Ziz

I would say definitely include it. Even if you think it's trivial, it's an accomplishment nonetheless. Even if it doesn't help, it can't hurt.

One of the department websites for a California school actually said "because we guarantee funding for all students admitted and international students are liable to pay higher fees, it is extremely unlikely that international studetns will be admitted."

Usually you can ahve the system send your recommenders emails before you even submit the application. All the online applications I have seen so far will let you continue to access the recommender information even after you submit. So if you submit a recommender and they go MIA, you still ahve the opportunity to remove them and add someone else.

I have exactly the same situation. I'm trying to remind myself that 15 days is quite a bit of time. However, if I have not heard from him by the 12th I have a backup I can ask, luckily.

I'm so glad that someone started this thread. I was anal retentive and read through the entirety of last year's thread (and I'm sure there are others willing to admit to that too!) and thought it was great. Good luck to all!

Let me just reply that given the suddenness of Princeton's application, I am feeling very uneasy adn convinced that there is a massive typo somewhere in it.

Princeton lured me to the Submit button by offering a $20 reduction on the fee if I pay by December 1. But then it happened without me even realizing. There was no "are you sure?" or application inspector, or anything. I pressed 'confirm payment' adn that was that!

I don't think so. I think you have to pick one. The MA in Toronto may have funding too - I rejected my offer before I could find out.Masters are normal here before PhD so it's not like the States where MAs are generally never funded. There will be TAships etc for MA students.

I think the MSc by research is only a 1 year program, whereas the MPhil would be a 2 year program that coudl count towards part of your PhD. Generally MScs are standalone degrees, whereas MPhils transition you right into the PhD without having to re-apply (assuming that you complete the requirements at a high enough standard). Usually in the UK they consider a PhD to be an MPhil/PhD. Meaning you apply to the MPhil and transfer after a couple years, and the thesis for your MPhil (usually about 30,000 words) would be a few chapters of your final PhD thesis. So when they say transfer between the MSc and the MPhil you should read it as "do a masters first, then start your PhD"

The MSc Edinburgh isn't as hard to get into, but the MPhil Cambridge was hard. I applied twice and was rejected both times, but got into Oxford so who knows?!

Just out of curiosity have you considered the Cambridge MPhil Intellectual History and Political Thought? It's a very good programme and lots of people at Cambridge are into intellectual history.

Would you be applying for the direct-entry PhD or MA at Toronto? They offer a PhD straight out of undergrad but the admissions criteria more stringent than for the MA - 4 LORs, higher GPA, etc. When I was in 4th year undergrad I got into the MA and I had about an A average at the time - not sure how that equates to GPA but I'm pretty sure a 3.8 would be more than enough.

I want to study political theory but although I became interested in my topic while doing a masters in political theory, I have been told by several professors that my interests would be better served in a philosophy department. Unfortunately philosophy departments are iffy (to put it mildly) about accepting non-philosophy majors and are insanely difficult to get into anyway. So I am hedging my bets and hoping someone somewhere will take me. Undergrad GPA - no idea, but my degree was a 'First' and/or A average Masters GPA - no idea but degree was 'distinction' which is as high as it goes GRE - 710V/720Q/5.5 hopefully an adequate Q score for theory Work experience, field research experience (in development, not theory though) and a paper under consideration for publication. I have to say that not having a standard US GPA makes it very difficult to judge where I stand and what my chances in various places are. I've seen some comparisons between the UK and US systems, but the highest the UK goes is 'First' and the US makes that equivalent to a 3.7, however since there's nothing higher than a First, are we all just assumed to have 3.7 and no one any higher? I'm sure the schools are used to it and I"m not worried about that, it just makes it hard for applicants to judge their own chances. Rant over.

