University of Southern California

[Ph.D. IR]

I was wondering what the general perception is on USC's POIR program. Can anyone shed some light? Is it a lot different from the traditional political science program? How do their students fare after graduation? I'm not sure what people think about their post-graduate placements.

Thanks in advance.

[alphazeta]

Well, you can have a look at their placements here. It's certainly not a jaw-dropping placement record, but they've put some people into TT jobs at decent schools.

[bees]

I was wondering what the general perception is on USC's POIR program. Can anyone shed some light? Is it a lot different from the traditional political science program? How do their students fare after graduation? I'm not sure what people think about their post-graduate placements.

Thanks in advance.

Some big names: McCubbins, Tickner and some established scholars like Odell, James etc. Solid program. Placements are good and getting better.

[Tufnel]

If I were to attend a program outside the top 50, I think I'd want it to be USC. The program has a lot of money and seems to be improving. USC is a good institution, they've made some solid hires as of late (McCubbins, among others), and from what I understand, the faculty invests in the grad program.

It's not a hidden gem that places like a top-20 school but for what it is, it's a solid choice. What are your other options?

[secretly_yes]

I don't think we can guess too much about their placement since the website says that they have only placed 11 students so far.

[bees]

I don't think we can guess too much about their placement since the website says that they have only placed 11 students so far.

Yeah, they only started a joint program two or three years ago, from what I understand, because before that it was IR and Pol Sci before. So the 11 placements are from that recent time period.

Edited March 10, 2011 by bees