PhD application help

[amripley]

Hi all! I'm applying to doctoral programs this fall, and am looking for some advice. I have an Honours BA from a top Canadian university, with a GPA in my junior and senior years of just under 3.7. I did an exchange to the University of Edinburgh as an undergraduate. I also have a newly finished MA from another top Canadian school, with an A coursework average and a thesis which was called "one of the best we've ever seen." So, I take that as a good sign. I also have many conference presentations and a co-authored paper (with a professor) on my CV. I'm planning to write the GRE in August. 

My MA work focused on the behaviour of regional economic organizations during systemic financial crises. I'd like to build on this going forward, while branching out at the same time. Broadly speaking, I'm interested in the political economy of finance and investment, and in how factor endowments help determine state behaviour (especially regarding international cooperation and treatment of foreign investors). I have a running list of about ten doctoral programs I've identified as being good fits. I'm unsure about whether of not I could get into some (they'll be obvious, I hope), and about the quality of others (ditto). Any guidance — including other programs which might suit me well — would be most appreciated. The bold choices at the top are my top four, for now. USC is a big question mark, which I hope can be addressed. 

- UCLA

- Berkeley

- UCSD

- McGill

- NYU

- Penn

- Southern California (really interested in the people and program, unsure about quality/rep?)

- Balsillie School at Waterloo/WLU (as above)

- Columbia 

- NYU

- Toronto

I'd like to ultimately apply to 5-7 schools. I've left off the Harvards, Yales, etc. because I'm not confident I could get in. Is this reasonable? I want to be realistic about where I'll get accepted, and not waste money on long-shot applications…but, I also understand the academic job market, and want to come out of all this with a competitive CV. Thanks again. 

Also looking at: UVa, UBC, Michigan, GWU, and a few schools in the UK (LSE and the University of Edinburgh). 

Edited April 18, 2016 by amripley

[alphazeta]

Given a decent performance on the GRE, this is a very competitive profile.  In particular, if you have letters of recommendation that describe your thesis as "one of the best we've ever seen," that will be a huge, huge positive absolutely anywhere.  Harvard would be strong for your interests and you should apply there.  Not only does Jeff Frieden work on exactly this, he's one of the more committed advisors in the profession.

I'm guessing your Canadian background sways you towards Canadian universities, but you'll be better off in the U.S.  The TRIP survey of IR faculty, for example, shows that Canadian faculty believe US PhDs are more marketable in Canada than Canadian ones.  When asked to rank PhD programs worldwide, Canadian faculty put universities in both the UK and US in the top 10 but none from Canada.  If you ultimately decide to go for a job in the US, there's an even stronger preference for US PhDs.

I think Harvard is probably the best place for this.  I'd rank UCSD above your other bolded programs.  Honestly I'd take McGill off the list.  Some skepticism about Berkeley is probably warranted.  I imagine you want to work with Barry Eichengreen and I don't think he's very involved in political science.  Princeton is also strong and you should consider it, particularly if your interests have a CPE component (Helen Milner, Carles Boix, Andrew Moravcsik, Bob Keohane but he's getting older, Christina Davis).  I think most people see Penn as an up-and-comer, but there's no one there to act as an advisor on par with Frieden/Lake/Milner and I don't see them as having particular strength in IPE.  Columbia has a good political economy group, but not really on the IPE side, if you're trying to limit the number of applications to 5-7 (which isn't necessarily a great idea), I'd cut them in favor of Harvard/Princeton.  I also wouldn't bother with Toronto.  NYU is a reasonable choice.  So far as a "safety school" goes, I'd move UVA from the "looking at" to replace USC/Waterloo, maybe GW as well.  

 

[ipe11]

OP-- I am also an IPE person with similar interests to you, and I agree with the post above. It's definitely worth it to apply to Harvard/Princeton/Stanford; even if the odds of success are low, the payouts are high. I thought like you did, and now I regret not applying to more top schools.

