UndraftedFreeAgent

I'm the one who posted the UMass acceptance yesterday. It was a form letter from the grad school dated 24 March. The way the letter is worded, it sounds like no one who hasn't heard is out of it yet. They request a response within 15 days and I have to tell them if I want to wait until April 15 to make my decision because "enrollments in the program are limited". That says to me that they plan on another round if they don't get as many students as they want with this batch. I'll be turning them down via Monday's mail.

Anybody getting into apartment hunting mode?

I would recommend listening not just to what they say, but to what they don't say. If they don't introduce you to any of the first year students, it could be because all of the first years are miserable. Save questions about the atmosphere of the department for events where there is free food. Free food can draw even the most reclusive grad student/young professor out of his/her shell long enough for you to ask a few key questions. Ask where grad students hang out to study or socialize on campus. Then, if you have free time to wander about on your own, go to those places and observe them in their "natural habitat". Finally, ask for complete documentation of their attrition/completion rates. This can give you an idea of your chances of actually finishing the program without being A) asked to leave discouraged to the point of quitting or C) bankrupt. Also ask how many students leave with an MA and what they end up doing with their degrees. If they "don't know", then that says (to me anyway), that those students didn't leave voluntarily. If you speak to any specific profs who are interested in advising you, ask if you may contact any of their previous grad students (but do so nicely). Employers ask you for references, it's only fair that you should be able to do the same. That's my two cents. I have to get back to work now... stupid private sector.

Yeah, there are winners and losers at all levels, in terms of advisors. Professors are notorious for becoming self-absorbed and snooty, even at lower ranked schools. The trick seems to be to find an advisor you match well with personally, as well as professionally, and then give them a reason to care about your success. This starts with only coming to office hours to ask intelligent questions. If you have to ask a "dumb" question (I've asked more than my fair share), look to another grad student, as it won't matter as much if one of them thinks slightly less of your abilities. The thing I've noticed in my experience, and this may not be true everywhere, is that the younger profs tend to be more engaged with their grad students. They're more likely to be conducting technically advanced research and will also have more projects going on at a given time in an attempt to beat the tenure clock. Younger profs also want to build a strong record of grad student advising, which could put them over the top in the hunt for tenure.

I've got nothing to say about the topic, but I just had to say that you picked a great name. I had a prof put the entire "battle of wits" at the end of a symbolic logic exam.

Absolutely. Penn State's preferred loan agency announced a few weeks ago that they wouldn't be making any new loans. While they're working out a deal with another agency, that's approximately 30,000 students who would be completely without aid. I also read on this board that BU Poli Sci PhD is offering admission to something like 30-35 students, but only funding 2 or 3. I can't imagine that, during normal times, they would be that stingy. I'm willing to bet that their yield is going to be really low this year.

I'd heard those complaints too, but I really don't know what they were talking about. I think people just hear a stereotype and then walk around with that bias in their heads. Not like it really matters from November to March, when no one can really tell what anyone else looks like anyway.

I think I knew that at some point, but I remembered you talking about ND, and it just latched on to my brain.

Ah... then that's the good kind of TAing. Yeah, I went down on my own to visit this past Fall as a mini-vacation and am going again this weekend. I'm fairly certain that one of the reasons they accepted me was because of my interest in their experimental lab. There HAVE to be more americanists than just the two of us, since they seem to do that rather well. If we do end up sharing an office, I have a coffee mug that can be plugged into the wall to heat water for tea/ramen.

The stereotype in South Bend is that the most attractive women on campus actually go to St. Mary's College (the women's college across the street from ND), but there are plenty of attractive women at ND. Dating between grad students and undergrads isn't uncommon, as long as the age gap isn't that big, but there are rules against any sort of relationship if you're TAing for the undergrad's class (I'm sure most schools have this). While that rule makes sense, if you read the grad student handbook, you'll find all sorts of arcane rules that are unenforced. From the sounds of it, you'll fit right in with most of the guys out there.

Ah cool, I was the heavy guy. and there is TAing at FSU, just not in the first couple of years.

