yasyas2k

Hi everyone, I've been lurking this forum quite constantly but silently over the last month or so. And this forum has been a huge help this past month, as I awaited decisions, wondered when acceptances were coming out, and dealt with rejections when they came out. I honestly learnt more from this forum, about different universities, how they make decisions and about what it takes to get in, than I had learnt before. I also really appreciate the spirit of mutual support on the forum as everyone goes through the whole tense cycle together, as I really benefited from that when dealing with rejections and preparing for the worst, and I only feel bad that I was so silent through the process and was unable to contribute anything helpful myself. Given all the information and insights I have gained from this forum I did want to make one more request for some more insights from this forum, namely what are people's thoughts on the PhD program at Brandeis, that is what are the strengths and the weaknesses that one should keep in mind?

Thank you so much Penelope Higgins, your advice is really useful and helpful. You've really given me a direction to take my research on universities and faculties, and ideas on how to change my approach. And as you mentioned using my research question to guide my search, I guess what I am primarily interested in is transitions from authoritarian rule to democracy, with a particular interest in the development of democratic constitutional orders, and especially the roles of constitutional courts in promoting and/or undermining the transition to such constitutional orders. This is very roughly the area in which I would like to focus my research, though of course I still have plenty to do in figuring out exactly what question I wish to research. Hopefully I will find professors with some interest in these issues, though of course if you have any more suggestions that would be great. Thanks again for the advice.

Thanks. I actually did read that beforehand. I guess my primary inquiry, though perhaps I did not make it clear, was good qualitative programs in comparative politics. I mentioned South Asia and the Middle East as well since any advice, in that regard would be helpful as well, cause those regions are particularly interesting to me but my primary interest is in figuring out decent qualitative programs in comparative. Sorry for not being clear,

Hi everyone, I am currently trying to figure out what universities to focus on for my PhD apps, and I'm finding myself kind of overwhelmed. I was actually wondering which are the more qualitative programs as opposed to quant-heavy programs in comparative politics. I was also wondering which programs have some focus on South Asia and the Middle-East. Any guidance and suggestions in this regard would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much guys