wpg205

Choosing which schools to apply to is really quite difficult. If you simply could not live without a PhD in poly-sci, than choosing where to apply is really tough because there are probably alot of places where you could see yourself going if you had no alternative. I am very conscious of the job market though, and I think the opportunity cost of a PhD is quite high. Consequently I was only willing to apply to programs that were a good fit and that I thought would give me a strong chance of having desirable TT options after graduation. I come from an economics background, so I didn't have much outside guidance on which schools would be a good fit. I had to mostly go on the USNWR rankings and then see if there were faculty at school who I would be interested in working with. I applied to twelve schools and was actually hoping to find some more in the 10 to 25 range, but I couldn't find many that seemed like a good intellectual and geographical fit. Also of note, the higher ranked programs at more prestiges schools simply seem to have more faculty and thus more opportunity for prospective students to see someone they could work with. It seems like tier 2 schools often specialized more in their department, whereas places at the top had specialists in everything. Basically, if you want to apply to a top program, you can usually justify it based on the faculty that are there, whereas second tier and lower departments there is less room to justify the fit. The fit is either really good, or totally absent. If you throw in geographical preferences, then finding acceptable second tier or lower schools gets quite difficult. I guess we will all get to see how it works out. Good luck to all, should be a big week.

I didn't apply to Wisconsin, but sorry to all those whose didn't make it. At least we are seeing some schools release.

My experience last cycle suggested that sometimes they don't send all the rejections at once. There were a few instances where they sent out acceptances and rejections and I heard nothing. Ultimately those all turned into rejections unfortunately. Maybe you are on a waitlist for the waitlist, but more likely they just have multiple mailing lists for rejections and they don't go out all at once. It's early though, and every school and year is different, so it is far, far too early to be pessimistic about this cycle.

I don't know about today, but the general consensus seems to be that its going to be a big week.

Per the Yale post, I think that it's a troll and that they deliberately said they got denied to make it seem more credible. The alternative is that maybe they emailed the department or POI and heard from them, but I suspect it's just someone trying to be funny. I didn't think the wait would bother me this much, but now that hearing from so many schools is so close, it is stressful.

Someone posted about Yale, anyone else hear anything? My inbox is empty and website is not updated.

I'm finding this very funny, if a little sad.

Thanks for the input. Let me clarify a little. I already have MA and BA, and have reported math grades up to real analysis/linear/calc III. I'm taking some more math now because I think it will be helpful, but I'm already reporting an abundance of classes and grades.

How important is the submission of fall grades? I'm taking a bunch of higher level math, and I think my grades will be alright. This issue is I will be away from a computer until mid January, so I won't be able to upload my grades to applications until then. I did include the fact that I was taking them on my application. Is that too late for them to matter? I get the impression that fall grades are not particularly important, but I would like to hear others' thoughts.

You have 8 days. Study hard. For American you need quant and verbal, so I would definitely try and get quant above 155 for mid ranked schools.

A weak GRE will definitely not help you. If you are very strong in other aspects of your application it can be compensated for, but there are definitely cut offs. What I would say is the GRE is very, very learnable as a test. I would cram as much as you can for it. I used magoosh, its kind of expensive but really, really good.

I think it would be weird to not discuss in your SoP. Your Sop is where you can introduce yourself and weave a narrative that brings some coherence to your experiences. Your grades and all that biochem are going to be obvious and unavoidable, and I think it would benefit your application if you put them properly in context. I would briefly explain that you have been interested in both poly-sci and biochem, but ultimately realized where your real passion was after dug deeper into biochem. Try and give them a good reason why you didn't pursue biochem, otherwise they might just assume it is just because you were bad at it. A good explanation of why you left biochem will make the bad grades look like a consequence of your lack of interest, rather than the other way around. Good luck.

I can't speak for political science, but I know in economics most dissertations are a collection of papers (that will hopefully become journal articles), that are typically but not always related. I imagine poly-sci is similar in more quantitative subfields and subjects.

Looking at your profile I would definitely think you have a good chance. I would strongly suggest aiming for 160+ on your GRE. From my experience it is a learnable test and if you put the time in those scores are possible for most people. Considering you want to go into American Studies, which can be very quantitative now, and theory, which is more qualitative, it will be important to do well on both parts of the GRE. Other than that, get a strong writing sample together and I think you should be in good shape. I would also consider adding more schools. Even for schools you are totally qualified for it is a crap shoot. There are simply too many qualified applicants for too few spots. Applying to only three schools just isn't enough to overcome how random the process is. Good luck.

