IRToni

I'm not in your area, but I will also have to agree with the previous posters. I don't know you personally, and don't know your work, and won't comment on whether you are suited to pursue a PhD.
 
However, the way you keep blaiming your advisor for not forbidding you to do the topic, to me is a red flag. You mentioned that he pointed out (more than once) that the topic you had chosen was very ambitious. What else was he supposed to have done? He gave you honest criticism, and mentioned that the topic was difficult/challenging/ambitious. You chose, despite his warnings, to pursue this topic, he kept giving you feedback. Maybe his communication style is more direct than you're used to, but I really don't see how HE screwed things up there. It's not really up to him to make you choose another topic, and, especially in grad school, it shouldn't be his responsibility.
 
Anecdotal evidence to follow: When I wrote my B.A. thesis, my advisor told me that it was VERY ambitious, and even proposed more manageable topics. I decided to go through with it. Now, my advisor knew me quite well, but obviously couldn't know whether I was capable of that. He said that he thinks it's ambitious, and might be hard and a lot of work, and I chose to do the topic nonetheless. That was then, IMO, my responsibility.
 
Now, you managed to get your thesis defended (though you have to see that you took 1.5 times as long as an MA is supposed to take, and spent overall probably 1.5 years on a thesis that was supposed to be written in more like half a year), and that's great. But even so, it doesn't seem like you had this huge breakthrough, you didn't wow your advisors. Now, they might be wrong, and you might have what it takes to succeed in a PhD program, but you should ask yourself honestly why you want to pursue a PhD.
 
In addition, if you decide to try and go through with it, I think it will be key to try to find the reasons why your thesis went as badly as it did, not blaming your advisor. It's your piece of work, something that you should stand for, not your advisor. Ask yourself what went wrong the first time, why it took you so long to realize how difficult this topic was (after being told by your advisor), and why you think the second thesis is not a true reflection of your abilities. Then, think of how to solve these problems, because a PhD entails writing a long piece of text, and if you have trouble writing the short MA thesis, those problems will most likely be exacerbated in your PhD, if you don't manage to solve them.
 
Hope you're able to make a good decision for you!

I don't mean to be debby downer, and obviously everyone is different etc., but I would ask you to also consider your dogs. While walking them is obviously important, do you think it good for a dog to be alone most of the day? Even if you manage to sneak away every 8 hours or so to let them out, how much time will you actually be able to spend with your dog, and how much will he be alone in your apartment? I personally don't think it very dog-friendly to have them be on their own for hours on end, all day every day. Just my $.02, don't mean to offend anyone.

I did it with my external fellowship, basically.
 
I would write whomever sent you the financial offer, in the following vein (and only if it really is one of your top choices, BTW).
 
"Thanks for your offer of admission, I am very excited to be learning more about your program. ... school is one of my top choices. However, naturally, I am also concerned with finances, as I will be committing to a program for 5 years. This program (preferably one that the school perceives at least as equally ranked/reputable, you probably won't get a better offer from Princeton when you show them your an offer from a T-25, e.g.) has offered me... in terms of funding. Is there any flexibility in your budget to match this offer? (It also might not help to identify certain things you'd like to have, e.g. provide me with 4 summers of funding/increase professional development funds?)."
 
Nice, respectful and honest seems to be the way to go here. They won't rescind your offer, the worst thing that'll happen is that they tell you they don't have the leeway to do that, or explain why their funding stretches further than you expect (e.g. health insurance)

Ich kann deutsch sprechen/schreiben. 我也会写中文！ Je peux aussi ecrire un peu francais.

I do agree that people should be made aware of these things, although I wouldn't necessarily consider the spreadsheet data reliable, bc people with debt are far more likely to access the page etc. in the first place. I also think we should compare this data to the general populace debt, and am not sure whether people are only reporting thier grad school data.
 
IMO, most stipends posted here will be enough if you live frugally, and don't take too long to finish your PhD. I know that in many European countries, stipends are even lower, but because loans are not as readily available, people still graduate debt-free (or close to it). I lived on less than 1100 US$ a month (incl. rent) in one of the most expensive cities of the world, and managed fine.
 
Going in with an open eye, and having a good idea about cost of living, as well as keeping an eye on your finances is definitely important!

I wouldn't pay for my PhD, but I would also say that the UK is different from the US. In the UK, them not funding you is not necessarily a sign that they don't have faith in you, it might just be that they actually don't have the money etc.
 
I would say it's not worth it going into debt for a PhD, especially if your goal is to stay in academia.

Well those are interdisciplinary programs, but okay. The MAPSS looks interesting.
 
