http://kohenari.tumblr.com/post/1416430151. It starts slowly but gets better. Mostly it applies to Americanists but enough in it for other poli sci types.
I gave a talk a little while ago at Northwestern and got great comments. One of the profs thanked me for sending our undergrads there for their PhD program. I had to break the news that I am discouraging folks....
On the bright side, I got great comments from the profs and grad students here, so my work will be much better (if I heed them).
What's needed is more information about the whole grad school experience; everyone knows at least something about being a professor, but it's very easy for students to have no idea what the graduate experience is like. If you can provide that valuable information and perhaps temper their expectations somewhat (if they're imagining a top-20, 2-1 job right out of grad school), then you've done the best you can do. So long as you're fully informing your students and only recommending the best, I can't see the harm.
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