Hopeful21

Ok just from my experience, because I was in a similar position to ajayghale, my undergrad GPA was actually lower than yours! So I did an MA and was awarded Salutatorian. I did this specifically to atone for the weakness of my undergrad degree. So in terms of the arguments for and against reaching out, I think it depends on the department and what individual professors prefer. For me, I wanted to make sure that I would find a faculty member or members in a department that were willing to communicate with students. And decided I wouldn't apply to programs that I received no response from faculty in. I researched extensively which departments in the US were the best for my research interests. In this process, I disregarded rank, and focused only on the kinds of research the department was engaged in. And then I put together an informal statement of purposes more like a cover letter type email that was rather detailed, and I emailed professors that I believe that I could work with, where my interests intersected. I also attached a copy of my MA thesis, a research paper I had prepared and asked them to review and advise if I would be a fit for the program. I hit the jackpot, because one of the actual POIs I emailed and advised me that I was a great fit in their department actually was on the admissions committee and as soon as the committee made the decision, he emailed me and told me I was admitted with funding. I guess, I don't wish to articulate an argument either way, I just wanted to share my experience. Despite having such a poor undergrad GPA and weak quant GRE, I have received 3 offers so far. I think reaching out in my case was really important in helping to overcome the shortcomings in other parts of my application.

I consider myself really lucky, this was my first cycle, applied as an international student with an awful quant GRE score and poor undergrad GPA. However, using the forums and constructing my applications whilst taking into account everyone's tips and advice has resulted in me receiving 3 offers out of 8 so far! One being my 2nd choice with funding for 5 years! Just awaiting an admission decision from my top choice, where two POIs invited me to the campus yesterday and advised me that I'm very likely to get admission! Irrespective of that outcome, with at least one good offer, I'm confident that I've survived this cycle! Everyone who is still waiting, don't give up hope! My file wasn't the strongest overall but I've been able to overcome it in other areas. I don't think I would have been able to achieve this without everyone's advice and support on here! Thanks so much! I am so grateful for this thread and all of you on here!

First of all a MASSIVE congratulations to you!! It's a wonderful program! I was just wondering if anyone else had received anything as yours is the only post up on the board at the moment I applied as well, but haven't heard anything from them. I'm taking it as a probable sign of rejection, it was a long shot for me anyway being an international student and it looks like they release admissions before rejections based off of previous years! But not to take the gloss off of your wonderful news at all! Congratulations once again and I wish you all the best in the program!!

Hey there, can anyone claim the UCSD Ethnic Studies admit on the board?

No news is good news? Actually, I feel a lot better having two clear rejections from programs than a week ago when I was in limbo. I feel your pain.

I'm in the same boat as you! I was told by a prof at UCSD that nearly all the UC schools find it impossible to admit international students as there really isn't the funding streams available and departments find it difficult to justify the huge amount required to cover tuition for international students. Which means that even if you have an incredible file, it's still very difficult to get admission there. Not impossible, but a whole lot more difficult. I factored that in when I chose the schools I applied to, and have taken the two rejections I've received so far in that context. Knowing that they were both UC schools, (the only UC schools I applied to). They kind of don't really count in my mind. I don't feel like my application was read in the same light as other applicants because of that. I wouldn't be alarmed at this stage, you still have some good options at schools that give us international students more of a fighting chance! UCSD and Stanford are also incredibly competitive programs. Hoping for the best for you, I and everyone else on these boards who are probably enduring one of the most anxious periods of their lives!!!

Who would have thought waiting around doing nothing could be so darned exhausting!? I received a letter in the mail from a school I applied to this evening when I got home from work, I thought it may have been a decision. alas, It was merely a confirmation of my application posted in November that had been delayed in transit obviously. Whomp whomp! Good luck to everyone still waiting for good news! I'm certainly feeling the anxiety now!

Sheesh, there's a lot of red on the results page. Misery definitely loves company right now. Got my first rejection yesterday from Berkeley but it wasn't in Pol Sci, a half-hearted attempt to switch disciplines was easily seen through by the adcom and I wasn't a good fit really, so not disappointed. I'm sure it'll pick up soon for all of us though. Good luck everyone!

Worst thing about living in Asia throughout this whole process is that when people say things like "results will probably be up by Monday," I read the comment on our Monday get all excited and then realize oh wait, it means Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning for us! LOL Congrats to everyone who have received admissions results so far! And all the best to everyone like me, still waiting! It's not that long to go now!

I'm just gonna go with no news is good news right now. All the best and hoping it will be more fruitful for you this time around!

Oh yeah you're right, I saw they interviewed in 2013, didn't see any for 2014 when I did a search. Well whatever happens now is completely beyond our control I guess!

LOL yeah, it's my first cycle applying too. I just checked on the results page from previous cycles, and there wasn't any indication of interviews reported on there in previous years, but I guess it's not a comprehensive tracking method by any stretch. I am going with you on this one. Stellar, meaning no interview needed! HA! Good luck to you! Hopefully we both get good news soon!

Do you know whether this is typical of UW? I haven't seen this done before in any of the previous cycles on here. So I'm trying to stay hopeful as to what this could possibly signal. The best feedback I've come across so far is that silence means silence. Nothing else.

I just saw another one today. Haven't heard anything from them either. So if it makes you feel any better, I'm also starting to feel antsy about being already disregarded lol!

Thanks for taking the time to answer all my questions! Really appreciate it!

