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You can also access the reading lists for comp exams provided by Yale: http://www.yale.edu/polisci/gradprogram/readings.html

I had a question about housing - so I won't return to the States until the 10th-ish of August probably. My friend whom I'll be sharing a 2 bedroom apartment might not be able to get there before July either. 1. By when does most off-campus housing become unavailable? Would July/August be too late? (I figure it will be kind of late, but like we won't be able to find anything late?) 2. If he does manage to go there by July (or maybe before), can a lease be signed without me being present in New Haven? 3. Do realtors in New Haven believe in renting 2-bdr apts without having met the people, whilst still allowing them to sign the lease? and how bad of an idea is that? Any suggestions would be great, since we're pretty set on off-campus housing! Also, what are the exact streets that is supposed to be the East Rock neighborhood? And any other suggestions for off-campus places to look at where young-ish grad students without families/kids normally stay? Thanks a lot!

"First, what about the placemnets of CIR graduates? Have they been accepted by top schools?" Only 7-8 people out of the entire cohort applied for Ph.D. programs and everyone's been accepted good programs, with a majority of them getting into the top 10-15 programs. Except for two people who applied 2-3 months after joining CIR(and even they got into good programs), the rest of the people applied after they had done CIR. CIR's website lists some schools which alums get into, and that's a pretty indicative list. "how competitive is the second year program at CIR? " Only 3-4 people are accepted for the second year. Competitiveness varies each year as anything from 4-8 people might want to do a second year. I know there are quantitative, data analysis and game theory classes offered, but I never took any of them, so I'm not the best person to answer about those.

Yes, consider doing the OPT. Doing 2 MAs sounds like a waste of time and money. And if you want to make the most of this opportunity, don't apply for Fall 2012- you still won't have any part of your thesis as a writing sample, no grades and no real connections with your professors who would be able to write you good letters after knowing you just for 2-3 months. I would suggest picking a program, giving it your best, doing the OPT (if you really want to stay in the States after graduating) and then applying for PhD programs (if you still want to) for Fall 2013.

I will be joining Yale this fall for a PhD in Political Science (conflict studies). Won't be able to visit the campus as I won't be in the States until August. Would really appreciate what impressions you guys got when you visited the campus/New Haven!

If your eventual aim is getting into a PhD admission, you might be better off doing a program that requires a thesis as opposed to one that does not. Graduate coursework can only signal abilities to an extent and with all the grade inflation that happens in graduate courses, that's not the best indicator. A thesis will not only help you articulate your research interests better, it'll also make you realize whether you do actually want to carry on further research on that topic or not. Most importantly, it'll be a great writing sample for your applications. Also, don't just choose a program keeping in mind the big names. Most of them pay attention to only PhD students and even if they consent to being your MA advisor, it doesn't guarantee that they'll provide you a stellar letter of recommendation, simply because they never knew you that well. Sometimes, lesser known names can be more suitable for your needs and might be a greater help with both your thesis and your PhD applications. Also, I second what Junyan says: What resources are lacking in Chicago? Finally, "I am not sure whether I could succeed in the fierce competition and heavy burden in Chicago" - if you can't do that, then a PhD program might not be the best thing for you.

I was in CIR a while back. Just thought I would drop in with a few points: 1) The preceptors are absolutely great. In most cases, they help you out with your thesis a lot more than your advisor, help you pick classes and are just great for helping you figure out almost everything. 2) Don't go to the program with just a big name in your mind for your advisor. A Pape or a Mearsheimer care more for their PhD students (obviously), and there are certain other professors who might fit your needs perfectly, even if they are not as famous. I can say with personal experience that my MA advisor helped me out with my PhD applications A LOT and I definitely would not have gotten into so many places had it not been for the help he had given me. 3)This program is great for signaling your strengths when applying to a PhD after CIR..you basically have graduate coursework and a thesis. If you take 1 or 2 methods classes and do well in them as well, that's a bigger boost to your application. On the other hand, if you're looking to just go into the job market and don't have a scholarship, you might want to think about whether taking a loan worth $60k is gonna really benefit your job prospects THAT much. Also, everyone doesn't pursue academia. From my cohort, only 7 or 8 (out of 45-48) have started/will be starting their PhD. 4)Just because it's Chicago, doesn't mean you have to be do a lot of theory. The only 2 compulsory courses are International Security and International Political Economy and in my cohort, after a while, almost every person could be categorized as a person who was into either Security or Economics. So if you're into regional studies, you might want to reconsider. That said, it might be different, I can only speak with experience about my cohort. 5)I absolutely agree with raychurr - "The heavy workload and hellish weather can be really demoralizing". It's worse if you're trying to graduate at the end of the Spring quarter and are basically taking 3 courses and writing your thesis all in the same Spring quarter.