That actually is not true. Here is the course offerings in MPhil at Oxford:
 
Research Methods in Political Science Introduction to the Advanced Study of Politics and International Relations Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences Applied Statistics for Political Scientists Philosophy of the Social Sciences Research Design in Comparative Political Science Research Design in Political Science Workshop Visual Ethnography in Politics and Law Formal Analysis Intermediate Social Statistics Archive Research Public Law and Legal Sources Field Interviewing Interview Analysis Elite Interviewing Social Research and the Internet Measurement in the Social Sciences Multilevel Modelling Network Analysis Panel Data Structural Equation Modelling Time Series Analysis Content Analysis Focus Groups Ethics Constructing the Text: The New Bentham Edition Problems of Method in the History of Political Thought Text and Interpretation They also offer a MSc which is almost straight methods and a thesis component.
 
LSE offers a bunch of MSc programs, but for example, the MSc of political science and political economy, has these compulsory courses:
 
Compulsory courses (* half unit)
Political Science and Political Economy* provides an introduction to political science and the ways in which it illuminates the political and policy processes of advanced liberal democratic states. Game Theory for Political Science* introduces game theory and its applications to political science. Applied Quantitative Methods for Political Science* provides an introduction to the most commonly used methods for causal inference in the social sciences. Applied Regression Analysis* covers linear regression modelling and binary, multinomial and ordinal logistic regression (or another option if student can demonstrate they have taken a course with multivariate regression)   
And of course, many methods/stats electives to choose from.
 
So I really don't understand what you are saying.
 
Lastly, US Ph.D. programs don't 'require' you to have any advanced methods or stats training; just to show that you are capable of doing them. Plenty of undergrads go straight from BAs in political science with little methods training into a political science Ph.D. program, but it definitely helps to have experience with some methods and the more the better.

I don't mean to be debby downer, and obviously everyone is different etc., but I would ask you to also consider your dogs. While walking them is obviously important, do you think it good for a dog to be alone most of the day? Even if you manage to sneak away every 8 hours or so to let them out, how much time will you actually be able to spend with your dog, and how much will he be alone in your apartment? I personally don't think it very dog-friendly to have them be on their own for hours on end, all day every day. Just my $.02, don't mean to offend anyone.

I don't mean to be debby downer, and obviously everyone is different etc., but I would ask you to also consider your dogs. While walking them is obviously important, do you think it good for a dog to be alone most of the day? Even if you manage to sneak away every 8 hours or so to let them out, how much time will you actually be able to spend with your dog, and how much will he be alone in your apartment? I personally don't think it very dog-friendly to have them be on their own for hours on end, all day every day. Just my $.02, don't mean to offend anyone.

My Cam status just changed to "conditional offer, awaiting college". Anyone know if it's normal that I haven't gotten any email (or the like...) from them?

I just read "causal", and was wondering what you were going on about. Makes much more sense now! The picture on his side is.. interesting !

I personally only studied at IHEID, though I have friends at SciPo, Hertie and LSE. I also switched from interdisciplinary to disciplinary program at IHEID, so only took like one week of MIA classes. Chose IHEID over Yale Jackson, Oxford (MA IR) and JHU SAIS.
 
I would say IHEID's pros are:
1. Low tuition
2. Proximity to UN etc.: Everyone I know who has tried to land a UN internship (although most of these are unpaid) was able to get one, either over the summer, part-time during the school year, or in the fourth semester. While IHEID doesn't actively help you, the name opens a lot of doors especially in Geneva, I would say.
3. Professors are very accessible, and you might be able to study with some of the best in the discipline (Biersteker, Baldwin). Many also do government or IO consulting. If you're in the inter-disciplinary Masters, though, this is somewhat less true than in the disciplinary M.A. (see below).
4. Exchange programs, also off the beaten path (many in Asia, Africa, Latin America).
5. Small class sizes (in MIA, MDev after first semester). Mostly you will be with 20 or less people in a class, and many classes are heavily discussion-based.
6. Amazing guest faculty, many lecture series etc., also due to our location in Geneva.
7. We're a small institute, and I would say that the atmosphere is very nice, and very familiar.
8. Depending on your interests, we have some courses that are hard to find elsewhere, and generally, our selection of courses, while not as extensive as at larger schools, has been quite wide.
 