Darn I just posted this question in some length on the faculty perspectives page! Oops!

I do have a pair of questions that's related to GPA and the GRE that I haven't been able to find a definitive response either way to through these forums. If it has been answered somewhere else, I apologise profusely for wasting your time (and would question my ability to conduct thorough research if I haven't been able to to locate the thread). I'm an international student applying for graduate school in the US for the first time. My situation is really quite unorthodox, I'm applying from Asia, but I'm actually from the Western hemisphere so-to-speak. I didn't apply to OSU, but have done so to a total of 10 different programs where I have made contact with potential POIs, checked for fit, and all of which I received positive responses from and agreement that my interests and proposed research area are within the bounds of their department's focus and recommended that I should apply there. Most indicated that they would be happy to work with me if I gained admission. (Although I suspect they say this to all the potential students). I didn't apply to any schools where I didn't receive a reply from faculty, or I was given lukewarm signs of possible fit. I do have quite a well-formulated idea for potential research projects which I submitted to all POIs for perusal before applying. So I'm pretty sure that I'm not taking a stab in the dark here. I graduated as an undergraduate with an awful GPA overall due to ill health and personal circumstances. This was explained in my SOP and one of my LOR writers was able to vouch for this as well. It would probably be converted to a 2.2 in the US scale,although my major GPA (comparative politics) was about a 3.2/4.0 keeping in mind that grading where I come from is significantly harsher than most US systems, and I actually managed to be admitted to the honours program. It is the top university in my country and is consistently highly ranked on international scales. Although I know that this means diddly squat in the US, after I managed to get over my health problems and personal issues, I was fortunate to gain admission to a top university in Asia to complete my MA, in IR where I was admitted thanks to a great in-person interview. Having conquered my personal demons and recovered my health, I become a much better and focused student. My MA GPA is high, 3.9/4.0 and I was able to graduate as Salutatorian, wrote a highly lauded dissertation (by my evaluation committee anyway) and have been working as a researcher for a think-tank for nearly a year. I also have a paper that is very close to publication in a journal that is well respected in my research focus area. So having provided some context to my situation, my questions are as follows: 1. In your experience as faculty members, and Adcom members, or students who have gone through this process before, can a record of strong or exceptional academic performance in your MA career help to atone for the misdemeanours of an undergraduate transcript that was ravaged by the challenges of your past during the admissions process? - My feeling is that the answer to this will probably be: it depends. Which is why I tried to provide as much context as I could. 2. My GRE quant score is low (147), my verbal is solid, but not exceptional (160), and my AW is excellent (5.5). In this case, does having a high AW score go some way in helping to limit the damage that 147 will do? I know that it has been mentioned here that the AW portion is often disregarded completely by adcoms in pol sci, and I may just be clutching at straws to try and give myself hope of not being flat out rejected. I am so disappointed in my quant score as my dissertation actually used quant analysis. including regression, as a methodological approach to a theory that I have been developing. I used this also as my writing sample to try to demonstrate that I'm not a complete nong when it comes to quant methods. I even got an A grading in methods class for my MA. I guess I'm really bad at taking standardized tests, and it really showed on the GRE which I only took once, due to not having enough time to study for it. Granted, the overall message seems to be that there is no way for sure that you can know whether you will be ruled out for any possible reasons. I think that I'm just becoming more paranoid now that the admission decisions are going to start rolling out in a couple of weeks, but any feedback would be most appreciated. - And yes, I know that there's nothing I can do now, but it's in these moments of silence where I find that the noise of my past becomes the loudest! I think I'm just suffering from a crisis of confidence and perhaps this should be in the freakouts thread! Thanks in advance!

I'm willing to bet my kitchen sink that you'll get an offer from at least 2 out of 3 programs, if not from all 3.

I have been lurking around these forums since the end of December and I thought that I should show my solidarity in suffering, by indicating that I too have thrown my hat into the ring. I applied to 10 programs. 8 in pol sci, and 2 ethnic studies as my research area overlaps both disciplines. Although I feel that I have a strong profile, I'm an international student with a very unorthodox story, which has led me to this point in time in applying for a place in a PhD program in the United States. I have to say that I'm glad that I didn't go through these forums in any microscopic detail before I submitted my final application. I think it would have taken my stress levels from 50 to 100! Of course, there is so much valuable feedback that everyone provides, but the overwhelming message I have been able to discern from everyone's posts and past experiences, is that there is no way to know for sure either way, why a person is admitted or rejected. And really it can come down to many things not limited to just fit, such as whether or not your application was at the bottom of a pile at the end of an intensive 2-week evaluation period, where one member of the Adcom hadn't had their daily caffeine fix, or for me, whether or not the department has the resources to support an international student. But I would never have been able to make this 'balanced' judgment analytically and apply it to my situation if I was still in the throes of a violent mind-blasting application period that I had no idea would sap so much energy and sleep from my daily existence, which went on for months! Reading these forums after I submitted my applications actually has given me more of a "Zen-like" approach to what is bound to be a brutal acceptance/rejection notification period in the not too distant future! I'm thankful to have everyone's posts on here to keep me both entertained and somewhat hopeful of a positive outcome! Good luck everyone!!!

I just tried to 'vote up' some of your comments one-too-many times it seems. Grad cafe said that I've 'reached the limit of positive vibes you can give out' today. How depressing. Even the forum thinks that we should be miserable while we're waiting!