Larissa Migotto Brandolt
Larissa Migotto Brandolt is a prospective student that has been admitted to begin her PhD program in political science at The Ohio State University Autumn 2021.
As I was looking for PhD programs at U.S. universities this year, I had two positive surprises when I discovered The Ohio State University. The first was the Ohio State’s Brazil Gateway. Since my first email to Jane Aparecido, the office’s director, she has been extremely helpful in looking for programs and resources to encourage me to apply to Ohio State. It was because of her help that I found out my second positive surprise within the university — the Graduate Immersion Conference (GIC), hosted by the Department of Political Science.
Considering my academic interests and expertise, Aparecido went the extra mile to make sure I could apply for the conference. Fortunately, not only did I apply but was also selected to participate. This opportunity to attend the GIC played a huge role in my decision to apply for the PhD program in political science at the end of November 2020.
Held online from October 26-27, the conference goal is to create a more inclusive department by encouraging women, people of color, LGTBQ+, and other under-represented identities to pursue a PhD in political science. At the GIC, I had the chance to learn more about the department, the faculty, the fields of study (in my case, comparative politics) and the current PhD students.
Throughout the two days, I spent hours talking to them in different sessions, asking questions in relation to the program and advice for the application process. Besides this, I also had the opportunity to present my original research and receive detailed feedback from professors that are experts in the field, as well as watch the presentation of other selected students. It was a very rich and organized event.
In conclusion, the opportunity to attend this conference made conspicuous two things for me: first, that I have research interests that overlap with some professors’ work inside the department; second, that they nurture a healthy, collaborative environment between faculty and students. These two characteristics were essential to my decision to apply for the program. Ultimately, being an international student and the first generation of my family to attend university, I felt particularly moved by the GIC’s goal to include people like me and believe that this should be an example to be followed by many other departments across the country.