Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My high school daughter is aiming towards a Poly-Sci Phd....she would like to go into consulting for govt/politics/ coporate and work as a professor as well.
She speaks fluent Spanish, French and Russian and is completing her IB Diploma. She plans on a history undergrad degree, though might opt for a poly-sci one. Is this a good route to go to attain her goals? She has her heart set on ivy league for both under grad and for grad, but I have read to focus more on ivy league grad or is that not true? Any experiences/advice out there?
I live with an Ivy League grad (Dartmouth) and he is 5 years out and still goes back once every few months to visit his frat, old professors, etc and that seems fairly common for my Dartmouth friends. He's now getting a PhD from a top tier university in Boston, but not Harvard or MIT, and has a professor job lined up for after graduation.
For the best academic experience, have her shoot for Princeton. It's known as the best Ivy for undergrad academics. In any case, you really can't go wrong with any of the Ivies- particularly if your goal is to be a professor in the social sciences. All but a handful of my professors in another top tier Boston area university had at least one of their degrees from the Ivies, Stanford, Chicago, or one of the big ones in the UK (Oxbridge, LSE, etc).
My high school daughter is aiming towards a Poly-Sci Phd....she would like to go into consulting for govt/politics/ coporate and work as a professor as well.
She speaks fluent Spanish, French and Russian and is completing her IB Diploma. She plans on a history undergrad degree, though might opt for a poly-sci one. Is this a good route to go to attain her goals? She has her heart set on ivy league for both under grad and for grad, but I have read to focus more on ivy league grad or is that not true? Any experiences/advice out there?
All the better if she can get into an ivy for both grad and undergrad but just keep in mind that it takes more than just school name brand to get accepted to a PhD program at an Ivy. She will need stellar grades, research, recommendations, a statement of Purpose, test scores etc. When I say stellar grades I mean upwards of a 3.8 or higher...stellar test scores in the 90th percent isle and higher..."glowing" recommendations form major researchers...a polished well thought out statement of purpose...and possibly a publishable article. All of that will get your foot in the door for them to take you seriously, but it won't guarantee you anything.
I'd recommend that you visit the student profiles of PhD candidates at the Ivy's...particualry Harvard's and yales....I believe you can see the CVs of the students to give you an idea of qualifications they are looking for.
If she wants to go into policy work then she shouldn't be getting a Ph.D in political science. Get a Ph.D in political science if you want to be a political science professor....the term "political science" doesn't really mesh with real-world politics anymore.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
