Studying formal model with affiliated faculties?

[jazzrap]

Guys,

 

I know it is too early to think about issues like this, but I am just curious. I look to apply to a program where faculties are strong for my substantive interest and regional interest, but not so much for my methodological interest. It has only one political scientist who is a user of game theories. The game theory course has been taught by an Economics professor who is listed as an affiliated faculty in the Political Science department. Will it be very likely that I can get a lot of game theory training in this program? I understand that game theory training has a lot to do with departmental culture. It is better to do game theory when you can surround yourself with a lot of classmates also doing game theory. However, I am just wondering how much worse it is to study in the program described above. I need to know this because I am motivated by substantive interest and regional interest as well as the methodological tool I want to work with. 

[PoliSwede]

Have you looked into if the programs cooperate with other programs? For example, some programs will join together and have faculty at the different schools teach students at all of them. This way all the students at these programs are able to get training from really, really good people in the field who are experts at what they do.

Edited June 15, 2013 by Lemeard

[jazzrap]

Have you looked into if the programs cooperate with other programs? For example, some programs will join together and have faculty at the different schools teach students at all of them. This way all the students at these programs are able to get training from really, really good people in the field who are experts at what they do.

The program has one teacher of formal model who is an econ professor. He is one of the "really, really good people". The intro class is taught by another one of the "really, really good people", who is a professor of a policy school and not even officially affiliated with the polisci department. My problem is that these folks have the responsibility to teach students in their lectures, but as they are not registered polisci professors, I might have an uphill battle to fight competing with econ students or business students to gain their mentor. 

[RWBG]

A bigger concern I would have is that the rest of your committee will be unsympathetic to the modelling enterprise, such that you'll be at odds with them over the usefulness of your work. It might depend on how deep into formal modelling you want to go with your work.

[jazzrap]

A bigger concern I would have is that the rest of your committee will be unsympathetic to the modelling enterprise, such that you'll be at odds with them over the usefulness of your work. It might depend on how deep into formal modelling you want to go with your work.

Sigh. Thank you for pointing it out for me though.