PvZ 2

I may have mistaken, but as far as I can recall, CUNY (or probably a campus of SUNY…) hires a few retired but eminent political theorists (Richard Wolin, Melvin Richter, etc.). I don't know if they teach, but you might explore this possibility. At The New School you might work with David Miler, who is said to be an interesting guy. Yet a friend of mine who has a cohort who graduated with an MA from The New School did not recommend its Ph.D. program if one wants to pursue an academic career, since their Ph.D.s spend most of their times in teaching (3-4 classes per semester, as it was said) rather than doing research.

^^ Most programs I applied to only picked up the best scores you got and combined them together. But anyway, they really don't care your GRE scores so seriously unless they say so on their webpage (Rutgers and UNC, for example). These tests seem to me just a way to let them know that you are able to spell and count.

The cost of attendance is indeed a big issue. Yet only with respect to your chance of getting into a better Ph.D. program, I'll say that a good MA program (e.g. Columbia's, NYU's, Duke's, UVa's, etc.) indeed helps, but it depends much on how well you perform once you are in. I am currently an MA student and obviously not the best in my program, but you can see what I have got in my signature. PM me if you like. Don't quite recommend the fourth suggestion if you want to stay in academia, esp. given the fact that you can hardly get positive letters of recommendation from the program you firstly commit to and then desert.

Doesn't matter at all, even if your V, not your Q, were 155 as long as you can demonstrate your academic ability by other means. I can assure you of that because I have witnessed that in some other people's cases.

Thanks for sharing your latest experience with me, gingin6789! Indeed relieving! And I believe you are absolutely right in that a nice professor will understand students' choice, especially when they do have sufficient reasons. So I have decided to visit the school at my own expense. Not cheap given my tight budget, but better than feeling guilty. I chose the date as early as possible so that I will have plenty of time to rethink about this program after the visit and, if I am sure I will not attend, to notify the department before it is too late to be proper. I appreciate the help from all of you! And I wish all of you good luck!

Thank you, artichoke203! I find your suggestion rather constructive. I am thinking about doing this: I will visit the school, but pay for the trip myself. This way it costs the department nothing and at the same time I am able to show that I really take them seriously, which is definitely true. Though I still wonder if this is really necessary…

Thank you both, gingin6789 and PHDerp! Very helpful replies. And gingin6789, wish you good luck! When I was writing this post, I received the reply from rbamattre. Much appreciated! That is exactly what I am concerned about. If I do visit there, my personal situation won't be much changed by this visit and I may probably say no after the visit. Yet at the same time I fear that paying no visit may make me appear equally rude since they might think, "Look, this guy always said that he wanted to come. Now that we will pay for his visit, and he doesn't even want to stay for one or two days!" This is not the most serious. I fear that other faculties in the department may think of the nice professor who have backed me so much that, "See, you kept saying that we should admit this guy. Now that we have admitted him, but he doesn't seem care about this offer at all! Don't be too nice next time, alright?" Again, I know these are probably over-sensitive and rather trivial psychological speculations that may appear funny in the eyes of determined people… The fact is that I have been really tortured by these speculations for days. But I think you are definitely right, PHDerp, that I should not be bound by the professor to this program.

My problem is probably rather common, but since I am not a resolute person, I just don't know what to do. Before the application season, I contacted a professor of this program and we had several very nice chats (even in person when he gave a talk at my current school). I realized that he not only was one of the best fits for me academically, but also happened to be one of the nicest persons I have ever met. He helped me a lot to let me get into the program and even secured a fellowship for me. So, obviously, I feel that I couldn't be more fortunate to meet such a nice professor. Yet the problem is that I also received other offers from other programs and I am now inclining to decline the offer from this one. The reasons are partially financial (because this program gives relatively modest amount of stipend, whereas my previous studies have cost me a lot) and partially academic (because the program I almost decide to attend is with national reputation and an incredible group of faculty members, though none of them is as good a personal fit as that nice professor). Given all he has already done on my behalf, I feel really sorry to say no to him. Moreover, I don't know if it is possible that he will take my decision personally. Therefore, I wonder what I should do at this point. Should I say no as early as possible, or should I delay it for a few days? Should I say no after I pay a campus visit, or should I pay no visit at all so as to save a few hundred dollars for the department? Should I say no via phone (but I foresee it will be an embarrassing call), or simply send them an email? Again, I am not a resolute person. That is why I have been hesitating about this for a few days. It seems that this program really wants me to come. Several professors and grad students kept sending me very friendly emails. I am greatly moved and feel thankful, but at the same time it makes me even more uncomfortable to say no (at least to do so abruptly…) So, I really need your help! What is the proper way to decline the offer by such a nice group of people? Thank you!

