Forgive the Torontonians... for they know not what they have done.

[Asher]

Starchild: I've lived here for several years, and I can tell you Toronto is so overrated that it's not even funny. The transit system is a disaster, the nightlife is bland, the food is average, the sports teams suck ass, the architecture is mundane, etc. There is nothing remarkable about this city except it is overcrowded and dirty

[Starchild]

Yeah, fair enough. I enjoyed my time there but the rest of the world is more fun.

[Ninot]

Toronto

[Combat Ingrid]

Montreal

[Ninot]

[Dracon II]

Yeah... in Australia the standard scholarship for ph.d is around 20k. I can only hope that they give me some work.

Yikes... not a lot of love for Toronto. Maybe I should've applied to McGill or something.

[snoopy369]

Dracon, what is your field in PoliSci? I was effectively a PoliSci major (undergrad) at U of C (got Econ degree but was just a thesis short of the double in PS, focus on International Relations). Maybe I can go find Pape or Mearsheimer and put in a good word for you if it's IR

Also, in the US at least the stipend is NOT tax free, although many students 'forget' to pay taxes and get away with it (not recommended unless you like playing the lottery so to speak). It's taxed at the normal rate. I think the UofC stipend would be rather higher, and they're currently lobbying to get it moved even higher. There are also Resident Heads in the dorms, who are generally grad students (They prefer married couples or I suppose equivalent domestic partners slightly to single folk for RH duties, but some singles can be RHs I think).

There's the typical TAship, which pays something like $1000 a quarter per class; my GF is a PhD student in Immunology, which is significantly different (and more well paying) but the TA I think is the same, though they have relatively few TAships, only one mandatory (that's unpaid) and typically 1 or 2 more, but that's because they're paid enough to not need them. You also can usually apply for grants, though I think those are easier to get in science than polisci, who knows.

Anyway, if you have any questions about the U of C feel free to ask, myself and Q Cubed both graduated from there, and I'm still in Hyde Park due to my GF.

[snoopy369]

Ah, the U of C offers typically about $19k fellowship, which includes some teaching in later years. More can be available with Fulbright scholarships and such (look towards the bottom, International Students assuming you are as I think you are, here: http://political-science.uchicago.edu/funding.shtml )

[Dracon II]

Hey Snoopy thanks for the info. Chicago would be above UofT on my list of preferences. Fingers crossed.

My major is political theory, minoring in either IR or comparative politics (though comp. pol is more likely)... the professor I'm working for at the moment did his ph.d at UofT and was able to recommend me to Clifford Orwin. That may have affected their decision, but he also emailed the Zuckerts at ND and Harvey Mansfield at Harvard to no avail. Unfortunately he doesn't know anyone at Chicago... except perhaps Tarcov, but then not very well. As you can guess, my boss is a Straussian.

[Dracon II]

And yes, I'm well aware of the irony that I'm a left winger who works for a Professor who's chums with Cliff Orwin and Harvey Mansfield!

[Dracon II]

Originally posted by Asher
Note that UofT is the same university that accepted Agathon as a doctoral candidate. Maybe you should wait for your other offers...

Just sayin...

Is he still there? I wouldn't mind keeping company with a fellow antipodean lefty...

[snoopy369]

IR is definitely a strength of Chicago... I mostly studied under Mearsheimer (ran a great undergrad seminar that was basically just three hours once a week of talking about papers we were assigned to read, sort of like a journal club for grad students but shorter) but had a class with Walt before he left, Pape, Lipson, and Wendt before he left as well (too bad, he provided a nice balance to Mearsheimer et al, but I'm guessing he felt out of place with all of the realists leading the department).

I ended up not going into PoliSci (hence not finishing the major) but it was great to have classes with the big guys in the field, all discussion classes and all taught actually by them rather than by proxy through TAs or something.

I didn't take much outside of IR except what was required (a Marx/Hegel class that taught me that german philosophers ARE as bad as french philosophers is the only non-IR related PoliSci class I can recall) but there are some good guys in that department. It looks like they accept about 35 people a year (of which half or so accept)... dunno where you fall but good luck being in the top 35

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Dracon II


Is he still there? I wouldn't mind keeping company with a fellow antipodean lefty...

I think he went back down under or whatever NZ is called, but I suppose he could answer that for himself

[Asher]

He moved to Korea.

[Dracon II]

I have one of Mearsheimer's books... "The Tragedy of Great Power Politics". Pretty interesting. Chicago is also strong in theory.

I'm not surprised that you consider german philosophy to be as bad as French. The major twentieth century schools of french philosoph, phenomenology, existentialism, post-structuralism, were all influenced by 19th and early 20th century German philosophy.