2018-2019 Application Thread

[mackeycold]

Any more detail on TAMU acceptances/waitlists? I'm an Americanist, haven't heard anything. 

[nietzsche's moustache]

2 hours ago, No7pasaran! said:

I'm a UCSD theory admit. Any others? Based on online student data, it seems they only have 0-2 theory students per year.

And for any other UCSD admits, feel free to message me!

I am one of the admitted theory students, but I declined their offer, so I expect they will accept someone from the waitlist soon.

[devotee]

Another question. Just got an e-mail from a professor, from the program I was admitted to. My research interests completely overlap with his, in fact he is one of the chief reasons why I applied to that particular program. He says that he has seen my file and is enthusiastic about the possibility of working with me. Apart from that, the email is a typical congratulations email, "don't hesitate to contact me for questions about the department, the program" etc. How do I respond this? What do you do here in this first contact? I guess it would be inappropriate to talk about supervisorship this early on. It might seem counterintuitive to not have questions in such a case, but coming from a professional background, I do not really know the etiquette here. Many thanks in advance.

[CactiCactus]

I'm waiting on Columbia, Yale, and Harvard, so considering my chances at those three seem slim, I figured I'd go ahead and solicit some advice from you fine (and informed) folk regarding my options. If there's a better or more appropriate place to do this, someone please feel free to direct me.

I've been accepted to: George Washington, Georgetown, UT Austin, UChicago, and UC San Diego.

I am sort of eliminating the two DC schools because, although I love the city and it would be my number 1 destination to live, I'm concerned about the programs' placement records/rank. If anyone disagrees with that logic, I'd love to hear your thoughts. UT Austin I am still somewhat considering because it has a strong Latin American regional focus among its faculty, which is my primary region of interest (I'm IR/CP by the way). I've also heard Austin is a great place to live.

UCSD and Chicago are obviously the two schools of the bunch with the best placement records and reputation, but they're very different in terms of pros/cons. San Diego is, by all accounts, a great place to live, but its cost of living is higher while its funding package is lower. Chicago's weather and surrounding environs don't compare favorably to San Diego's (proximity to nature, other major cities, etc.), but it pays substantially more while having a lower cost of living. And Chicago as a city is very cool.

I've heard that UChicago has been on a bit of a slump which has led to it being just outside of the top 10 according to USWNR, but is apparently back on the upswing now? Historically I know it is a tad above UCSD but recent placement records suggest that UCSD has been better over the past decade in terms of placement.

Anyway, that may have been a poorly organized word cloud but if anyone else is twiddling their thumbs speculating and weighing pros and cons I would love to hear some more input! 

[StrengthandHonor]

24 minutes ago, devotee said:

Another question. Just got an e-mail from a professor, from the program I was admitted to. My research interests completely overlap with his, in fact he is one of the chief reasons why I applied to that particular program. He says that he has seen my file and is enthusiastic about the possibility of working with me. Apart from that, the email is a typical congratulations email, "don't hesitate to contact me for questions about the department, the program" etc. How do I respond this? What do you do here in this first contact? I guess it would be inappropriate to talk about supervisorship this early on. It might seem counterintuitive to not have questions in such a case, but coming from a professional background, I do not really know the etiquette here. Many thanks in advance.

Don't stress out about it. If you don't have any immediate questions, say something along the lines of "Thank you so much for the kind email. I too am excited about the prospects of working together. I look forward to speaking more at the admitted students weekend."

That should do it. If you're certain this is where you are attending, feel free to start discussing more about getting ready for next year -- you could ask for summer reading recommendations, etc. If you haven't made a decision, just be polite, kind, and demonstrate your eagerness and excitement over being accepted without overplaying your position.

[pscwpv]

1 minute ago, CactiCactus said:

UCSD and Chicago are obviously the two schools of the bunch with the best placement records and reputation, but they're very different in terms of pros/cons. San Diego is, by all accounts, a great place to live, but its cost of living is higher while its funding package is lower. Chicago's weather and surrounding environs don't compare favorably to San Diego's (proximity to nature, other major cities, etc.), but it pays substantially more while having a lower cost of living. And Chicago as a city is very cool.

