breaks0

I have some other publication questions, mainly as they relate to having a positive impact on phd applications. I presented a paper at a panel I organized at what I'd describe as a hybrid scholar activist conference last year, where the editor of a theory journal published by a major UK based publisher offered to publish my paper. A chance I obviously jumped at. The topic, however, was not directly related to the major research interest I stated in my applications, however. I of course included it on my resume in the application, but I'm wondering if this combination of factors helps at all to beef up your apps so to speak. Or does it have little to no impact since it's w/a foreign journal on a different research topic? To be blunt, I'm also wondering if the fact that the journal and the article content and argument I made were on the politically radical side (certainly by US standards) hurts or helps at all. I appreciate the book review idea and that's something I'll try to do maybe one or two of over the coming year, since I'll probably be reapplying this coming Fall, along with trying to submit to some sociological journals here in the states.

Finally a venting thread (partly @ least) ! Your post is understatement of the year, probably longer. I waited many years to apply to an MA program, am finally getting it now (!) in the mail in a few weeks. But having at last taken the plunge to try to get into Phd programs, yes the wait isn't atrocious, it's hell. I hate it, mainly b/c I've gotten no acceptances and this is the goal, let's be real, if you know you wanna have an academic career for part of your life (after school), know what you wanna study and who with (say several schools) and know you need and want this degree, even if you don't end up in an academic career later, this just sucks. Day after day of it. In my case, I have the added pressures of sallie mae breathing down my neck if I don't get in and precarious personal finances. I have no plan b, maybe that's my fault, but there's only so much you can do in this horrible anti-labor economy anyway. It's all or nothing and I damn sure don't wanna waste ANOTHER year waiting, wasting time doing something else. Maybe everyone else feels differently, fair enough but this is the way it is in my case. I wish I had tips for you, I guess the main one would be don't be like me, don't go nuts. Start on your plan b now if you haven't and/or haven't gotten in somewhere yet. Hopefully you do get in somewhere this (can we call it spring yet?), as do I, and refocus toward next year if it doesn't work out. There are hopefully things I can correct in next year's apps (GRE quant comes to mind, among other things, as much as I hate standardized tests!!) and I'm sure there are ones you can too. So in part, just redouble your efforts, focusing on your weaknesses. And if you don't know what those are, maybe try asking one or more of the programs you didn't get into or someone you trust to help you identify them and/or figure out how to improve/correct them. Buenos suerte!

Overly, I'm not sure where you mean, you mean Hopkins specifically or everywhere? I'm honestly not sure what else I'm supposed to be doing at this point, other than waiting on my 4 remaining schools, including JHU. To put it mildly, it's no fun and if you get rejected everywhere, there's no more hope for this year, I don't think one is worse than the other, at least for me. Again, I'm sorry for being such a downer everyone, but this is why.

Maleficient, not officially but I corresponded with the grad director and the implication is one will be coming when they send decisions. I'm an anomalous case, not in a good way, w/all my apps, will be pleasantly shocked if I get in anywhere.

That's really awesome Zhicao, I'm 0-3 on apps (including Berkeley and Madison like you, though already haven't gotten into Irvine) so far and have 5 pending decisions I'm waiting on and Hopkins is tops of my list. I don't wanna pour cold water on what's supposed to be a happy thread, but the wait is torture and rejections aren't much better, since that's the end of hope, at least for this year. Ugh. Good luck all.

I am American and applied to York in polisci, I believe my primary focus was comparative political econ and secondary, marxist theory, I think. To confirm what others of you said, I applied to 7 other schools, all in sociology in the states. So far, I'm 0 out of 3 on decisions. York would be a dream program, but the odds for foreigners are so slim, I'm not holding my breath. Good luck everyone!

My Berkeley reject just came by email/web notification, but that was a mere formality since someone in admissions informed me a week ago.

Ok, thanks maleficient. Am surprised, but not complaining obviously, the Binghamton committee meets so late. All but NYU on my list has said they'd still accept materials this coming week so there's still some hope I guess.

