Attending a low-ranked PhD program in political science

[sad pepe]

So with the April 15 deadline fast approaching, it looks like I may end up having to opt for a low-ranked, bottom-of-the-barrel program (after getting a few rejections and if my waitlists don't work out). The school that I may end up attending is a large public university that's mediocre as a whole and ranked pretty low on the US News & World Report political science ranking in a city that I think I'll like a lot.

My question is: just how bad is it for you if you attend a low-ranked PhD program, in terms of career prospects? I want to have a career in academia, that's where my passion lies.

Having spent a huge amount of time browsing through various forums, it looks like I'll end up finding a job at a no-name college in the middle of nowhere, and that's if I'm lucky. But do folks like me really stand no chance? How can one boost his/her chances of finding a place and surviving in the academia? It's just a bit discouraging to think about...

Also, while I'm at it, with the coronavirus going on and taking into consideration its potential impact on the economy, is it possible (or even likely) that university-wide and departmental funding will be cut in the coming years? It's particularly worrisome considering the amount I was offered isn't that high to begin with.

[uchenyy]

How long-ranked is the program?

[Dwar]

Placement differs for each school and isn’t exactly correlated with rank. Sure a top 20 will generally place better then a top 40, but the further you get from the top the less it matters. The difference in placement between a top 85 and top 70 is really negligible. There are great programs ranked low, ranking truly doesn’t mean everything. 

BUT, for an accurate answer to your question, look at the placement data from the department and see where the average student ends up. That’s the best indicator to what kind of job you’ll have once you graduate. Obviously if you’re a super star you can rise above it, but realistically the average placement is what you should expect. 

[Theory007]

It sounds from your question that you are asking what you should do in this situation.

My advise is this. If you are or have been waitlisted at strong programs then I would recommend one of three options; either 1. reject entirely or defer admission to the low ranked school for a year; 2. attend the low ranked school for a year only; 3. attend the low ranked school for 2 years alone and leave with an MA. In all cases you should spend the time from now until next application cycle (depending on what option you choose) to attempt to improve your application. You can do this; many of us have and many of us have gone through two cycles and some even three. And it is really worth it going to a great program. If you are not waitlisted at a great program, I would only attend the low ranked school if you MUST get a phd in political science. Your job prospects will likely not be great, but at least some people do a phd in political science to develop themselves and for reasons other than getting a great job in academia. So if you are one of those people then I understand and wish you well.

Would you be willing to share what program you are considering attending and/or where you are waitlisted (which is more important)? PM me if you will.

[Paulcg87]

3 hours ago, jonliu said:

Having spent a huge amount of time browsing through various forums, it looks like I'll end up finding a job at a no-name college in the middle of nowhere, and that's if I'm lucky. But do folks like me really stand no chance? How can one boost his/her chances of finding a place and surviving in the academia? It's just a bit discouraging to think about...

First of all, congratulations on getting into a PhD program! I tend to focus on the positives before the doom and gloom. Getting into any program anywhere for a PhD in political science is an accomplishment, and if it's at a large midwestern state university polisci department as you've mentioned here and elsewhere, it might not be a top 10 program, but it cannot be a bad school. Full stop.

As far as jobs are concerned.. People on here and PSR seem to think that working at a smaller or lower tier school (ie a "no-name college in the middle of nowhere") is a fate worse than death. Personally, I graduated from undergrad and started my master's degree during the last recession and most of my friends who took a crack at academia and were graduating around then with PhD's weren't getting jobs at all, or were stuck in postdoc purgatory for many years. A few of my friends ended up in the private sector and two even went to permanent faculty positions at junior/community colleges in California, where the pay and resources are surprisingly good for the state community college system (check out Santa Barbara City College if you don't believe me - SBCC has the campus, faculty and resources of a major state university, and in fact, was the original UCSB campus before UCSB moved to Goleta).