I've heard that UChicago has been on a bit of a slump which has led to it being just outside of the top 10 according to USWNR, but is apparently back on the upswing now? Historically I know it is a tad above UCSD but recent placement records suggest that UCSD has been better over the past decade in terms of placement.

Anyway, that may have been a poorly organized word cloud but if anyone else is twiddling their thumbs speculating and weighing pros and cons I would love to hear some more input! 

Hi! Also looking at these programs. One thing to consider on UCSD is graduate student housing is much cheaper than private renting, so you can get a studio for less than $800/month and share a 2BR for as little as $600. That significantly decreases the cost of living. Another thing that stands out to me is that lots of their strength in placement, at least for my specific research area, comes at least partially from methods research. Lots of their top placements over the last few years have been people doing cutting edge work on things like network theory who then publish with Fowler and others in Science/Nature on more general methodological questions. That's obviously really good for training and placement, but if that's not your cup of tea, it might be worth thinking about and focusing on the placement who aren't doing that kind of work. This is just an observation from my research area, too, so might not apply to yours!

Chicago lost some senior folks and continued hiring lots of theorists, to the detriment of some other areas. My feeling on it is that the junior people they've hired have been exceptional, so the program is seen as on a strong upswing. Staniland and Albertus come to mind. USNWR is pretty weird because their rankings are entirely based on peer evaluations, which of course have all kinds of strange biases, time lags, etc. I'm also cognizant that recent placements in my research area weren't advised by the people who would be advising me, so might not be entirely reflective of the training/placement assistance I would get there. My POI also told me they're in the process of hiring two senior methodologists after Patty/Penn left for Emory. The methods training seems to be the weakest link in the program so two strong hires in that area would help with training.

Only other note I'll make is the difference in systems. UChicago tends to have longer PhDs (6-7 years) then a post-doc, while UCSD tends to get people out in at most 6 years and straight into TT jobs. UCSD also has much higher teaching loads from the first day, but the alumni I've talked to have said it's pretty manageable. 

[CactiCactus]

30 minutes ago, pscwpv said:

Hi! Also looking at these programs. One thing to consider on UCSD is graduate student housing is much cheaper than private renting, so you can get a studio for less than $800/month and share a 2BR for as little as $600. That significantly decreases the cost of living. Another thing that stands out to me is that lots of their strength in placement, at least for my specific research area, comes at least partially from methods research. Lots of their top placements over the last few years have been people doing cutting edge work on things like network theory who then publish with Fowler and others in Science/Nature on more general methodological questions. That's obviously really good for training and placement, but if that's not your cup of tea, it might be worth thinking about and focusing on the placement who aren't doing that kind of work. This is just an observation from my research area, too, so might not apply to yours!

Chicago lost some senior folks and continued hiring lots of theorists, to the detriment of some other areas. My feeling on it is that the junior people they've hired have been exceptional, so the program is seen as on a strong upswing. Staniland and Albertus come to mind. USNWR is pretty weird because their rankings are entirely based on peer evaluations, which of course have all kinds of strange biases, time lags, etc. I'm also cognizant that recent placements in my research area weren't advised by the people who would be advising me, so might not be entirely reflective of the training/placement assistance I would get there. My POI also told me they're in the process of hiring two senior methodologists after Patty/Penn left for Emory. The methods training seems to be the weakest link in the program so two strong hires in that area would help with training.

Only other note I'll make is the difference in systems. UChicago tends to have longer PhDs (6-7 years) then a post-doc, while UCSD tends to get people out in at most 6 years and straight into TT jobs. UCSD also has much higher teaching loads from the first day, but the alumni I've talked to have said it's pretty manageable. 

Thanks so much for this! Great to know about the housing. Is that info on their website or did you find that out through alumni? I have an unmarried partner that I would looking to live with..not sure that would work in the grad student housing. I suppose I can’t be unique in that situation, though.  

That insight in methods research is also very interesting. Appreciate you taking the time to detail it. I also noticed the teaching load, but I wouldn’t mind that. I enjoy teaching and figure it would be good practice to make sure I have the fundamentals down. 

[pscwpv]

6 minutes ago, CactiCactus said:

Thanks so much for this! Great to know about the housing. Is that info on their website or did you find that out through alumni? I have an unmarried partner that I would looking to live with..not sure that would work in the grad student housing. I suppose I can’t be unique in that situation, though.  

