reallyluckyone

Hey guys, I already accepted the offer from a school, where I'll be starting my PhD this fall. The question is that when exactly I can claim that I am a doctoral student of this school. The reason I am asking this is that I am going to teach some courses during the summer at another school and it would be much better if I could say that "I am a doctoral student from school X" rather then "i don't have any affiliation". To put it another way: would it be legit to have a school badge in July-August or not? Thanks!

I agree on Germany. I spent one erasmus semester there and it was terrible in terms of grading. For instance, if you did 70% of a test assignments, it would be like the first class in the UK (the best grade, which translates to the US 'A' ), but only 2.3-2.7 in Germany (a mediocre grade, which translates to the US "B" at best).

To all the international students! Don't give up! Despite a quite disadvantaged background (international, unknown school, different major), mediocre GRE scores and not perfect GPA, I managed to get into some of the top schools. PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: non-ranked school in Latin America Major: BA in Social Psychology Undergrad GPA: 3.9 Type of Grad: mid-ranked school in Europe Major: MA in International Relations Grad GPA: 3.5 GRE: 155V, 165Q, 3.0AW (AW is really embarrassing) Any Special Courses: summer course (funded) at a top US school (during MA) Letters of Recommendation: adviser from the grad school (non-polisci) + two star US profs from top schools (polisci) Research Experience: 2 years of research assistance at the undergrad school + 1 year of research assistance at a well-known European research institute + several completed research projects + one mediocre non-polisci publication (peer-reviewed) + >10 conference presentations Teaching Experience: One seminar Subfield/Research Interests: Methodology, Comparative Other: laureate of several national merit scholarships RESULTS: Acceptances($$ or no $$): Yale $$, Rochester $$ Waitlists: NYU, Princeton Rejections: all others (overall I applied to 15 top schools) Going to: ? LESSONS LEARNED: It is very important for international students to receive good Quant GRE scores and get LORs from decent American profs (you can get to know them at conferences/summer schools/etc.) Great SOP, Research experience and LORs could save you almost no matter what But still you should spend more time on GRE Additionally, I wish I could spend more time on customizing my SOP for all the departments and prospective advisers. Fit really matters. Grade degradation (BA - 3.8, MA - 3.5) and change in major are no good Applying to as many departments as possible really helps (of course, if you feel like you have at least a slight chance to get in)

If you don't do theory, LSE is a better choice - it is more similar to international (American) standards of political science.