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alphazeta

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Everything posted by alphazeta

  1. There's a substantial difference in practices between American and foreign testing centers. A few years back they even suspended administration of the computer-based version because of widespread cheating, see "Jig is Up for GRE Cheaters" I'm just another applicant, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt. I've heard that the writing section matters, just not very much. Obviously, committees have an SOP (and often a writing sample) so they can evaluate your writing on their own, but it still boosts an applicant to have a high score and it's a red flag to have a low one.
  2. Based on last year, I doubt Columbia is done. It looks like last year, they sent out a flood of acceptances on a Friday as well as some rejections (that being Feb 19). After that, though, it appears that a few more accepts/waitlists trickled in. It's possible those were just people posting late, but someone claimed an email acceptance from Feb 25.
  3. Historically, it looks like Columbia admits have come out the third Friday in February. February 19 in 2010. February 20 in 2009. However, in 2008, it was the fourth friday (Feb 22). In any case, I'm expecting them to come out today.
  4. It looks like all the Princeton accepts so far are in American or Comparative. Is there hope for IR and theory?
  5. Does anyone have any experience with/insights into negotiating a better funding offer? One of my acceptances so far mentioned that they would consider attempting to match other department's offers and I'm wondering if this is conventional. What's the best way to go about requesting more $$$? Would doing so at a department that didn't offer matching be seen as greedy and possibly spoil your relationship?
  6. Just a guess, but I don't think they're done. Mine (IR) just got posted an hour ago and it looks like some people's were this morning, so I wouldn't be surprised to see more tomorrow.
  7. I haven't actually heard anything yet myself, just the website message. I imagine some sort of email/USPS message from the department is forthcoming. I do, however, have a good friend who goes to UVA (undergrad) and was also accepted for the PhD. He told me that a UVA prof told him to expect to hear about money within the next two weeks. Apparently, though, they let people know about money in waves rather than all at once.
  8. The PhD is, simply put, a research degree. If you look at the CVs of people who teach at top LACs, you'll notice that they mostly went to the same schools as people who teach at top research universities. Looking at, for example, Swarthmore's faculty (see here), the faculty come from: Princeton, Yale (x2), Harvard (x2), UCSD, UChicago, Oxford, and OSU. For another top teaching school, this time Middlebury, I find people from Harvard (x3), Chicago, Cornell (x2), American, Stanford, Colorado, Emory, Berkeley (x2), and Princeton. In other words, a very similar mix of schools to what you would find at a research-focused school. What I've been told is that for a teaching career, you should just go to the program that fits you best in terms of quality and research interests, then try to take whatever opportunities are available there to do as much teaching as possible.
  9. Is that for all subfields?
  10. With the caveat that I'm just another undergrad applying to PhD programs for the fall, I don't think the writing samples tend to matter much. I'm aware of a fairly large number of departments that don't even require a sample, so it seems like it can't really be that important to any of them. From talking to my professors, I understand the factors that matter most like this. First are the "weed out" factors like GPA and GRE scores. If you don't make it over certain "humps" on these, your file probably gets just a cursory look. If nothing immediately stands out, it goes in the trash. After that, you start to look at the person's SOP and start to evaluate basic "fit". Are there people in the department working in the same general area? If no, discard. Then, you really get in depth with the applicants. You're looking both for synergy with faculty and for potential to do top-quality research. I've been told that the focus here is on the SoP and letters, but it's also where the writing sample comes in. Obviously every department is different, but no one is going to invest the time in really reading your sample unless you've made it over the previous humps, your SoP draws them in, and your letters are good. The writing sample can demonstrate potential and also fit, but I think it's less likely than the other factors do that, which is probably why many departments don't ask for one.
  11. Depends how good the letters are and if they bring something different to the table or not (in my opinion). If you have four letters that say substantially the same thing, then you don't gain or lose anything by sending them. Perhaps there's some slight benefit from having four people reiterate that you're a good student, but that might be outweighed by the committee being annoyed with reading the same thing four times. On the other hand, if every letter says something different you might be onto something; for example, if you had one letter from a professor you did research for, one from an honors advisor, one from a prof you took a seminar with and wrote a nice paper, and one from a prof who's famous and/or knows people at a program you're interested in. Obviously, that has some potential. What I'd be afraid of is a situation like this: Rec 1: "X is fantastic! One of, if not the, best students I've ever had" Rec 2: "X is downright brilliant." Rec 3: "X is a very clever researcher and wrote one of the best undergrad seminar papers I've ever read" Rec 4: "X is a good student and did well in my class" In this situation, Rec 4 is still positive, but I think it works against you. The first three recs are absolutely gushing, and will leave the committee thinking that you're incredible, but the 4th brings you back down to earth. So, personally, my strategy was to pick the three professors I know liked me the most and will write the most superlative letters. I added a 4th letter at one school, where my professor is a recent PhD alum, figuring that his personal connection might help me.
  12. I'm not an old hand, but rather a current applicant. That said, I'm willing to read an SOP for anyone who will also read mine. Just message me if interested.
  13. I'm looking to do a master of public policy with a focus on international relations, and particularly international security. What are the good ones that aren't impossible to get into? Kennedy and Wilson both sound like great programs, but they are more of my "reach schools". Anyone know of good programs that are a bit less selective? Thanks.
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