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!

According to my knowledge of the admissions process (from talking to other accepted students during school visits, professors etc.), the top schools are mostly competing for the same group of students, so for someone to have multiple offers from good schools is really not that uncommon. If you get into Harvard or Columbia etc., it is pretty likely that you will be offered admissions to other top schools; the correlation is strong. What PH is talking about is quite true... Someone mentioned SP's "low" GPA - note that GPA is not just a simple number, it is interpreted in the context of the classes taken, rigor of the school etc. I have a 3.77 (with a lot of math and econ classes) and I did fine in this year's admissions cycle. Let's just congratulate SP, and everyone else who is lucky enough to have admission offer(s) this year. This year has been exceptionally competitive.

I really don't think that it is a good idea to call someone a troll just because he/ she is successful with his/ her applications. I do know real people who got into every single top 10 programs that they applied to. Personally I will not defame another individual without solid evidence.

School Review! Duke faculty: I really like the faculty there - they are brilliant but also very friendly. I actually got to ask some of the professors at Duke on my other potential choices, and they were very kind to give me some advices. The department is very collegial. prospective cohort: Some of you guys are probably on this forum too! I really like the students Duke admitted - smart and serious about political science but also very nice. Lots of people also seem to be fun (in the sense that their lives are more than just about PoliSci!) grad students: all very nice and friendly, and seem to be pretty happy living/ studying at Duke. miscellaneous observations: 1) Seem to be a department that provides very good formal/ method training. I was impressed by the grad students' strong methods knowledge when I visited. 2) Seem to be a place where someone may learn a lot, but also relax (not a competitive environment at all, according to my observation) 3) The departmental supporting network for grad students seems to be very strong - you will not "sink" if you attend Duke 4) According to a professor, Duke can "make sure that a second rate student to at least place at a second rate school, and a first rate student to definitely place at a first rate school". I agree with the professor. 5) Note that Duke does not provide grad student housing, so grad students need to find apartments/ houses on their own (the department and other grad students would help you though). 6) Definitely need a car if you attend Duke. Need a car to get to anywhere. 7) Last, but really important, Duke has radically revamped its Political Science department. Now Duke is not longer divided into the four subfields of IR, American, Comparative, Theory. Now it is: political economy, security and peace, political institutions, religion and politics, identity and politics, methodology, normative theory (I might not remember all of the names exactly right, and I might have missed one or two fields, but you can get a general idea). Duke Ph.D students will graduate with the qualifications above instead of the old ones. The rationale for the new organization, to put it simply, is to facilitate interdisciplinary research. The Duke professors make a pretty compelling argument that original divisions are pretty idiosyncratic, and that they wish to transcend traditional boundaries. The cohort's reaction to the reform are mixed. For international security, political theory and methods people, there's actually not much change. The new organization, on the other hand, probably benefits the comparativists the most. My feeling is that the Americanists are the most skeptical of the changes. And as someone doing IR theory and IPE, I am a little nervous about the new organization too. However, in sum, I think the new reforms are revolutionary and reflect the department's drive to pursue top notch research at the frontiers of political science. 8) There are a lot of German students, and a lot of them are studying comparative. In sum, a great school!! I am quite impressed, to be honest. And Duke provides a very nice benchmark for me to evaluate the other schools that I am visiting. Post your review, people, when you have time! We can help the future applicants, and even people from our cohort to make decisions on where to attend grad school!

sigh...the UMN email was a facetious and rude joke.

Thanks! Hmm I am leaning towards Princeton now, but I think I will have to visit Harvard before making up my mind. Both schools are pretty good for my subfield! By the way, it is quite funny the number of people who uses the "when I was a kid" approach to start their PS. I guess studying political science is in all of our nature.

^ The way you start your PS is really nice! It is an elegant piece of writing.

I am going to visit Duke this weekend (Princeton and Harvard a little later), and I plan to keep a record of the answers I got to my questions from the professors, general feeling of the program etc. Do you guys think that it is a good idea for us to post our information and thoughts on different schools here? It can help us to decide where to go and the future applicants to decide where to apply to.

Just want to "revive" this thread since the admissions cycle has come to an end for some of us - mind posting your statement? Nothing to lose for people who already got all the offers - we can help people who are planning to reapply/ future applicants!

I am IR/ Comparative.

Swarthmore.