UCSD IR/PS vs. Political Science

[Helix]

Does anyone know anything about how exactly it works between IR/PS at UCSD and the political science department? The IR/PS website is fairly sparse, and I gather that the curriculum is somewhat shared, but I'm more interested to know if anyone has insights about:

(1) Whether faculty at IR/PS can/do serve as advisors, etc. at all for political science PhD students who are not in the joint program; and

(2) The relative competitiveness of IR/PS vs. the political science department (IR/PS is unranked, there's very little info on their placement, but the program is smaller and therefore maybe more selective?)

Any ideas would be super.

[alphazeta]

From the perspective of a student, the distinction between IRPS faculty and PS faculty is meaningless. A student in either program can have faculty from the other on his/her committee and can take classes in either. A number of people also even hold appointments in both programs, but the ones who don't work fluidly across the line. People at UCSD (other than the bean counters) don't make a distinction.

The real difference between just the plain poli sci PhD and the joint PhD comes from funding and core requirements. For the core requirements, you can look at this link for IRPS or this page for poli sci. The two are different, but not that different. In terms of funding, the joint degree students get funded out of a different pool of money (I believe it all comes out of the IRPS budget), which I hear often translates to slightly better financial offers (though not necessarily).

[Helix]

From the perspective of a student, the distinction between IRPS faculty and PS faculty is meaningless. A student in either program can have faculty from the other on his/her committee and can take classes in either. A number of people also even hold appointments in both programs, but the ones who don't work fluidly across the line. People at UCSD (other than the bean counters) don't make a distinction.

The real difference between just the plain poli sci PhD and the joint PhD comes from funding and core requirements. For the core requirements, you can look at this link for IRPS or this page for poli sci. The two are different, but not that different. In terms of funding, the joint degree students get funded out of a different pool of money (I believe it all comes out of the IRPS budget), which I hear often translates to slightly better financial offers (though not necessarily).

That's super helpful--thanks! I was concerned that the distinction was a bit more severe (like the HKS/Gov department dynamic at Harvard or the SAIS/main campus dynamic at JHU). This sounds somewhat workable from either angle.

[alphazeta]

That's super helpful--thanks! I was concerned that the distinction was a bit more severe (like the HKS/Gov department dynamic at Harvard or the SAIS/main campus dynamic at JHU). This sounds somewhat workable from either angle.

Definitely not like SAIS/main campus. I'm not super familiar with the HKS-Government department dynamic, so I can't really comment on that - although I thought people played nicely between the two?

[Helix]

Definitely not like SAIS/main campus. I'm not super familiar with the HKS-Government department dynamic, so I can't really comment on that - although I thought people played nicely between the two?

Oh definitely--I meant more for the folks who do the joint PhDs (like PE&G) and have to literally move back and forth between departments during their time versus having a more integrated experience. Also the faculty are very distinctly affiliated in the HKS/Gov department case.

[Perry]

... thank you so much for asking this question. I was applying to Pol. Sci. at UCSD--but as I've been finalizing the application, I started kicking myself for not having applied to IR/PS instead. And then I found this post, and can now get back to editing.

With good luck, maybe we'll see each other in SD, next fall.

[studentized]

Lots of other places to do IR.

[mv0027]

"Lots of other places to do IR. "

That's helpful.