Based on the clues you've left us so far, I'm guessing you got into somewhere like Nebraska, Kansas or Mizzou; these are the only large state universities in the midwest with polisci programs that aren't at least T50 that I can think of off the top of my head. You might also be referring to Western Michigan or Northern/Southern Illinois. At the risk of sounding cliche, these are all decent schools and there are some great things about each of these institutions. 

The bottom line is this: if you are aiming to get a tenure track (TT) job at an R1/T20 department, you should go to an R1/T20 program for your PhD. Is it possible you'll get there after going to Western Michigan or SIU? Yes absolutely it's possible, but it won't be easy. It's really important to go into a PhD (at any school) with a realistic mindset and the benefit of all the advice and experiences of your peers and predecessors. Even the ivies and the T10 produce graduates who go to small schools, perpetual postdocs, or are unemployed for the first few years. You need to realize, expect, and be at peace with the prospect of a few years of postdocs, adjunct teaching positions, and/or teaching at a lower tier university or community college. It could be that you do this for a few years until you get the TT job of your dreams, or, equally as likely, it could be that you do this for your entire career and you never end up at Harvard or Cal. Either way, academia is brutal, and the political science job market is never going to be booming. Do not go into this field to make a lot of money, get famous or have prestige, because the odds are against it. 

[raduan]

My two cents:

I am not that familiar with the American academic reality, but from what I heard from a professor (Stanford alumni) that below rank ~ 15, 20 the difference is marginal and your chances become minimal to get a TT in a good American uni.  However, I would say that almost everywhere else in the globe would happily welcome a professor with a PhD from virtually any American university. I think I would follow @Theory007 suggestion, but I think is worth to keep in mind that your options are not only small liberal colleges in the middle of nowhere if you are willing to consider options beyond American borders. The corona pandemic, as a worldwide crisis, will definitely affect academia as a whole in ways that we say for sure right now. Not only more Americans will try to join a PhD program, but internationals as well. I am assuming will get harder to be accepted in the following cycles. 

Edited April 4, 2020 by raduan

[Dwar]

24 minutes ago, raduan said:

Not only more Americans will try to join a PhD program, but internationals as well. I am assuming will get harder to be accepted in the following cycles. 

I just wanted to say that I agree with this 100%. History shows that as recessions and economic uncertainty starts graduate school applications increase drastically. On the other hand funding is likely to decrease as the endowment and state contributions dry up. This will most likely take the form of less funded offers and smaller entering classes. 

My advice to everyone on this forum is to take the acceptance you have and hold on for dear life. 

And the option to master out is a totally valid and good option for students who aren’t enjoying their program or think they’d be happier elsewhere. 

[decisions1234]

Anybody have advice on where to look for rankings? I know that people seem to like the NRC rankings but, unless I am wrong, they haven't been updated since 2010. 

[Dwar]

13 minutes ago, Comparative Politics Guy said:

Anybody have advice on where to look for rankings? I know that people seem to like the NRC rankings but, unless I am wrong, they haven't been updated since 2010. 

US News

When people on here talk about rankings they generally mean US News Reports.

[sad pepe]

On 4/4/2020 at 8:52 AM, Dwar said:

My advice to everyone on this forum is to take the acceptance you have and hold on for dear life.

Yeah that's what I'm planning on doing. So all in all I've gotten two offers from my safeties and am on one waitlist. Besides the public one I mentioned above, my other offer is from a private university that enjoys more "prestige"/name recognition, though not necessarily a "better" school in my opinion. In terms of their political science rankings, both programs are ranked pretty low on the list. @Theory007's advice is practical, but seems like the consensus right now is that grad school admissions will be super competitive in the coming years. And even without the pandemic, I probably would have accepted one of my offers anyway considering this is already my second time trying (first time was for fall 2016, didn't work out too well so decided to work for a few years first) and the fact that at 29, I'm already a few years older than most incoming PhD students...

On 4/4/2020 at 8:22 AM, raduan said:

However, I would say that almost everywhere else in the globe would happily welcome a professor with a PhD from virtually any American university.

