Princeton's Politics Department

[westernpolitics]

These questions are for those in Princeton's Department of Politics, or those who have heard about it: what's the atmosphere like in the Department?  Is it collegial or competitive?  Are professors interested in their students' work?  Are professors accessible?  How's the morale?  Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[ThisGuyRiteHere]

Are you in the program, or just thinking about applying?

[Guest hopefulfool]

These questions are for those in Princeton's Department of Politics, or those who have heard about it: what's the atmosphere like in the Department? Is it collegial or competitive? Are professors interested in their students' work? Are professors accessible? How's the morale? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Just some thoughts about graduate school in general.

In every department, regardless of rank, there is competition. Most of this is professional because these are people you will be seeing for the rest of your life at conferences and such so you really don't want to develop a bad reputation.

In regards to professors being interested in students and accessibility - in every department this varies greatly, so no one could actually ever answer this question. You will meet some great people and some that you hope you never have to see again.

Edited April 22, 2013 by hopefulfool

[westernpolitics]

Just some thoughts about graduate school in general.

In every department, regardless of rank, there is competition. Most of this is professional because these are people you will be seeing for the rest of your life at conferences and such so you really don't want to develop a bad reputation.

In regards to professors being interested in students and accessibility - in every department this varies greatly, so no one could actually ever answer this question. You will meet some great people and some that you hope you never have to see again.

 

Thanks for your reply.  When I ask about competition, I wonder if it is a cut-throat competition (e.g. checking all books out of the library that peers might need) or a healthier competition. 

[Guest hopefulfool]

Thanks for your reply.  When I ask about competition, I wonder if it is a cut-throat competition (e.g. checking all books out of the library that peers might need) or a healthier competition. 

 

Oh man. I had this discussion with friends in various disciplines and departments. Stuff like that does happen, but you can never know until you are a year into a program what kind of people are in your cohort, so you better develop a "thick skin" now. However, once comps are over everyone becomes a bit more friendly supposedly... My advice: just smile at the competition (it will get on their nerves) and don't pay attention to what others are doing it will only make you nervous/stressed out. 

[wtncffts]

The extent of competition really depends on the environment, and especially on such things as whether everyone is guaranteed funding or not. In many cases, it also depends on how big the program is; I find the smaller, the more collegial - and especially, as in my case, when nobody is really doing what you do, so the perception of future competition in the job market isn't there, at least directly and day-to-day.

 

But something like checking out all the books is extremely silly and borderline psychopathic, not to mention ineffective, as in most library systems anyone can recall books, and unless someone is willing to pay huge fines or never take out another book again, will have to return them.

 

I'm also curious as to why you're asking about Princeton specifically. 

[westernpolitics]

I'm asking about Princeton specifically, because I've heard reviews from a few people that made me nervous about the atmosphere in the department.  The reviews are a bit dated, though, so I was just curious about what people here had to say.

[Orlien]

I can talk a little about it - I'm a ugrad in the department, but I've taken grad classes so I have a bit of an idea of what goes on.

 

At least among the first years in my cohort , the atmosphere is pretty good. People do help each other with psets and whatnot, and I can't imagine people doing the book thing you were talking about. Maybe it changes over time, but the atmosphere doesn't seem too bad right now, at least for the first years. When I talk about applying to grad schools, the response I get from graduate students is "you should apply to Princeton", so they seem pretty happy with the program.

 

That said, as a ugrad, I'm pretty sure that the department isn't going to be airing its dirty laundry around me. I've read some stuff on PSJR about faculty politics, but I haven't personally seen/heard anything within the department to confirm. If it exists, I'm not sure as to the extent that it affects grad/ugrad students.  

 

And as for faculty, it's like in any other department - some are great, some are not so great. I was very lucky to meet a fantastic professor early on in my ugrad career. I know that there are definitely some great people around (I haven't really had any overwhelmingly negative experiences, but again, I'm a ugrad, so I'm sure most profs wouldn't bother).

Edited May 15, 2013 by Orlien

[westernpolitics]

Thanks, Orlien.  It's a good sign that students recommend that you apply to Princeton for grad work.