Minnesota Applicants

[APGradApplicant]

So I thought I'd start this post because Minnesota is one of only two remaining schools that I'm really anxious to hear from (or hear an initial decision from at least, see Rochester below) and really the only one of the remaining two at which I think I have a shot.

I was just curious who else on this board has applied to their Political Science PhD program. If you have, I'd just be interested to know your sub-field as well as approximately where you'd place it among your choices. Also, if people want to assess my chances, I'd more than welcome honest feedback

I'm thinking that I'm kind of border-line there. I'm in the American subfield and am interested in studying Congress, congressional elections and elite behavior within American political institutions. I have a strong fit with a few faculty members there. My GRE scores are slightly above their averages from the last few years, except for the AWA, which is about average (680V, 720Q, 5.0AWA). Their stats on that can be found here...http://www.grad.umn.edu/data/stats/ad/1071200.html#gre

I did my undergrad at Vanderbilt University and had a 3.25 overall GPA, but improved it somewhat with a 3.51 in my final 60 hours (120 total) and a 3.49 average in my political science major. I know that the LORs I got from professors in the department were very strong, at least that's what professors from programs at which I have been admitted seem to have gone out of their way to say. I think I submitted a well-done writing sample as well, although I don't know how big an influence that last piece of the puzzle has on the application overall. In addition, I think my SOP is definitely well-done, as it is pretty specific about what areas of American politics I would like to research as a graduate student and has some discussion about the academic work I performed as an undergraduate and the influence that it had on my decision to apply for doctoral studies.

Anyways, so yeah, if anyone fellow U of Minn apps want to comment or if people just want to honestly assess my chances, I'd definitely appreciate it.

[gravityflyer]

I doubt I could offer anything in terms of assessing your chances of admissions, but certainly wish you the best of luck!

I too am anxiously awaiting to hear from them. I'm in IR with an emphasis on formal modeling of international security. Not sure of my own chances since Ron Krebs is really the only security guy there.

Last email I read from the department indicated that they wouldn't be making any decisions until March. Is that your understanding?

[M.Y]

I applied for MNU too, and I really hope to hear from it, since I haven't been admitted by any school so far. I'm an IR applicant, with the major GPA of 3.85, overall 3.9. I got 650 on verbal and 800 in quantative. I tried my best to work on my statement of purpose and LORs at that time, even though I see them sorta weak now. Also, I'm an international student with US degree. It is an idiosyncratic process, and I cross my fingers for you.

Edited February 21, 2010 by M.Y

[APGradApplicant]

I applied for MNU too, and I really hope to hear from it, since I haven't been admitted by any school so far. I'm an IR applicant, with the major GPA of 3.85, overall 3.9. I got 650 on verbal and 800 in quantative. I tried my best to work on my statement of purpose and LORs at that time, even though I see them sorta weak now. Also, I'm an international student with US degree. It is an idiosyncratic process, and I cross my fingers for you.

Thanks! Best of luck to you as well!

[Wesson]

Minnesota has a very strong department with many excellent scholars. That said, their reputation in American is primarily in political behavior, and especially political psychology. If you're interested in political psych applications to the study of Congress, then you'd likely be in great shape. Otherwise, it still may well be that you'd be in great shape, but you probably should ask them questions about how they've done in the recent past in placing non-political psychology students and whether those who don't study political psychology are a priority.

[Scalia]

I applied for MNU too, and I really hope to hear from it, since I haven't been admitted by any school so far. I'm an IR applicant, with the major GPA of 3.85, overall 3.9. I got 650 on verbal and 800 in quantative. I tried my best to work on my statement of purpose and LORs at that time, even though I see them sorta weak now. Also, I'm an international student with US degree. It is an idiosyncratic process, and I cross my fingers for you.

How have you not been admitted anywhere yet? Did you only apply to Harvard, Princeton, and Yale?

[fromark17]

I'm in American politics with a focus on political behavior, public opinion, and elections. I think Minnesota would be a great fit for me and I'm hoping to get in. At this point, though, I'm not sure I would go if I was admitted. I've gotten into some programs that seem more attractive. Plus, for some reason I can't see myself living in the Minneapolis/St. Paul. Does anyone have any insight about the cities? My GRE scores are about the average of the people they admit, but I think that with my interests, letters, and a strong SOP I have a good shot of getting in.

I might be competing against you AP since our interests are pretty similar. I think your chances are good. (I also applied to MIT and would really like to go there so we're likely competing against one another there as well.)

