puddle

I did my undergrad at UCLA and PhD at Yale with a Canadian Masters in between. I was a recruited student athlete choosing between UCLA (on scholarship) and Princeton (on parental goodwill). I loved my time at UCLA and have no regrets about my choice and don't feel that it held me back in any way.

Late to the game here but I wanted to say something about this. Some top schools have high department turnover (even of tenured profs... not that I'm bitter about 1/2 my committee leaving before I finished my prospectus or anything) and so the tenured professors tend to get "stuck" with a lot of grad students when un-tenured faculty leave. Then new faculty come in and the department tries to foist off grad students on them. So when you are applying, it would be best to reference a mix of tenured & non-tenured (especially new) faculty. The strategy here is not to pin your admissions prospects on a tenured faculty member who is already overseeing a ton of projects but to show that your work speaks to both the department's established scholars and the direction they are hoping to take things in (their new scholars who aren't towards the end of their tenure clock yet). Make sense? Maybe not. I need more sleep. Send help.

If the tax bill passes the senate then you've got even more to worry about. I'm ABD but if I was facing 6 years of 7k+ in taxes on a 30k stipend (and that's at a top school), I think I would take a long, hard look at my decision to go to grad school at all. Then thrown in the loss of the student loan interest waiver and you're looking at serious debt through grad school and then a strong chance that you won't end up in academia anyways once you leave. Scary shit.

It isn't that uncommon. 2/18 people in my cohort had passed the bar and were working before deciding to go back to do a PhD.

The only Marxist theorist I know is at Tufts and in literature.

Honestly it's not worth taking on masses of debt for a masters and your job prospects with a low tier PhD aren't phenomenal (hell... even a high tier PhD doesn't get you more than a foot in the door). Consider attending the George Mason program and leaving after the masters years (either transfer to another program if you're good enough or take the terminal masters and go on to do something else with your life). Otherwise, apply again next year and think about what kinds of MA programs are worth applying to on a cost-benefit basis.

Read their most recently published papers I'll never forget the awkwardness of sitting in Stathis Kalyvas' office after failing to recall the punch line of his most recent article. To be fair though this might be a Kalyvas specific problem and I never ended up working with him but with ego-driven profs it's definitely worth brushing up on their work before one-on-one meetings.

Yale's Package: 6 Years Stipend: 30,250 + (goes up every year, paid every 2 weeks year round) Years 1 & 2 - MA years, no teaching requirement Years 3 & 4 - teaching 1 class a semester, 15-20 hours max... right now I'm doing maybe 5 hours total including attending lectures (no teaching in summer) Year 5 - University Dissertation Fellowship (writing fellowship, no teaching or residency required) Year 6 - teaching 1 class a semester Also Included: - full medical coverage (inc. full family coverage for spouse/partner & child if you or your spouse/partner gives birth while you are a graduate student) - tuition and fees fully paid - up to 4000$ increase in stipend if you have an external scholarship (if your scholarship exceeds 4000$ you do not earn more than Yale stipend + 4000$). You can also defer Yale's fellowship for up to 1 year - department conference travel funding: $450 per year for first 2 years, $700 per year for each year after - free Miller High Life @ GPSCY on Thursday Nights

If anyone who snatched up a Yale admit would like to talk with a current grad student (5th year), please feel free to PM me. Happy to offer advice - anonymously or otherwise. Also I should note that the "list" hasn't been sent out by our department so all hope may not be lost. Back in the day I got my "admit" email at 2am on a Wednesday because my POI was in Thailand and hadn't gotten around to it before then.

Hey There! Please feel free to join the 2017 New Grad Students Facebook Group and pose this question. There are lots of resources in New Haven and at Yale for families. Just some preliminary answers: (1) The Yale apartments are definitely a good option for families but there are also many many apartments in the new haven area that would be suitable and affordable. The Yale apartments operate on a lottery system for fairness. They are maintained by the university and are in good condition. If you have issues, things will be repaired. (2) I personally know a few people who have bought while in New Haven and it has probably been more trouble than it was worth. Once you own a house or or condo, all costs of repair and maintenance time are on your shoulders. Most graduate students do not have the time or will to maintain a house in addition to their studies.

Let's break this down. (1) You want a funded or cheap MA but you are an international student who is going to pay likely 10s of thousands of dollars to come to the US. Cheap is relative but you are not likely to find it as funded MAs (not MSc... in the States, political science is an arts degree, not a science degree) are rare in political science and virtually non-existent in the US. (2) You want a research based MA but don't know what you want to study. If you are going to be doing research you need to work this out before your degree because programs in the states are often only a year long. They usually accept people who have this sorted out before they enter. No one is going to tell you what to study. (3) You don't want to write the GRE. Most schools in the states require the GRE for graduate school. It is what it is. Americans love them some standardized tests. My advice? Think really carefully about what you want to do & spend the time researching your options before asking open-ended questions to strangers on the internet. I'm sorry, this may seem harsh but you're clearly unprepared to start the process. Get your ducks in a row before you start marching, eh?

Not in your field but I got my MA at UBC & am now getting my PhD at Yale IMO it's best not to bankrupt yourself getting an expensive masters degree when a less expensive option is available. If you want to go on in your area, your PhD should be paid for so you can take a chance on a pricey uni then.

Crown-York is great if you can get in (very competitive because there aren't very many apartments in there). They are clean & safe. 25 Broadway ... meh I wouldn't live there. That apartment is so close to Toads & can be super noisy at night. I've never specifically sublet over the summer but I've never had a hard time finding a subletter for my apartment. Even had a subletter that started randomly in January and went till August.

If you are interested, many schools have old or current comprehensive exam reading lists up online. Check these puppies out - more than enough reading to keep you occupied. Don't forget to take good notes on anything you read!

If anyone new admits have Yale questions, feel free to PM.