Hi Chaos, I went to the Emory interview weekend too. Are you the guy from southern georgia or is there even ANOTHER one from the Emory interview weekend choosing FSU? I have to say that my experiences seem to mirror your own and if they don't have a softball team right now, then maybe we can get it started again. I can pitch, though I'm out of practice, catch, or play infield and can hit pretty well, but tend to either pull the ball down the third base line or shoot it over second.

Spending some quality time in the gym, enjoying living in a home with a yard/pool/cat/big TV, and frequenting the Victory Brew Pub, as soon as they finish renovations. Oh, and reading. Lots and lots of reading.

At ND, some of my fellow grad students dated senior undergrads. They do have grad student socials and various events, but they're poorly attended after the first few weeks and people seemed scared to stray outside of their groups. Your best bets for dating in the South Bend area will be to head to the bar. A mass of law students go to a different bar each week and otherwise party a lot. If you make friends with a few of the more social law students, you'll never run out of things to do. The Linebacker (AKA "the backer") is a small concrete building about a mile from the grad housing complex, which is always packed (and I mean PACKED) with anyone over the age of 21 who likes loud music and dancing (read: bumping into each other, because there's no space to move).

As an economist working in industry, it's my impression that funding will be the worst this year, but the real surge in applications in most fields will come next year. Since mass layoffs didn't really start jumping until late in the Fall of last year, many potential applicants wouldn't have had time to put together an application, especially while worrying about putting food on the table. Also, the first people to lose jobs are the less-skilled, less-educated, employees who would be relatively easy to replace once a recovery begins. Those with the best potential for grad school are those with more advanced skill sets, who usually aren't laid off until the company has no other choice. Such potential applicants most certainly missed the application deadlines for Fall 2008. I'm willing to bet that many schools (especially state schools and those with smaller endowments) ended up accepting fewer students this year than normal, or atleast offered fewer funded positions. Those in the best position to fund students are the perennially rich schools and those who fund their grad students through TV deals for their sports programs. That said, I really don't see the recession causing that big a problem beyond applications for the Fall 2009 cohort. By then there will be other issues none of us could have foreseen here. (Glimpse of the future: war with Iran? war with Venezuala? actually doing something about social security/healthcare? return of Barny the Dinosaur? baby boomers all decide to get PhDs? tenured professors discover fountain of youth and never retire.) (Please excuse any spelling errors or organizational problems, as I'm writing this before heading off to a meeting and don't have time to edit myself)

Yeah, it is tempting to put the cart ahead of the horse at this point. Personally, I'm more interested in passing quals and building my skills as a teacher... because face it, that's what most of us will spend the majority of our time doing, if we're even fortunate enough to make it through the next 4 to 8 years of hazing and get some sort of position in academia. My longer term goal would be to become a professor students would actually look forward to having in class.

My thoughts exactly, and I would have to drive even further than that. When dealing with bureaucrats, the fewer opportunities you give them to mess up, the better. The Indiana version of the DMV literally made a friend of mine cry with their stupidity. Also, if you go to a state school, it's likely that you will be required to change your residency to that state in order to receive any funding after the first year (unless you are an international student). Be sure to read the grad student bulletin/handbook at your university. There are all sorts of little rules and technicalities that somehow go unmentioned during visitation weekends. At Notre Dame, a few of us used to joke about all of the things that could get you expelled (or even excommunicated, if you're Catholic), but which were never, to our knowledge, enforced.

I'm not 100% sure, but I'm fairly certain that there is no such thing as a loft in South Bend and anything described as "charming" is certainly in short supply. South Bend itself is an economically depressed area, suffering (like much of the region) form the industry-wide decline of manufacturing. I lived on campus during the academic year and can tell you that the Fischer on campus apartments are pretty nice, though considering that you have to share an apartment with a stranger (with your own bedroom of course), the 570ish rent isn't too hot, but does include utilities minus cable. The Ohara Grace on campus apartments aren't nearly as nice (ok, but no AC and you will have three roommates rather than one). Living on or very close to campus is key, especially during the Winter and on football weekends. Walking is really your only option on football Saturdays, as parking is insane, normal roads become one way only, and even the library becomes a drinking spot for alumni (somehow they got the code to the grad study room on the 10th floor in 2006). The other tip is that if you're looking off campus, try to get an apartment as early as possible, because the undergrads swallow up the best places VERY quickly and in some cases there are long waiting lists. You will really want to limit where you look for housing to South Bend, Mishawaka, and maybe the outskirts of Granger. Anything farther than that becomes impractical and more expensive. There are some nicer mid-range apartments in Mishawaka and the only areas I would really avoid are the ones you can tell for yourself upon first glance. Some streets in poor areas have every other house boarded up due to abandonment. In terms of buying a house, I've seen it done, though more with condos than actual houses. The problem is that property taxes have really spiked over the last few years and the economy is so bad, that foreclosures will likely cause home prices will likely decrease over your time there, so it's not "that" great an option. If you have any other questions about the area, feel free.