[Keller65]

I'm in American politics with a focus on political behavior, public opinion, and elections. I think Minnesota would be a great fit for me and I'm hoping to get in. At this point, though, I'm not sure I would go if I was admitted. I've gotten into some programs that seem more attractive. Plus, for some reason I can't see myself living in the Minneapolis/St. Paul. Does anyone have any insight about the cities? My GRE scores are about the average of the people they admit, but I think that with my interests, letters, and a strong SOP I have a good shot of getting in.

I might be competing against you AP since our interests are pretty similar. I think your chances are good. (I also applied to MIT and would really like to go there so we're likely competing against one another there as well.)

No where better than OSU for your interests.

[Wesson]

OSU would indeed be a very good choice. UNC and Illinois strike me as the other strong choices among those where you've been accepted. OSU is large, diverse, and covers the range of both political behavior and methods very well. UNC also is large, has a great reputation, and has some outstanding senior scholars. Illinois is smaller (good or bad depending on one's tastes), but is quite deep in methods and behavior/political psychology. You can't really go wrong choosing from among those. Hopefully you'll be able to visit all three and see what clicks.

[bsquar]

I'm in American politics with a focus on political behavior, public opinion, and elections. I think Minnesota would be a great fit for me and I'm hoping to get in. At this point, though, I'm not sure I would go if I was admitted. I've gotten into some programs that seem more attractive. Plus, for some reason I can't see myself living in the Minneapolis/St. Paul. Does anyone have any insight about the cities? My GRE scores are about the average of the people they admit, but I think that with my interests, letters, and a strong SOP I have a good shot of getting in.

I might be competing against you AP since our interests are pretty similar. I think your chances are good. (I also applied to MIT and would really like to go there so we're likely competing against one another there as well.)

I did my undergrad at UMN (and am also waiting on a decision from them) so I thought I'd chime in here. I am also in American Politics so though I think I can give you pretty good insights into the Americanists, I know next to nothing about the IR folks and the Comparativists.... I should note my bias from the outset that I think UMN is a wonderful department and I couldn't have asked for more from the education I got there as an undergrad.

The Dept in General:

Though the department isn't small, per se, it's VERY tight knit. The faculty is incredibly supportive and very interested in seeing their graduates succeed. They often write with their students and, more important, the students often collaborate with each other. The grad students are laid back, and genuinely interested in learning from one another. Admittedly, the UMN placement record in recent years causes a moment's pause. I would caution against reading too much into it, however. There has, uniquely, been a trend in the last few years, especially amongst the American grad students, to be interested only in jobs at LACs. The majority of these students got interviews at R1s, but many of them turned them down for their own reasons, preferring to teach at small liberal arts colleges instead. Looking at the placement record without these students, I think UMN could go toe to toe with many of the other schools you're thinking about.

Political Psych:

In response to the concern that non-political psych students do not get attention, that's definitely not the case. First, the institutionalists at UMN are, for the most part, not political psychologists. Kathryn Pearson and Shawn Treier (Congress), Tim Johnson (Courts) and Larry Jacobs (Presidency) would not call themselves political psychologists. The benefit of this, of course, is that if you are interested in American without political psych, it's available to you. But more than that, the availability of the Center for the Study of Political Psychology (and its incredible scholars) couldn't hurt. Many of these scholars research both within the field of political psych and outside of it and they have all had students that focus on both political psych and non-political psych.

But if you're interested in pol psych, all the better...

Joanne Miller (who studies everything from attitude strength to propaganda to media influence) is incredibly accessible, brilliant and, frankly, a joy to work with. This is an upside to the dept as a whole because she is also the current DGS. Paul Goren (who studies party influence and voting behavior) also teaches the introductory quantitative methods classes. He is equally accessible and though I don't know much about his research interests, I can speak to his skill as a methods instructor. His instruction is clear and really evenly balanced between the mathematical logic behind various methodologies and their substantive applications. If my methods training has taught me anything, it's that the second shouldn't be overlooked. There is tremendous value in not only understanding the methods but understanding the pros and cons of when to employ each tool, and this is Paul's strength. The same could be said for Chris Federico who has a joint appointment in the political science and psychology departments and also teaches the quantitative methods sequence.

As a caveat, with the exception of John Freeman who teaches MLE and time series (one of the most preeminent scholars in the field), to my knowledge, all the methods instructors are Americanists, and with the exception of Shawn Treier, who teaches the classes on Bayesian, they are all political psychologists. So though there might be a bias in their substantive approaches to the methods training, it is first rate nonetheless.