That insight in methods research is also very interesting. Appreciate you taking the time to detail it. I also noticed the teaching load, but I wouldn’t mind that. I enjoy teaching and figure it would be good practice to make sure I have the fundamentals down. 

I just googled UCSD grad housing and there's lots. There is a big waitlist for some of the properties/housing types, but I think there are opportunities to live with partners

[CactiCactus]

1 minute ago, pscwpv said:

I just googled UCSD grad housing and there's lots. There is a big waitlist for some of the properties/housing types, but I think there are opportunities to live with partners

Ok cool, I’ll definitely look into it more. So it seems like you’re leaning towards UCSD, if you don’t mind me asking? 

[as2472]

22 hours ago, Theory007 said:

My honest feeling is that you would be better off going to UBC over Boulder. I do see that your interests seem to be very well aligned with the two theorists at Boulder, but the PT program there is very small and the political science program itself is not great. A degree from UBC will also open a career trajectory for you that simply would not be available to you after Boulder, and I think I read that you saw yourself living in Canada in the future, which seems to be another reason to go to UBC. If you were to choose according to your interests, it seems to me that Washington and John Hopkins would be good options for you, but I'm not sure if Brown or UPenn align with your interests well. At least Brown has a more analytic political theory track, and even if you would be able to find someone who would be willing to engage in a more critical approach I do not think your work would fit well with the political theory program overall. For full disclosure, I applied to Brown theory myself this year and have not heard from them either.

I would keep in mind that representatives of lower ranked/weaker programs are more likely to reach out to you trying to convince you to come there - especially if you are an overqualified candidate. If you go to visit Boulder make sure you speak to several first year theorists about their experience. And if you do end up going to Boulder make sure you at least negotiate a competitive stipend based upon your other offers. If I was in your shoes I would definitely keep my fingers crossed for Washington and John Hopkins. I get the feeling that UCLA would have been a good option for your interests too, but I take it you did not apply there. These are just my views, and I do not actually know much about the theory program at UBC although I do know the department overall is excellent.

Thank you for such a well considered and thoughtful response! Assuming I don't get into Johns Hopkins, I'm also leaning towards UBC for the sake of a potential career (I definitely want to go into academia), but am waiting to talk to more current students + potentially visit Vancouver (I've been to Boulder and will be going for the admitted students event but have not been to Vancouver) before fully deciding. Unfortunately I didn't apply to UCLA and have been regretting that for a while now, but too late now! I only applied to places with people doing environmental political theory which left a fairly narrow list. Given how my applications on the whole have gone, I highly doubt I'll get into JHU but, if I do, i'm honestly not sure where I would go between there and UBC. UBC has a relatively large theory program and many of the theory profs are working with methodologies and perspectives that align with my research well. 

Re: negotiating a competitive stipend at Boulder, any recommendations on how to do that besides dropping hints (e.g. I really love this department but I am also considering  offers with fellowships at Oregon and UBC)? 

[quesadilla]

2 hours ago, CactiCactus said:

I'm waiting on Columbia, Yale, and Harvard, so considering my chances at those three seem slim, I figured I'd go ahead and solicit some advice from you fine (and informed) folk regarding my options. If there's a better or more appropriate place to do this, someone please feel free to direct me.

I've been accepted to: George Washington, Georgetown, UT Austin, UChicago, and UC San Diego.

I am sort of eliminating the two DC schools because, although I love the city and it would be my number 1 destination to live, I'm concerned about the programs' placement records/rank. If anyone disagrees with that logic, I'd love to hear your thoughts. UT Austin I am still somewhat considering because it has a strong Latin American regional focus among its faculty, which is my primary region of interest (I'm IR/CP by the way). I've also heard Austin is a great place to live.

UCSD and Chicago are obviously the two schools of the bunch with the best placement records and reputation, but they're very different in terms of pros/cons. San Diego is, by all accounts, a great place to live, but its cost of living is higher while its funding package is lower. Chicago's weather and surrounding environs don't compare favorably to San Diego's (proximity to nature, other major cities, etc.), but it pays substantially more while having a lower cost of living. And Chicago as a city is very cool.

