applying12010

First of all, congrats! It's true about the yield rate about Harvard. In my cohort, there are only two-three people who turned down the offer (I think for Stanford), out of 27 people admitted. Realist is right on about the programs. PM me if you need more information -- it came down to Princeton and Harvard for me last year when I was choosing between schools.

Oops. I need to be better at stalking the big professors!

Oh...that is extremely sad Her book on trade policy is really brilliant... Thanks for reminding me of Satyanath. Let\s add David Stasavage, Brueno De Mesquita and Alastair Smith to the list too! Now I felt dumb that I didn't apply to NYU last year, haha.

One thing to note: people's research interests in grad school often change, so have an open mind. In my opinion, it is a good idea to judge departments based on their overall strengths in your subfield (or sub-subfield), and not your "current work" done as an undergrad. I think NYU is a rising department. Aside from Gilligan, Fiorina McGillivray also does interesting stuff on trade. Rebecca Morton and Adam Przeworski are also there. Rosendorff might also be in NYU? You should definitely apply. For me, it's heavily quantitative focus is a concern though. I do a lot of formal theory and methods, but I think theory and substance are also pretty important. Mixed-method is the way to go these days. Oh, and a correction. Pevehouse moved to Harris school in Chicago from Wisconsin a few years ago.

I do know of people who transferred from one PhD program to another, but I don't know where to get information from on transfers. According to what I know, the main idea to just do really well in the program you got into to and demonstrate to the professors there that you will really benefit from moving to a higher ranking program.

Hmm I encourage you to actually apply to your broader list of schools this year. IMO, there's no reason to not apply to Wisconsin Madison and WashU if you are applying to MIT and NYU, given what you want to study. The latter two schools are actually weaker in IPE. Just apply to as many programs as possible this year that are: 1) good fits for you; 2) will ensure that you are employable. PhD admissions are political science are extremely competitive (and getting more competitive) now, so try to cast a wide net and pick your schools after you get in. If you are talking about Harvard, Stanford and Princeton, the admit rates are between 3.5-5%. Schools like MIT, Duke, Cornell are a bit easier, around 8-10% (according to what I know about admissions last year). Oh, you should look at Duke too by the way. They train people very well, and people from Duke have been getting pretty decent jobs. I am not that familiar with Ohio State. I don't think their IPE is that strong though...More security there (Bearmueller, Schweller, Wendt). Jens Hainmueller is quite brilliant. However, note that IPE is not too strong at MIT in general, and Hainmueller is still a junior scholar. He might not have the weight to chair your dissertation committee by the time you are on the job market. And if you want training in formal theory, you have to go to Harvard since Jim Snyder just moved this year. On cohort size, MIT cohort this year has only 8 people, if I remember right. So if you like your cohort to be tiny... Btw, I applied to an MA earlier because I wasn't sure if I want a PhD, and I just wanted to go to London and have fun for a year in Europe (I went to LSE for political economy). It sounds like you know that you want to do research, so really makes more sense for you to try to get into a PhD program.

Ahh, that sucks about UCSD. I actually ran into the same issue when I was looking at UCSD. I forgot one more school - Wisconsin-Madison. Great department with good IR/ IPE people (Lisa Martin, Andrew Kydd, John Pevehouse etc.). For LSE political economy, the methods course you might be able to opt out. Try apply, get in and then talk to the professors about taking more advanced methods course. LSE has plenty of difficult econometrics classes that you are take. Good point about variance, I don't think I know enough about admissions to comment on the issue though. However, I think the main thing that you have to bear in mind is that you will be competing with a bunch of people who have 3.8/ 3.9 GPAs with low variance and straight As in econ/ math. I think the most important thing you can do now is to make sure that you have an absolutely brilliant personal statement (ask for your professors to read your draft if they have free time!). The rec letters you can't influence, and your GRE scores are really good already. Writing samples don't matter as much. By the way, you can always enter a Ph.D program, and then transfer later. This way you can avoid accruing a lot of debt (Master's are generally unfunded). This is not uncommon. Best of luck! You sound very qualified Hope the variance in your GPA won't raise red flags in the programs you apply to...Let me know if you need help with your SOP. I have my finals right now but I might be able to read through it quickly and give you some comments.

Maybe also look at WashU, Rochester, UCLA and UCSD? All four schools are pretty decent in quant, and all have pretty good IPE people too, especially UCSD with David Lake and Lawrence Broz. Additionally, I have you have a good chance of getting into the three programs given your stats. They might not be the most prestigious programs, but they train their students really well (maybe even better compared to one of the top 5-6 programs), and graduates from the four programs do pretty well on the job market. To be honest, I would probably go to UCSD instead of MIT or even Yale (although Ken Scheve is there) if I want to study IPE/ formal (actually, I do study IPE, haha). The GPA factor is a real concern. Among your original list, I think all the schools aside from NYU will be tricky. The fact that you have been taking a lot of econ/ math classes will help with the GPA problem, but a lot of people nowadays are applying to the top programs with extremely strong econ/ math background. In the end, a lot of it will be based on luck and the "intangibles" (SOP, letters). A master's will probably help. What kind of Master's are you thinking about applying to? LSE has a Master's in Political Economy that would probably be a good fit for you...only thing is that I think it requires a 2:1 (or around 3.7 GPA). Good luck!

You sound extremely qualified, but the GRE verbal score is too low...Your application profile probably won't even reach the admissions committees since most schools (Columbia is an exception though if I remembered right) have a cut off point for GRE scores. Is it possible for you to take the GRE again? (I know there's only very little time left...) PM me if you want some tips on how to prepare for the verbal. I am also an international student. Best of luck!

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7469383/

bump for the applicants this year!

I think you need 700 in both sections to make sure that your file gets read for a top 10. Some of the schools list lower average scores for verbal for example, but I don't know, people whom I met who got into those programs generally have higher GRE scores than the average scores that were reported... I actually took my GRE while I had a horrible cold/ fever. And I took too much cold medicine right before the exam (I wanted to suppress the fever so that I can take it), which gave me bad diarrhea during the exam (side effect of the medicine if you take large doses of it). I actually to run to the bathroom several time, and I still had my fever. I still survived and managed to do ok! So don't be nervous, you will be ok! At least you don't have to take the GRE sick!

For applicants this year, some (hopefully helpful) advice on writing PS: 1) Maybe I am worrying too much, but don't try to "copy" the application essays on this thread. Use them to give you a general idea of what to expect, but nothing more. Be creative and don't feel restricted by what is posted here! I have a friend (I know, it's a sample size of one...) who tried to "copy" a grad application essay (same structure etc.) that got someone into the best grad schools, didn't really help him/ her (rejected from every single school). 2) Make sure that you start writing early and ask for feedbacks from your professors or TAs (if you know them well enough). They know what professors like to read! 3) When I was writing my PS, a professor told me that two things in the PS will get someone into a good school: a) demonstration of general brilliance; fit. I think it's a good thing to keep in mind when I write your PS. I hope this is useful. Good luck, and don't stress out too much!

About 25 people came. Several of us are probably turning down Duke, so good luck!