Toastmasters.jpg' alt='International Political Economy Phd Programs' title='International Political Economy Phd Programs' />Welcome to METU IR. Department of International Relations, founded in 1984, is one of the leading institutions in international relations in Turkey. So you want to get into a political science Ph. D. program Episode I Foreign Policy After blogging last week about the genderedeffects of a Ph. D. for foreign policy professionals, I got a reasonable query from Caitlin Fitzgerald  if getting a Ph. D. is so great, how does one get accepted into a doctoral program in political science  This is a good question. Despite all of the warnings being proffered about the stultifying nature of graduate school and the horrible, very bad, not so great quality of the academic job market, competition to get into top tier grad schools is still quite high. So, how do you get in  As someone who got accepted into a very competitive Ph. D. program in Boston San Francisco well, not in San Francisco, but nearby no, not Santa Clara OK, thats enoughed. I can proffer some useful tips. Im going to do this in two parts  first, what undergraduates should do, and then what post baccalaureate types should do. Im starting with the undergraduates because its not too late for them its at the college level when an individual applicant can lay the necessary groundwork for a strong application. Before I jump into the five dos and donts, let me remind you of something  in good Ph. D. programs, admissions committees are looking for a reason to ding you. The problem is a surfeit, not a dearth, of qualified applicants. By the last stages of the process, admissions committees are often making accept or reject decisions on distinctions so minor that no one would admit them publicly its not that we want to do this its that admissions slots are scarce and looking at minutiae seems fairer than, say, a random draw. What this means is that any serious chink in your admissions armor low GPA, low GREs, weak recommendations, etc. So if youre really interested, you have to make sure that every facet of your application is up to par. With that out of the way, here are the Five Dos and Five Donts for undergraduates applying to Political Science Ph. D. programs in either international relations or comparative politics  THE FIVE DOS 1. Read some actual political science. This might sound obvious, but a lot of undergraduate programs in political science particularly in the first few years will have syllabi larded with  weird textbooks and Foreign Affairs articles. And thats OK for undergrads but if youre thinking of getting a Ph. D. and youre not terribly familiar with either International Organization or the American Political Science Review, youre in for a world of hurt. Read the journals to get a sense of A what its like to write in political sciencese B not sound like an idiot when you write your application and C Make sure, one last time, that this is really what you want to do for the next six years. Write a thesis.   Ph. D. programs want to be sure that you will have the intellectual chops to do real research and real writing. The best opportunity youll have to do that as an undergrad is your B. A. thesis.   If you dont write one and apply to a Ph. D. program, thats a red flag. Why didnt you write one  If you cant handle that, how could you handle a dissertaton  So write a thesis whether its required or not and make sure its good. Get comfortable with math. Gospel Backtracks S'>Gospel Backtracks S. Even if youre aspiring to do pure political theory or qualitative work, youre going to have to take classes in methodology, game theory and econometrics in graduate school. Oh, and by the way, with the arrival of Big Data, even areas of research that used to be qualitative are becoming quantitative. The less innumerate you are, the less these courses will seem like a foreign language. At a minimum, make sure you have familiarity with intermediate level statistics and multivariate calculus. Linear algebra is nice too. Go abroad and learn a language. Experience is not weighted all that heavily in grad school applications. Overseas experience is an exception, particularly if you want to specialize in an area or region of the globe. Learning a language pertinent to that region or area will help as well. Exploit study abroad programs as a way to signal that youll be up for the rigors of field work. Get rich.   Ready for some real keeping  If you can fund your own ticket for graduate school, the admissions standards are not nearly so high. Whether you inherit family wealth, win an NSF fellowship, or finally make sure that Nigerian e mailer comes through, having no need for fellowship support makes you a freebie to most programs. At that point, the equation changes from is this candidate among the best to is this candidate above the bar  The latter is much easier to clear than the former. And now. THE FIVE DONTS 1. E mail professors in Ph. D. programs at length. Your mileage may vary, but speaking personally, Im at the point where I get so many of these emails that I ignore all of them. All.   Of.   Them. Why  Because professors are not stupid we know youre sending these out en masse, we dont know whether you really have the chops to get a degree, and because we dont make decisions like this because of e mails. I wont deny that this tactic might work once in a blue moon,  but its been so played out that most profs eyes glaze over a these missives. Detail, at length, your plans to change the world in your personal statement. The personal statement in a doctoral admissions packet is the easiest way for a candidate to screw up itll be almost as bad as your dissertation prospectus. What admissions committees are looking for are signs of emotional and intellectual maturity matched with an ambition to do first rate research. Manual Canon Eos 350D. They are not looking for and then I realized epiphanies about how getting a Ph. D. will allow you to change the world. Backstory matters in explaining why youre interested in doing what youre doing, but dont kid yourself unless youre a survivor of an ethnic cleansing, your personal narrative at 2. International Political Economy Phd Programs' title='International Political Economy Phd Programs' />Details of undergraduate and postgraduate programs, event information, and links to member institutions. Students who searched for economics phd program rankings found the following related articles, links, and information useful. As international relations student, you will learn to analyze the complexities and processes involved in world politics and international affairs. Political Science Programs What is a Political Science PhD Political Science studies power relationships. The word politics has its origins in the Greek. GRIPS is a graduate school in Tokyo that offers MA PhD programs taught in English on public policy, development, economics, political science, international. So you want to get into a political science Ph. D. program. Episode I. The English LLM, PhD, Summer and Semester Law Program at China University of Political Science and Law CUPL in Beijing are programs open exclusively to. Deutschland Scholarships for International Students at the University of Mannheim in Germany, 20172018. Side note  if you are the survivor of an ethnic cleansing, hey, go to town in your statement. Put all your application eggs into one basket. Lets say youve done everything Ive suggested. Lets say youve researched grad schools carefully, and have decided that, given youre research interests, the only person you can work with is Robert Bates at Harvard. Congratulations, youve gone overboard in specializing  Apply to good programs, not just to work with one person. Individual professors move, retire, pass away, go on sabbatical,  or drink too much and hit on students and make things veeeeery awkward in the aftermath. Diversify your portfolio and make sure you apply to programs with a deep bench in your area of interest. Get celebrity professors to write you letters of recommendation. Letters of recommendation matter a lot to this process, and Ive noticed a trend among those savvy beyond their years to make sure they ingratiate themselves with well known professors as a way of calling attention to ones application. I get this instinct, and done well it can work a glowing letter from, say, Madeleine Albright or Zbigniew Brzezinski that indicates deep knowledge about you can be a game changer. Heres the thing, though 9.