I applied to some of the same schools as you, and decided to go to UCSD. UCSD has a really solid IPE group and they work together really well. If you're familiar with Frieden, Lake, and Broz' IPE textbook, well, you've got 2/3 of the authors right there. There's also not as strong of an "IPE/Security" divide as at some schools; people like Lake, Gartzke, etc. work in both fields. And the comparative and IR faculty work together too if that's something you're looking for. Plus faculty in the policy school (GPS) are almost all traditional academics and open to advising and working with Poli Sci students, which expands your possible faculty mentors significantly (this is a big difference from schools like Harvard, Georgetown etc. where poli sci and policy school are separate, or policy school faculty are former diplomats and such)

I also visited USC and I actually think the program is far better than its ranking would suggest, and they are well funded and expanding with lots of new hires. It may take them some time before the rest of the discipline realizes this and adjusts their perception of USC accordingly though.

 

Edited April 22, 2016 by ipe11

[amripley]

@alphazeta This is reassuring to hear! I was hoping that my strong MA and strong references would help balance out a good but otherwise unremarkable undergrad GPA, and your comment seems to bear this out. For all the reasons you list, I'm more interested in American schools than Canadian. 

Briefly responding to your other points: 

- Barry Eichengreen is a big part of why I'm interested in Berkeley, so your caution is much appreciated. 

- Harvard, for all the reasons you list, seems like a very sound choice. It still feels overly ambitious, but perhaps it's better to let their admissions ctte. do the weeding out. 

- After some shuffling, I feel like my top four (not that there aren't others, there are) go something like this: (1) Harvard, (2) UCSD, (3) UCLA, (4) Princeton. 

- What thoughts do you have about Ann Arbor?

@ipe11 Thanks for your helpful insights on UCSD. Quite a few people there I'm interested in working with (Lake, Broz, Haggard). I'm also grateful for your (dissenting!) take on USC. Does the work going on at Dornsife seem particularly innovative, the advisors/faculty dedicated and engaged? 

General: any comments on UCLA, and the suitability of their large department for this kind of work? There are some faculty members there (Michael Ross, Rogowski) whose work I really admire, and their grad program seems pretty well sorted. 

[AFRH]

You're applying to start this fall? Or literally starting the application in the fall? For my PhD application I literally spent one whole semester talking back and forth between my potential supervisor and she edited my proposal and had a co-supervisor edit it as well. I would suggest to look for universities that match your area of research and have a willing supervisor, I was rejected from universities that had mainstream research because my research was not mainstream. I have a 3.9 GPA and an excellent research proposal, but my current supervisor said that the reason for rejection was because the supervisors were not compatible or the universities had little manpower to be able to fully accommodate my project.

I think you first need to make contact with a supervisor who is suited. Mine for my PhD is actually someone whose research I find fascinated and really want to study under her wing. So try that and ask potential supervisors first, show your research proposal idea and ask them if this is something they are willing to supervise

[alphazeta]

I'm not sure exactly what the situation is at UCLA right now, but they're historically had problems with funding for grad students (admitting a number without funding, forcing students to compete for funding, etc.).  I wouldn't bank on Rogowski - he actually spends half his year at NYU-Abu Dhabi.  Michael Ross is, so far as I now, a pretty solid guy but I'm not sure he's the right advisor for a project on international finance.  I wouldn't be putting UCLA so high on my list if I were you.

Honestly, I'm not that familiar with the program at Michigan.  On reputation, Franzese would probably make a good advisor for this sort of thing and there are some good junior IPE people.  Relative to its standing in other subfields, Michigan is rather weak in IR though.

[CarefreeWritingsontheWall]

Personally I wouldn't rule out McGill for IPE, though you'd need to be self-motivated. PM me if you want more info.

[amripley]

@AFRH I'm applying to start fall 2017

@alphazeta Thanks for the heads up about the funding situation at UCLA. This is where forums come in handy. 

Thanks for all the helpful insights! I had a very long and fruitful talk with my MA advisor last week; we began to refine the list according to suitability of faculty, overall quality of program, methodological competency (esp. quantitative), and funding opportunities. UCLA and Michigan have been moved down the list (far in the latter case); Harvard, UCSD, Princeton, and NYU are tops. Second-tier choices at this point are GWU, UVA, UNC, USC, McGill — in approximately that order. 

Can anyone speak to the quality/overall character of the program at Chapel Hill? They obviously have some solid IR/IPE people on faculty (Oatley), but beyond that I'm not really sure what to make of the program.