IHEID's cons:
1. Career services is useless, for the most part. I know that Hertie does help its students a fair deal, compared to that, our CS department sucks. They're hiring someone new, though, so hopefully starting next semester, it will be better.
2. In MIA and MDev, you have huge classes in your first semester (Stats is 140, e.g., most others are 50-70, I guess), and you might have to repeat some stuff that you've done before, since these classes are designed to bring everyone up to speed.
3. Compared to (especially) many of our state-side peers, we have more people with traditional backgrounds, and less work experience, I would say. While that shows in our classes, many of which are quite demanding, you also don't get as much of a practitioners' perspective as you might elsewhere.
4. (this is controversial) For many professors, the inter-disciplinary departments are not a priority, so you might not get as much support from them as you would in a disciplinary program. It is also decidedly hard to enter an IHEID PhD program with an interdisciplinary IHEID M.A. If you want a professional career, this might not be a big problem.
5. Grading! Grading at IHEID is uneven at best, and translating Swiss grades back into any other system is a mess. Most employers won't care about this a great deal, but it's something to keep in mind, I would say.
6. We're a small school, and while this has many advantages, we do not have the infrastructure many large schools (especially in the US) have. We have a new building, which is a huge improvement over the situation before (we now actually have a cafeteria, e.g.), and we can partake in UniGe's sports facilities etc. (though they are kinda far away), but we still definitely do not have the infrastructure of larger universities. At the same time, we are kind of isolated, and if you want to immerse yourself in (local) Geneva as a city, you have to extend some effort. Otherwise, it's very easy to stay in the IHEID bubble, possibly branching out only to the international UN interns community (if that...).
7. You should not bet on getting the coveted exchange spots (especially US). Many more people than we have spots apply, and it ends up being very much based on your grades, which means it depends a fair share on luck (which professor did you have your first semester). Also, IHEID has had trouble in the past with our academic partnerships (not being able to send students after agreeing to etc.). This ties into the administration, which I'm sure you know by now can be a complete mess.
 
I definitely don't regret going to IHEID, and most of my friends don't either. However, knowing what you want to get out of the degree is important, and should especially also inform your decision of which degree you do at IHEID. Changing from disciplinary to inter-disciplinary is possible after you've been admitted, but only in September. I did this, and if you have any Qs regarding disciplinary vs inter-disciplinary, please feel free to ask me.

/off-topic. I was considering applying to UH-Manoa, just to live in Hawaii. Ended up not applying, but it's definitely on my must-see list!

/off-topic. I was considering applying to UH-Manoa, just to live in Hawaii. Ended up not applying, but it's definitely on my must-see list!

Since the Open House season seems to have started, and I'm guessing a fair share of us won't be able to make it to them, I wanted to start this thread to collect information and impressions from Open Houses.
 
Those attending, would you be so kind as to share your experiences?
 
Thanks in advance,
 
IR Toni

I am very interested in all things math-y, but found I didn't enjoy studying it as much as just reading about interesting discoveries, trying to replicate proofs etc. It's one of those things I hate when I'm forced to do it, but love when I can choose to do it.
 
Aside from that, I am also very interested in physics, basically finding out how everything works. I'm also super interested in linguistics, especially of languages I am learning, but also in general!
 
I have many secondary interests, some of which I might be able to build into my studies/thesis (computer programming, big data stuff), but I also find that having outside-interests that I don't HAVE to do helps me stay on-task and motivated! There are also many grey zones of stuff that I am interested in, and that turns out to be useful for my studies/life, especially Chinese history/philosophy!

Honestly, while you may have had good intention, you come off very patronizing to me, and not in a good way. Just because something worked for you doesn't mean it has to work for everyone else or that people who choose to do things differently are somehow inferior to you/your experience. I also hate all this age crap (it's been called reverse ageism). Why shouldn't some people be able to figure out what they want at an earlier age? And what about all those people that have kids when they're young/do an apprenticeship and basically have their paths figured out? You're kind of discounting everyone else's experience, and it almost comes off like you're trying to make yourself feel better, especially with your follow-up about how bad it is for you to be beat out by younger people.

In at UPenn. I'm at a loss for words. I'm hoping everyone else who has been shut out so far receives some good news soon (hopefully a few more today who also get into Penn).

I'll say it again: It ain't over till it's over. Pulling for you! Us East Asia people need to stick together... However, looking to the UK might make sense for your interests. Would you be pursuing a M.A. or a DPhil/PhD? With your interests, you might want to look at continental Europe as well. Berlin (FU) is pretty big on Japanese studies/political science. There's a new PhD program within the Graduate SChool of East Asian Studies, which might interest you. You'd get a PhD in PoliSci from Freie, but would be with other regional scholars (economists, sociologists etc. on East Asia). I think the deadline for this year might have passed, so just some food for thought for next year.

Essex actually has one of the only MA/PhD programs in the UK with a strong methods component.

I wouldn't give up just yet. It isn't over til you've got that last rejection in your email. Even if you do get shut out this year, life does not end. Multiple really smart people got shut out their first year, and ended up going to really good programs, incl. Top 5 in their next year!

Yep, that was depressing for me, being a first-generation college student!

Yep, that was depressing for me, being a first-generation college student!

Yep, that was depressing for me, being a first-generation college student!

Yep, that was depressing for me, being a first-generation college student!