If comparing U Iowa, Virginia, GW and Georgetown

[sammo3182]

Hi everybody,

 

I need to make a choice among doing IR (excluding IPE) in Virginia or Georgetown or doing CP (esp. public opinion) in Iowa or George Washington. All are seemingly decent PhD programs and have specific faculty members I may work with. They have similar rankings in USNews. Any advises on which program could be a better choice?

[IRToni]

You should probably nail down your interests first!

[grantman]

I would be careful about Iowa. One professor who I know and trust has told me that the Americanists at Iowa run that department and they have a bad reputation in denying tenure to CP and IR professors so they may have a lot of turnover.  

[PoliSwede]

I would be careful about Iowa. One professor who I know and trust has told me that the Americanists at Iowa run that department and they have a bad reputation in denying tenure to CP and IR professors so they may have a lot of turnover.  

Wait, what?

 

As far as I am aware Cameron Thies, IR, is the current department head (although he's leaving in the fall). Sarah Mitchell, also IR, is the placement director and full Professor in the department. Kelly Kadera, another IR professor, was tenured at Iowa and is still there. Brian Lai is another associate professor as well as Director of Graduate Studies.

 

As for Americanists, I've only ever met Tracy Osborne briefly and she seemed like a lovely person.

 

Not saying that your professor friend is wrong, but that definitely isn't the impression that I have of Iowa.

Edited March 17, 2013 by Lemeard

[grantman]

Wait, what?

 

As far as I am aware Cameron Thies, IR, is the current department head (although he's leaving in the fall). Sarah Mitchell, also IR, is the placement director and full Professor in the department. Kelly Kadera, another IR professor, was tenured at Iowa and is still there. Brian Lai is another associate professor as well as Director of Graduate Studies.

 

As for Americanists, I've only ever met Tracy Osborne briefly and she seemed like a lovely person.

 

Not saying that your professor friend is wrong, but that definitely isn't the impression that I have of Iowa.

 

Firstly, I am not trying to defame Iowa whatsoever. I am glad that you had great dialogue with the faculty there.

 

Second, the professor that I knew said that one of his colleagues who worked there was denied tenure, he went on to say that others were also denied tenure, only from CP and IR as I recall. His explanation was that the old guard at Iowa, who were Americanists he stated, were the ones who denied his colleagues tenure. Now the situation may not be as bleak as that and I am not saying it is a horrible university or department, but that is what I heard, so take it with a grain of salt. It could be possible that there were other extenuation circumstances that I was unaware of that may have led to this decision. Again, I am sorry if I came off poorly I did not mean to do so, all I can say is that is what I was told. 

[raptureonfire]

Hi everybody,

 

I need to make a choice among doing IR (excluding IPE) in Virginia or Georgetown or doing CP (esp. public opinion) in Iowa or George Washington. All are seemingly decent PhD programs and have specific faculty members I may work with. They have similar rankings in USNews. Any advises on which program could be a better choice?

 

Well - that's your first problem!  Do you want to work on CP or IR?

 

What's your funding situation per school?

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Second, the professor that I knew said that one of his colleagues who worked there was denied tenure, he went on to say that others were also denied tenure, only from CP and IR as I recall. His explanation was that the old guard at Iowa, who were Americanists he stated, were the ones who denied his colleagues tenure. Now the situation may not be as bleak as that and I am not saying it is a horrible university or department, but that is what I heard, so take it with a grain of salt. It could be possible that there were other extenuation circumstances that I was unaware of that may have led to this decision. Again, I am sorry if I came off poorly I did not mean to do so, all I can say is that is what I was told. 

 

I have no idea if there was a problem at Iowa, but the timeframe for stories like this is important.  Iowa had some substantial turnover amongst their senior americanists over the past few years, so if there was an old guard, there's a good chance it's no longer an issue today. 

[PoliSwede]

Again, I am sorry if I came off poorly I did not mean to do so, all I can say is that is what I was told. 