I've heard that UChicago has been on a bit of a slump which has led to it being just outside of the top 10 according to USWNR, but is apparently back on the upswing now? Historically I know it is a tad above UCSD but recent placement records suggest that UCSD has been better over the past decade in terms of placement.

Anyway, that may have been a poorly organized word cloud but if anyone else is twiddling their thumbs speculating and weighing pros and cons I would love to hear some more input! 

I think UT has the strongest comparative program for Latin America out of those options, just based on my research on UCSD and Chicago. I ended up not even applying to Chicago because of fit, and a professor says they’re notorious for admitting too many students then pulling funding for the lower half based on grades making it super cutthroat (but she also said that was years ago). I’m CP so I don’t know much about IR program so if that’s your primary subfield another option might be better. I didn’t get accepted to UCSD, so I’m between UT and Notre Dame right now, which is also a bit of a boutique school for LA studies with the Kellogg Institute. I’m not sure about fit vs. ranking but I keep seeing professors from both citing each other in my research lol. Also Austin is a great place, but I haven’t gotten a funding package yet so not sure about cost of living. Looks like between $800-$1000 rent for cheaper places. Also you’d probably need a car because that’s Texas. Have you heard about funding? Also waiting to hear back from Columbia and Harvard so best of luck!

[devotee]

3 hours ago, StrengthandHonor said:

Don't stress out about it. If you don't have any immediate questions, say something along the lines of "Thank you so much for the kind email. I too am excited about the prospects of working together. I look forward to speaking more at the admitted students weekend."

That should do it. If you're certain this is where you are attending, feel free to start discussing more about getting ready for next year -- you could ask for summer reading recommendations, etc. If you haven't made a decision, just be polite, kind, and demonstrate your eagerness and excitement over being accepted without overplaying your position.

Thank you. Are there any ways to politely ask if there is an available "slot" (I really do not know the terminology here, LOL) for me to be his student? In other words, how can I ask the chances of him being my advisor? Or would this be considered inappropriate at this point? I really want to make sure and this will be a crucial factor regarding my decision as he is the only person in the faculty whose research interests completely coincide with mine.

[dreamschoolcometrue]

I'm waiting for USC. I can see one acceptance on the result section and another on this thread. I guess there would be further acceptances tomorrow.

[e2e4]

3 hours ago, pscwpv said:

Hi! Also looking at these programs. One thing to consider on UCSD is graduate student housing is much cheaper than private renting, so you can get a studio for less than $800/month and share a 2BR for as little as $600. That significantly decreases the cost of living. Another thing that stands out to me is that lots of their strength in placement, at least for my specific research area, comes at least partially from methods research. Lots of their top placements over the last few years have been people doing cutting edge work on things like network theory who then publish with Fowler and others in Science/Nature on more general methodological questions. That's obviously really good for training and placement, but if that's not your cup of tea, it might be worth thinking about and focusing on the placement who aren't doing that kind of work. This is just an observation from my research area, too, so might not apply to yours!

Chicago lost some senior folks and continued hiring lots of theorists, to the detriment of some other areas. My feeling on it is that the junior people they've hired have been exceptional, so the program is seen as on a strong upswing. Staniland and Albertus come to mind. USNWR is pretty weird because their rankings are entirely based on peer evaluations, which of course have all kinds of strange biases, time lags, etc. I'm also cognizant that recent placements in my research area weren't advised by the people who would be advising me, so might not be entirely reflective of the training/placement assistance I would get there. My POI also told me they're in the process of hiring two senior methodologists after Patty/Penn left for Emory. The methods training seems to be the weakest link in the program so two strong hires in that area would help with training.

Only other note I'll make is the difference in systems. UChicago tends to have longer PhDs (6-7 years) then a post-doc, while UCSD tends to get people out in at most 6 years and straight into TT jobs. UCSD also has much higher teaching loads from the first day, but the alumni I've talked to have said it's pretty manageable. 

That's about the same average rent in Hyde Park, with an approximate +/- $200 depending on how nice a place you want. 

Austin Carson is no slouch either.

