ani11

sounds good mate, I think you should give it a try! I have nuclear interests as well and my program selection is similar to yours (don't have Chicago and Berkeley though). Good luck with the cycle

yo guys I have a question on the writing sample. Most departments ask for somewhere between 20-30 pages and I'm planning on submitting my MPhil thesis for the same. Is it OK to submit a portion of the thesis? Naturally the thesis is >50 pages long and given the admissions committee is only going to read 20-25 pages I don't want to waste space on introduction/literature review etc and would rather have them see the methodology and discussion sections. On the other hand without some context they might fail to understand what's going on in the paper lol. Anyone got any insight on this?

I have but as I understand it funding for Masters programs are virtually non-existent and I will not be able to fund myself. Secondly I already have a masters degree (albeit in a different field) and doing another Masters degree before an eventual PhD means I lose even more time.

Thanks guys. The consensus seems to be that the SOP is vital and especially so since I will have to carefully explain switching streams and why I want to build a career in political science. I am definitely reading up as much as I can on current research in my field and the latest in academic journals. As for not taking any courses, I simply could not do so. The system in the UK is quite different to America and if you are studying engineering you do not get to pick political science modules. The closest I came to anything related to this was a science and technology policy module during my MPhil. The problem with applying to a PhD in public policy, even though I agree they do have faculty at many schools with very close interests to mine is that it is more of a Professional oriented course whereas I would like to go into academia. I will re-open exploring this option though as I might have made some hasty assumptions. CISAC is certainly on my radar, I've studied a lot of research that's come out of their faculty.

Hi everyone! Finally biting the bullet and going to pursue my dream of a career in Political Science. My undergraduate was in Nuclear Engineering and then a post-grad from Cambridge in Nuclear Energy. Will be applying to schools who have a strong focus on nuclear security issues and nuclear security policy. Currently looking at MIT, Stanford and Berkeley among others. U Grad GPA: First Class Honours (UK) MPhil GPA: Pass with merit (not a distinction) GRE: 168 Q, 167 V Research Experience/Publications: Currently working at the leading think-tank in my country, Masters' thesis at Cambridge and a few online publications (nothing peer-reviewed) Recommendation Letters: This is the real problem area in my application. I did not take any political science courses and I do not have professors who can attest to my interest or experience and ability in political science research. A recommendation from my undergrad will only be able to talk about my general academic and research ability and the recommendation from Cambridge will at the max be able to point to my Masters' thesis as evidence of quality research. Will be getting a third recommendation from a Senior Fellow at the think tank I now work at but it is unlikely to be earth shattering. What can I possibly do about this and will other aspects of my application be able to make up for it? Other Questions: 1- How should I present my Academic scores? Try to convert them to a standardized GPA score using conversions like the Fulbright one or simply present them as they are in the UK format? 2- There are few schools with a focus on nuclear security issues in the pol. science department and fit is clearly important. Yet, all the advice I read on here is to apply to as many places as possible. Initially I was only considering 5-6 schools but should I be increasing that number even at the cost of compromising on fit? 3- What do people on here think about this? http://chronicle.com/article/PhDs-From-Top/136113/ Is it worth considering a PhD program from a slightly lower ranked school? Which again links back to my question about applying to many schools. Thank you all