First, this is my first post on this forum so thank you for adding me to your community! I have a quick question that I’m going to try and keep relatively brief. I am finishing up with my M.S. in Law and Justice from Central Washington University and I was wondering what Ph.D programs are out there for similar fields? I am going to be finishing with a 3.5 GPA and I am not finding many details on acceptance rates for Ph.D programs. I want to make sure I apply to some “reach” schools but I also want to make sure I apply to some programs I would have a better chance with. Currently, I am very interested in the University of Idaho and their Ph.D in Political Science and I am waiting to hear back from them with more information. Does anyone know anything about their program? Just in case additional information is needed I have undergraduate degrees in Political Science, Law and Justice, and Psychology. I am also interested in Public Policy so programs in regards to that field I wouldn’t mind hearing about as well.
congrats! I think you should just try for what you can see yourself doing, i know it seems dumb. but really think. what do you want and what do each of these offer?
@Tightwire - welcome to the Forum! I agree with @bluebayou What exactly are you seeking in a Ph.D. The M.S. you have already achieved is probably the terminal degree in that field and should be more than sufficient to qualify you for a job. If you are interested in scholarly research you probably need to look to another field that might be related but not exactly the same. YOu can find the kinds of fields that are available by going to http://phds.org where you can search for the kind of degree that might appeal to you. The data is not totally up to date but the search engine makes it a useful tool.
A few things I always ask anybody who wants to do a PhD:
A. Is this the only way for you to get the job you want?
B. Are you willing to spend another 6-9 years as a poor student?
C. Can you see yourself working on something that is at least 3 times the size of your master’s thesis and 10 times more focused?
D. Do you have an idea what you want to research for your PhD?
E. Are you thinking of working in academia after your PhD? If so, do you know what the job prospects are in your field? Don’t get these from any faculty member in your department.
The most important pieces of advice I can provide are:
A. Don’t do your degree at a for-profit school
B. Avoid online PhDs - they’re not considered as good, even if they’re from a decent school
C. Most important: never, never, never, EVER even THINK about doing a PhD unless it’s fully funded. Unless they offer to pay your tuition in full, AND provide a stipend/TAship/RAship for at least 5 years, it’s a no. NEVER go into debt for a PhD. Never.
Check what the requirements are for your field, but your GPA is often a relatively minor part.Your CV - mostly things like experience in the field and in research, your LoRs, your letter of intent, and your GREs are all extremely important, and can be a lot more important than how you did on courses (which rarely predict how good you are at research).
Most PhD programs do not publicly post their acceptance rates, so that’s why you are having a hard time finding them. The thing is, they are rarely very relevant or helpful for doctoral applicants, since your competitiveness depends a lot more on your package and admissions is very holistic. So I wouldn’t put a lot of energy into finding that out.
Your list of schools should be put together based on your research interests and how well they match up with the department’s, as well as the strength of the rest of your package. Do you have any research experience? Have you written a master’s thesis, and aside from that, have you done any work assisting professors with their research either in undergrad or in your master’s program? What was your undergrad GPA and GRE scores? (Many programs do post their averages, and while those aren’t absolute markers of admission, they do matter.)
A public policy PhD program may also give you what you’re looking for if you choose carefully, and there are far more of those.
There are also some programs that look at psychology and law, as well - the University of Virginia’s department is known for this, and I think Arizona State also has such a program (or maybe it’s Arizona?) The question for you is really the approach and the type of research you want to do. Political science uses a very different set of theories and methods than psychology does. From what angle would you like to examine your research questions?
Why are you specifically attracted to the University of Idaho?