strengthen my app if my research interests are quant. based?

rofl!!!

Are you talking about the "Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research"?

i will be graduating this summer and will be a phd applicant (poli sci of course) next year .... i have 6-7 months between graduation and the app cycle so i was wondering what i could do to polish up my application (apart from doing research on prospective schools)...since i have already taken the gre i was thinking doing some more research (beyond my senior thesis) would be helpful...is there anything else i could do?

seems like your premonitions will be proven correct

Thats all I wanted to know. Thank you.

lol ok all the bashing aside... u guys still havent given me the answer

do assistant professors get to be in the adcom? or is it just associate and other tenured profs?

nah im not worried about it being lucrative or not..im doing it either way .. i was just wonderin

I was just wondering much do poli sci professors get paid, on average, at top 25 or so schools. I am sure these numbers will vary from person to person and from university to university but if anybody has a general idea then please enlighten us. thanks.

I will tell you why this is not a duplication: 1)The "undergrad stats" thread was from last year and only 6 posts out of 3 pages of posts are from this year 2) As we all know the economic climate has severely affected the admissions process this year so a thread dedicated to this admission cycle would be far more useful to people applying next year 3)The other thread contains discussions which, like i mentioned already, was not meant to happen in this thread ...so if you think that is fair enough, please delete your comment (and this one as well) so we can move on with the "framework" of having no comments on this thread. EDIT: In fact, I would really appreciate it if you could "take over" the control of this thread and help to delete any random comments made by people. Thank you.

Profiles and Results 2009 Since many people have received all of their decisions, it seems like a good time to create this thread. This thread pertains to applications submitted in late 2008, for entry into the PhD program for the 2009/2010 school year.This will be a useful reference for future applicants who are wondering about the profiles of students who are admitted and rejected from various schools. This thread is meant to be a reference thread only. Please fill out the information below, but post any comments or questions in a separate thread. This is the major difference with the "Poli Sci 2008-2009 cycle" thread in that this thread will, hopefully, contain only the information listed below and involve no discussions so it will be easier for future generations to look up pertinent information. If anyone thinks more needs to be added to the list below, please pm me and I will make the changes. Other comments will be deleted from this thread. PS: I borrowed this idea from another forum and some of the text above has been plagiarized PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: Major(s)/Minor(s): Undergrad GPA: Type of Grad: Grad GPA: GRE: Any Special Courses: Letters of Recommendation: Research Experience: Teaching Experience: Subfield/Research Interests: SOP: Other: RESULTS: Acceptances($$ or no $$): Waitlists: Rejections: Pending: Going to: What would you have done differently?

ya does not sound like something i would want to do ... but then again that is just my personal opinion

First of all, thanks a lot guys for all the helpful suggestions. I also wanted to ask one more thing...namely, is it a bad idea to contact more than one faculty member from the same school? or does it not matter how many faculty member you contact as long as they are a good match for your own research interests?

So a lot of people suggest that this is good start towards a successful application but how exactly do you start the conversation? Do you talk about some of their papers in the field or about yourself? And I suppose those faculty members already know that you are contacting them to improve chances for admission, wouldn't that somehow make your communication look a little fake (even though some of us might be genuinely interested in talking to the faculty in question) ?

lol ok now im confused...so my interests are CP/IR cross rite...so what do u guys mean when i shoud take a combined approach? i mean i will describe my research interests, of course, but how do i "cross" those...if that makes any sense ....and finally, is it good or bad or to include my theory interests in SOP..some seem to think its good and some think its bad so if others have opinions then please share..thanks

Thanks all for the very helpful suggestions. So I guess I fall in the comparative category. I will also seriously take into account the need to keep my SOP focused. Once again, thanks a bunch everyone!

Thanks for the suggestion but an MA is beyond my financial situation.

So, ok I need to find out exactly what subfields in poli sci my interests belong to since I did not study poli sci as an undergrad student. First, I am interested in doing research on democracy (civil liberties, institutions, so on) and human rights. Specifically, I want to study how various "negative" events like conflicts, terrorism etc. as well as "positive" factors like natural resource abundance, foreign aid and so on can affect democracy, human rights and rule of law in the concerned countries. I want to base my research on strong quantitative methods (wherever feasible) and qualitative methods where a quanti. approach is not practical. Finally, I am also very much interested in studying the historical evolution of democracy and rule of law, alternate political systems (which might or might not be in existence), other aspects of political philosophy etc. which i believe falls in the category of Political theory. So would it be safe to say that my subfields are: Comparative, Quantitative and Political Theory (Philosophy)? I am not sure if the "Comparative" part applies to me..

im doing my last undergrad semester so taking further courses will be quite a struggle (if not impossible considering the financial burden)....in case i am unable to take further courses do you think the level of math i have (including a 780Q gre) is sufficient to apply at the top 10 depts in quantitative methods? (of course, assuming that all other factors suffice)