True that. And I'm not completely against the idea either since I myself have an East Asian background, so finding a position in East Asia wouldn't be that crazy of an idea. Just that if given a choice, I'd still prefer to live/work in the States.

Thanks @Dwar and @Paulcg87 for your responses! I'd like to think I'm pretty realistic with my expectations, not aiming for anything out of my rich, and definitely not doing this with the hope of becoming rich. I actually really want to research/teach what I love, it's just that teaching at a school where the vast majority of the students don't care about their academics is demotivating, but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

[Anna D.C.]

Hi... Does a low-ranked school in political science for a master's degree affect school opportunities for PhD? I am thinking of applying in schools in California, Texas, and Michigan. I am still comparing schools for my master's. 

Thank you! 

[Dwar]

42 minutes ago, Dann said:

Hi... Does a low-ranked school in political science for a master's degree affect school opportunities for PhD? I am thinking of applying in schools in California, Texas, and Michigan. I am still comparing schools for my master's. 

Thank you! 

Not really. For MA degrees its mostly about what you do and who you work with. 

But, TBH, strongly consider if an MA in polisci is something that you want to do. Generally it's advised that people do not apply to terminal MA degrees if their desire is to pursue a PhD as most PhD programs require you to earn an MA along the way regardless of prior grad work. With that being said, some people do go the terminal MA route prior to a PhD. The main advice for that is to go the cheapest route as debt is something that you should try and avoid. ESPECIALLY if your goal is academia. 

[Anna D.C.]

15 hours ago, Dwar said:

Not really. For MA degrees its mostly about what you do and who you work with. 

But, TBH, strongly consider if an MA in polisci is something that you want to do. Generally it's advised that people do not apply to terminal MA degrees if their desire is to pursue a PhD as most PhD programs require you to earn an MA along the way regardless of prior grad work. With that being said, some people do go the terminal MA route prior to a PhD. The main advice for that is to go the cheapest route as debt is something that you should try and avoid. ESPECIALLY if your goal is academia. 

Hi, Dwar. Seeing what is happening to U.S. schools now, with all their lawsuits because they refuse to refund and lessen the expenses of students in fall, I begin to think twice if I should apply for 2021. The 2008 financial crisis had an impact on the fees of both out of state and international students. And I am afraid that it will increase after the pandemic because of the economic projection of the U.S. Schools are already expensive. The decrease in international students will also affect the funds of universities, especially those that heavily relied on them. In 2021, incoming students might shoulder the losses. I might consider just attending schools in my state because some have a better world ranking. And I do not need to pay more, and it will also save me from debts. You made me weigh my possible expenses. Thank you. 
P.S. If I consider attending a school outside the U.S., do you think it would be hard for me to get connections? I still want to research with a faculty in political science there. The big publishing houses are there and in Europe. Thanks!

[Dwar]

4 hours ago, Dann said:

P.S. If I consider attending a school outside the U.S., do you think it would be hard for me to get connections? I still want to research with a faculty in political science there. The big publishing houses are there and in Europe. Thanks!

From what I understand, American academia is very very snobbish and elitist so there are very few non-American schools that American academics actually know about and respect. The obvious ones being in the Anglo sphere (Big three in Canada, Oxbridge, LSE, Essex, and Edinburgh in the UK, ANU, Sydney, and Melbourne In Australia, and Auckland and Otago in NZ). Outside of the Anglo sphere maybe Sciences Po is really the only widely known and respected school to American academia.

I don’t know what country you’re from so it’s difficult to make that specific judgment. I’m also not saying it’s impossible to break into the American academic community by attending a foreign school not listed above, it’s just far more difficult. 

[Anna D.C.]

