[2017-2018 Application Cycle]

9 hours ago, CandyCanes said:

Wow. What was your undergrad GPA and institution rank range?

I majored in economics in a top-tier Chinese university with a 3.5+ GPA and several published papers (in Chinese) during undergrad. I think the weakest part of my profile is that I went to a professional IR Master's program (it is a really quant program though), and therefore the research I did were more policy-oriented. 

[2017-2018 Application Cycle]

1 hour ago, Salve said:

Hey! Don't despair! I've also been out of school for some time, and working outside of the US in a not very related industry. I now have two offers from very good schools. You still have two other schools to announce their decisions, and even if they say 'no', it's not your last chance!  You have amazing scores and a great GPA. You can work on polishing other areas of your profile if need be. But then again, you still have other two schools to announce their decisions. Write to me if you need to chat with someone.

Thank you very much. Yes I’ll wait for the final results. And congrats on your offers!

[2017-2018 Application Cycle]

As for Penn, I just emailed the DGS. He said "the committee is considering applications and you will receive a notification in the system when decisions have been released," which I think means nothing but rejections. 

Personally I've been through a really tough cycle. With a nearly perfect GRE score (V169/Q167) and a 3.8+ GPA from a top IR MA program in the US, clearly I overestimated my competitiveness and applied the top 20 programs mostly. So far I've received rejections from 8 out of 10 schools that I applied for (counting Penn), and the odds are against me for the remaining two Ivy schools. I've been out of school for a while and now work in a completely irrelevant industry in my home country. This might be the last chance that I could get back to the American academia, unless I could find an RA position there to strengthen my profile for next year (difficult due to visa issues however). 

But it's always good to know that so many of you have been doing wonderful research and are able to get into great programs. Wish you all good luck!  

[2017-2018 Application Cycle]

4 hours ago, cpmethods said:

Hey guys! Should I be worried that I did not get any interview requests from UCSD? Two of my friends received requests so I am wondering if you guys think it kinda signals me that its gonna be a straight reject for me?

 

And is anyone claiming Harvard interview? Since when is Harvard doing interviews?

 

 

Yeah I'm worrying about the same thing, and I didn't know that UCSD also holds interviews. My subfield is CP by the way.

[2017-2018 Application Cycle]

11 minutes ago, WHC_2017 said:

Claim a UCSD interview. IR/IPE subfiled. 

When did you receive the email?

[Profile Evaluation - Poli Sci 18Fall (MA with work experience)]

12 hours ago, dagnabbit said:

Your profile looks very strong. Regarding your concerns:

1. I think you should try to frame your professional background as an asset, focusing on the skills you gained and projects you completed, and explain how your time in the professional world motivated the academic questions that you are interested in exploring. Make a strong case for why you are actually an academic, but certainly don't waste time explaining your initial motivations for pursuing professional training; I don't think admissions committees would care.

2. Seek advice from your letter writers on this, but I would imagine that academic writing > non-academic writing.

 

 

Thanks a lot. Very helpful advice.

[Profile Evaluation - Poli Sci 18Fall (MA with work experience)]

Type of Undergrad: Top 5 Chinese university with top 2 econ&poli sci departments in the country
Major: Economics
Undergrad GPA: 3.51
Type of Grad: Top 2 IR programs in the US, strong econ focus
Grad GPA: 3.83
GRE: 169 V, 167 Q, 4.5 W
Any Special Courses: Grad-level - Econometrics, Applied Econometrics (Cross-Sectional), Advanced International Macroeconomics, and a series of China studies courses
Likely Letters of Recommendation: One from program advisor (a highly renowned, though policy-oriented China expert, whom I worked with as an RA for one year); one from another professor in China field (got an A and impressed her with the final paper); one from undergraduate econ professor (co-authored two econ papers)
Research Experience: One year RA in China studies as metioned above; three published dissertations in Chinese journals (one pure econ, one political economy, one political theory)
Research Interests: Comparative, Chinese politics, Methodology
Quantitative Skills: STATA, SPSS, planning to learn R before application

Other: Currently working in China to fulfill a two-year home residency requirement stipulated by the scholarship I received for graduate studies (working in the financial industry, completely irrelavent to poli sci); will have two-year full-time work experience plus several professional internships presented on CV by 18Fall

 

My main concerns:

1. Professional rather than truly academic training at grad school, as well as several years of work experience in non-academic/politics areas: will these hurt my chances and should I use a full section in SOP to stress on the explanation?

2. Writing sample: choose between several course papers during graduate years (better polished and formatted, but few quant method applied) and the undergraduate thesis (published, with basic econometric analysis, but the methodology could be somewhat flawed if it was subjected to greater scrutiny)

Any thoughts/comments/advice would be much appreciated!