No worries! I hope I didn't come off as a jerk either

[hawkeye78]

If you have questions about Iowa's IR program I would be glad to answer them. I'm a current IR grad student there. I'm also a good friend of lemeard. We did our masters together.

[grantman]

No worries! I hope I didn't come off as a jerk either

 

No worries whatsoever. I enjoyed you input. Sometimes one sided views are wrought with issues so I was glad you brought up a differing point of view. 

[dnexon]

I'm not a neutral party here, but let me say that these are all strong programs. Now, having said that, you should remember that you are not locked into a subfield. You can go to UVA and do CP or GWU and IR. Also, although all four schools now provide a solid-to-excellent methodological foundation, the kind of IR or CP you would do at, say, Iowa, is very different from what you would do at GU or GWU. Not better or worse, just different. And that will have downstream influences on career trajectory.

Edited March 18, 2013 by dnexon

[hawkeye78]

CP is my secondary field here but I will say we're much stronger in IR and if you're in American that staff is excellent as well. Not related to the program but the winters aren't fun here if you don't love the snow

 

Professor Nexon is right though the East Coast schools are going to be different than the Midwestern schools. If you're looking to study conflict related topics, we do well there.

[PhDhopeful2013]

I'm not a neutral party here, but let me say that these are all strong programs. Now, having said that, you should remember that you are not locked into a subfield. You can go to UVA and do CP or GWU and IR. Also, although all four schools now provide a solid-to-excellent methodological foundation, the kind of IR or CP you would do at, say, Iowa, is very different from what you would do at GU or GWU. Not better or worse, just different. And that will have downstream influences on career trajectory.

I'm just curious about the differences and how they may impact career trajectory? Could you elaborate a bit?

Also, im curious about your impression of Univ of Maryland generally and in "the DC context."

Thanks for your advice!

[dnexon]

University of Maryland is also very strong.

 

The major difference is that Iowa is in the Peace Studies network, while GU and GWU are more aligned with Security Studies. Methodological convergence makes the differences less pronounced than they once were -- and there are people who straddle both communities -- but the two arenas remain, for lack of a better term, different "communities of discourse" and this has implications for where their modal placements go. 

[goodluck]

University of Maryland is also very strong.

 

The major difference is that Iowa is in the Peace Studies network, while GU and GWU are more aligned with Security Studies. Methodological convergence makes the differences less pronounced than they once were -- and there are people who straddle both communities -- but the two arenas remain, for lack of a better term, different "communities of discourse" and this has implications for where their modal placements go. 

Is Peace Studies equal to IPE?

[hawkeye78]

I would add that if you're interested in being more qualitative in your research, Iowa is most likely not the right place. They put a very strong emphasis on quantitative methods training and welcome mixed methods approaches but there better be some sort of quantitative work in there

 

We're losing Cameron Thies, who is also currently serving as the Dept Chair, to Arizona State in the fall. We're getting a new intrastate conflict person in starting in the fall which is good for me because that is where the bulk of my own research is at.  Sara Mitchell is probably our top IR scholar. 

 

It has been mentioned in several threads but it was the biggest lesson I learned when I was going through this process and it is go where you fit research wise. I had a previous professional background as an intelligence analyst and was advised to go into a program that would focus more on the security side but I knew I wanted to do something new so I ultimately made the right choice for myself. I do still find myself doing some security research from time to time but that is the beauty of the profession

 

Oh Professor Nexon, I think I've cited Jackson & Nexon 2009 about 10 times in seminar papers in the last two years. It has been rather useful

[dnexon]

[hawkeye78]

Although, as I've said before, some genuine proficiency in mathematical methods is really not optional in the current environment. Graduate students also take an unnecessary risk not using some kind of formal and/or statistical methods in your core research. 

 

And this is one reason for convergence between Security Studies and Peace Research. Those coming out of the former tradition can substantively engage with the latter's work :-). But I would say that the standards of "theorization" remain different, as does the canon, the modal disposition towards realism, etc. 

