<p>Anyone applied or applying to a Ph.D. or MA program in poli sci and been flown out for an interview? Seems like there is a lot of this going on for Bio and Chem applicants, and so on, but I don't know whether this is done in my field or not. For that matter, if anybody went to interview (in any field), how did they get in touch about it? Did you just get a message on your answering machine one day, or was there an email, or a letter or what?</p>
<p>Can't speak for Poli Sci, but my son received emails for his interviews.</p>
<p>poli sci phd programs usually don't do interviews.</p>
<p>I realize that most Poli Sci PhD programs do not interview prior to offering admissions, but don't they invite you to visit the school in order to "sale" themselves to you?
I have applied to UCLA, UCSD, Stanford, Michigan, Ohio, Yale, Rochester, and Rice. Does anyone know if they invite you for a weekend? Do they pay or do you?</p>
<p>I am more accustomed to the psych and bio process, where I would already know by now and would be scheduled to visit, on their penny, in Feb. I am sort of learning the poli sci format as I go.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>i'm pretty sure that if you're accepted (and most programs accept maybe twice as many people as they want to actually take), they bring you out to pitch themselves to you. but i don't think anyone brings you out until you've been accepted. considering the fact that several hundred people apply for somewhere between 8-20 slots in these poli sci phd programs, the logistics of interviewing candidates before they're accepted would probably be a nightmare.</p>
<p>My S has applied to Ph.D poli sci programs this year and he has told me the same thing-there are no interviews before admissions decisions are made. 600 applicants at Columbia for 18 slots. The faculty would never be able to teach if they interviewed all the applicants!</p>
<p>No graduate programs interview all the applicants. The department I work in now (cog sci) gets about 200 applications, flies about 20-30 here for interviews, admits about 10, with an entering class of around 4.
I think there must be other reasons that poli sci doesn't interview...it's not just the volume of applications. I have been told by potential advisors, that more than half are never looked at (ones that the statement of purpose begins with "i want to study poli sci because i love politics and i had one class that was really interesting" or "i want to go to grad school because there is nothing else I can do with a poli sci ba".</p>
<p>So, top programs will pay to bring accepted students to visit?</p>
<p>Not all fields do interviews. The humanities pretty much never do, so don't expect interviews or paid visits for history, art history, etc. If I recall correctly, it's pretty rare in poli sci. But UCLAri can correct me on that one - he's the resident poli sci/IR expert.</p>
<p>Polisci programs do not do interviews. Most programs that actually have money will pay for prospectives to visit for an admit weekend (or in some cases, during the week) after they get accepted.</p>
<p>Everyone else speaks the truth.</p>
<p>(What else can I say? :p)</p>