41 minutes ago, Dwar said:

From what I understand, American academia is very very snobbish and elitist so there are very few non-American schools that American academics actually know about and respect. The obvious ones being in the Anglo sphere (Big three in Canada, Oxbridge, LSE, Essex, and Edinburgh in the UK, ANU, Sydney, and Melbourne In Australia, and Auckland and Otago in NZ). Outside of the Anglo sphere maybe Sciences Po is really the only widely known and respected school to American academia.

I don’t know what country you’re from so it’s difficult to make that specific judgment. I’m also not saying it’s impossible to break into the American academic community by attending a foreign school not listed above, it’s just far more difficult. 

 

Yes. That's true. My relatives also said that. My only problem right now is how to get there because of the immigration ban. Aside from the three states that I mentioned, I am considering Europe, Canada, and Australia. I have relatives in Canada, and we have a house in California. But I don't see the reality of getting in there this year. I am dubious that the pandemic will stop next year. I hope it does. I do not know what to do now. 

There are five pointers that I am considering so far:

1. Issues in immigration. Although I have no problem with immigration, I know it will be hard to get a student visa because the school has a role in it. I do not know how schools manage international students right now. I saw different concerns from those enrolling this fall. 
2. The expenses. The most practical is California. But what if I don't get an offer there? I need to consider schools outside California. That's when I have to consider cheaper schools. But I do not mind spending if I get into a top school.  
3. My research interest and adviser. The researches that I have now in college is about political communication, electoral reform, and comparative politics in Southeast Asia. I am also planning to apply in Texas because of the professors in political communication there.
4. Publications. 
5. My job after graduation. My goal after graduate school is to settle in California. But I do not know the career of political analysts in there. I always see them in New York and D.C. I want to be in a research institute, I am not sure about working for the academe. I know it will still give me research opportunities. But I no longer want to teach. 

Thank you for your comment. I made these pointers out the suggestions of different people, which includes your comment. 

 

I got into an online program at LSE. Do you think it will matter in my application? Thank you!

Edited April 30, 2020 by Dann

[beerpooh]

6 hours ago, Dann said:

 

Yes. That's true. My relatives also said that. My only problem right now is how to get there because of the immigration ban. Aside from the three states that I mentioned, I am considering Europe, Canada, and Australia. I have relatives in Canada, and we have a house in California. But I don't see the reality of getting in there this year. I am dubious that the pandemic will stop next year. I hope it does. I do not know what to do now. 

There are five pointers that I am considering so far:

1. Issues in immigration. Although I have no problem with immigration, I know it will be hard to get a student visa because the school has a role in it. I do not know how schools manage international students right now. I saw different concerns from those enrolling this fall. 
2. The expenses. The most practical is California. But what if I don't get an offer there? I need to consider schools outside California. That's when I have to consider cheaper schools. But I do not mind spending if I get into a top school.  
3. My research interest and adviser. The researches that I have now in college is about political communication, electoral reform, and comparative politics in Southeast Asia. I am also planning to apply in Texas because of the professors in political communication there.
4. Publications. 
5. My job after graduation. My goal after graduate school is to settle in California. But I do not know the career of political analysts in there. I always see them in New York and D.C. I want to be in a research institute, I am not sure about working for the academe. I know it will still give me research opportunities. But I no longer want to teach. 

Thank you for your comment. I made these pointers out the suggestions of different people, which includes your comment. 

 

I got into an online program at LSE. Do you think it will matter in my application? Thank you!

Hi,
I am not giving any serious advice here but I am an international student from East Aisa and something I went through might help you a bit. 