This isn't saying much, but I got an email tantamount to a rejection from Madison on the 1st and a different one saying 'we don't accept application materials so far after the deadline... but feel free to reapply next year" from Berkeley today. I should explain, I've only recently finished my MA thesis and had it approved, so it's held up my last reference till now, so that was probably the reason for both schools. But the odd thing is Madison said my incomplete app had no bearing on their decision, but how can that be the case at either school since both, along w/all the others I've applied to, say on their websites they won't look at an app till it's complete, unless that's only partly true? And given the wording of the Berkeley email, is that the same as a rejection? In the end it doesn't matter much I guess, since it's neither a waitlist nor an admit. I have 6 schools left in play, including a Canadian polisci program (York), so there's hope if my prof gets my reference in. It's still a long shot b/c my applications have alot of flaws, even though I published a piece in a foreign journal in December. But hope's all I have at this point. Has anyone heard anything from NYU, Hopkins, Irvine, Binghamton, or any more info from CUNY (the schools I applied to)?. Hope we all get in somewhere, or else next year.

US schools have Feb deadlines, for phd programs? I also have 2 or 3 due on Jan 15th, which already feels very late, given that decisions come so soon in Feb mostly. Latte, would like to be more even-headed and I know from previous posts this is a competitive forum so to speak, but I'm feeling quite in freakout mode already. Realizing I made some silly mistakes on some of my key docs in the application, this is not going to turn out well.

I don't mean to be that guy, but I'm probably going to be seen that way anyway. The gre math probably is learnable, but if you're mathematically challenged, no it is not easy because it's a trick test. Let's be honest here, the test is a tool to weed out applicants as any hr dept where you apply for a job does the same thing, trying to weed you out. The test is full of biases and does not test your intelligence, so it lacks any educational value. It tests your ability to pass a standardized exam of analytical writing, english verbal skills and algebra, geometry, trig and a little stats by throwing questions designed to trip you up. In a format that's harder than if it were on paper, as it used to be way back in the day. It isn't right, it isn't fair, but it's there and unforunately you have to deal w/it here. It was an ordeal for me, I didn't do well, despite giving it everything I had for 3 months and even though for me my score was good. But it was relatively poor (compared to other applicants) and your percentile rank is probably more important than the raw score, for some programs anyway. You probably can do better than me and my guess is I'll have to take it again next year... just do the work and get through as best you can, hopefully that will help you get in somewhere.

Hi, newby to this field though I've posted before and will make this short since I have 2 phd apps due tomorrow. I'm finishing an MA in politics at a grad school in New York and am basically trying to switch to sociology, focusing on Marxism, development, labor and social movements/contentious politics. I have a strong GPA from my grad school (3.86) a couple presentations and a publication in a foreign Marxism journal under my belt. But lots of things that make my apps weak, starting w/a very weak resume/skill set and terrible gre quant scores (why oh why didn't I retake it this past summer?), though my verbal and analytical are strong. I'm therefore very fearful I won't be getting in anywhere, my list of schools atm follows. Good luck everyone else too. May repost more info next week. Applying to: Berkeley, NYU, CUNY-GC, Wisconsin-Madison & Johns Hopkins. Probably also SUNY Binghamton and UC Irvine, as well as York U in political science.

Short answer: the New School and UMass Amherst. I'm finishing in the MA program at NS, but beware, they fund students rather poorly, so you usually need outside financial support. Our main people are Nancy Fraser, Banu Bargu and Andreas Kalyvas, and yes between that dept and philosophy, they do some classics stuff pretty well too. UMass I guess is a little better funding wise. Good luck.

I thought Cornell was good (at least when Ben Anderson was there) and I thought they still were strong at least in other fields and that they still had someone in the department. But maybe that's changed. If you like post-structuralist approaches, James Scott is at Yale.

I am an MA politics student at the New School and what other posters have mentioned here is true. There is little funding for grad students here, including PhDs (the estimate I've gotten is maybe 1 in 6 students get fully funded at that level). Further, as an external applicant you'll be admitted to the MA program and be eligible when you reach a certain number of credits to apply internally (which usually takes at least 3 semesters). I don't have figures, but they are cutting back on applications since there are too few faculty (especially senior faculty) and too many MA students. There's also a low limit on the number of credits you can transfer in, if you have any. We also effectively don't have a library, since it's under construction, so we largely use nyu's. But if this line of theory (and theory in general is your bag), this is probably the best place in the country to be, along perhaps w/UMASS, as others have mentioned. The department seems to be dominated by theory and the Marxist brand, and I guess critical (do you mean post-structural/post-modern?) are popular here. I'm a comparativist myself with a strong interest in this structuralist/Marxist theory and this is the only politics program I'm applying too, other perhaps than York. I suppose there are other options in Canada, about which I don't know much. But you may have to make some choices between what you want to study and where. Good luck!