One other benefit of the Political Psych focus at UMN is that the Center for the Study of Political Psychology is an excellent resource for those interested in political psych. More to the point, there is a benefit to the Political Psychology minor beyond excellent training in pol psych. Because the Center is so successful and well funded, there are research grant opportunities available to students in the minor that are not available to students outside it.

(Note that I am not a political psych focus...)

The Twin Cities:

Yes.... It's cold there. Sometimes VERY cold there. That being said, MSP has some real benefits. Campus is about a mile (and a 5 minute light rail ride) from downtown Minneapolis which boasts the third largest theater scene in the US (second only to NYC and Chicago) and if you're into the arts, the Guthrie is great. If you're more of a sports person, all four major sports are in the Cities and it's the same 5 minute train ride to a football (I'm promoting the pro sports because as beautiful as the new Gopher Football stadium is, Gopher football never fails to disappoint!), basketball or baseball game (a little longer for hockey because it's in St. Paul). The summers are as wonderful as the winters are terrible, however, and campus is beautiful when not covered in snow... Living isn't cheap, but it's not ridiculous either.

Hope that helps!

[APGradApplicant]

I did my undergrad at UMN (and am also waiting on a decision from them) so I thought I'd chime in here. I am also in American Politics so though I think I can give you pretty good insights into the Americanists, I know next to nothing about the IR folks and the Comparativists.... I should note my bias from the outset that I think UMN is a wonderful department and I couldn't have asked for more from the education I got there as an undergrad.

The Dept in General:

Though the department isn't small, per se, it's VERY tight knit. The faculty is incredibly supportive and very interested in seeing their graduates succeed. They often write with their students and, more important, the students often collaborate with each other. The grad students are laid back, and genuinely interested in learning from one another. Admittedly, the UMN placement record in recent years causes a moment's pause. I would caution against reading too much into it, however. There has, uniquely, been a trend in the last few years, especially amongst the American grad students, to be interested only in jobs at LACs. The majority of these students got interviews at R1s, but many of them turned them down for their own reasons, preferring to teach at small liberal arts colleges instead. Looking at the placement record without these students, I think UMN could go toe to toe with many of the other schools you're thinking about.

Political Psych:

In response to the concern that non-political psych students do not get attention, that's definitely not the case. First, the institutionalists at UMN are, for the most part, not political psychologists. Kathryn Pearson and Shawn Treier (Congress), Tim Johnson (Courts) and Larry Jacobs (Presidency) would not call themselves political psychologists. The benefit of this, of course, is that if you are interested in American without political psych, it's available to you. But more than that, the availability of the Center for the Study of Political Psychology (and its incredible scholars) couldn't hurt. Many of these scholars research both within the field of political psych and outside of it and they have all had students that focus on both political psych and non-political psych.

But if you're interested in pol psych, all the better...

Joanne Miller (who studies everything from attitude strength to propaganda to media influence) is incredibly accessible, brilliant and, frankly, a joy to work with. This is an upside to the dept as a whole because she is also the current DGS. Paul Goren (who studies party influence and voting behavior) also teaches the introductory quantitative methods classes. He is equally accessible and though I don't know much about his research interests, I can speak to his skill as a methods instructor. His instruction is clear and really evenly balanced between the mathematical logic behind various methodologies and their substantive applications. If my methods training has taught me anything, it's that the second shouldn't be overlooked. There is tremendous value in not only understanding the methods but understanding the pros and cons of when to employ each tool, and this is Paul's strength. The same could be said for Chris Federico who has a joint appointment in the political science and psychology departments and also teaches the quantitative methods sequence.

As a caveat, with the exception of John Freeman who teaches MLE and time series (one of the most preeminent scholars in the field), to my knowledge, all the methods instructors are Americanists, and with the exception of Shawn Treier, who teaches the classes on Bayesian, they are all political psychologists. So though there might be a bias in their substantive approaches to the methods training, it is first rate nonetheless.

One other benefit of the Political Psych focus at UMN is that the Center for the Study of Political Psychology is an excellent resource for those interested in political psych. More to the point, there is a benefit to the Political Psychology minor beyond excellent training in pol psych. Because the Center is so successful and well funded, there are research grant opportunities available to students in the minor that are not available to students outside it.

(Note that I am not a political psych focus...)

