grace246

I still haven't got my rejection from Chicago. Surely they sent out a mass email? Why must they drag it out even further?!

I am going to defend Tergellian again. What in God's name is people's problem with this? She has clearly stated that she is incredibly grateful for her opportunities, just asking what her options are.

Aren't we all playing every possible scenario in our heads about the way our futures are going to go? I would think that it would behoove us to be supportive and helpful. Some of the comments on this thread have been wonderfully helpful. I for one, didn't know that it was possible to be a visiting student (something that might be very useful during my dissertation research given the very interdisciplinary nature of my work.)

So I say shame on anyone for openly disparaging a poster who (if you check other threads) has been incredibly supportive of other applicants' successes.

Arrgghh my NU online page status hasn't changed. This is waiting for almost certain rejection is painful!

Hi all!
Another infrequent poster here - congrats to all, and thanks to everyone who has posted frequently incredibly helpful advice! It's made a really positive difference to my application experience!!
I got a letter yesterday from Boston College offering me a place, which is quite the relief and very exciting! I was rejected from WashU, and haven't heard back from Northwestern and Chicago (which I'm taking to mean that offers from either are highly unlikely). Given that, I wondered if anyone had any kind of insight into BC and it's programme? I applied somewhat late in the day, and not coming from the US, so my research and knowledge on programs its quite limited. If you'd prefer to PM me so as not to clog up this thread that'd be fine too, but I'd be really grateful if anyone does have any thoughts on the program/school! I think I'm probably going to accept the offer, but a part of me is also considering re-applying to more/better schools next year, since I'm sure I could improve my application with more time and better knowledge, so it would be good to have more information to weigh this against!
Many thanks, and good luck to all still waiting to hear from places!

I will comment on funding for a few of the places I have researched.

Boston College: Funding is usually provided to the few PhD students they accept. So if you are offered a spot for the PhD program they typically will fund you but like other schools in the Boston area they like to offer consolation masters with little or no funding.

Brandeis College: Funding is provided to all people admitted into the PhD program. Listed on their website it says the typical stipend is $20,000.

Chicago: Funding is provided to most people accepted for the PhD. The typical stipend is $21,000 which is pretty good when comparing it to other schools in the Midwest.

U of Illinois Chicago: Funding is provided for the majority of students through fellowships, assistantships, and tuition and fee waivers. I think the last time I heard the stipend was between 14,000-16,000. Typically not all of the grad students are funded especially within the first year.

John Hopkins: Funding typically is provided. Last years stipend was $19,900.

Northwestern: Funding is provided to admitted applicants. The current stipend level is $19,620.

U of Washington (esp keen to hear any thoughts on funding here): In the past couple years, they have only been offering funding to just a few top applicants. Also, lately it has been hard to come by and people have received funding one quarter but not the next. Stipend is usually $4,575 per quarter but if you receive assistantships your stipend typically will increase every year. Also they are known to provide summer funding for a few students.

Penn State: All admitted students receive funding.

Hi all,
Thanks so much for the help so far. I had a few other questions about the schools currently on my updated 'schools I'm interested in' list, and I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on
a) Funding opportunities/likelihood (some of the website are very clear that everyone who gets admitted gets funding, and others are less specific)
Which fits my interests best - which, as I mentioned before, is a Comparative approach to identity (esp gender), nationalism and democratisation (but esp in terms of identity and nationalism).
Boston College
Brandeis College
Brown
Chicago
U of Illinois Chicago
John Hopkins
Northwestern
WashU
UC Berkeley
U of Washington (esp keen to hear any thoughts on funding here)
Penn State
UPenn
I promise I'm not just being lazy in my research, and I've obviously spent lots of time on these websites, but not being plugged into a Political Science department in the US its kind of hard to work out some unofficial but important things about departments you pick up from being 'in the system'.
Thanks!

Hi all,
Firstly, am very grateful to everyone who posts on this message board, which has given me a much clearer idea about lots of things regarding the application process and PhD system in the US. Coming from the UK where the system is quite different it's extremely useful!
In that vein, I have a question about a few of the programmes I'm currently considering and wondered if anyone could offer some advice! Not being very familiar with that many departments or Universities in this country, beyond looking at boards like this and rankings, its hard to work out which will be the 'harder' ones to get into. Now I completely understand that there is no right answer about which are 'easier' to get into, but I'd ideally like to apply to 7ish schools (it becomes prohibitively expensive and time consuming otherwise), and would like to at least be a little strategic and include some slightly 'easier' (I use inverted commas since I know nowhere is easy to get into!) schools in my final list.
So, can anyone offer any advice about the following schools?
Boston College
Brandeis
U of Chicago
Columbia
U of Illinois, Chicago
John Hopkins
Northwestern
WashU
U of Michigan
My vague sense is that of those, BC and Brandeis would be marginally easier? And that U of Michigan, Columbia and Chicago are my longest shots? Anyone any thoughts?
Oh and I'm looking to apply for Comparative Politics; my research interests include democratization, identity questions of race and gender, and China (mainly in relation to the previous two areas).
Thank you!