MA then PhD, or just PhD?

juillet
Sat, 09 Sep 2017 01:41:17 +0000

My advice is that if you are really serious about getting a PhD in political science, you should apply to a handful (5-7) top PhD programs that would be dream schools research-wise, and then another handful of MA programs in political science (not public policy) that you are actually competitive for. The idea is that you will probably get into an MA program, but there’s the possibility that you find some PhD program that likes your unique combination of stuff.

Thoughts:

-You should consider long and hard about why you want a PhD. You like research and ideas and teaching, but those are things you can do with a JD and an MBA. Do you want a particular kind of career that is difficult or impossible to pursue without a PhD in political science?

-First of all, as a political science minor and not major, you should consider whether you have enough coursework in political science to pursue a PhD. Even if you have the minimum requirements, will you be competing mainly with students who were political science majors? Signs point to yes. That’s one good reason to get an MA in political science specifically, not public policy.

-EtCeterisParibus makes a good point about appearing to be a perpetual student. That’s another reason why if you get an MA at all, it should be in political science, not public policy. (Remember that political science is a discipline; public policy is related but not the same or a substitute.) Another way to mitigate this is to write a really, really good personal statement that excellently describes your motivations for getting a PhD. But in order to do that, you need to have really good reasons why you want a PhD and have a clear idea of what you want to study in grad school and beyond.

-The more quant you have the better, but this isn’t like economics where you have to have taken 3 semesters of calculus and real analysis and differential equations to be competitive. It’s going to vary by program. This is another good reason to get an MA first, because you can take more political science-oriented quant classes there and understand what the requirements are.

-Yes, you need a letter of rec from at least one (and preferably two) people from the actual field you are applying in. So you need some way to build relationships with political science professors. An MA is a great way to do that. There are other ways, too - like working as a research assistant/associate. With a JD you may be able to do that already - like get a full-time research job as a research associate at a think tank or something.

-Did that current poli sci student at UCLA tell you why he didn’t think you needed an MA?