Political Science at Howard University?

[lvm0312]

Hello Everyone,

I am halfway through my master's degree and am starting to look at PhD Programs. I just wanted to get different opinions on Howard University's Political Science Phd program. I am looking for programs in the Washington D.C. area and Maryland. My major is International Relations with a minor in Comparative Politics. Any opinions or suggestions?

[lorinho]

Hello Everyone,

I am halfway through my master's degree and am starting to look at PhD Programs. I just wanted to get different opinions on Howard University's Political Science Phd program. I am looking for programs in the Washington D.C. area and Maryland. My major is International Relations with a minor in Comparative Politics. Any opinions or suggestions?

Well, there is of course the about attending outside of top programs. When looking at a program, it would be helpful to look at the faculty for a university and see if there is anyone whom you would like to work with. I think that it is generally important to focus on Full professors. Not that associate professors don't have a lot to offer, and they might be very great, but full professors have seen a lot more. Basically, not only have they already been through the whole process, they have helped several students through much of the process, perhaps all the way to becoming full professors themselves.

At Howard, for some reason, they have two lists, one for all PolSci faculty and one which they classify as Graduate Faculty. Of the graduate faculty, they only list Flax, Morris, Seltzer, Hatem, and Woodard as full professors. My inclination, if you follow those links, is that those people do not do much that looks like IR, and only peripherally like Comparative Politics.

In the end there may be emotional reasons you want to attend Howard (e.g. your parents both went there), and while with a BA that might be alright it doesn't cut it for a PhD. If you look at faculty list and they don't study things that you want to study it will be very hard to get them to care about your Thesis and Dissertation, and it will be hard for them to comment helpfully too far outside their area anyway. Put the emotions aside a little, and rationally calculate whether this is a good fit for you. If it is, then good luck.

In the DC area the best places in general are George Washington and Georgetown. Both are historically policy oriented schools, but George Washington has been pushing back towards theory a little. George Mason and UMD which is sort of in the DC area are good schools if you plan on attending part time, and/or plan on going into (or more likely staying within) government.

Edited May 11, 2010 by lorinho

[lorinho]

Both are historically policy oriented (not to be confused with policy) schools...

Edited May 11, 2010 by lorinho