Which school should I go for Politics and IR? (International Student)

[Moss13]

Hello,, I would like to ask you a question. I have applied to postgraduate programs for 2020:

 

U of Warwick - International Politics and East Asia- Waiting

U of Warwick- US Foreign Policy- Waiting

U of Exeter- International Relations- Offer

U of Essex- International Relations- Offer

SOAS- Asian Politics- Waiting

Leiden University- International Relations and Diplomacy- Waiting

U of Bristols- International Relations- Waiting

U of Edinburgh- International Relations- Waiting

 

Which school do you recommend me from the above? As you can see I am interested in US Politics, Asian Politics, and International Relations.

I am planning for PhD once I finish this Masters program. So far I got offers from Exeter and Essex. Other admission teams told me that the results will be in two weeks.

While I wait for the other schools, I'd like to ask which school should I pick between Exeter and Essex. I know Exeter is quite prestigious school in the UK.. (UK top #10)

However, I have also heard that regardless of low name-value and ranks, Essex is really strong in US politics.  

I'm an international student and I have not visited above schools yet. I've researched through google and other websites. 

I have asked some of the British people and they all recommended me to go to Exeter. 

I'd like to ask here.. Have any of you heard of Essex? Is it really good in politics? Which school would be better for future career and PhD?

 

 

 

 

[kaze_ng]

From my observation, gradcafe is pretty much skewed towards US graduate programs. My guess is that not a lot of people know about UK schools save for big names like LSE and Oxbridge. I could be very, very wrong, though.

Here in the US, I have heard of Warwick and Edinburgh. I'm not very farmiliar with the other schools on your list, unfortunately. Warwick is particularly strong in economics, but I'm not sure if there is any spillover effect from their econ department to their politics department in terms of methodology training. Edinburgh is very prestigious, so having a degree from there is generally a good thing.

I'm not sure if you're getting an MSc, MRes, or MPhil (frankly I don't know too much about the differences between those degrees), but my take would be to go with the most prestigious school that you get in. So for now, Exeter seems to be the better choice.

Regarding the PhD, it depends on what country you wanna get yours from. Is it the US or the UK? If it's the US, I would PERSONALLY say it doesn't really matter where you got your master's. People from no-name schools get into top US PhD programs all the time. For the UK, reputation plays a bigger role, though. For your career, the big name will give you an advantage (assuming all ese equal).
 

[Theoryboi]

Hey Moss,

I did my MSc in IR at Edinburgh. To tell you the truth, I am not very familiar with the other schools on the list aside from Warwick sort of. I found Edinburgh to be a really awesome place to live, though I felt the department was very hands-off. My views are therefore pretty mixed on going there. I can say that based on your interests, Dr. Oliver Turner would be a great person for you to get to know. He is a really cool instructor and seems to care about students much more than many other faculty there. Also, you will find a large amount of students in your cohort from Asia, especially China which could lend to your studies. 

If you're concerned with name recognition though, I'd say shoot for Edinburgh and Warwick over the others.

[Moss13]

6 hours ago, kaze_ng said:

From my observation, gradcafe is pretty much skewed towards US graduate programs. My guess is that not a lot of people know about UK schools save for big names like LSE and Oxbridge. I could be very, very wrong, though.

Here in the US, I have heard of Warwick and Edinburgh. I'm not very farmiliar with the other schools on your list, unfortunately. Warwick is particularly strong in economics, but I'm not sure if there is any spillover effect from their econ department to their politics department in terms of methodology training. Edinburgh is very prestigious, so having a degree from there is generally a good thing.

I'm not sure if you're getting an MSc, MRes, or MPhil (frankly I don't know too much about the differences between those degrees), but my take would be to go with the most prestigious school that you get in. So for now, Exeter seems to be the better choice.