I can't believe no one has mentioned this yet... The Cracking the GRE (at least the 2009 version) is WRONG. I used it to study and was getting a lot of really easy questions wrong and not understanding why. I found the teaching material was good, but the answers to their practice questions are WRONG WRONG WRONG. I know this because I did a google search after getting frustrated with getting simple questions wrong, adn found that a lot of people have commented on this. Sometimes the explanation in the back doesn't even match the question, so buyer beware. Use it for skills it teaches, but do not rely on the practice questions/answers.

I'm switching from political science to philosophy but it's not a huge stretch. I did almost exclusively political theory/philosophy in my undergrad and masters. I have found, however, that the UK schools are much more open to this, but philosophy departments in the States wont' even consider you without a philosophy undegrad.

I'm hoping that maybe us theorists are exempt! :S Mine was far from terrible (720) but it's also not a tip top score.

If it makes you feel any better, I had a similar problem until today. I had written a former prof in mid-October asking if he would act as my reference. He hadn't responded so I wrote him off in my head and was panicking trying to find someone else (another prof of mine is on sabbatical and said she couldn't be my reference until January) since 2 of my apps are due December 15. Then randomly out of the blue today he wrote me back saying he would be happy to be my reference again. So basically it took a month, but he did write back. So don't give up all hope, but do try to look at other options and possibly line up a back-up.

I'm a bit confused. You said there aren't any other professors at your school that want to take you as their advisee, so why do you think they would be insulted/annoyed if they knew you were applying to other programmes? Surely they would recognize that their school is no longer a good fit for you since the other professor left, and would want to help you find a place that could provide a supervisor.

I did my masters at the LSE and they required an upper second (2.1) which they said was equivalent to a 3.5 in the US GPA system. Cambridge said they required a 2.1 or 3.7 so I would say it probably works out to between 3.5-3.7 for an upper second and 3.7+ for a first.

They're clearly using the 250 words per page estimate that all professors seem to use, yet every student knows essays work out to about 300 words per page. I would go with the page limit. Look at it this way, they will see your sample is between 4 and 6 pages. THey aren't going to do a word count if it is in the acceptable range. If it were 7 pages, they might do a word count to see if it is still acceptable...

I have had an interesting experience with contacting profs in the UK and US/Canada with very different experiences. So far both professors in the UK have responded very enthusiastically, saying how much they would like to work with me, my topic is original and interesting, and they really hope I will apply. The American/Canadians have said something along the lines of "whether a student gets in is based on their application, not a professor's recommendation. good luck".

I have to agree with Jacob's assessment. I was as masters student at LSE in the same department you are considering. I had a fabulous time at LSE and I found the quality of my education to be quite high. That being said, however, the facilities are very cramped, there are no 'perks' (TAships, office space, etc.) for masters students because there are so many of them and you are treated like an undergrad. I can't speak for conditions at other UK universities, but I had always thought that an MBA carried more weight in business than a MSc in politics so I would probably go for the MBA.

I am admittedly not American and not 100% sure about how GPAs work, but from the 2 US grad applications I have filled in so far, there have been 2 boxes for GPA. One for your overall GPA and one for your major. I have to think that they ask for the major GPA so they can see hwo you did in philosophy specifically, not biology or calculus. A lot of schools in the US seem to have breadth requirements as well so I bet there are quite a few students in the humanities who have a poor math or science grade on their transcript. I wouldn't worry about it.

I found the practice tests slightly easier than the actual GRE, though some of that could have been that I was nervous on the actual day. On my practice verbal sets I was getting around 740-780 and I got a 710, but as everyone knows the verbal really is a crapshoot and the words on my actual GRE were pretty killer. The practice math was pretty varied. I was getting anywhere from 680-780 and I came out with a 720. I found the actual GRE math slightly harder than the practice, but as I said I was quite nervous. All this to say that I think that the practice tests are overall a pretty good measure, but don't be surprised if you do slightly better or worse on the actual GRE, especially in the verbal section. Good luck!

Ah! Thank you...I even read that thread. My mind is clearly going to mush...