<p>"That study abroad funding is a real rip-off by private colleges."</p>
<p>My d's study abroad program in Florence through Smith is hugely subsidized, and would cost far more to purchase than to go through the school. And she carried her aid from the school, and they even helped with extra transportation funds. </p>
<p>There aren't any "sure bets" for the top 10 Ph.D. programs in any field anymore. For the top-5 program my d. was admitted into (actually, there were several, but the one she accepted), there were hundreds of applicants for four places, and only one place in her subspecialty. The published median length for students to Ph.D. in her program is 7.2 years (and she would add a year for her specialty "certificate" program), but I think that includes those who don't get there, so it is likely longer.</p>
<p>Congrats to Binx's son, though - he does seem to have leveraged his education to get him where he wants to go.</p>
<p>Thanks for the bump! I enjoyed re-reading this thread, and noticing all the references to S1's interest in public policy. He will start at Georgetown next fall in the Institute of Public Policy. He will be one of 25 part-time students. He didn't have any trouble getting a letter of reference from a Penn professor this time around! </p>
<p>He's going after the education/family/social policy track. Not what I would have expected from him. I questioned him about it, and this was his explanation:</p>
<p>
[quote]
International development was not particularly interesting, because my international interests are in industrial nations rather than developing ones. Regulatory policy probably fits best with economics, but it's not personal enough to interest me long term. Social policy would be most applicable to local politics if I decide to go into city government or something, but it would also be applicable at the national level or in foreign industrialized economies. It also would use some of the more cutting edge areas of economics that use economic theory to analyze other areas of society. It would probably include a lot of game theory, which is my favorite branch of economics.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>For the record, most of that means nothing to me. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Edit: Wanted to add that this is a masters program, not Ph. D. He decided he has no interest in teaching, and therefore decided it didn't make sense to pursue a Ph. D.</p>
<p>Mini - care to expound on Princeton's ethnomusicology program? I didn't know about it and have a genuine interest. I thought they didn't do ethnomusicology.</p>
<p>Not ethno (and they don't have ethno - that's a Brown and Chicago specialty, though there are courses) - she's Renaissance/Baroque Italian, opera, with a certificate program in medieval/Renaissance Italian studies. (Princeton only has Musicology and Composition; no performing doctorate either.) She found out that no one at Princeton has ever actually graduated with the certificate (interesting political story), but her mentor in the music department is now also head of the certificate program, so she has hopes.</p>
<p>There is one professor, a MacArthur fellow and sort of a wild man, who does early Ethiopian church music - so I guess that's "ethno" and "musicology" combined, in a very odd sort of way. And Princeton has, really strangely, not one, but TWO Georgian choirs - no, not one for sowbellies and the other for Jimmy Carter - but Georgia as in "Stalin". Go figure.</p>
<p>OK. That's more along the lines of what I thought. Thanks, and many many congratulations to your daughter. Does she have any opinion on the music program over all at Princeton? Or is this the world where specialization is all....</p>
<p>BTW If you ever want recommendations on where to eat just let me know:). The Indian restaurant in town, while not wildly authentic or anything, is pretty good.</p>
<p>"Does she have any opinion on the music program over all at Princeton?"</p>
<p>It's smallish, and she would have no experience with the undergraduate program. The graduate program, very prestigious, is very small, much smaller than its top 5 rivals, and quirky! No required courses. Faculty teach whatever they are interested in, and it is the student's responsibility to make sure the centuries are covered for the general exams. Everyone, she says, fails their general exams at least once - apparently, it is a Princeton graduate school 'rite of passage'. There is little or no TA work in the undergraduate college, though grad students with special expertise are brought in to lecture or lead seminars on their specialties (I imagine for my d. that would mean Francesca Caccini, or the philosophical schools around Monteverdi. Don't ask me - I don't know any of this stuff!)</p>
<p>I do know that next year, the music department is mounting a full production of a Monteverdi opera (at the McCarter?), with the grad students in charge of the design, preparation of the score (I'll bet that's my d.), etc., with performance by the undergrads.</p>
<p>Good to read - thanks!
I recall us being on the Parents forum back in 2004/2005 when my son was applying and subsequently accepted to UPenn. I came on tonight to post an update, but can’t seem to start a thread. I find your review to be largely agreeable. All the best in the coming years!</p>
<p>Binx, is that unusual, re the rec, to have professors refuse to write one? It seems obvious that it was to keep their stats up there, but shouldn’t the student, if his/her grades are in the ballpark for the schools they are applying too, have that chance?</p>