kaykaykay

A quant GRE score below 500 would be actually quite low and while you have some good things going for you the competition is very big among the best. But it seems that you panic to early, you still have time to retake the test even if you get a lowish score now. And you do not even know what points will you get this time... just do not stress, try to sleep before the exam. As for strategies, me it was helpful that I went over the topics one by one with one of the practice books with excercises. Worst come to worst you could take one of those coaching courses, while they are not very useful for verbal in my opinion( they cannot learn the words for you) in math they are kind of useful because they make you learn some non-intuitive strategies(I know it is expensive but they give you a money return guarantee if you are not satisfied). Also apply to some second tier schools just in case.

Every culture has its politeness and courtesy rules. If you are visiting somewhere you adjust but always adjusting even in your relaxing, home time is stressful and exhausting. I get a mild nervous breakdown from people walking on a carpet with their shoes, but I if my roommate does it who am I to stop them? I may eat too many fatty things according to some people and I hang out some of my clothes to dry which may bother some. I changed roommates this year I am back to my comfort zone . All of the sudden I am happy to be at home. This problem of course is not limited to your nation's culture but may also happen when a tidy and a less tidy people move in together , late night- early morning people etc. It is cool to mix things up but i understand the people who are choosing to make their home their relaxing home country island too.

"Constructing" fit is not a really good approach, if you do not fit in a department you will feel miserable, and there is a big chance you will want to get out. Sometimes departments will do you the favor to turn you down (sounds bad but it is true) but it is in your biggest interest that you found the department which you can teach you what you want to study and be successful in it. As coachrjs said above you should find out the general approach of the department and try to see whether the approach you want to take fits with it. If you have read and liked more people's work there ( not necessarily in your subfield) it is a good start. If you are still in school pick the prof(s) whose interest is closest to yours and ask them about their suggestions ( they will have probably more information on who is busy, who will likely get tenured, who will likely move, what is the department's financial situation, what files were shortlisted in the last search to your department etc). Sometimes it is hard to tell who will want to have students and who will not. In my department there are established professors who are extremely busy and have no time for new students but there is an untenured faculty who will get like 3-4 students next year obviously because he will be tenured soon. Anyway it is always risky to go to a department for one person. There is a chance that they will move (maybe they do not fit there?), they are going to be very busy (likeminded students have no other place to go) , they may get hit by a bus (god forbid), you may not like them etc. For CP this is a trick question. I think fit of approach is more important than fit of area. In an ideal case you will find both and your new advisor will celebrate the same way as you will. But if not a lot of great scholars know a surprisingly lot about other areas than their own , and they are happy to offer a comparative perspective on your research. This may even lead to co-authorships etc. One thing however: often when there is an area specialist in a department, there may be extra funding for the area (a research institute, area specific collection, reading groups,lectures etc), so you may want to consider that aspect. I would not necessarily try to reinvent the political science field in my SOP. You can do that once you are accepted. It is one thing to present interesting ideas and show that you have imagination it is another thing when the adcoms are not sure whether polisci is a good home for you (and here we get back to the fit problem. If your ideas ARE different than most of the political science and there is a field that your ideas fit better maybe you would be much much happier working in that field) .

I hope someone will answer the substantive questions. But as I see it you narrowed down your choices to 3 or 4 , why not apply to all and see how it goes? While getting into a master's program is easier than a PhD partly because it is expensive, you may want to apply more than one place. You could evaluate your options when you get your offers.

This is from last application season. I got a flyout for a workshop which was pretty exciting. The email must have come during my presentation because it was there when I got back to my hotel. I was so excited I went to my room and I dived and rolled on the bed. I called my parents. I wanted to celebrate but I knew nothing and nobody so I was running up and down trying to find a shop which was selling alcohol asking people about it. I must have looked like an alcoholic on a withdrawal and some people refused to talk to me. I could not explain why I act like a maniac I was just grinning with some crazy in my eyes. I got two bottles of beer (I wanted champagne or some fancy stuff but I realized I could not drink a whole bottle alone) and I drank it watching stupid TV, totally stoned (of the news). The next day I had a full day of visiting the city before getting back to my university, it was my best weekend really.

