Welcome to the 2016-17 cycle!

[GradNYC]

On 12/31/2016 at 3:26 PM, dagnabbit said:

This is just speculation, but they probably haven't - at my current undergrad institution the administrative staff don't even go back to work until Jan. 3rd, and it seems unlikely that an adcomm would have time to meet during finals. I'm sure you're fine.

Thanks!  

[dagnabbit]

Hope everybody's holidays were excellent! It's very exciting and nerve-wracking to think that, if this cycle is similar to prior cycles, we'll have decisions from at least a few schools before the month is over.

To pass the time, what is everyone interested in studying? My subfield is IR, with specific interests in international organizations and foreign aid allocation.

[Monody]

4 hours ago, dagnabbit said:

Hope everybody's holidays were excellent! It's very exciting and nerve-wracking to think that, if this cycle is similar to prior cycles, we'll have decisions from at least a few schools before the month is over.

To pass the time, what is everyone interested in studying? My subfield is IR, with specific interests in international organizations and foreign aid allocation.

I am only waiting for the 11th of February. None of my schools seems to send out results earlier than that based on previous results. I am also preparing alternative MA applications just in case.

Regarding your question, I am situated between IR and CP and am interested in micro-processes in civil wars. I recently thought about beginning to work on a dataset, but the librarian at my university seemed to be quite annoyed when I asked her whether it would be fine to download several thousand articles from Factiva. Licensing agreements are quite a hassle. :/

Edited January 3, 2017 by Monody

[GradNYC]

Same here... most notifications are sent out in Feb. One month of anxiety. American and Quant Methods. 

 

 

[ManFromMalmesbury]

Hey everybody,

I guess I'm a bit late to this thread but I'm curious to know where other theorists applied and what you're interested in studying.  I applied to Princeton, Yale, Berkeley, Chicago, and Harvard (yeah... not very realistic, but seemingly the only schools with a realistic shot at TT positions for theorists, sadly), and the MPhil at Cambridge. Hoping to work on Hobbes and Schmitt. 

I would also be really grateful for any kind of eval, though obviously it's past the point of changing anything!  Here's my info:

Undergrad: In the top 10-20 nationally, PS department with a comparative strength in theory 

GPA: 3.83 overall, 3.94 major

GRE: 169V / 158Q (hoping theorists can overlook this..) / 5.0 AW

Currently have a fellowship to study political thought in Europe, but not toward a degree

Weakness:  Writing sample was from senior year independent study, but in comparative (not theory), though it deals more with democratic theory than quant heavy comparative stuff... Hopefully this doesn't communicate a big lack of focus.  I just didn't have as developed of a piece of independent work in theory. 

LORs span the subfields, which I figure could either help or hurt based on the reader(s). 

One question--I spent a lot of time up front reading lit. by relevant profs at the programs and getting in touch with a short research proposal. Got enthusiastic feedback from a couple and warm responses from the majority of the rest. Silence from a couple. Does this contact matter?  I realize it's a total gamble who ends up on the admissions committees, but I was told having made some contact with relevant profs was important. Still a bit in the dark on that, really...

Thanks for considering and best of luck to everyone else!

 

 

 

 

[krapp]

Applications all in (last one was due yesterday), so on with the waiting! I'm applying for IR as my primary - interested in international organizations, law, and the use of force. 

One thing I've been pondering is what I should do if I don't get an offer this cycle. I've already done an MSc (finished in August), so a 'back-up MA' would probably be the height of redundant and not really help build an application for the next cycle. I have a job now (unrelated) with about 8 months left in the contract. Maybe try to get a research position with a think tank/NGO? Sadly I don't know of anything equivalent to an RA'ship or similar academic research positions for graduates. So I'm open to ideas! (I figure making a backup plan is a prudent use for the next 1-2 months of stress energy)

 

[swanblack]

I have three more applications to send by mid-January. If all goes well, 1-2 notifications/calls for interviews are expected in January but I don't think they would relieve the stress until well after mid-Feb, at least. My sub-fields are IR and Comparative Politics. Particularly my interests lie at the causes, consequences and control of the spread of nuclear weapons.

Best of luck to everyone!

[Mike_Novick]

Hello, everyone. I've following the thread for a while (and GradCafe for months now), and although I didn't finish all of my applications, the anxiety is starting to become almost unbearable (). So I'll post in here and join you guys in this neverending waiting process. I'll introduce myself below:

Background: International student from Brazil, with six years of experience working in the public sector (four years as an auditor at the federal government).

Undergraduate studies: BA in International Relations, top university in Brazil.

GPA: 3.21 (3.6+ in last two years).