I got my MA degree from Essex (UK) after BA( in my home country )mainly because of 1.  I am not sure if I want to go into academia at that point so I decided a short-term MA  will be better than 5 years commitment in US 2.my undergrad GPA sucks (3.0) and I need something to balance it, MA in prestigious school (which I believed Essex counts?)  will do the job

This cycle, I applied for 7 US Ph.D. programs (major in political theory so I believed it's a bit different from other fields) and my results are:
5 denied 1 wait-listed(in California ,UC system) and 1 admission(public state uni,ranked 70-80 ). 
Before the pandemic, I was told I am likely to be admitted by the UC  school but after 415, they told me they decided to cut the whole wait-list due to economic recession.( they predict undergraduate enrollment numbers will decrease next few years, so TAships will be cut)

On the other hand, the school I got admission from did not offer me funding at the beginning. Somehow they decided to give me TAship right before 415 when all other schools were cutting. Of course, I took the offer right away knowing next year will be harder(in my personal opinion). So, who knows? Pandemic sure is something to worry about for next year but there's really nothing you can do, just prepare yourself like normal application cycle-try your best!

For your question about visa, I am not sure where are you traveling from and to but: My school already sent me the document and I have a visa appointment in July (program start date in mid-August). Also, student visa F1 is a non-immigration visa so the new ban does not affect it.

If your LSE program the Online certificate one ?  If you don't have to pay a lot for it I think it's great and might be helpful. However, my friends back in the UK told me higher education is suffering now so I doubt the quality they can provide this year. If you have to pay a lot, I wouldn't suggest that.

Edited April 30, 2020 by beerpooh

[Anna D.C.]

8 hours ago, beerpooh said:

Hi,
I am not giving any serious advice here but I am an international student from East Aisa and something I went through might help you a bit. 

I got my MA degree from Essex (UK) after BA( in my home country )mainly because of 1.  I am not sure if I want to go into academia at that point so I decided a short-term MA  will be better than 5 years commitment in US 2.my undergrad GPA sucks (3.0) and I need something to balance it, MA in prestigious school (which I believed Essex counts?)  will do the job

This cycle, I applied for 7 US Ph.D. programs (major in political theory so I believed it's a bit different from other fields) and my results are:
5 denied 1 wait-listed(in California ,UC system) and 1 admission(public state uni,ranked 70-80 ). 
Before the pandemic, I was told I am likely to be admitted by the UC  school but after 415, they told me they decided to cut the whole wait-list due to economic recession.( they predict undergraduate enrollment numbers will decrease next few years, so TAships will be cut)

On the other hand, the school I got admission from did not offer me funding at the beginning. Somehow they decided to give me TAship right before 415 when all other schools were cutting. Of course, I took the offer right away knowing next year will be harder(in my personal opinion). So, who knows? Pandemic sure is something to worry about for next year but there's really nothing you can do, just prepare yourself like normal application cycle-try your best!

For your question about visa, I am not sure where are you traveling from and to but: My school already sent me the document and I have a visa appointment in July (program start date in mid-August). Also, student visa F1 is a non-immigration visa so the new ban does not affect it.

If your LSE program the Online certificate one ?  If you don't have to pay a lot for it I think it's great and might be helpful. However, my friends back in the UK told me higher education is suffering now so I doubt the quality they can provide this year. If you have to pay a lot, I wouldn't suggest that.

Yes! It's about the online certificate. I can afford it only because I will apply next year. If I got into a program this year, I would not pay for it because that amount will lessen my expenses in GS. My school moved the conferral of my degree. So it is unlikely that I can start this Fall 2020.

I reside in SEA. But I have an American origin. 

Thank you for commenting. At least now, I know that people do go through rejections or rejection from a wait-list. I am still sad about what happened to my application at an Ivy League. But none of the people that I talked to in their school explain why. I just realized that I need to add back up schools when I apply next time.    

[polsciguy88]

On 4/3/2020 at 8:22 PM, raduan said:

 However, I would say that almost everywhere else in the globe would happily welcome a professor with a PhD from virtually any American university.

 

On 4/6/2020 at 11:11 PM, jonliu said:

 

True that. And I'm not completely against the idea either since I myself have an East Asian background, so finding a position in East Asia wouldn't be that crazy of an idea. Just that if given a choice, I'd still prefer to live/work in the States.