Regarding the PhD, it depends on what country you wanna get yours from. Is it the US or the UK? If it's the US, I would PERSONALLY say it doesn't really matter where you got your master's. People from no-name schools get into top US PhD programs all the time. For the UK, reputation plays a bigger role, though. For your career, the big name will give you an advantage (assuming all ese equal).
 

I really appreciate with your thought @kaze_ng. It helped me with choosing the schools. You are right. LSE, Oxbridge is the top three schools in the UK. Then comes to Edinburgh, KCL, and Warwick. 

I know Warwick is really strong in economics. However, the reason I chose IR Warwick was because it is quite strong in the field (other than Oxbridge) but it also has partner program with other prestige schools in the US and Canada, for example, American University. So my plan was once I get accepted to Warwick, I'd study few semesters in other schools. 

I'm doing MSc for my degree and yes, I'd want to do PhD in the US. One of the reasons I've asked this is because, I have heard if you study your masters degree from no-name schools (should get into at least 50-75th rank), it is impossible to get into top US PhD programs. My next goal is to take PhD at OSU or UCSD. These schools are very prestigious in the field so I was wondering if school name would affect on my next step.

[Moss13]

2 hours ago, Theoryboi said:

Hey Moss,

I did my MSc in IR at Edinburgh. To tell you the truth, I am not very familiar with the other schools on the list aside from Warwick sort of. I found Edinburgh to be a really awesome place to live, though I felt the department was very hands-off. My views are therefore pretty mixed on going there. I can say that based on your interests, Dr. Oliver Turner would be a great person for you to get to know. He is a really cool instructor and seems to care about students much more than many other faculty there. Also, you will find a large amount of students in your cohort from Asia, especially China which could lend to your studies. 

If you're concerned with name recognition though, I'd say shoot for Edinburgh and Warwick over the others.

Thank you @Theoryboi. I really appreciate with your help! How was studying IR at Edinburgh? My first option is Edinburgh and Warwick.. Exeter and Essex was my 2.5 option so I'm worried if I'd get rejected from other schools I've applied to. Yes, Dr. Oliver Turner! His research interests fit with me.. I'd be happy to contact him but right now I've already applied to the program and they are on review.. so I believe it's not recommended to contact him and show him my interest.. 

One of the reasons I've chosen Warwick was because it had partner school with really prestigious schools in the US and Canada, for example American University. So if I get an offer from Warwick, I'd study few semester at AU and maybe I can apply my PhD there. Some of the schools listed for my PhD are OSU, AU, UCSD.. these schools are all prestigious so I'm really concerned. I hope name recognition doesn't take much part in applying for PhD. 

Btw, I can see you are a PhD student! Congratulations! my next step is to take PhD once I finish my degree. Do you have any tips you could give for me?

Edited February 24, 2020 by Moss13

[needanoffersobad]

1 minute ago, Moss13 said:

I really appreciate with your thought @kaze_ng. It helped me with choosing the schools. You are right. LSE, Oxbridge is the top three schools in the UK. Then comes to Edinburgh, KCL, and Warwick. 

I know Warwick is really strong in economics. However, the reason I chose IR Warwick was because it is quite strong in the field (other than Oxbridge) but it also has partner program with other prestige schools in the US and Canada, for example, American University. So my plan was once I get accepted to Warwick, I'd study few semesters in other schools. 

I'm doing MSc for my degree and yes, I'd want to do PhD in the US. One of the reasons I've asked this is because, I have heard if you study your masters degree from no-name schools (should get into at least 50-75th rank), it is impossible to get into top US PhD programs. My next goal is to take PhD at OSU or UCSD. These schools are very prestigious in the field so I was wondering if school name would affect on my next step.

If your final goal is to get a PhD in the US, I recommend you to get a master with solid method training. i encountered this question several times during the interviews this cycle: what methods course have you taken? And you dont want to be like "... hmmm actually no". So apart from the ranking, I would say go to a school where the faculty really know research methods. Maybe a LOR written by a faculty with US PhD background would help a lot as well. Leiden in this way might be a good  choice.