Graduate studies: MA in Public Policy and Management, top university in Brazil.

GPA: 4.0, Master's dissertation approved with distinction.

TOEFL: 112.

GRE: 163V, 161Q, 4.5AWA (1st attempt: 157V, 157Q, 4.5AWA)

SoP: I took about two months to write it (I guess I have 8 or 9 versions of it). It was reviewed by two friends, both studied at top 10 schools in US.

LoRs: 3 letters from renown faculty in Brazil (1 from Undergraduate, 2 from Masters); 1 from former Minister, with whom I have worked (I thought it was necessary because I completed my Masters five years ago).

Publications: 3 books (1 as an editor), 2 book chapters, 4 journal articles (under review), 1 article in a national newspaper, 3 papers in Lat Am conferences.

Teaching experience: only in professional contexts (workshops and training courses for civil servants on transparency, ethics and public planning).

Awards and fellowships: one national prize (best article about public planning), one year of undergraduate research fully funded by a state institution (studied modernization processes in Iraq).

Other elements: 1st-gen, coming from an adverse environment. Self-taught in English. I've been leading advocacy movements promoting equality in public policies; acted as a director of civil servant's and student's unions. Member of an editorial comm of an journal about public administration.

Weaknesses: 1) Writing sample was a translation from one of the book chapters I wrote, and consisted on a methodological proposal on public planning according to open government principles, reflecting on the need of democratizing State's structures after massive protests that happened in Brazil (not perfectly a pol sci article, I think); 2) none of my LoRs come from US professors; 3) Other than online professional courses, I have no prior international academic experience; 4) GRE scores are not impressive (didn't have time to try once again); 5) Perennial doubt of whether my unorthodox profile could be a possible fit to pol sci departments (where I think I could develop a more thorough research), instead of perhaps the more obvious choice of aiming for public policy PhDs (where I probably couldn't stand a chance of being admitted because of my lack of quantitative training).

Interests: comparative (Br, Lat Am), with an emphasis on theories of justice and approaching corruption and inequality.

Applying to: 15/16 programs (13 in US, 2/3 in UK). I'm currently finishing my research proposal for UK programs ...

Thanks and good luck for us all.

[Gik]

6 hours ago, Mike_Novick said:

Background: International student from Brazil, with six years of experience working in the public sector (four years as an auditor at the federal government).

Undergraduate studies: BA in International Relations, top university in Brazil.

 

 

Hi!! I am also from Brazil and have also majored in International Relations haha

I hope we can both make it!!

(I found your profile to be great, btw, at least from what I've learned here).

On ‎03‎/‎01‎/‎2017 at 0:23 AM, dagnabbit said:

To pass the time, what is everyone interested in studying? My subfield is IR, with specific interests in international organizations and foreign aid allocation.

My subfields are IR and PT, with a focus on sovereignty and borders (broadly speaking).

[tkid86]

Hi all --

I'm just wondering if any of you know which schools usually interview applicants? From what I've seen on this forum and in the data, Ohio State does (sometimes). But in general, do many schools actually interview?

[resDQ]

35 minutes ago, tkid86 said:

Hi all --

I'm just wondering if any of you know which schools usually interview applicants? From what I've seen on this forum and in the data, Ohio State does (sometimes). But in general, do many schools actually interview?

 

From previous cycles, looks like OSU, Emory, and GWU may be fair game. 

[Wanumman]

I find that admissions anxiety acts as a procrastination device for me. It seems as if I am doing something marginally purposeful by checking out GRE scores and comparing profiles, when I should be spending this time doing more productive things. Even with admissions, I could instead be reading up on faculty at the remaining universities to which I plan to apply. Then I have a ton of other work to do, yet it somehow seems less significant than pondering the chances of admission and considering how to beef up my profile for the next cycle.

Edited January 6, 2017 by Wanumman

[Wanumman]

IELTS is intensely annoying. Some universities are not connected to their electronic system, so you have to pay $80 per university to send their scores physically by DHL (from personal experience, national mail will likely either lose the letter or deliver it in three months). Some of the connected universities end up not receiving the electronic results at all. Moreover, I have to pester each university to connect my IELTS results to the application, and it is often unclear whether I should be addressing the individual department, the grad school, or the social sciences division of the grad school. I think I must have sent over 40 emails in connection with this whole debacle.

Out of nine applications, only two (Yale and McGill) went without a hitch:
3 universities were not connected to the IELTS database at all, so I had to mail the scores
2 universities still have not connected the score to my application, so I am bombarding them with emails, which they tend to leave without reply
1 university successfully connected it after some emails - thank heavens
1 university had no connection to IELTS database according to IELTS, but I found out that it actually had it after sending some emails to the university

As if that was not enough, they have a limit on how many electronic scores can be sent out. So you have to send five, then wait till the universities confirm their reception, then contact IELTS by mail to replace these universities with others.