Yeah, but rents in places you'd actually want to live or in places not infested with undergrads overcrowding apartments are a bit more than that. Pay closer to 700 or 800 per month and you can get a really nice place (look in Mishawaka rather than South Bend). FSU's package is 13k academic year RA + 3K summer I believe WashU mentioned 16.5k academic year. Stony Brook is unknown.

AllFiredUp- My top choices are Florida State and SUNY Stony Brook, but I'm still waiting for a few more departments. That leads to another good point. There are dozens of different departmental rankings out there and all end up with more than a few strange results in terms of one school being placed above another. A good (but not necessarily the best or only) way to determine whether or not a school is good for your purposes is to ask about their placements. The more specific they are, the better. If they just say something vague like "a lot of our graduates go on to successful careers" but don't say where, or in what, be suspicious.

Hi cbm91, As you may be able to tell by reading some of the other topics, getting into a Poli Sci PhD program is an incredibly competitive, but also incredibly random process, giving those of us outside the admissions committee little idea of what makes a successful candidate. I can tell you that UPenn is a top 20 program and their acceptance rate is less than 10%, but they didn't take me, so I can't really say what will or will not get you in. You will hear about people with nearly perfect scores being rejected and those with seemingly "lessor" marks than your own getting into your dream program. I suggest reading through this forum, particularly posts starting in November/December of 2007 and you will get a bit of an idea of what we've all been going through. "Political Science" is also not something that you just enter in general. Considering that you went to law school and worked in a government think tank, I imagine your focus (whatever that may be) is probably something that Penn does well, but you don't want to choose a school solely based on geography. But if you're just looking somewhere Pitt (I can't really speak to their program) or closer, you could also look at Penn State, Maryland, Delaware, George Mason, Princeton, Rutgers, American, GW, or Princeton. It really depends on your complete profile and your interests. That said, best of luck to you. It's a grueling process and I hope, in the better part of a decade, that it will have proven to be worthwhile. I haven't quite decided where to go yet (I'm still waiting for a few more decisions), but even if Penn took me, there was probably only a 30% chance I would have gone there. Good luck!! American Politics/Quantitative Methods Focus BS Economics and Mathematics Double (top liberal arts) UGPA: 3.6 GRE 770Q/630V/5.5W MA Economics and Econometrics Undergrad and grad research assistant 2 coauthorships

Congrats! I got dinged, but I'm glad they took you instead of me, because (and I'm pretty sure they knew this) I only applied out of respect to the prof who suggested I consider poli sci programs in the first place.

Yeah poli sci. I'm waiting on one more decision and a possible funding offer, but it looks fairly certain that I will attend FSU starting this fall. In terms of intramurals, I'm up for football, softball, hockey of just about any type, or bowling. I think I heard something about the department participating in a softball league, but there were a few programs that brought this up when I spoke to various reps and I can't remember if FSU was one of them. I visited the school earlier this year (and will be at the second visitation weekend) and it seems like shorts/t-shirts are the school uniform. Winter in Tallahassee is going to be a LOT nicer than in South Bend, IN.

That'd be cool, but I don't know if they let you take comprehensive exams while in federal prison. If anyone's going to school in a non-extradition country, this could be a gold mine hahaha. The only problem is that it assumes that students have money to pay off their debts.

29. You've crafted your own version of a "rejection of a rejection" letter based on the wording of letters you have received.