General info for UK student looking to study in US

[Baggy]

Hi everyone

I hope to start to applying to US grad schools for a PhD in Political Science in about 12 months time (I'll be applying for Fall 2010 entry). I just have some very basic and broad questions that I hope someone can help me with:

1. Is coming from a UK university a barrier? I have heard it said that graduates from non-US universities are regarded as "unknown quantities" and fair less well than graduates from US universities? Is there anything I can do to overcome this? My university is well-known and well-regarded in the UK (consistantly top 10) but I have no way of knowing how it is viewed in the US?

2. What is the best way to rank universities and poli sci departments? At the moment I'm just making lists of departments with members of faculty I recognise and admire (or have at least heard of!). Is USnews.com a good resource for finding out rankings? I notice reputable universities like Georgetown and Brown don't actually do so good in these tables?

3. How many universities to apply for? I've heard of people applying to anywhere between 5 and 20 universities. Is there a real need to apply to a good spread (rankings wise)? 20 seems excessive to me but I am more than willing to put in the time and effort if it's a sensible idea!

4. Is contacting profs at this stage seen as evidence that you're keen and organised, or just annoying?

5. Is it true that applicants to PhD programs pretty much never accept an offer unless it is accompanied with an offer of full funding? Of course, I would expect to have to work as a TA or Research Assistant, but the idea of paying thousands of dollars (that I don't have) to do my PhD is unappealing to say the least.


Thanks in advance, and if anybody has any questions about UK universities, please let me know and I'll try and help!

[Demisel]

1. I don't know. If you came from a university in Kazakhstan, you'd be fine, but the UK??? Hmm, might be a problem.
2. The US News Ranking is fine. The NRC Ranking is supposed to be the gold standard, but the most recent release was in 1995, and they keep postponing the next release. The best way to rank universities, however, is to create your own binary (fit vs. not fit) ranking. If you see at least 4 people that you'd like to work with in the same department, that department is fit for you.
3. I applied to only a couple of places, but I don't see any reasons why you shouldn't apply to as many as 15 or 20 schools. I guess how many is optimal depends on how much uncertainty you feel and how much money and effort you're willing to put into it.
4. Probably just annoying. Of course, if you have a good research idea, and you've put a lot of thought into it, I think it'd be quite appropriate to exchange some emails with a professor who's working on similar stuff.
5. Most likely yes. Personally I've never known or heard of anybody who's paying a dime for a PhD program.

[Baggy]

Thanks, Demisel. That helps.

Yes, I realise that British universities are more highly regarded internationally than Kazak ones (no offence intended to any Central Asian users of this forum!) but I have nevertheless been warned that it's difficult to get into the top US grad schools because you are basically competing against students from US universities that all the people on the admissions committee probably went to themselves! It makes intuitive sense to me that admissions committees will plump for the guy or gal who came top of their class at Berkeley, Columbia or Georgetown, than the bloke or bird who came top at Birmingham, Coventry or Glasgow! But your answer seemed to suggest that you don't think this will be a problem, which is encouraging.

I'll keep my eyes peeled for the NRC rankings to come out, but in the meantime I'll continue to keep compiling a wish list of depts with faculty that match my interests, as you suggest!

Thanks again.