Cameron's one of those scholars who work speaks across intellectual divides. But Iowa easily retains, as you note, an extremely strong IR program headed by top-notch scholars.

 

:-)

 

That can't be good....

Agree with all.

 

Statistical methods was easily my weakest areas coming in to my program but they've got a good path for us here and we can take down a couple of different formal or other statistical routes. We're losing a few out of my class who just didn't want to do mostly quantitative research. Political theory as a subfield really isn't a strength here anymore. 

 

Yeah we lost Cameron to his alma mater which is unfortunate. My own work will be overseen by Sara Mitchell but I was hoping to have Cameron on my committee. I'm one of those terrible intrastate conflict guys

 

Yeah that paper has been assigned in two different seminars at both Oklahoma State and here at Iowa. I will admit my first reading of it left me frustrated but after rereading it a few times I found myself referencing it more often! ha! 

 

I have to say it is nice to have some faculty on here providing advice. I really wish I would have found this place a year ago when I was going through this process. I know for me, it was much easier going through it after my Masters compared to when I was navigating it after I finished undergrad. 

[justanotherperson]

@ hawkeye78: How often do students publish there, especially in your subfield? I asked someone in the department about this but didn't really get an answer. Thanks a lot in advance!

[dnexon]

 

Yeah that paper has been assigned in two different seminars at both Oklahoma State and here at Iowa. I will admit my first reading of it left me frustrated but after rereading it a few times I found myself referencing it more often! ha! 

 

In truth, I'm pleased that it is being assigned. I know the article is dense, but I think we're right about the philosophy of science as (mis)applied to IR. 

 

I have to say it is nice to have some faculty on here providing advice. I really wish I would have found this place a year ago when I was going through this process. I know for me, it was much easier going through it after my Masters compared to when I was navigating it after I finished undergrad. 

 

I hope more come on. My sense is that more information is generally better for everyone. But a lot of what we offer boils down to anecdote, hearsay, and the product of our own biases. It would be nice if we spent more time systematically studying processes such as the so-called "job market" -- and if schools were more transparent such that we could gather better data about them.

[hawkeye78]

@ hawkeye78: How often do students publish there, especially in your subfield? I asked someone in the department about this but didn't really get an answer. Thanks a lot in advance!

The faculty tell us to start early and they're open to co-authoring with us. Within IR, most have at least 1 publication but it varies. One guy has 2 or 3 that is one the market now (I believe one of those is under review though). The advice they give us is treat every seminar paper as a potential publishable paper or a piece of your dissertation.

 

Ethnic conflict is my primary area of research so I try to write as many papers across the subtopics within the ethnic conflict literature as possible. I'm in my first year now and I have at least one paper that I've been told is likely a publishable idea and I'm rewriting it again and updating the methods now that I've learned more stuff. I'm also working on another paper with @Lemeard as well.

 

I can only speak specifically on the IR students publishing but department wide, they do push us to publish and present at conferences.

[hawkeye78]

In truth, I'm pleased that it is being assigned. I know the article is dense, but I think we're right about the philosophy of science as (mis)applied to IR. 

 

 

Agree. It was assigned here at Iowa in our philosophy of science / research design class and I read it at Ok State in my Trade and Conflict class. I actually used your argument on how we should apply philosophy of science ideas to IR on my midterm last semester. 

 

I hope more come on. My sense is that more information is generally better for everyone. But a lot of what we offer boils down to anecdote, hearsay, and the product of our own biases. It would be nice if we spent more time systematically studying processes such as the so-called "job market" -- and if schools were more transparent such that we could gather better data about them.

 

@Lemeard mentioned this place to me recently which is how I ended up here. I'm going to pass it along to Sara and company on the faculty as they're always looking for ways to engage potential students. I'm a big fan of these type of forums when there are enough people to provide information.

[justanotherperson]

@hawkeye78: Thank you so much for the insight, much appreciated!!

[hawkeye78]

@hawkeye78: Thank you so much for the insight, much appreciated!!

Glad to help.