Hey Reedlei, you took a look a look at my profile so I figured I would reciprocate. Overall your profile looks very strong. I think you are correct that your verbal and AWA are going to pose a challenge, but you are a foreign student so I think they will take that into consideration. Do you have a strong TOEFL score you can submit as well? That may help. For your statement of purpose remember that it is supposed to be about you. It is your one chance to speak directly to the entire department and weave a common thread through your education, research, work experience etc. I think adcoms want to see that you are familiar with the literature and have good ideas, but spending a lot of the SoP on something other than yourself would be a waste. Keep the description of your research interests and how they tie into the field down to a paragraph or two. I don't have any advice on which programs are appropriate. Given your application I think you should have a good shot at most programs. I would focus on making sure your writing sample is strong (this is another opportunity to show your written english is strong), and maybe getting a third rec from someone who knows you better. Good luck.

Thanks so much for giving me some feedback, it is really useful and very much appreciated. For China, I would definitely want to incorporate China into my studies. Given my specific research interests I am not entirely sure how to incorporate that in my SoP, but I can probably just drop a couple lines about my desire to continue doing China work and be OK. For school recs, why do say avoid Northwestern and Chicago? I don't know about NW, but I had heard good things about U-Chicago. Thanks again, and best of luck on your apps as well!

I would say definitely. It obviously depends on which programs you would like to attend, and your current scores probably won't exclude you from anywhere, but high scores would definitely help. Being a foreign student, I would especially try and get your quant score up. That is probably the most important sub-score, and being a foreign student it is expected that your verbal and AWA won't be as high as native speakers. I would also echo determinedandnervous. Some focused studying can go a long way. Even having taken the test once and knowing what you are in for may help you the next time. Good luck.

Hi All. Considering few want to opine on my profile I thought I would just ask for some advice about political science programs that people like. I am very interested in the development of political institutions and their relationship with economic development. In particular I am very interested in the framework from "Violence and Social Orders", and the ongoing debate concerning the origins of political institutions and their interaction with economic development (e.g. When States Fail, alot of the Acegmoglu & Robinson papers), as well as the work of Spruyt and Moore. I was also trying explore schools that have a very strong quantitative and methodology department, places like NYU, MIT, and Columbia. My top choices would definitely be Stanford or Harvard, but they are obviously a complete dream and even rather unlikely for those who are qualified. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for schools in the top 30 or so what be strong in this area. Any thoughts at all would be very much appreciated, schools, programs, professors, whatever. Thanks guys.

I'm a long time lurker on this forum who will be applying to Ph.Ds this fall. I was hoping for some advice on applications and suggestions for programs. Here we go: Type of Undergrad Institution: East Coast Top 30 Liberal Arts Major: Philosophy Undergrad GPA: 3.6 Type of Grad: Top IR M.A. Grad Focus: Quantitative Methods, China Studies Grad GPA: 3.9 GRE: 170 V, 166 Q (92%), 6 AWA Any Special Courses: Lots and lots of Econ (95% As) , Calc I, II & III, Linear Algebra, Real Analysis (all As), Statistics, Econometrics (All As). Currently taking ODE, Probability Theory, and Theory Functions of a Real Variable (grad level, mostly measure theory, lebesgue integration) Letters of Recommendation: Have up to four solid LOR, but they are all Economists, some at the Federal Reserve (see below) and two from MA. Research Experience: Two years as an RA as the Board of Governors in DC, but nothing published Teaching Experience: N/A Subfield/Research Interests: State Formation, Institutions and origins of development Other: Honors in Undergrad and MA, Award for top student in department in MA, near fluency in Mandarin I am basically looking for input for A. How to strengthen my application, B. Which programs would be a good fit/possible to get in. I know my strengths are my quant and econ background and my GREs, my weaknesses will be lack of Poly-sci classes (only a few), LoR from economists, lack of publications, and probably not great writing sample (only have econ and nothing I am really proud of). I am interested in doing Comparative Politics and Methodology, in particular the study of institutional development, origins of the state, and institutional competition, but from a more quantitative/modeling perspective and less qualitative. Long term I definitely want to be doing research. Stanford would be my top choice, but I know even with a strong application its a crap shoot. Any advice on schools that would be a good fit would be greatly appreciated, as well as advice on anything I can do to strengthen my application. Thanks.