Where to apply

[buckinghamubadger]

Okay, so I think I'm going to aim for top 20-25 programs (I'm looking at placement record rather than rank, see Oprisko, Dobbs and DiGrazia, 2013). I am leaning towards American, but also have an interest in Comparative. I'm trying to figure out what programs would be a good fit. I'm concerned obviously with my studies, but also with their placement record, financial support and it be nice to transfer some of my MA credits.

Here is my profile:

In Progress MA 3.8 GPA (hoping to get up to 3.9)

BA from a top 10-15 program: 3.1 and 3.4 in major (but my second half was much stronger: 3.5, 3.8 in major)

5 Classes TAed (two of which are with a very prestigious moot court program)

1 class taught as a Supplamental Instructor

1 lecturing internship at a community college

4 conference presentations (hopefully more by the time I apply)

3 manuscripts that I am trying to publish

1 year as an intern in the state legislature

1 semester as a research assistant

I've also worked on 3 camapaigns

I have not taken the GRE yet, but based on my SAT/ACT scores, my current projection is 165 on math and 157 on English

 

 

 

[buckinghamubadger]

Also I'm anticipating letters of rec from one well known professor from my undergrad and two from professors in my grad program

[guest56436]

You should apply where your research interests fit...you have provided nothing to give us any indication of what they are. 

[buckinghamubadger]

@Comparativist, sorry. In American, I am interested in class, race, public policy, elections, constitutional/public law and political psychology. In comparative I am interested in democracy, liberalism and human rights, development and genocide.

[tkid86]

Why is it that you want to go on to get your PhD? Looking through your past posts, it looks like you wanted to get your MA to teach secondary education or at a community college level. Has that changed? In what way and why? You mention placement record — are you hoping for any placement whatsoever or placement at a top-tier research university or a teaching university? Are you picky about location at all? With your background and depending on your career aspirations, it may be a good refresher to visit this great post/thread by @BigTenPoliSci. 

What schools have you already researched? During your undergraduate and masters work, have you been drawn to the research of any scholars in particular? Where are they located? Where did they study? Follow the breadcrumbs and the scholars whose work you like and then look into the overall departments of where they are. Gotta do some of the legwork on your own.

As an aside, I am not sure how well SAT/ACT scores translate to GRE scores, particularly if it has been a while since you've taken a standardized test. As somebody who generally tests very well, my GRE Q was nowhere near my ACT Math percentile. Neither was my GRE V to ACT English percentile. This is just to say — give yourself time to take the GRE again. I assume you're applying for Fall 2018?

[buckinghamubadger]

What changed is that I figured out that I love research and am pretty apt for it. I certainly would not mind ending up at a CC. If I get a part time job at a CC, I may want to stay local and get my PhD in Southern California. I do want to at least try to get my doctorate if I go that route because it is useful for career advancement. I may chose to go to a top program to persue a TT job at a 4 year. I want to prepare as though that is what I am going to do.

 

There is a scholar I really enjoyed working with as an undergrad, and I wouldn't mind going back. Otherwise, John Zollar and Michael Mann have always fascinated me. Both are at UCLA. I really like Fukyama and Skocspol at Harvard, but that may be aiming too high. Hetherington, at Vanderbilt wrote a good book recently. Of course Gilens and Paige, at Princeton and Northwestern are pretty awesome. But these are people at the top of the field, it seems like everyone would want to work with them. Right?

[tkid86]

3 hours ago, buckinghamubadger said:

What changed is that I figured out that I love research and am pretty apt for it. I certainly would not mind ending up at a CC. If I get a part time job at a CC, I may want to stay local and get my PhD in Southern California. I do want to at least try to get my doctorate if I go that route because it is useful for career advancement. I may chose to go to a top program to persue a TT job at a 4 year. I want to prepare as though that is what I am going to do.

There is a scholar I really enjoyed working with as an undergrad, and I wouldn't mind going back. Otherwise, John Zollar and Michael Mann have always fascinated me. Both are at UCLA. I really like Fukyama and Skocspol at Harvard, but that may be aiming too high. Hetherington, at Vanderbilt wrote a good book recently. Of course Gilens and Paige, at Princeton and Northwestern are pretty awesome. But these are people at the top of the field, it seems like everyone would want to work with them. Right?

I would like to respond to this constructively, but to be frank, you seem kind of all over the place. Part of your profile reads like you want to go into politics — your mention of "very prestigious moot court program", your internship at the state legislature, and your work with political campaigns. The other part seems like a lackadaisical approach to academia. You like research because you think you have an aptitude for it, but you still would not mind ending up teaching at a community college. If you do get your PhD, it is because you want to try your hand at finding a tenure track job at a four-year top program. It seems as if teaching to you is simply whimsy — and that is okay; there are some PhDs who are interested in straight research and not particularly interested in teaching. But you are giving very mixed signals here.

You want to apply to T-30 schools, but you want to use placement record rankings (assuming you are referring to Table 1: Placement of Oprisko 2013). But as noted even within the abstract, "We find that as one’s prestige rank decreases, their ability to place diminishes." The only school that is listed in the top twenty-five of the placement record that isn't a top twenty-five ranked school is Hopkins, which recognizably has significant symbolic capital even outside of the political science discipline. (If you go to the top thirty of that list, you do add in Iowa, Michigan State, UVA, Syracuse, and FSU, all of which are not ranked in the top thirty of the program ranking cited.) Yet, you still mention UCLA (10/9), Harvard (1/1), Princeton (2/8), and Northwestern (21/19).

