Specifics of a poly-sci application

[ridgey]

Hello, political scientists!

My field is public health, and I'll be applying to mainly PhD programs in that field. However, I have stumbled across a professor in a political science department who does work I think is uber cool, and so I'm also planning on applying there. I've emailed this professor and the response seemed enthusiastic, but he could have been equally enthusiastic to every other aspiring devotee.

But my question is: is there anything field specific I need to be aware of as I prepare my application? I expect I'll need quite a different SoP that emphasises why my research is genuinely political science, but what else?

And, is there an association of polysci schools or similar that collects admissions statistics? This department isn't in the ridiculously competitive category, but it would still be good to get a rough idea of whether I'm in the right zone stats wise.

[Politicalgeek]

Sorry to do this but: you will want to know that it's "poli sci," not "polysci."