UC-Irvine vs. FSU

[wordshadow]

Hey everyone,

So I am facing a pretty big decision (as I think most of us are) between some schools. To provide some context, I am a Political Science/International studies double major right now at a major public research university procrastinating on his thesis. I have been accepted to both FSU's doctoral Political Science program and UC-Irvine's doctoral Political Science/Political Psychology program for Fall 2012.

Funding:

FSU has offered me $17,000 for 9 months, a $3500 summer stipend, + funding for conferences and office space. I was nominated by the department for the university-wide Legacy Fellowship, which would give me an additional $10,000 a year. Also, when I go to visitation weekend in a little less than two weeks from now, I will be interviewing for an additional research fellowship, which would provide an extra $3500 per year. Health care is not included in this package, though full tuition waver (valued at approximately $21,000 for five years) is.

UC-Irvine has offered me $17,500 for 9 months (which includes health care coverage). They will provide an out-of-state tuition waver for the first year after which I will have to become a resident of CA and pay in state tuition. They are not offering me a summer stipend and one has to apply for funding for conferences. They are also offering me a guarantee of on-campus housing for five years, though the prices of apartments range from $800-$1400, compared to $1,000-$5,000 a month in the surrounding region. Irvine says they will try to match FSU's offer the best they can, but I think they are limited to offering up through $5,000 (assuming I were to get either the additional Legacy Fellowship or research fellowship).

Cost of Living:

Cost of living is sort of a big deal for me. Irvine's cost of living is egregiously high (175% above the national average largely because of housing prices) versus Tallahassee's cost of living being 2% below the national average. I would like to be able to live somewhat decently/help pay off some of my undegrad student loans while in grad school and not go into debt or be living week to week. CA also has pretty high gas prices and income tax versus Florida's lack of income tax (perhaps made up in the higher car insurance premiums though?)

Program Prestige/Rankings

In terms of rankings, both are comparably ranked in USNWR (Irvine - 36th, FSU, -39th). Most people seem to think that both programs are on the rise, though FSU definitely more so than Irvine, given the strength of FSU's methods training and the excellent faculty at FSU. Simon and Hix ranks Irvine as 7th in the world for most research output in political science versus FSU's 24th (albeit the methodology is suspect). NRC rankings place FSU significantly above Irvine, especially in terms of career development services and placement rates. While I do not have the numbers by year, my impression is that Irvine tends to place fewer people at better schools and FSU tends to place more people at less renowned schools (though this may be changing). In terms of amount of time to graduation, FSU averages 5 years on the dime versus Irvine's 7.

Research Fit

In graduate school, I hope to do research in political psychology, very broadly looking at questions of cooperation and competition in international relations from a psychological perspective. I am also interested in interdependence theory (which I believe FSU would be better at, given the strength of their behavioral game theory subfield and the labs they have available for that), how political cognitions are formed and are often socially motivated (which Irvine would be good at). I feel that overall my research interests align a lot more with the faculty at Irvine than at FSU (given that they actually have a political psychology program there versus having a few people who do political behavior at FSU) but as long as I will be afforded some degree of latitude in pursuing political psych at FSU, I think I will be fine, though research fit is definitely one of the main priorities for me.

FSU's approach to research questions seems more methods-heavy and quantitative, though I have only heard rave reviews about this area at FSU, with people saying its on par with top-10 methods training. Irvine, despite its tendency to be labeled as heavily qualitative, does have a fair amount of mixed methods people. I myself tend toward mixed-methods, but being completely quant heavy is not a turnoff.

Culture and Area

In terms of the areas, I really liked the Irvine area (aka Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, 1 hour away from LA/San Diego) a lot when I visited and feel there is a lot to do culturally and otherwise (biking/hiking/surfing). I visit FSU in a week and a half, but I do not know if I will be as impressed with the area. From what I have heard, Tallahassee is not all that bustling, has had some degree of gang problems in Frenchtown, and you cannot really access a beach unless you want to drive 1.5-2 hours.This is not all that important to me, as I know most of my time will be spent working/teaching, but it still warrants some consideration from me, however trifling. I should also note that my family recently moved out to northern California, but that this is not really that great a factor in my decision.