^ So perhaps one is justified to wait for a second round of offers from U of T without losing one's hope…? Have sent multiple emails to the DGS without receiving any response. Much better to get a rejection letter, to some extent, so that I will be content with what I have already got.

Anyone knows anything about U of T's Ph.D in polisci? Rather weird to see a few entries of MA acceptances but nothing about Ph.D. Hope I have not missed something important…

Hi cupofnimbus, I do not know if this might be helpful or if you have already been aware of, but I have the recollection that several weeks ago someone as an "A" reported on the Results Search of being interviewed. All the rest reporting there are "I"s. Besides, there have been very few entries of "interview" until now.

Hi jazzrap! Yes I am.

Hi all, I received an email from Notre Dame's PhD program asking for "a short conversation." It writes that "We don't view this as a interrogation, as we already are impressed by your credentials." Since it has never occurred to me that an interview is required (I thought most polisci programs just communicate offers directly!), I wonder if a conversation as such is usually a casual one or one far more formal than it is said to be. Has anyone been interviewed by Notre Dame? What might be the chance that someone gets rejected after an interview as such? My subfield is political theory. Thanks!

Thanks for your replies! Yes I guess I should have called them, but from now on I think I will just wait a while in case that I do not "provoke them."

Yesterday I found that several people received official emails congratulating their admittance from the program I applied to. I then wrote to the program coordinator asking if I had already been rejected but received no reply. This morning I read that another applicant received an response from the department to his query the same as mine, telling him that he had been rejected. So I wrote another one, but still received no reply. I was thus wondering if this might indicate that I have actually been wait-listed. Thanks!

Thank you for your suggestion! It is quite interesting that all BC's PT faculties are Straussians. lol Anyone else could help me?

And there are quite few discussions on Duke's MA. It is seldom applied.

I am recently comparing among several PoliSci offers, one of them is BC's MA in Poli Sci (Political Theory). I am shocked to find that, on poliscijobrumors.com, a huge amount of people speak extremely lowly of it. Someone says it is bad simply because its faculty members are Straussians. And someone just warns that "Do not go there if you want an academic job." Although I know that the department ranks low, but I am considering it because the program is small, because the campus locates near Harvard (I may take advantage to audit some classes there, I suppose.), and because, insofar as I know, I don't think its PT faculties are so notorious. So what I want to ask is: Considering its quality (not price), is this program in PT so bad? Is it really so unpromising to study PT with "Straussians?" (I am a foreigner and don't quite know the academic atmosphere in the US...) And, do the above assumptuous advantages really exist? I would appreciate any response, positive or negative, to my post. Thanks!

Message sent. Thank you!

I do appreciate your reply! It seems that LOR makes great sense. I will try to find this out.

Hi everyone, I am granted an admission from UChicago MAPSS and another one from Duke MA in PoliSci and I am feeling unable to decide which one I should accept. I am a PoliSci undergrad from China, hoping to learn political theory/ philosophy during my grad studies and aiming to apply for PhD later. The problem is that UChicago, a better place for me to learn PT though, gives me too short time to study in MAPSS (maybe due to adaption, language, etc.), while Duke, providing longer time for me to adapt myself and to learn without too much tense though, seems to be not a favorable choice because I notice that very few students apply for it MA program in PoliSci and far fewer finally accept the offer. In fact it may turn out to be even more complicated for me, for I think it probable that I may later receive admissions from some other two-year MA programs (UVa, NYU, Brandeis, and Boston College). I am not quite sure what I should do now. I have found a lot of comments on MAPSS but quite limited on Duke's MA program in PoliSci and on other two-year polisci programs. I wonder if anyone here might tell me more about the latter and help me to compare? Thanks!