PSR: I partied through college and now complain I can't get into a CHYMPS

5 months - 68 posts - Latest - RSS
OP: 6 Goods vs 12 No Goods
Thread: 122 Goods vs 89 No Goods

Political Science Rumors » Political Science » Teaching

PSR: I partied through college and now complain I can't get into a CHYMPS

« Previous 123 4 Next »

Liz

I can only assume Kepler/Annette is intentionally being obtuse at this point.
Even if you knew to google graduate school rankings, you might not have understood the disparity in job outcomes between going to a top program and not going to a top program, particularly if you didn't have the guidance we all have been stressing that is so critical to success in getting into a top-ranked school in the first place.

Knowing that US News even exists isn't guaranteed. And I sure as heck didn't know the difference between national rankings and graduate program rankings.
The school I was accepted to was my bottom choice because it was the worst in national rankings. Turns out it was the only T-50 poli sci program I actually even applied to.

I’ma first gen college student who applied at the dawn of the modern internet/web.

I figured out that there are grad program rankings. And NRC rankings. Maybe you’re just not as clever as you would like to think you are?

5 months ago # QUOTE 6 YEA 0 NAY !
Wilmer

Dude - we've been saying the whole time there are exceptions. You're the exception. Congratulations. Thanks for throwing anecdotes at us, but studies have shown time and again that some of the most powerful predictors of going to elite institutions is your parents' income and the prestige of your parents' institutions.

You're like the Hollywood start who thinks he made it because of hard work without realizing that for every one of him, there were 10,000 equally-talented individuals who didn't make it. I could give you all kinds of anecdotes of smart, hard-working people who didn't end up at CHYMPS institutions.

5 months ago # QUOTE 1 YEA 1 NAY !
Wilmer

Previous post was responding to a comment that has since been taken down, probably out of sheer I/d/I/o/c/y.

5 months ago # QUOTE 1 YEA 0 NAY !
Collyn

I can only assume Kepler/Annette is intentionally being obtuse at this point.
Even if you knew to google graduate school rankings, you might not have understood the disparity in job outcomes between going to a top program and not going to a top program, particularly if you didn't have the guidance we all have been stressing that is so critical to success in getting into a top-ranked school in the first place.
Knowing that US News even exists isn't guaranteed. And I sure as heck didn't know the difference between national rankings and graduate program rankings.
The school I was accepted to was my bottom choice because it was the worst in national rankings. Turns out it was the only T-50 poli sci program I actually even applied to.

I’ma first gen college student who applied at the dawn of the modern internet/web.
I figured out that there are grad program rankings. And NRC rankings. Maybe you’re just not as clever as you would like to think you are?

Given that I started at a community college, had to be talked into a 4 year program by the faculty and then again had to be talked into thinking I could make it anywhere better than the local satellite campus of the state school... I doubt you have even the slightest understanding of how clever I think I am.

But that's cool, just throw the insults. I'm glad to see you have fully assimilated the worst aspects of academic culture.

5 months ago # QUOTE 1 YEA 1 NAY !
Kepler

Now the overly active mod is deleting my innocuous, helpful posts again.

Let's summarize:

1) Many non-networked people get admitted to CHYMPS programs. If that were not the case, your classmates from Bulgaria, Moldova, and Mongolia wouldn't be there. Also true of people from multi-directionals in the US.

2) In addition to good grades, test scores, and letters, your work needs to fit with the research interests of the people you want to work with. Take potential advisor fit into consideration when applying, in addition to the quality of the program.

3) Grad school admits - even at top programs - are not at all as competitive or as much of a "winning the lottery" matter as getting a top TT job. Admit committees are willing to take chances on people in a cohort of 30, that they may end up not advising later on. You can get in without having an amazing network. You might not know what to do upon admission without that network to guide you as to the courses you should take, the people you should work with/avoid, and how to network from the time you enter the program to the time you get your TT job.