It is puzzling how hard it is to report such a tiny bit of information, and how it has to be me rather than the test center that has to do all the work. If I fail this cycle, I am definitely switching to TOEFL next time. I had zero problems with GRE.

 

Edited January 10, 2017 by Wanumman

[as2472]

On 2 January 2017 at 9:23 PM, dagnabbit said:

 

To pass the time, what is everyone interested in studying? My subfield is IR, with specific interests in international organizations and foreign aid allocation.

Love this question to pass the time! I'm always curious what subfields people are interested in, as political science encompasses so many different things. Like Gik but in the opposite order, my subfields are PT and IR, with a research proposal on gender rights for non-binary/non-Western genders. Generally, I'm interested in contemporary political theory, esp. rights, gender politics, and distributive and environmental justice. 

[philpot]

On 1/2/2017 at 9:23 PM, dagnabbit said:

To pass the time, what is everyone interested in studying? My subfield is IR, with specific interests in international organizations and foreign aid allocation.

Subfield is PT. I'm interested in the work of George Grant on technology, community, and liberalism, among other things. 

[Monody]

Anyone else feels like s/he is getting more stupid by reading more? I am starting to feel like I should take courses in basically every social science research area and beyond to get a comprehensive understanding of the substantive issues and methodological opportunities to create the best possible research. When I am reading Wooldridge (2010) I feel like I should really take courses in Mathematics and in extension in Microeconomics. Alternatively, there is such a rich literature in Psychology or Geography that I want to tap into but it all takes so much time to really understand the complexity and avoid creating shallow research that is not sufficiently grounded and aware of all necessary implications and assumption that undergird the methodology, just to take one example. I even caught up on links to evolutionary biology and physics...

Edited January 10, 2017 by Monody

[Monody]

(double post)

Edited January 10, 2017 by Monody

[philpot]

3 minutes ago, Monody said:

Anyone else feels like s/he is getting more stupid by reading more? I am starting to feel like I should take courses in basically every social science research area and beyond to get a comprehensive understanding of the substantive issues and methodological opportunities to create the best possible research. When I am reading Wooldridge (2010) I feel like I should really take courses in Mathematics and in extension in Microeconomics. Alternatively, there is such a rich literature in Psychology or Geography that I want to tap into but it all takes so much time to really understand the complexity and avoid creating shallow research that is not sufficiently grounded and aware of all necessary implications and assumption that undergird the methodology, just to take one example. I even caught up on links to evolutionary biology and physics...

Not getting more stupid, just realizing how much there is you don't know. It's a great exercise in humility

[Monody]

4 minutes ago, philpot said:

Not getting more stupid, just realizing how much there is you don't know. It's a great exercise in humility

Well more stupid in terms of knowledge as a percentage of what you know is out there. That percentage is precipitously shrinking. 

I also have to say that there are days on which I am unsure about what I should work on. Should I attempt to find every possible literature that is related to my field to be aware of it. Should I put more work into methodology? Should I hone what I know first before venturing into other areas (particularly Economics, Psychology, Criminology, etc)? Should I just focus on current working papers or is this a dishonest thing to do if I am not 100% sure about every possible connection out there?

Edited January 10, 2017 by Monody

[Quickmick]

3 minutes ago, Monody said:

Well more stupid in terms of knowledge as a percentage of what you know is out there. That percentage is precipitously shrinking.

Try and factor in everything you don't know is out there!

[Monody]

6 minutes ago, Quickmick said:

Try and factor in everything you don't know is out there!

Not foolish/suicidal enough... It's particularly damning as my reference manager now has over 1500 annotated papers and this feeling still persists.

On a positive note, I noticed yesterday that Princeton seems to post some results at the end of January already.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Monody

[GradNYC]

2 hours ago, Monody said:

Not foolish/suicidal enough... It's particularly damning as my reference manager now has over 1500 annotated papers and this feeling still persists.

On a positive note, I noticed yesterday that Princeton seems to post some results at the end of January already.

 

Princetons politics department? wow!

[guest56436]

No they don't. Always in Feb.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Comparativist

[GradNYC]

40 minutes ago, KittenMittens said:

Great question! Anything to distract me from general post-application-submission anxiety is welcome at this point. Mine is American Politics, with broad interests in political behavior and political psychology. Any other future Americanists out there?

Here! and anxiously waiting  

[jazzmintea]

Anyone heard from OSU? Based on previous cycles, some people must have done interviews in the second week of January.