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i have no idea.

Hey y'all, A few things: 1) I would not stress too much about having an overly long writing sample. Mine was 25 pages single spaced and in smallish font because i felt i had to include everything, and i feel like had a good admissions cycle. several profs at the institution i will attending told me they enjoyed my sample, even though the application specifically requested a short one. so, yes you should try to stick to the requirements, but if you feel like you need to go a little bit over to keep the important stuff, i would do it. 2) GRE scores: try not to worry so much about combined scores - obviously you should aim to do the absolute best you can do, but I think 160+ in both categories is good target. for what its worth, I had a combined score of 327 and am attending a top five...so try not to stress out about breaking this 330 barrier (where did this idea come from, anyway?). 3) I've seen a lot of different advice about SOPs, and most people say that you should demonstrate that you can think like a political scientist. this is absolutely true, i think, but i think that it is even more important to write about what you know. only if you fully understand a topic will you clearly be able to discuss the merits and failures of an idea and how you would go about investigating it. i wrote about research i had already done - it was more sociology-y than related to political science, but i was able to clearly articulate my ideas and also convey passion. bottom line: so yes, the details are important - make sure you get your recs in and send all of your scores and proofread and all of that, but i would worry most about conveying actual meaning. hope this was more helpful than annoying!

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: Top 5 SLAC Major: BA in Government, Minor in Econ Undergrad GPA: 3.7 Type of Grad: Major: Grad GPA: GRE: 160-170 v/q, 5.5 AW Any Special Courses: lots of math courses in undergrad? Letters of Recommendation: 4 professors from undergrad- none particularly huge names, but I know them all fairly well Research Experience: honors thesis in undergrad Teaching Experience: worked in the writing center in undergrad Subfield/Research Interests: Comparative Other: RESULTS: Acceptances($$ or no $$): UNC, Cornell, UCSD, Berkeley all $$ Waitlists: Rejections: All others, funded CIR from Chicago Going to: Berkeley LESSONS LEARNED: PM for SOP like everyone says- fit is the most important.

NYU is the last school I have to hear from. I emailed them, and their response was pretty much "you will find out when we let you know." Oh well. Can't believe this is almost over and the board is winding down! good luck to everyone!

anyone still waiting on NYU? ready to be done.

If Harvard hasn't contacted you, shoot Thom Wall an email. He responded to me within five minutes yesterday with a nice rejection email

Recently turned down a funded UNC offer. hope this helps.

finally heard from Chicago- funded CIR. eh

someone posted a berkeley admit and talked about a harvard admit in the comments. can someone claim this?

nyu? chicago? hahvahd? hello?

have people been communicating a lot with schools they've been accepted to? I'm tired...

It's because this is the most amazing group of applicants ever, and they're trying to find enough money to fund an incoming class of 500.

officially rejected from Yale- got an email to check the site. They said they had 10,500 applicants - This just HAS to be for all of the grad school, I am assuming.

I think talking to multiple grad students is the best bet.

Browsing PSJR for help in making decisions. hot damn that forum is mean.

Nope. Haven't received any POI calls either except the one last weekend. I need to book tickets too.

Classic harvard. keeping all of us plebs waiting.

i'm comparative...but i feel like there MUST be more coming.

I'm in the comparative subfield. Don't think it was a blast email because I received it some time after someone reported an email acceptance on the results board. and thanks!

claiming a cornell acceptance...very nice email.

not too upset about MIT because it wasn't a great fit, but I'm just annoyed that the results page that was so lovely and green for some time has now taken on a much more ominous shade.

aha just received my MIT rejection email from "xxx@mit.com."

It was a personal email from someone on the adcomm. Super nice email, actual details of the offer to follow.

Claiming a UNC admit. Comparative

from previous posts, it sounds like they should be used to people responding with nonsense haha, so i would not worry.