mcm1

I'm IR as well. Thanks. Amherst has some fantastic IR profs that I'm really excited to finally meet.

Yep that was me. Visiting days are Feb 28 and March 1. I'll definitely be there.

If you graduated from Boğaziçi, AUB, or AUC, maybe Cairo University and LAU, committees will have an idea of the background you're coming from. If you're not from one of those schools, it may be a bit harder, but you could probably do fine in the 20-60 range. GRE scores are a bit low, but everything else looks fine. Of course, how much the publications matter depend on what journals, etc.

they aim for a class of approx 12

Are you from Turkey? Did you do your undergrad at Boğaziçi?

isn't that the truth

I'm definitely bringing my school choices down a few notches; I'm not applying to as many top 25 places. I got entirely new recommenders for my second round.

One over here. This is my third cycle. Not looking forward to the process, but it has to get done.

Yeah, I'm definitely going to have to look outside the US and the top 25 in the next cycle. I thought I matched my interests reasonably well, nothing was a perfect match, but I could draw a number of parallels in theoretical approaches and such. I was very specific regarding what I wanted to work on in my SoP, and being more open in my research interests is the main change I think I'll make. Luckily I've saved all my LoRs in interfolio, so I'm ready to reapply as soon as apps open back up. With an MA already though, I'm not quite sure what I should do to improve my app over the next year. Right now I'm looking around for jobs in the DC think tank circuit since I can't think of much else.

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: Public state university in the US Major(s)/Minor(s): International Studies Undergrad GPA: 3.7 Type of Grad: MA International Relations, top European university Grad GPA: 4.0 GRE: 165V, 160Q, 5.5W Any Special Courses: A few methodology courses Letters of Recommendation: 2 tenured professors and one visiting assistant professor Research Experience: 2 research internships in Middle East think tanks, plus research assistant for 2 years in undergrad Teaching Experience: none Subfield/Research Interests: International relations of the Middle East, US foreign policy in the Middle East Other: Book chapter publication, multiple conference papers, a few published op-eds RESULTS: Acceptances($$ or no $$): None Waitlists: GWU Rejections: Princeton, Yale, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Chicago, WashU, Wisconsin-Madison, Ohio State Pending: Georgetown Going to: Nowhere. Wasn't accepted. LESSONS LEARNED: This is my second cycle applications, and my second cycle of only getting rejections. Figured since I've read almost all of these threads without ever hearing from anyone who was totally rejected I ought to pitch in my experience. My first cycle I applied to five universities straight out of my BA, which I believed was the main reason I was rejected everywhere. I tried applying more broadly (11 this time around), upped my GRE from 316 to 325, got in a publication and finished an MA. Thought that would put me at least in the competitive field. Was I still too ambitious? Apparently. Recently at conferences, I met with some professors from the programs that I applied to after I got my rejections. Heard a variety of potential reasons I was rejected ranging from the fact that one of my POIs hasn't had a grad student in years (why don't they publish these things online?), but nothing concrete. Should I have emailed them beforehand? Probably, but I've heard so much conflicting information on the wisdom of bothering POIs as a prospective that I didn't take the risk. I do have a fairly specialized field that I work in, and all my published work has specifically focused on my sub-sub-subfield. There's no big US university that is specifically tailored to what I want to work on, so I'm not sure how much that killed my chances. Anyway, the main lesson is that I have learned zero lessons because I've only received ambiguous signals from anyone I have asked. I'm going to do a third round of applications next cycle (I'll bankrupt myself applying to 20+ this time if I have to), and be less ambitious in the rankings I guess. SOP: I think mine was fairly standard, around 500 words. Most was the same for each application, with a "fit" section at the end where I tried to tie my work in with some of the papers that my POIs had written recently. Given the results I got, it must suck though.

Chinese-MENA relations and neoclassical realist theory. I'm in IR. Guessing I've been rejected from Princeton now. Officially I'm at 0a/1w/3r/7p, but assuming a northwestern and princeton rejection now. This is my second cycle. I have no idea what I'll do if I get rejected from all my apps again. I started a second MA after being rejected the first round; I can't do another. Sorry, can't get over the results crush XD

Same on my part; since there is one IR admit on the results page I'm discarding the staggered subfield theory at this point

They already did

Calm before the storm

Email alerts seem to take a bit longer to come out than website results, often delayed by a couple hours. All four results I've gotten so far have been emailed eventually though.