 

I would strongly, strongly, advise against making the assumption that foreign markets will happily hire candidates from US universities. Many foreign markets are extremely insular and are not necessarily based on 'prestige' structures. It's more common for hiring networks to be based on informal networks, not 'merit.' This is true even in highly developed countries such as Spain and Italy, but even more so in the developing world. Furthermore, the language threshold is extremely high; very difficult to lecture/teach and be a valuable colleague when you are not extremely well versed in a particular language.

Edited May 1, 2020 by polsciguy88

[sad pepe]

On 5/1/2020 at 11:30 PM, polsciguy88 said:

I would strongly, strongly, advise against making the assumption that foreign markets will happily hire candidates from US universities. Many foreign markets are extremely insular and are not necessarily based on 'prestige' structures. It's more common for hiring networks to be based on informal networks, not 'merit.' This is true even in highly developed countries such as Spain and Italy, but even more so in the developing world. Furthermore, the language threshold is extremely high; very difficult to lecture/teach and be a valuable colleague when you are not extremely well versed in a particular language.

Makes sense, but I'm mainly talking about East Asia since I'm more familiar with the region. They love hiring those with degrees from the US/UK, plus a lot of courses are offered in English nowadays. It's not hard to find foreign faculty in universities in those countries, and a lot of domestic faculty members in those countries also hold US/UK degrees, most of the time from well known programs too. I'm not so sure about other parts of the world tho.

[beerpooh]

11 hours ago, jonliu said:

Makes sense, but I'm mainly talking about East Asia since I'm more familiar with the region. They love hiring those with degrees from the US/UK, plus a lot of courses are offered in English nowadays. It's not hard to find foreign faculty in universities in those countries, and a lot of domestic faculty members in those countries also hold US/UK degrees, most of the time from well known programs too. I'm not so sure about other parts of the world tho.

I am from East Asia and this is what my professor(UNC alumni) told me when I said I want to apply for Ph.D.
In my country, there are some (not lots of but some), students going to UK/US/Canada for Ph.D. every year.So... unless you are well-known in your field or you specialize in something nobody does in the country (or you are a foreigner who studies in my country ), they always prefer domestic job applicant over non-domestic one.
phD Degree Preference: US>UK/Canada/Australia> other European Countries(depends on school ranking or who you work with)>  Home country (hard to secure a job)
For a domestic applicant, even if you graduate from a top 30, it's not a guarantee to find a job in national universities (usually better ones ), you also need good relationship/network. However, if you graduate from a top 100 and have a really good relationship/network, you might secure a job in one of the best universities here. (especially they prefer own BA alumni....)

I am pretty sure that is not the case for all Asian countries but high-developed countries usually have proper higher education systems which means they can send many students oversea and the job market is full already. As for some southeastern countries like Indonesia or Vietnam, they might have a need to recruit international scholars. (Based on what my Indonesia colleague told me when I was in Essex )

 

[Paulcg87]

4 hours ago, beerpooh said:

I am from East Asia and this is what my professor(UNC alumni) told me when I said I want to apply for Ph.D.
In my country, there are some (not lots of but some), students going to UK/US/Canada for Ph.D. every year.So... unless you are well-known in your field or you specialize in something nobody does in the country (or you are a foreigner who studies in my country ), they always prefer domestic job applicant over non-domestic one.
phD Degree Preference: US>UK/Canada/Australia> other European Countries(depends on school ranking or who you work with)>  Home country (hard to secure a job)
For a domestic applicant, even if you graduate from a top 30, it's not a guarantee to find a job in national universities (usually better ones ), you also need good relationship/network. However, if you graduate from a top 100 and have a really good relationship/network, you might secure a job in one of the best universities here. (especially they prefer own BA alumni....)