[CactiCactus]

1 hour ago, quesadilla said:

I think UT has the strongest comparative program for Latin America out of those options, just based on my research on UCSD and Chicago. I ended up not even applying to Chicago because of fit, and a professor says they’re notorious for admitting too many students then pulling funding for the lower half based on grades making it super cutthroat (but she also said that was years ago). I’m CP so I don’t know much about IR program so if that’s your primary subfield another option might be better. I didn’t get accepted to UCSD, so I’m between UT and Notre Dame right now, which is also a bit of a boutique school for LA studies with the Kellogg Institute. I’m not sure about fit vs. ranking but I keep seeing professors from both citing each other in my research lol. Also Austin is a great place, but I haven’t gotten a funding package yet so not sure about cost of living. Looks like between $800-$1000 rent for cheaper places. Also you’d probably need a car because that’s Texas. Have you heard about funding? Also waiting to hear back from Columbia and Harvard so best of luck!

Thanks! Agreed that for LatAm CP UT is very strong. My research interesting are sort of right on the brink and could go either way between CP and IR, so I'm a little worried about going somewhere that's very strong in one subfield but not so much in the other. I have not heard about funding from Texas. And yeah, the car is definitely a consideration at both Texas and UCSD, whereas I could probably sneak by without one at Chicago.

Appreciate the info about rent, and good luck to you as well! Either one of those would certainly change the calculus  

[calvinssy]

32 minutes ago, dreamschoolcometrue said:

I'm waiting for USC. I can see one acceptance on the result section and another on this thread. I guess there would be further acceptances tomorrow.

Me too... Don't understand why they sent out a bunch of emails on Sunday, but there is nothing today

[yubs89]

39 minutes ago, dreamschoolcometrue said:

I'm waiting for USC. I can see one acceptance on the result section and another on this thread. I guess there would be further acceptances tomorrow.

 

6 minutes ago, calvinssy said:

Me too... Don't understand why they sent out a bunch of emails on Sunday, but there is nothing today

What are your subfields?

By the way, anyone waiting for UCSB...???

[calvinssy]

3 minutes ago, yubs89 said:

 

What are your subfields?

By the way, anyone waiting for UCSB...???

American Politics

[dreamschoolcometrue]

9 minutes ago, yubs89 said:

 

What are your subfields?

By the way, anyone waiting for UCSB...???

IR. 

[schuaust]

1 hour ago, devotee said:

Thank you. Are there any ways to politely ask if there is an available "slot" (I really do not know the terminology here, LOL) for me to be his student? In other words, how can I ask the chances of him being my advisor? Or would this be considered inappropriate at this point? I really want to make sure and this will be a crucial factor regarding my decision as he is the only person in the faculty whose research interests completely coincide with mine.

This is something that is generally determined after you are in the program (currently in a PhD program). 

[Battlestar]

7 hours ago, mackeycold said:

Virginia. I was initially informed of rejection, but apparently that was in error. I got in at Wisconsin, which is a terrific program, and I'm looking forward to the visit, but UVA also looks great for me, with awesome folks like Milkis, Ceasar, Sabato, etc. and a qualitative/historical focus, but the timeframe is putting a strain on it. Thanks! 

I got a similar email this morning. I was originally rejected but was told this was a bureaucratic error. Was supposed to be on the waitlist. Not sure why this happened, but I will take it. 

[mackeycold]

13 minutes ago, Battlestar said:

I got a similar email this morning. I was originally rejected but was told this was a bureaucratic error. Was supposed to be on the waitlist. Not sure why this happened, but I will take it. 

So what should we do with this? We’ve already waited about 2-3 weeks unofficially then, how much longer do these things typically take to get decided upon? Do we get a shot at a visit 

[DisplayName44]

Has anyone accepted at Ohio State heard about funding yet? They're the only school I've been accepted at that hasn't given me a firm offer yet and I want to compare apples to apples.

[gradqs]

Now it's really hitting me how low the stipends are for a lot of these programs. I'm currently working and have a salary and most of these offers will involve cutting my income in half. This might be money nerves talking, but would programs be amenable to me deferring a year to build up my savings? I'm not overly concerned about budgeting/living on less but I won't have my parents as a back up and one car accident or unexpected medical issue could clean me out with so little coming in.

[yubs89]

2 hours ago, Battlestar said:

I got a similar email this morning. I was originally rejected but was told this was a bureaucratic error. Was supposed to be on the waitlist. Not sure why this happened, but I will take it. 

What is your subfield? I'm also waitlisted at UVA...