Kent State Ph.D. program?

[northstar22]

I'm currently working on a master's degree, and I've been looking at several different Ph.D. programs. Kent State seems to have what I'm looking for -- it's a small program with an emphasis on both traditional political science and public administration. They're strong in quant and place an emphasis on teaching, which are definitely important to me. Plus, they fund most admits (according to their website).

Does anyone have experience with this program? I know it's low on the rankings list, but funding and program fit are really the most important things to me. Looking at the average stats of their admits, I'd definitely be competitive to get into their program.

Do they tend to place well? I found some information on their placement rate on Phds.org, but their most recent stats are from 2004.

[mattrick]

From what I know of the program, their placement rate is not impressive. Do not have placement stats or anything in front of me, but outside of placing folks in other local colleges and universities (Youngstown State, Mount Union, etc.), I do not recall many grads finding success in academia. That being said, as you mentioned, most admits are funded.

Nothing wrong with applying, but shoot higher.

[orst11]

On the academic market they do typically place somewhat locally with some international (Turkey, China, etc.) placements thrown in there as well. I did see some older placements not listed on their actual website just by googling and they include: Cal U (PA), East Carolina, Westminster (PA) It seems like a lot of their former students do well with policy related work, though this could be changing given they seem to put more emphasis on teaching lately. Typically, it seems like most students TA for the first few years and then do get some quality teaching experience afterwards.

I know funding is a very important issue for you, but their stipend is only around $10,000, which is low, and that's comparing it to similar ranked programs. The reason behind this makes sense though given they do try to fund the majority if not all of their students.

[northstar22]

Thanks for the information. I definitely want to avoid programs that have a practitioner (job training) focus. My master's program is like that, and it is just a really bad fit for me. I'll probably keep Kent State as a safety, but I'll look elsewhere.