Making a decision?

[needanoffersobad]

Hi all, 

I am looking for a topic on this forum in making a careful decision on which school to attend, especially I might not be able to attend all recruitment weekends. some of them take place at the same time. I know there is one topic on decision but it is not specifically designed for poli sci people. Grateful if you can recommend one to me. or we can just use this one to help people know more about each school and make a choice. 

I will share my concerns here first. 

 Faculty support 

I am really interested in one school I was admitted. But compared to other schools, most of the faculty in my subfield are assistant professors. (They have 2 associate professors with good publications). There are pros and cons. They are from great great schools and have decent publications as well. and  Assistant professors are generally younger and more energetic to work with students. But they may leave? I guess? I can't forsee what would happen with them in 3-4 years when I need a committee.

 

Really appreciate your opinions on it.     Also if you have any thoughts or concerns, it would be great we all share it together!  

Edited February 27, 2020 by needanoffersobad

[Artifex_Archer]

Hey!

 

I get where you're coming from with wanting a PoSc-specific decision forum. Are you averse to specifying the programs you're considering? Each university and department is different, and each will have different expectations for tenured vs. assistant vs. associate faculty. This also extends to courses taught, thesis/dissertation supervision requirements, etc. So without knowing a little bit more about the schools you're looking at, it may be difficult for anyone to give you the advice you need.

 

Your best bet, however, is far and away to contact the faculty directly, tell them how excited you are to have the opportunity to work with them, and raise your concerns about whether their longer-run plans will align with your own. It's not rude to say that they played a significant role in drawing you to the university and that you'd like to be able to have them as a reader, going forward. [Note, too, that most schools WILL allow you to have outside faculty serve on your committee, though the specific rules on this also vary by department.]

 

Congratulations on having one of those 'good' hard choices to make! I may post here with my own questions/concerns/ramblings later on.

[needanoffersobad]

8 hours ago, Artifex_Archer said:

Hey!

 

I get where you're coming from with wanting a PoSc-specific decision forum. Are you averse to specifying the programs you're considering? Each university and department is different, and each will have different expectations for tenured vs. assistant vs. associate faculty. This also extends to courses taught, thesis/dissertation supervision requirements, etc. So without knowing a little bit more about the schools you're looking at, it may be difficult for anyone to give you the advice you need.

 

Your best bet, however, is far and away to contact the faculty directly, tell them how excited you are to have the opportunity to work with them, and raise your concerns about whether their longer-run plans will align with your own. It's not rude to say that they played a significant role in drawing you to the university and that you'd like to be able to have them as a reader, going forward. [Note, too, that most schools WILL allow you to have outside faculty serve on your committee, though the specific rules on this also vary by department.]

 

Congratulations on having one of those 'good' hard choices to make! I may post here with my own questions/concerns/ramblings later on.

thank you so much for the advice! Yes to be honest, I was indeed worried about whether it is rude to raise concerns on the long plan for assistant professor.  Sorry I should be more specific. I am looking at IR method training and conflicts study between two schools. Penn state vs. Vandy.       

[Artifex_Archer]

16 hours ago, needanoffersobad said:

thank you so much for the advice! Yes to be honest, I was indeed worried about whether it is rude to raise concerns on the long plan for assistant professor.  Sorry I should be more specific. I am looking at IR method training and conflicts study between two schools. Penn state vs. Vandy.       

That makes sense—I can't speak to Penn State but I declined an offer from Vandy last year [I'm in a different field than you]. It's a great school, and they're pretty methods-focused across subfields. I really hope you get to go to the Vandy visit days [not least because they really treat you well while you're there!]. It's a smaller program but a good one. Last year I met an admit who focuses on a similar area as you do and he seemed pretty intent on going. Obviously, my perspective is slanted, since I know nothing about Penn State, but I can vouch for Vanderbilt being a great school with some awesome faculty. They tend to try to hold onto their assistant profs, from what I gather. They're really working on being a strong up-and-coming department.