Nope, I don't think they're giving me any funding since the letter didn't mention anything about funding. It went straight from congratulations to here are the details about the admit weekend.

I got accepted by Georgetown (PhD) 2 days ago, but I'll be turning it down.

I used to be in CIR, and they normally let people take courses at the Harris School. However, some of them were dependent on the approval of Harris School (and they were mostly approved unless it was a compulsory class for Harris students, in which case all the spots would have definitely been taken up). Though I'm not really sure how much methods training it's actually possible to acquire in a year, probably not much. Also, the thesis has to be written while completing 9 courses in one year, which doesn't give you that much time to work on the thesis.

I just declined a GWU spot with a TA funding and they said something about informing the next candidate in early April. Good luck!!

I'll be declining offers from Ohio State, GWU and UVA. Good luck to those on the waitlist!

Alternatively, you could also stay over at International House at UChicago where you can get a single room (shared bathroom) for $30 a night.

Yes, it was an email from Retta Semones. Don't lose hope yet, they obviously seem to be taking their sweet time with this notifying business!

Just got an admit from Ohio State (IR)!

Congrats on everyone who got into OSU! What field did you guys apply for, btw? Because I just see American and Comparative on the results page (along with 3 other results who don't identify their fields), and I was just curious about whether IR acceptances have gone out as well.

Yes! impatiently waiting on Chicago, but super-scared of rejections after getting one from Michigan today. Who are you interested in working with at Chicago?

Would someone like to claim Michigan? :-/

So last year Ohio State declared some results on the last Friday of January (today ahhhh!) Any guesses on what the situation will be this year?

I was in CIR a while back and my personal statement was more like 90:10 in terms of research interests:future plans. Although this might have been because my undergrad major was different, so I also spent a while discussing why I wanted to change to IR. But yeah, I'd definitely recommend discussing your research interests more - you don't need to have your arguments/research ideas worked out as long as you can show that you've done something related and have the appropriate skills (eg. language, quant etc) and that you're familiar with their courses/profs/research interests of profs

K, thanks a lot guys!

How strictly would you follow word limits given for SOPs? I'm applying to a couple of schools where the word limit is either 500 or 1000, and I was wondering would it hurt to submit statements that are 600-650/1100-1150ish words?

"Is it siginifcantly harder to apply and be accepted into grad school after having worked that long, as opposed to straight out of school?" I can't answer the rest of your questions with as much conviction, but with regard to this question - the average age at most of the top 10-15 IR programs in the US revolves around 25-27. Most of them in fact prefer work experience, and feel that you would be able to contribute a lot more than someone whose right out of school. Also, since you mentioned that you wouldn't mind living in Geneva, you might want to consider applying to Graduate Institute, Geneva: http://graduateinstitute.ch/ They have programs in international affairs that are pretty well known- at least if you want to work in Europe, and the cost of studying would work out much cheaper than US.

Yup, Fletcher also admits a few people in the Spring.

I think there's no harm in asking, at the worst you'll only get no response or a vague response. However, you might get a decent answer as well. I requested one of my schools I got rejected at, feedback on my application, since I want to re-apply there in the future, and they've replied saying that they'll give me detailed feedback in June, once they've sorted out the queries of the newly admitted students. It's definitely worth a shot.