Schwarzgerat

Looks like we have some mutual interests (Africa). I will PM you with some ideas about where you can go but I don't feel like potentially identifying myself in the open on here. Anyway! I agree with SaltLakeCity2012 that you should go where the faculty interest you and if someone likes polisci they should do polisci. Of course in your case (I've seen your posts elsewhere) it may be difficult to find faculty doing what you want to do since let's be honest, Africa doesn't get much attention when compared to South-East Asia or Latin America or other places. There are some places though that have more Africanists than others and more importantly Africanists doing things that might interest you. As for SaltLakeCity2012, thanks for the comments. I will keep that in mind. Some additional research is in order on different departments though I already know that the departments which get most play with RAND hiring (for one example of a think tank) are the D.C. schools as a group as well as UCLA, Chicago, and Harvard. Will have to do more research..........

In theory this shouldn't be a problem. In practice I don't know. I took the GRE recently with double time accommodations and the process of registering was deeply frustrating to me. ETS lost my material on two occasions and made me jump through a bunch of hoops. The message I intend to impart is that you shouldn't count on ETS not being jerks about your accommodations. I don't mean to scare you but my experience has undermined any confidence I have in the organization being anything other than a hopeless bureaucracy (and I emphasize hopeless ). Plan your disability accommodations well in advance even if it's just the lesser half time accommodations. There was an NYTimes article some time ago about how Congress was looking into ETS over various practices at the organization including, I believe, the disability accommodations process. You might go looking for that article, I didn't read it because I was extremely bitter at the time over their handling of my case and didn't want to hear anything more about the organization (stupid of me, I know). Finally another thing to keep in mind is that the peak season for taking the GRE is November through January. Thus, you will likely have more flexibility in scheduling if you don't do it during those months.

So I'm just curious. It seems like the military historian job market in academia is colder than a witch's teat (though I suppose that could be said about the history profession as a whole ). What do these people normally do when they end up outside academia? One place I've noticed that employs at least a few historians is the RAND Corporation though all of those people are older and presumably joined the organization a while ago. Another place is DoD though I have no idea how common those jobs are. What is the job market for military historians like outside academia since it seems they get little joy inside the academy?

Oh it's definitely unfair but a sad fact of the polisci profession. My interests reside with security studies and economists (there are some who do defense and security type stuff) don't really tackle the questions I want to answer. I'm not completely closed off to the idea of a Polisci PhD but it would have to be at one of the departments with an abundance of security studies specialists such as George Washington, Georgetown, or possibly Columbia. There are plenty of people doing work I'm interested inside polisci academia but alas, when I look at faculty and what grad students are doing (something you should consider because it tells you what kind of things faculty will supervise) my interests just seem better suited by some of the Policy programs out there. Also, I should mention that while I'm not completely finished with the idea of entering academia, having a cynical academic father (who tells me all kinds of horror stories about the profession) and having lived my entire life near universities has made me somewhat averse to the idea. I think I would be most happy at a think tank (the RAND maybe?). Mind if I ask what kind of policy you want to do?

Alright, here goes my first post on this forum........... I know the general rules of Political Science doctoral program admissions, such as the rule about not mentioning career goals outside of academia (ever ever ever/or have I simply made too many trips to the PSJR cesspit??). Anyway, what are the general guidelines for a policy PhD's statement of purpose and their other guidelines for admission? I'm on the front end of a grad school process meaning I may or may not be in a Masters program next Fall depending on offers of financial assistance but I intend to be there ASAP. I feel as though 2 years is a very short period of time and so I want to figure out my goal for post-masters with some haste. Figuring out what exactly a policy PhD's demands are for its admissions is a good start. This will help me set my priorities for the next two or three years. I'm not DEAD SET on a Policy PhD yet. I still want to explore my options but I think I'm getting pretty close. This question is simply one of a list of lesser questions I feel like I need to get answered and I will be posting more on this forum.