Career

I am one of the crazies on here who is not completely convinced that academia is where I want to be 5-7 years down the road, though it is what I am leaning toward. This being said, I would not mind working in a think-tank, NGO, or for the CIA doing psychological profiling of world leaders or something relevant to my PhD. FSU seems to have a really good career development program and helps most people who graduate get placed in academia. Irvine seems more able to place people outside academia (perhaps because the University of California gives it some brand recognition/some level of prestige as a 'public Ivy' that non-academics recognize and pick-up on in their hirings).

Now onto you..

Based on the above, what would you do? (***I know a lot of this will come down to how my visit goes at FSU. I should say that my Irvine visit went really well, and I liked the faculty/grad students/potential cohort/area a lot).

Edited March 20, 2012 by wordshadow

[OldGrad2012]

I picked UC Irvine because I like southern cali. However, FSU offered you more money, but UC Irvine offered you health insurance coverage. Irvine has a richer, diverse culture. FSU does not. Both program ranked the same. I do not know anything about FSU and the Florida area. So I guess it is up to you. According to my situation which is the same as you because I have to pick between two schools. Which schools would you pick for me: UCR or WSU?

[wordshadow]

I should qualify about the health insurance coverage. It is my understanding that Irvine's offer is to subsidize part of the costs of health insurance. I would still end up paying around about $600-$800 a year for coverage; they would pay for the other half. I want to say FSU offers something similar, but I am not sure (I'll ask when I visit).

I am not at all familiar with the biomedical science/molecular engineering field, but I would probably go with Riverside. I had considered applying to Washington State but did not as their poli sci program was not held in esteem, the location was a bit too remote for my liking and the culture was too nonexistent for my tastes. Plus, UC's tend to have more general name recognition (as they are all classified as 'public Ivies'), so that may be something to consider if you are looking at going into a nonacademic career.

Edited March 20, 2012 by wordshadow

[OldGrad2012]

Thanks, I did apply to UC Irvine, but got rejected along with other UC schools as well. So I think UC schools are better in general as you mentioned it is "classified as a public Ivies".

[lecorbeau]

It kinda sounds like you've made up your mind already. You're leaning toward FSU.

[113]

Caveat: This may or may not help you in your decision because I am in a different program than you.

I currently go to the Askew School at FSU and in my experience at the MPA program is that FSU's focus in mainly on quant work but they are slowly incorporating more Qualitative research methods into the curriculum. There are certainly many students I talk to who are interested in mixed-methods research (as I am) and the faculty is listening to these students and moving towards both methods.

Good luck in your decision.

[PachydermPumps]

wordshadow, I was also accepted into FSU and went to visiting weekend. For me the big competition was UT Austin. Austin is a much better college town than Tallahassee (which like you said, isn't super important). UT Austin offered me full healthcare, but with a smaller stipend. As far as research, my interests lie mostly in state and local politics, which FSU is much stronger on than UT Austin.

I felt at the visiting weekend that while FSU is very quant heavy, there is room for mixed methods research. In fact, a few of the grad students I talked to at the dissertation stage were using mixed methods.

What really sealed the deal for me though was that I felt much more comfortable with the faculty at FSU rather than at UT Austin.

If you pick FSU I'll see you in the fall

[wordshadow]

I ended up committing to FSU earlier today after the visit this weekend so I will see you there!

[GradDreamz87]

Good for you Wordshadow,

I applied to FSU, UCF, and UF for masters programs last month and I'm waiting to hear from them too.

I have just been accepted at UF though so that will be a tough choice for me as well. I may not get much funding anywhere since I applied past the priority deadline but I will find out more about that once I submit my financial aid application to be considered for school wide scholarships. I also have in-state tuition which is good.