s1994

You make GRE sound so formidable... 3 hours/day for 1 month should be sufficient for one to hit that 325/330 threshold (assuming one reads intensely and critically throughout her four years in college), without any prep courses. Hitting 330 is not that hard; it really isn't... What I get from this thread is that people are "devilizing" or under-emphasizing GRE a little bit, which can be misleading and problematic to prospective students when they read this thread next year. However, I do respect your opinions. Congrats on your NU offer and good luck with your other applications!

So... no Duke today I assume?

At least no news is better than bad news at this juncture ...

Moreover, unless the international student's letter writes have mainstream publications and renowned pedigrees (i.e. Tsinghua/Peking in China, or Tokyo/Waseda in Japan, ...), the efficacy of the letters is also diminished.

Is it good to put emphasis on GRE grades? No. And most schools don't. A lot of them do a "cut-off" -- They do not care that much if you ace the test. Is it important to study GRE and get a good score? Yes. That's how you cope with the entire application process so that you can get your file reviewed carefully. Being deterred from applying to Ph.D. programs because your friends are told that GRE is important? Well, if they have the time to perform excellently in class to get fantastic letters, to do research diligently and write a publishable WS, and to have tons of research experiences, why can't they spend a month to periodically study for GRE and get a "threshold" score (around 330)? It occurs to me that the unhealthy part of grad school applications is not school's over-emphasis on GRE (and in fact schools don't emphasize on GRE, at least PSC depts), but people not realizing that GRE is a way to simply get your file reviewed, and nothing more. Study for a month and get a 330, and you are set for standardized test portion.

Being able to read a few number articles with many details not inside your field (for example, science articles), digest them, and answer the questions have *nothing* to do one's reading and critical thinking skills? The key point here, I think, is that we need to let the prospects know that GRE is something that is important -- You do not want to get something below 330 (or 325) if you want to go to a top school. It's going to make your life harder. However, spending another 2 months to study so that you can increase your score from 330 to 335? Maybe they should spend their time reading literature and polishing their SoP.

You mean prep course? I used Mag**** (and nothing else) for half a month and I got 330. I have another friend using Man****** and OG (and nothing else) for a summer and he got 335. I really do not think a huge spending on prep courses has a causal relationship with a high score. People who do not study effectively or read critically (which are both essential to a graduate degree) will not get a high/decent score even though they spend tons of money on the test.

Same. Duke has some faculty whom I really want to work with, and its placement has been consistently good. Good luck! I think it's consensus that the three Berkeley admits on the survey page were fake (and I think they were removed). So I think everyone has a fair chance, even though you did not receive "an email" to check your application on the website. Hopefully we will get some offers tomorrow and next week!

On the last Friday of January last year, Stanford, Berkley, and Chicago released their decisions. What about this year? Chicago probably (~80%) won't (AdCom haven't met frequently, according to someone's POI); Stanford probably won't (according to the website). So what about Berkeley? Any news/rumors? What about Duke and WashU? My feeling is that either tomorrow, or someday next week, will be THAT day. Good luck to everyone!

Agree. I believe 155+155 is an extremely reasonable threshold for top schools. Any students who read carefully, think critically, and have a numerical literacy (which means pre-calculus in high school) should be able to get that score, even though he or she does not study *diligently*.

1) In a competitive year (i.e. 2014-15), it's 330. 2) Look at the stats of the students who got admitted in the past few years. You RARELY see a person with <325 combined scores getting into a top 10. And almost all people with <320 got rejected. Yes, we have sample bias because people with higher grades might tend to report their grades on the survey page. But hey -- the board is anonymous, the benefit of not posting one's low GRE grades is really small. So I do not think this counter-argument would work against my observation that 330 should be safe as a score.

Applied to 12. Heard from 0. Trying to be positive, I tell myself that no news is at least better than bad news. So...

They probably do not care, lol.

Raw score: 330; Percentile: 90% Anything below that will be a red flag for top 10 programs (according to stats on the survey page). And I do not think faculty will think there is a huge difference between 92% and 94%. However, 99% can make a difference. In short, I will say, if you can make 99%, then go for it. If not, anything around 95% will work the same. Your GRE scores at that time do not matter (especially because other applicants in the shortlist all probably have similar GRE scores). It's the time when your SoP seriously matters.

There should be some, although almost none of them is purely Poli Sci. Check the deadlines of GPS (UCSD), Jaskson (Yale), CIR (Chicago), MAPSS (Chicago), QMSS (Columbia), etc. Also, if you are doing comparative, there are tons of area study Masters in the country as well. Going to get a Master degree after getting rejected by all of your applied Ph.D. programs is definitely not ideal (so let's hope that it does not happen). But there are also plenty option left without leaving the US.

So is the consensus that the reported Berkeley admits on the survey page are trolls?

Fair enough. Good luck!

Note that it's not an official email from the department. The applicant got a reply because he/she emailed his/her POI for something else. Thus, it doesn't mean anything if you have not heard from Northwestern -- The department simply has not started to systematically notify the admitted students.

Congratulations to Northwestern admits!

Just saw an Emory reject on the survey page -- I thought they just sent out the interviews?

Congratulations to all of the UW-Madison admits!

I think it's a good thing because that means the committee is interested in your application!

I have made a list for most of the top schools w.r.t. the historical dates of releasing their decisions.

Saw a reject from Emory on the survey page. Can someone confirm that Emory has already released the decisions?

I will freak out only if the status does not change 10 business days after I submit my application. If that's the case, you probably should contact the department assistant...