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[PoliSciGuy00]

15 hours ago, Theory007 said:

I will of course not say that you have made a mistake in choosing Minnesota. If Minnesota outweighed Cornell in your mind that is all that matters. And no doubt, both are good programs.

One thing I will say is that programs, in my experience, "act" in very different ways towards accepted applicants. I was in a program once where the visiting day was truly perfect; everyone were super friendly, professors engaging, and people spoke unanimously about how great the place was, etc. But once I got there it was very quickly clear that a lot of what the program had displayed itself to be was more surface than anything. Students were in actuality not supported well and it basically turned out not a great place to be for someone who wanted to be a political science professional. After the first year, a third of my cohort was gone and I think only about half the people stayed beyond the second year.

The program I am in now is no doubt far more reputable. But there was barely any communication between myself and the university the summer before, and the visiting event was low key overall. The program however has turned out to be outstanding and everything I was hoping for when I began my grad applications way back. In my experience it looks like "weaker" programs (not saying that U. of Minnesota is weak of course) do what they can to retain the best of their application pool whereas stronger programs do not need to make as active an effort to appeal as well to the students who got first round offers. After all, if only few of them showed up they would likely still have a bunch of outstanding candidates to choose among for second round offers. Have others experienced something like this - stronger programs not making a great effort to appeal to accepted applicants?

My point is that while I am sure Minnesota is a good choice for you, had I been in your shoes, knowing what I know now, I would be apprehensive about turning Cornell down. I would really look more at the more objective standards of the program instead of what I perceive the program to be (which really can be skewed), and think I think would have lent favor to Cornell. But I have no doubt that you will do very well in Minnesota.

A good point.  Even after visit day, there's a lot I still didn't know (this was compounded by the fact that both visit days were virtual...)  I really, really tried to like Cornell and was very apprehensive about turning it down.  The extra $$$ Cornell has really made it hard, too.  At the end of the day, I just had a better gut feeling about Minnesota.  Hopefully it will turn out to be the correct decision.     

[Theory007]

On 7/31/2020 at 10:58 AM, Mr_Spock2018 said:

A good point.  Even after visit day, there's a lot I still didn't know (this was compounded by the fact that both visit days were virtual...)  I really, really tried to like Cornell and was very apprehensive about turning it down.  The extra $$$ Cornell has really made it hard, too.  At the end of the day, I just had a better gut feeling about Minnesota.  Hopefully it will turn out to be the correct decision.     

How has it been?

[PoliSciGuy00]

On 3/5/2022 at 8:23 PM, Theory007 said:

How has it been?

Hi Theory007.  It’s good to hear from you.  I hope you’ve been doing well.  I’m sorry to everyone for my absence.  Like many folks, I got off gradcafe during grad school, partly for mental health reasons but also because of the whirlwind of graduate school.  Now that I’ve had a bit of time to reflect, I’d like to share the following:

Several years ago I decided to attend a somewhat lower ranked program because I believed I would get better mentorship than a higher-ranked program I was also admitted to.  I’m not sure that was a *mistake* but, like every decision, there are some things I know now that I wish I knew back then. 

I’ve gotten good mentorship at my program, but I realize that mentorship isn’t the only thing that is necessary to produce good research.  In my opinion, most of us on this forum need four things to produce good research (we’re all smart enough, I imagine).  (1) Patience.  (2) Mentorship and advising.  (3) Money/time.  (4) Research skills.  I’ll skip over patience because I think that’s relatively self-explanatory.  In my somewhat lower ranked program, I’ve struggled with numbers 3 and 4.  Research is a time-consuming process that can be expensive and requires technical skills.  What I’ve learned now is that sometimes the best mentorship in the world doesn’t help if you simply don’t have the skills or time or money to actually write or run your data or visit the archives or whatever.  

 

And now back to the ultimate point of this section: picking PhD programs.  If you’re lucky enough to get more than one choice I’d say there’s two general methods for deciding: picking the highest ranked program or going with your gut.  I went with my gut—but knowing what I know now I’m not sure I would’ve made that same decision.  Visiting days can be perfect but that doesn’t mean the program itself is perfect.  Furthermore, I think it’s safe to say lower-ranked schools will hustle to recruit you, whereas higher-ranked programs generally don’t.  But that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have a better experience at a lower-ranked program.  I’m not sure if going with your gut or simply picking for prestige is better.  But I’ll offer just a few more thoughts. 

If you’re deciding between a prestigious program in the cold northeast or a lower ranked one in balmy LA, and you’re someone that absolutely can’t stand snow and would be miserable in the cold, then perhaps it makes sense for you to go to LA.  Why?  Because you know with a high degree of confidence that LA is warm.  Picking based on factors like mentor quality is riskier because your information at the time is limited. 

Without picking on my current program too much—there’s too many miserable people on the internet—I just want to reiterate that factors like endowment, wealth, and prestige can be important, measurable factors you should consider.  I didn’t pay as much attention to that as I should’ve.  Generally, but not always, those are synonymous with a higher-ranked program.  Those factors can determine whether or not you have the time and money to actually complete a (good) dissertation.

Also, try and talk to as many grad students as you can at the programs you are seriously considering.  Don’t stop with the students that show up on admitted students’ day.  Generally, they are the most engaged and getting the most out of the program.  You need to make sure you talk to the median student in the department to understand what experience you’re most likely to have.   

So, anyways, that’s my two cents.  I wish everyone here the best of luck.  If you have more specific questions, please PM me.  I’m gonna try and hang around here at least a bit, but I probably won’t be posting anymore on the forums.