TheGnome

The advice provided above by plisci12345 is sound. I think it is a good idea in general to talk a lot more about your research interests and how they align with those of the faculty at the school you are applying to. I would highly recommend checking the statements posted in

Thanks a lot for the info Lemeard, and I am glad you are enjoying your time there. I am sure people will have more questions as the decisions start trickling in.

Welcome kal5! It is a great time to come out of the shadows; we are on the verge of the most stressful time of all - the waiting Hey Lemeard, how are things at UIUC, how do you like it so far? Also I vaguely remember talks of a methods subfield opening up at UIUC, do you have any news on that front?

True, but on the other hand, I suspect nobody at those December 15th schools will look at anything before the Christmas / New Year break. So I feel like it could have all been Jan 1st

RWBG's description of the process is definitely increasing my affinity toward Michigan, if such a thing is possible. (I am sure Axelrod and Morrow are exchanging high fives for this impressive feat, you know, for being able to attract The Gnome of the inter-web to their school).

This will sound boring, unoriginal, and cliche (trite, hackneyed, banal, stale, I know) but the best thing you can do is to really improve every part of the application to the extent that you can. The individual answers will differ - some will say SOP, others GRE, some will say take stats classes, others will emphasize a solid writing sample or contacting POIs. Truly though, there is no other person apart from yourself who knows the boundaries of your limits, what you can do, and what sort of opportunities you can use to get ahead in the competition. Take a look at your file and think, for every single component of the package, and ask yourself - what can I do to make this better? You will see that you already have a lot of answers. Start doing them as soon as possible. My biggest advice? Do not be lazy, do not procrastinate, be proactive.

Leave Market Man. Seriously. If your description is accurate, which I do not doubt, do not do this to yourself. You are a first year student right? Either leave while it is not too late, or hold your breath and apply again to transfer. If the latter is not an option for you, leaving now would save you from years of pain and agony (during and after gradschool).

Sorry to hear that you are not getting paid, but I'd imagine it has to be at least somewhat intriguing though, you know, being on the other side of the fence just a few years after you have gone through the process yourself. In any case, we appreciate the effort.

Hahah great responses guys. Though we still have a way to go till we reach to the updating part of luckyducky's calculations - at least 5 or 6 weeks. and zudei - i think the real challenge stems from the fact that the probability of success is not constant across schools like a coin toss, so you can't save the day by assuming it away

Just curious, did anyone attempt to calculate the likelihood of getting into at least one school out of the total list? If so how?

This is a great idea! I see that the post is dated February 12 though, any updates on the book?

That said, there is some sage advice in this short op-ed

Ground beef + red pepper paste (or tomato paste with LOTS of paprika) + basil + wee bit cumin and black pepper + just a couple of drops of lemon juice + crushed chili peppers not marinara, but this is one of the best i have come up with so far the other one includes feta and walnuts, but that is for another day..

Same here -international student- so waivers are a no no. I have been living on pasta and marinara sauce for longer than I care to elaborate. I have gone through this process before, so this is definitively my last time. Backup plans are the last thing I want to think about at this point really.

I thought more senior people occasionally moved around this way, but I stand corrected. Thanks

A caveat: An academic leave can occasionally be a signal for that person leaving for somewhere else. You might want to look into that possibility. If this scenario seems plausible, you may want to reduce the emphasis on that person in your SoP. I would still mention him/her though.

Slow. End of the semester workload is getting in the way of the apps. Things will be better after next week.

What is your goal for applying to grad school? You need to figure out that first. Do you want to be a scholar? Do you want a government job? Do you want to work in the think-tank world? Private sector? Consulting? Law maybe? This forum is for people applying to political science PhD programs. If you are not absolutely sure that this is what you want to do, STAY AWAY! DO NOT get yourself into this. (I guess this is valid for everyone in this forum, not just you) This is a pretty long list you have here about yourself. It seems that if you can secure decent GRE scores, your profile should keep you in the running wherever you apply - maybe apart from professional programs that specifically require work experience from applicants. However, you need to figure out what you want first.

Thanks Penelope. In any case it seems unwise to rely on working with Chiozza there. I find it a bit odd that a school with such resources as Vandy pours so much on American and leaves the IR subfield unattended with or without Chiozza. Still, I guess it is possible that restructuring the IR subfield is the next big thing on their agenda.

No I haven't yet but the recs and scores are already in. So there is no additional cost of completing the application now.

Wow! Chiozza is leaving? Big loss, hard to replace. He was my POI too. I don't know what to do about this now.

Is anyone reading this forum a student / faculty / graduate of Vanderbilt? If so, care to tell us what the environment is like for grad students? I am also curious about the state of IR subfield there. It seems there are only two IR faculty, so I wonder if they are planning to hire anyone soon.

I feel you. Though I am so behind on getting the apps done - and that UCSD thing did not help one bit...

I think this can be read as with whom you (have spoken + wish to study) = with whom you have spoken + with whom you wish to study So It seems fine to me