Help me look for schools (Comparative, American or Public Policy)

[Meldroc]

OK, I'm completely and utterly confused by the multitudes of schools before me, and I'm looking for a few "dream schools" that I should be applying for to get a masters, and maybe a PhD.

I'm currently an undergrad, going to Colorado State University and going for my second bachelor's degree in Poli Sci. I'm doing pretty well now, with a major GPA of 4.0, and roughly a 3.9 GPA from the two semesters since I returned to school for my second degree. My academic record from my first degree isn't as good, but has the virtue of having taken place about ten years ago. I mentioned it to a few professors, who agreed that it was a problem, but since my current performance is excellent, they believe it's an surmountable problem.

I've taken the GRE, and did pretty well - Verbal 640, Quantitative 790, Analytical 5.0 - solid scores IMHO.

I already know my "safety" to "midrange" schools - I'm looking at Colorado State again - I know the Poli Sci department there, and I think I'll be able to get in there easily. I'm also looking at CU in Boulder, DU in Denver, and the very last desperate resort would be University of Wyoming - they have a masters program in Poli. Sci.

As far as going for dream schools or high end schools, I'm pretty damned confused on how to select them. There's the US News rankings, but I've been warned not to go solely by those numbers. I've also tried looking at sites like http://academia.edu/ to try to find professors interested in the same things I'm interested in, but find that not every professor is networked that way. I'm also not sure how to find schools where I have a fighting chance at being accepted. Sure, I might want to shoot for the moon on one school in hopes of getting a dream school, but I also want to find schools where I have a competitive chance at acceptance.

I'm just confused and not sure where to look. I know I want to study American or Comparative political science, or maybe public policy. If I wanted to bring my interests into more detail, I'd say some topics that interest me would be authoritarianism, fascism, and democratization - I'd like to study what makes nations go back and forth between authoritarian regimes and democratic regimes. People talk about how Germany fell into fascism, but also interesting is that after WWII, the government that formed in what was then West Germany, and came to govern all of Germany after unification, was a success story in democracy. France has bounced back and forth between authoritarian and democratic regimes a few times as well. I suppose I'm interested in the mechanics.

Just I find that the process of finding schools where I could study such things is baffling. I could really use some help at least in getting a starting place on where to look.

Edited September 27, 2010 by Meldroc

[adaptations]

I think the first thing you need to do is narrow your focus. Based on your comments of specific subjects that you are interested in, it doesn't sound like American Politics is really your thing (unless you left out some key interests). It sounds like Comparative (or even Int'l Relations) is much more what you're looking for. Also, ther is the consideration of public policy vs. a political science focus, which at the Master's level should probably be motivated a lot by what you want to do professionally.

Secondly, the question of MA vs. PhD is a big one. Given the difference in time commitment, opportunity costs, etc. I don't think this is a decision to make lightly, and is one you should probably think more about. Are you thinking of a PhD because you want to do research and teach in the field? If so, are the places you are considering going to give you a strong chance of getting that type of job in the future (look at placement records of the schools)?

If you can provide more context and motivation for why you want to earn a graduate degree and what you hope to get from it, the schools that meet your goals will begin to narrow giving you a smaller realm from which to choose.

[Meldroc]

I think the first thing you need to do is narrow your focus. Based on your comments of specific subjects that you are interested in, it doesn't sound like American Politics is really your thing (unless you left out some key interests). It sounds like Comparative (or even Int'l Relations) is much more what you're looking for. Also, ther is the consideration of public policy vs. a political science focus, which at the Master's level should probably be motivated a lot by what you want to do professionally.

Secondly, the question of MA vs. PhD is a big one. Given the difference in time commitment, opportunity costs, etc. I don't think this is a decision to make lightly, and is one you should probably think more about. Are you thinking of a PhD because you want to do research and teach in the field? If so, are the places you are considering going to give you a strong chance of getting that type of job in the future (look at placement records of the schools)?

If you can provide more context and motivation for why you want to earn a graduate degree and what you hope to get from it, the schools that meet your goals will begin to narrow giving you a smaller realm from which to choose.

The way I'm thinking, yeah, I think American political science isn't going to be my thing - I'm leaning more towards comparative poli-sci.

As far as what I intend to do after graduation, I'm thinking I'd like to either be an analyst, say at a think tank, or go into academia, perhaps become a professor, teach and do research. I know that if I pursue the academia track, I'll definitely want the PhD, and I'm thinking the PhD would be useful if I wanted to become an analyst.

[polisciphd]

The research interests you mentioned definitely skirt the comparative/IR divide. As someone with a masters who went back to school to get a ph.d. after being an analyst, it is absolutely worth it to pursue the ph.d. But, it is a long, long road, and a huge commitment, so do not enter into it lightly. I also had a less than stellar undergraduate record, barely above 3.0, but had a solid gre, a solid masters record, and great letters of rec (that and the SOP are the two most important components of your application).