5 months ago # QUOTE 2 YEA 5 NAY !
Wilmer

Kepler we're trying to help you see it bud. You can take a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

5 months ago # QUOTE 2 YEA 1 NAY !
Collyn

Kepler we're trying to help you see it bud. You can take a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

He's talking like everyone goes into grad school understanding the market or what research interests are. I went to grad school because I wanted to be like my faculty, and they told me they thought I had what it takes.

5 months ago # QUOTE 1 YEA 1 NAY !
Collyn

And Kepler, I never wanted a "top TT job". That was so far beyond anything I could think of. I just wanted to teach at a little slac like the one I went to. (I got lucky coming out a few years ago, but today I wouldn't even have been able to achieve that with my 5 pubs from a ~ 50th rank program.)

5 months ago # QUOTE 1 YEA 1 NAY !
Collyn

He's probably assuming I thought highly enough of myself to even apply to chymps, which I did not.

5 months ago # QUOTE 0 YEA 1 NAY !
Athena

Go big or go home. That is my advice for you, about how to spend the best 5-7 years of your life. Anyone can understand that, network or no network.

If you can't get in a top program, do something else with your 20s. Your 20s are the only time in your life when you will be free of family responsibilities, can work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, and build a career with that drive.

And once you get in that top program - talk to older students that you can trust that are succeeding. Ask them what courses you should be taking, who you should be seeking out as an advisor. Model yourself after them.

5 months ago # QUOTE 2 YEA 0 NAY !
Wilmer

Go big or go home. That is my advice for you, about how to spend the best 5-7 years of your life. Anyone can understand that, network or no network.

Again, a bunch of people don't have someone giving them that advice though. It's amazing how such a simple point is missed by so many of you.

5 months ago # QUOTE 1 YEA 3 NAY !
Athena

Good grief, I got that advice - go big or go home - from my dad who never went to university, I didn't need a top prof to tell me that. He had regrets and wanted me to do better than him. That advice is pretty much universal.

5 months ago # QUOTE 3 YEA 2 NAY !
Collyn

So you're a grade-a case of survival bias. Congratulations.

The advice I got was "go to school where the people who have the job you want went to school."

Since I wanted to be faculty at a slac, that means I was seeing a bunch of t-100 degrees from the 90's. Guess where those degrees place now?

5 months ago # QUOTE 1 YEA 1 NAY !
Collyn

So you're a grade-a case of survival bias. Congratulations.

The advice I got was "go to school where the people who have the job you want went to school."

Since I wanted to be faculty at a slac, that means I was seeing a bunch of t-100 degrees from the 90's. Guess where those degrees place now?

5 months ago # QUOTE 0 YEA 1 NAY !
Charley

Collyn, are you the mod that is deleting all the personal experiences posts that stay up for two seconds? Like that guy with a SLAC prof who got his PhD at Temple in '94 (who is NOT me)?

5 months ago # QUOTE 1 YEA 0 NAY !
Collyn

Huh. The post that showed up as "Jep" got deleted.

Maybe this is a problem of my connection rather than the mod.

5 months ago # QUOTE 0 YEA 0 NAY !
Collyn

Collyn, are you the mod that is deleting all the personal experiences posts that stay up for two seconds? Like that guy with a SLAC prof who got his PhD at Temple in '94 (who is NOT me)?

No. I'm the one who wrote that post about the slac prof. The mod just deleted like 2 more posts in which I tried to explain.

5 months ago # QUOTE 0 YEA 0 NAY !
Lalla

Go big or go home. That is my advice for you, about how to spend the best 5-7 years of your life. Anyone can understand that, network or no network.

Again, a bunch of people don't have someone giving them that advice though. It's amazing how such a simple point is missed by so many of you.

Anyone in college has an entire faculty they can ask for advice.

5 months ago # QUOTE 1 YEA 3 NAY !
Lalla

Things are disappearing randomly.

5 months ago # QUOTE 0 YEA 0 NAY !
Annette

It's the bot. Some word is triggering it.

5 months ago # QUOTE 1 YEA 1 NAY !

« Previous 123 4 Next »

PSR: I partied through college and now complain I can't get into a CHYMPS

Reply »