As previously said it is really hard to say what went wrong, it could be just bad luck, lack of fit etc... The numbers do not look bad, but there are quite a few applicants/ My only idea is that political science in the US is quite different from the UK and a lot of research topics which fall under political science in the UK would be regarded as history, or area studies topics in the US. As the competition is very big if no one feels that they could advise you in these areas in a department you may fall out of the competition. You may try to ask the departments what went wrong, but you should be prepared that they may not be able to tell you. Also you could talk with someone who has a degree from the US or knows the system very well, and discuss your research agenda and SOP with them. Maybe you have to reconsider what you want to study, how you market it or the department you are applying to.

if your advisor knows about everything I would ask him/her directly. I doubt that this will matter and I think if there is market for your brain it is ethical to make money of its power. But it is better if you have your advisor on your side.Maybe I would ask for a written permission, it can take this prof 1 minute to type it and you get out of stress for the rest of the summer (and school year).

A a big statistics book. I got very good in target throwing it, I should join the circus. I microwaved a spider once but I get very panicked from them especially when I do not have shoes on and they are not on ground level.

I feel that some schools let in some applicants who have some lack of proof of excellence but they are promising. I do not think that you should be upset or anything, imagine if they have discredited you in the first place for the very thing why they were insecure about you. You got in so they have hopes for you. You should just show them that you belong to the best no matter what. I have gone through a masters before getting to PhD for what I had to pay for. I knew I was good enough and that I can make it so I never felt insulted for not being funded. I think if you prove yourself to the professors they will be happy to fund you and to have you there. (I have seen people discussing how they could help good but unfunded students) That in mind: 1. if you are unfunded you might have to work in an unrelated job which may hurt your academics 2. as someone said before the school should be good enough to worth your investment, you can only evaluate that. 3. I got some nasty comments from funded PhD students and I had to live with it. even with this I did not envy the funded students, who knows what they had in their application files. you have to know you are good enough, and this was not a personal decision... so far.... but after this: 4. you have to relate positively to your profs. they probably have no idea what is going on but they are the ones that will bring you money once they think you worth it. good luck and cheer up. p.s. if professors treated me differently it was always positive. I was the surprise of the day. Nobody expected me to be good and I got some awkward but amazing comments and endorsements. That's said they knew I was a masters student. but with PhDs I wonder if they even know who is funded and who is not at all. there are only a few profs at the admissions committee each year.

I took the course after taking the GREs on my own. In my opinion the verbal coaching was the same as the book (and not as good as my favorite book). They cannot tell you much more than learn the words. I had never had a problem with the logical aspect. The math extra lessons were great though. It increased my math score (it became a WOW score) but at the same time I blew the verbal . I got my money back. At the end it dd not matter i did not send these scores . Anyway the classes were fun. I think Kaplan is good for math because there are a lot of tricks and shortcuts there, and some classroom refreshing can be refreshing. Verbal? , you cannot get around learning the words imho, and you can do that with any book.

well that is with theorists, which means that there may be people who got a better verbal than math GRE. It is true there are a lot of good GREs(maybe 1400+) but the admission does not only depend on that, it is really impossible to say anything based on only this information. 1500 GRE is good if you can really make it.