I suppose my other trouble with your posts here is that you posted very similar ones in the past, and I do wonder why you have not learned from that experience — from searching for a MA program — how to figure out which schools you should even begin researching and considering. As I mentioned above, you start with people whose work encourages you and interests you and then you look at the broader department, especially if the only reason you are drawn to a university is for the big names. Are more people doing things you like than just the big names? Or is it just them and their prestige? We all have our scholastic idols, but you look for the people and then you stay for the department. Do you like UCLA as a whole or is it just Zollar and Mann? Are you interested in Harvard beyond the name or Fukuyama and Skocpol? Do you see where I'm going with all this?

From my observation, you seem ill-prepared for what you are getting yourself into with a PhD (which is why I pointed you to that other thread of some words of caution in my earlier post).

Edit: It seems that you've already received a very long and thorough list of schools to consider.

Edited February 10, 2017 by tkid86

[buckinghamubadger]

@tkid86, alright, first off, your assumption that because I did something in the past means that I want to do the same thing in the future is baseless. I worked in politics for a few years, didn't like it, decided I wanted to go into academia.  The fact that I have professional experience is valuable. 

Second, I don't understand what is so hard for you to understand about this, I want to teach at the college level, I would prefer to teach at a four year, but I would entirely be willing to take a job at a community college. I may have the credentials to do this. I have plenty of time to weigh my options before I apply or comitt.

Third, my research interests have expanded as I have taken more classes. Its worth asking again to see what schools are available. 

Fourth, YOU are the one who asked me about literature. I told you the scholars I like. You can't be like 'what scholars do you like?' Then hold it against me.

Fifth, read oprisko and paige. If you did, it should be very clear to you why I am concerned with placement. I was merely clarifying that I was using Oprisko et al over USNWR, the NRC, ect.

Seventh, if you read OP, I am asking about funding and various other issues.

Eighth, you made no effort to be constructive.

 

Edited February 10, 2017 by buckinghamubadger

[Bibica]

I think the reason why @tkid86 brought up your desire to teach at CCs is because in most cases you do not need a PhD to do so, meaning that getting one would be a waste (why spend 5+ years getting a degree you don't need?), and costly not just in terms of the amount of $$ you might need to spend (if you do not get into a top program) but also from lost wages.

Asking who your favorite scholars are is a good way to gauge your academic interests. But liking Zaller and Skocpol and Fukuyama is just not very informative--I like all those authors and I'm a Comparativist. Those are literally some of the most well-known political scientists in the field, and they do very different things. @tkid86 mentioned you needing the work to find out which scholars you like. That means not just picking names that show up on your syllabi, but reading political science journals and finding out where the authors of articles you like work. It means going on a department's faculty web pages and reading the CVs of professors. You will always get an incomplete answer asking people here to find you schools because we don't know you well enough to tell you where to apply. In fact, I'm shocked you got a list as thorough as the one linked to here. The list of schools has not changed in a year and I don't know why you think they would.

Placement record is important, you're right. However, first you need to get in, and to do so you need to pick schools that are a good fit and write an SOP that clearly identifies your research interests, which you seem unsure of yourself. And it is absolutely fine to be interested in a variety of things, but you'll need to boil that down and write about it at length before they let you in the door. What kind of puzzles are you interested in? Do you have any methodological interests? What do you think you can contribute to the field?

Funding at a top program is not an issue. In fact, as was mentioned above (in the link to @BigTenPoliSci's thread), you should NOT go to a school that does not provide full funding for 4-5 years. I don't have an MA so I can't speak to transfer credits, but at my school you will rarely get credits transferred (top 10 school), and I imagine it is the same at most top schools. Again, different schools will have different policies, and it is best to inquire with them.

TLDR: You will benefit more from doing research on schools on your own and asking us about specific programs than from asking us to pick out schools for you. 

Edited February 10, 2017 by Bibica

[tkid86]

@buckinghamubadger — My apologies for my post not being constructive. I think @Bibica translated my intended meanings quite well.

[buckinghamubadger]

@tkid86 I'm sorry, I thought this was a forum to collaborate on such research.

[buckinghamubadger]

How did a question about funding and accepting transfer credit become a contentious debate about my qualifications and willingness to go through rigorous study?

Edited February 10, 2017 by buckinghamubadger

[Bibica]

To be fair I am in no way being contentious. At least, I thought I was answering your questions honestly and thoroughly (and don't think I questioned your intent).

You should also keep in mind that, since you're asking these questions in February, when everyone on this forum is stressed about their pending applications, collaboration about schools won't really happen (unfortunately, most people wait until later to start looking for schools). So your future cohort is out there, but it isn't here. Most of the people here have already done the work of looking for schools, and they don't know enough about you (from your original post) to be of much assistance. This is a positive reflection on you in the sense that you're looking now, but also means that you're in a much different place of mind than the majority of users in the forum. And I would think their insights (in terms of what programs are worthwhile and how to look for schools) would be useful to you. 

[buckinghamubadger]

@tkid86, @Bibica sorry if I overreacted, but one last thing that I do want to note is that you don't just waltz yourself into a community college job with a Masters. If I end up teaching at a CC, I will almost certainly have to adjunct for a few years before finding a full time job. The market is becoming flooded with PhDs as four years hire less of them, and people at the CC where I have worked have told me that one is much more likely to find a full time job after having at least started a PhD. This said, you don't need to go to a top school, but it likely makes you a significantly stronger applicant if you have at least some study beyond a masters.