[needanoffersobad]

On 2/28/2020 at 2:11 PM, Artifex_Archer said:

That makes sense—I can't speak to Penn State but I declined an offer from Vandy last year [I'm in a different field than you]. It's a great school, and they're pretty methods-focused across subfields. I really hope you get to go to the Vandy visit days [not least because they really treat you well while you're there!]. It's a smaller program but a good one. Last year I met an admit who focuses on a similar area as you do and he seemed pretty intent on going. Obviously, my perspective is slanted, since I know nothing about Penn State, but I can vouch for Vanderbilt being a great school with some awesome faculty. They tend to try to hold onto their assistant profs, from what I gather. They're really working on being a strong up-and-coming department.

thank you so much and I feel blessed i can hear from someone who actually went to the  Vandy visiting.  The two schools are holding the visiting at the same weekend unfortunately. But anyways, totally agree with you that i should contact the faculty directly! thank you again and good luck to you too!

[Paulcg87]

On 2/26/2020 at 7:05 PM, needanoffersobad said:

Hi all, 

I am looking for a topic on this forum in making a careful decision on which school to attend, especially I might not be able to attend all recruitment weekends. some of them take place at the same time. I know there is one topic on decision but it is not specifically designed for poli sci people. Grateful if you can recommend one to me. or we can just use this one to help people know more about each school and make a choice. 

I will share my concerns here first. 

 Faculty support 

I am really interested in one school I was admitted. But compared to other schools, most of the faculty in my subfield are assistant professors. (They have 2 associate professors with good publications). There are pros and cons. They are from great great schools and have decent publications as well. and  Assistant professors are generally younger and more energetic to work with students. But they may leave? I guess? I can't forsee what would happen with them in 3-4 years when I need a committee.

 

Really appreciate your opinions on it.     Also if you have any thoughts or concerns, it would be great we all share it together!  

Hi, I think part of this depends on what you want to do with your degree. Do you plan to stay in the US, and do you want to go into academia as a TT professor after your PhD or are you more interested in government work, non profits, consulting, etc? I ask because part of what matters in terms of your committee is the networking and connections that your supervisor and committee members have. They will be writing your recommendations for TT/postdoc positions you apply for and it helps if they already have connections at other schools. Personally, I'm of the opinion that assistant and associate professors can be just as well connected as full professors, but it really depends on what you want to do with your degree. As far as name brand recognition, they're both great schools. Vanderbilt is generally considered to be one of the best private non-ivy research universities in the United States and is ranked higher than Penn State in both polisci and overall rankings/reputation. Nashville is an extremely fun city and personally I think it's got a lot more going on with better weather than State College, PA. I'd go with Vandy unless you're just a better fit at Penn State. 

[uncle_socks]

23 hours ago, needanoffersobad said:

thank you so much and I feel blessed i can hear from someone who actually went to the  Vandy visiting.  The two schools are holding the visiting at the same weekend unfortunately. But anyways, totally agree with you that i should contact the faculty directly! thank you again and good luck to you too!

Vanderbilt has been willing to reschedule a visit specifically for you in the past. Idk about Penn State. Schools try to be accommodating.  ry to visit both. 

[polsci2020]

Harvard has cancelled their visit day because of COVID-19 concerns. I'm really bummed as I'd hoped to go there and see for myself what the culture and collegiality of the place is like. (not to mention what looked like a really good visit day programme...) I wonder if anyone is also facing cancellations, and if so how are you going to go about gathering the information you need to make an informed decision? 

And alternatively, if you know what Harvard Govt is like as a place, I'd be really grateful to hear about that as well!

[needanoffersobad]

On 3/3/2020 at 3:28 PM, Paulcg87 said:

Hi, I think part of this depends on what you want to do with your degree. Do you plan to stay in the US, and do you want to go into academia as a TT professor after your PhD or are you more interested in government work, non profits, consulting, etc? I ask because part of what matters in terms of your committee is the networking and connections that your supervisor and committee members have. They will be writing your recommendations for TT/postdoc positions you apply for and it helps if they already have connections at other schools. Personally, I'm of the opinion that assistant and associate professors can be just as well connected as full professors, but it really depends on what you want to do with your degree. As far as name brand recognition, they're both great schools. Vanderbilt is generally considered to be one of the best private non-ivy research universities in the United States and is ranked higher than Penn State in both polisci and overall rankings/reputation. Nashville is an extremely fun city and personally I think it's got a lot more going on with better weather than State College, PA. I'd go with Vandy unless you're just a better fit at Penn State. 

Thank you very much! Especially on your views of Vanderbilt’s reputation in the US!

[needanoffersobad]

Thanks for all of your comments and advice! Glad to hear more of your views on how to make a wise decision/which factor you value the most during this application cycle.   Although we may miss lots of visiting events due to the virus thing, hope everyone will get to the best place!