I am pretty sure that is not the case for all Asian countries but high-developed countries usually have proper higher education systems which means they can send many students oversea and the job market is full already. As for some southeastern countries like Indonesia or Vietnam, they might have a need to recruit international scholars. (Based on what my Indonesia colleague told me when I was in Essex )

 

Interesting! Your order isn't that different from Canada. A lot of Canadian polisci departments have faculty with American PhD's, and in some cases >50% of polisci departmental faculty have degrees from American schools. In some cases, there are strong relationships between specific Canadian and American departments. A great example is UBC; the polisci faculty has 4 each from Stanford and Minnesota and 3 each from UCSD, Princeton and a few other specific US schools; when I was there as an undergrad about 75% of the department had foreign degrees, the majority from the US. The ivies, Minnesota and UCSD were strongly favoured, the latter two due to departmental relationships in addition to being incredible programs/departments. Oxbridge is also represented strongly in Canadian schools, as are the Canadian big 3 and a few others in Ontario (York, Queens, etc).

With all of this said, if it isn't something really niche, hiring preference in Canada tends to be for Canadian citizens/permanent residents just like most Asian countries, primarily because of work visa/sponsorship issues and time/cost. Many of the faculty with US degrees were already Canadian citizens/permanent residents. If all else is equal and you are a US citizen looking for a TT job in Canada, departmental relationship and rankings definitely matter and that's evidenced by the number of US T20 programs represented among the faculty PhD's at our 'big 3' comprehensive research universities (UBC, McGill, Toronto). 

[Anna D.C.]

On 5/1/2020 at 11:30 PM, polsciguy88 said:

 

 

I would strongly, strongly, advise against making the assumption that foreign markets will happily hire candidates from US universities. Many foreign markets are extremely insular and are not necessarily based on 'prestige' structures. It's more common for hiring networks to be based on informal networks, not 'merit.' This is true even in highly developed countries such as Spain and Italy, but even more so in the developing world. Furthermore, the language threshold is extremely high; very difficult to lecture/teach and be a valuable colleague when you are not extremely well versed in a particular language.

In my country, top private schools recruit graduates of top universities ranked in Times or QS as faculties to maintain their global competitiveness. Not all developing countries use their national language. In my university, we use English, even in our domestic history classes, because of our East Asian, American, Canadian, and European exchange students.  

Plus, most of the domestic students in my college cannot speak well in our national language because they came from international high schools or private schools with English as the MOI.
I came from a highly selective public science high school, and some of our faculties also studied in the US and Australia for Ph.D. It depends on the university. 

Edited May 22, 2020 by Dann

[polsciguy88]

4 hours ago, Dann said:

In my country, top private schools recruit graduates of top universities ranked in Times or QS as faculties to maintain their global competitiveness. Not all developing countries use their national language. In my university, we use English, even in our domestic history classes, because of our East Asian, American, Canadian, and European exchange students.  

Plus, most of the domestic students in my college cannot speak well in our national language because they came from international high schools or private schools with English as the MOI.
I came from a highly selective public science high school, and some of our faculties also studied in the US and Australia for Ph.D. It depends on the university. 

OK great? The point is that the vast majority of countries outside the Anglosphere and a few European countries do not teach college education in English nor necessarily look to hire people with US doctorates over other types of candidates. Banking on the fact that you have a PhD from a US institution will get you in the door all over the world is, simply put, a losing strategy. 

[Anna D.C.]

I am looking for research journals on your claim. I hope I can get concrete evidence in your generalization of educational institutions in developing countries. Do you mind sharing your references? Thank you. 

Edited May 24, 2020 by Dann

[polsciguy88]

12 hours ago, Dann said:

I am looking for research journals on your claim. I hope I can get concrete evidence in your generalization of educational institutions in developing countries. Do you mind sharing your references? Thank you. 

There's no 'research' on something like this.

Randomly select 10 countries outside of the Anglosphere and Europe, then go through their top 10 universities' political science faculties (if they even have any) and see where they got their PhDs from (if they even have one). You will find that there's very few people with PhDs from US institutions - and in the case that there are, they are very likely natives that went to the US and came back. You may find the odd university or two that is an exception, but not much outside of that.