The Twin Cities:

Yes.... It's cold there. Sometimes VERY cold there. That being said, MSP has some real benefits. Campus is about a mile (and a 5 minute light rail ride) from downtown Minneapolis which boasts the third largest theater scene in the US (second only to NYC and Chicago) and if you're into the arts, the Guthrie is great. If you're more of a sports person, all four major sports are in the Cities and it's the same 5 minute train ride to a football (I'm promoting the pro sports because as beautiful as the new Gopher Football stadium is, Gopher football never fails to disappoint!), basketball or baseball game (a little longer for hockey because it's in St. Paul). The summers are as wonderful as the winters are terrible, however, and campus is beautiful when not covered in snow... Living isn't cheap, but it's not ridiculous either.

Hope that helps!

Thanks, bsquar! Great info and very glad to hear that there's a place for non-poli psych people in American. If anything, that's what I was hoping might help my application a bit. By that I mean that I'm hoping that maybe my application will stand out among the Americanists if only because I am not one of those who is competing to get in on all the political psych research that's being done there and instead have research interests that are more concerned with institutions and public opinion. In fact, I listed Pearson and Treier (along with Jacobs) as faculty members with whom I would like to work. To be sure, I know that it's going to be a tough one to get into, and if I had a gun to my head, I would probably predict a rejection. That said, I am really hoping that I can perhaps get a nice surprise (similar to the way I managed to get placed on the wait list at Rochester, where I thought I had just about a zero chance of getting anything but a rejection).

Anyhow, best of luck to you on your application as well. As I said in the results forum, it has been a lot harder for me to get worked up about my rejections and any that might come in the future now that I realize how many friendly, bright and capable scholars there are who will end up going to these places with or without me in the cohort.

[yellowshoes]

Thanks, bsquar! Great info and very glad to hear that there's a place for non-poli psych people in American. If anything, that's what I was hoping might help my application a bit. By that I mean that I'm hoping that maybe my application will stand out among the Americanists if only because I am not one of those who is competing to get in on all the political psych research that's being done there and instead have research interests that are more concerned with institutions and public opinion. In fact, I listed Pearson and Treier (along with Jacobs) as faculty members with whom I would like to work. To be sure, I know that it's going to be a tough one to get into, and if I had a gun to my head, I would probably predict a rejection. That said, I am really hoping that I can perhaps get a nice surprise (similar to the way I managed to get placed on the wait list at Rochester, where I thought I had just about a zero chance of getting anything but a rejection).

Anyhow, best of luck to you on your application as well. As I said in the results forum, it has been a lot harder for me to get worked up about my rejections and any that might come in the future now that I realize how many friendly, bright and capable scholars there are who will end up going to these places with or without me in the cohort.

I've applied there too, with a 4.0 GPA and 1400 GRE. I've had terrible luck across the board so far though, and this is one of the best programs I've applied to. I think coming from a great undergrad, and already having tons of good news, works in your favor. I don't see why you shouldn't get in!

Edited February 21, 2010 by yellowshoes

[APGradApplicant]

I've applied there too, with a 4.0 GPA and 1400 GRE. I've had terrible luck across the board so far though, and this is one of the best programs I've applied to. I think coming from a great undergrad, and already having tons of good news, works in your favor. I don't see why you shouldn't get in!

We shall see! You certainly look like you're well-positioned to get in.

[fromark17]

Thank you for the advice and the info on Minnesota bsquar. I'm pretty excited about the schools I've gotten into so far. Sorry that this is not on topic, but what do people think of UCSD in terms of behavior/political psych? Would you put it ahead of UMN (or OSU or UNC for that matter)?

[Keller65]

Thank you for the advice and the info on Minnesota bsquar. I'm pretty excited about the schools I've gotten into so far. Sorry that this is not on topic, but what do people think of UCSD in terms of behavior/political psych? Would you put it ahead of UMN (or OSU or UNC for that matter)?

I may have answered this already, but ahead of UMN and UNC, roughly even with OSU. Either OSU or UCSD would be excellent for your interests. Tiebreaker goes to location...

Edited February 22, 2010 by Keller65

[APGradApplicant]

I may have answered this already, but ahead of UMN and UNC, roughly even with OSU. Either OSU or UCSD would be excellent for your interests. Tiebreaker goes to location...

Agree with Keller on this. Of course, all you have to do is look at my signature to see that this is a completely moot point in my case

[M.Y]

How have you not been admitted anywhere yet? Did you only apply to Harvard, Princeton, and Yale?

Well, I applied 10 programs that are in the top 30. I was realistic about my chance before talking to my professors, but they were really motivating and suggested me to apply for "fancy" schools, and I did. Now, I only have MNU, Cornell and Georgetown left on my list. Oh well, I learned a lot from you guys and the forum, so I think if I don't get in anywhere, I'll reapply next year, since I'm sincerely committed to this goal. Good luck to you!