Try to figure out what would happen if you would stay put at GU, who would become your chair etc. My advisor became co-chair for a few left behind students this year and I can see that she tries to make sure that they get every support they need to finish and be successful. I am not sure if AU would take you at this stage of your degree you could very carefully ask around. If an advisor leaves that is a common reason for transfer and I think it is a respected one too, but universities often do not take very advanced students. (it is much easier for you to finish anyway) You have to really think it over, and maybe find out a. whether they would take you, b. whether it would worth it.

ok I think people do not reply because you are at the wrong forum. try professional degrees.

great news.

you could write for the graduate advisor of your department too. I had to get my I20 faster than normal because I was leaving for the summer to a different country and my dep't graduate advisor was pivotal in helping to speed up things by calling around within the university. I would not be very worried just yet (first of all May has ended!), secondly my I20 arrived in 3 days after they sent it and I got my visa within another week. I would try to find out how long does it take in your country to get an appointment for the visa (in some countries it can take a while) and panic/ try speed up the process accordingly. Oh do not worry calling them should not affect your admission at all. In fact your department wants you there (if they admitted you they do! ) and normally your department will help you in whatever way to get you there!

Universities usually do not really pay attention to AW scores. If in doubt ask them , often they will say so too.

On my visa interview they were interested in my research topic (actually i think they were genuinely interested haha) . I am guessing they have to verify that you know your subject. At the same time they were expressing that X is a great city and wished me a happy time there. For the poster above, I had visas before and they were interested in them, I think they wanted to verify that they were properly cancelled. Just in case I would take my old passports and paperwork with me (but probably you know this). Oh sorry for the person who did undergrad in the US, I heard that having an American boyfriend or girlfriend can be problematic so if you have one do not mention it.

oh I am sorry. good luck next time around!

I was in your situation and I decided to transfer because I felt that I had to fight an uphill battle daily in my first department. Professors were sending me to other departments because they could not help, they supported the students who did something closer to their interests (which make sense, they researched together etc), I could not find an advisor. In my SOP I emphasized the problems with the fit, and I did not have any problem with it. because the department is quite well known for their ideas. I applied during my first year and as such I managed to leave out the department completely out of the calculation. I consulted my previous letter writers, they all supported me, so I did not have to talk to profs (not that i had anyone to talk to really.). ok so negatives: my year is completely lost. people tend to forget I was ever in a different institution because what I learned there is highly irrelevant. It was stressful that you must get an admit so as coachrjc said there is a chance you cannot move up and you should be willing to accept that, also I knew that I would have to move even if I got one opportunity. This time you have to research the universities very very carefully, because if you want to move because of the fit you have to find a place which fits. pros: I feel like a fish thrown back to the water. Fit is actually very important! my advice: if you have a trusted former advisor or professor(outside your present environment) talk to them. grad school is frustrating so you have to be sure the problem is not in your head. ask their opinion about chances and about other departments.

I do not really think that it helps in the application process...at least nobody who I ever talked took another look on that line of my CV when I talked about my applications. But I did something similar before applying and I never regretted it. There are a number of hidden perks: better relationship with the faculty (better rec letters?, better advice), reading applications in committees for funding, jobs, grad applications etc (helps understanding how the process works and fine tuning your own), also understanding how conferences work, (when you have to send in your paper), getting connected with the people who are participating in the conferences and some bagels, coffees, pizzas on the way. If you have a track record in organizing conferences that can further lead to a line in job applications if you decide not to do a PhD or later to find a part time job/ paid graduate association position during your PhD. Of course be pro active and take the tasks that can help you. eg. selection committee positions etc.

I am actualy not sure. I transferred and I was worried about my grades (they turned out to be ok) because I was highly highly unmotivated after I got accepted to my current program. Mosty I was watching videos about the new place etc. When I got to my new PhD dept nobody ever asked for my transcript from my previous year in PhD.

Till the 15th of April you can change your mind even if you accepted an offer. After April 15th you have to ask for an official release from your contract. It may have happened that some school denied it but I have never heard about a case like that. If you ask for an official release that can burn some bridges . I never heard about making someone pay either for a semester but who knows, investigate a little bit. You may be able to ask for an extension on the decision from the first school if you are sure that the decision will be close to the apr 15 deadline at the other school, that seems to be a more straightforward way.

My impression is that it depends on the school and maybe on the year. Schools which are good in IR will get a lot of IR applications but which are less good will get less and of course that is true for every subfield. I heard the opposite when I was applying (that IR is the least competitive field) but I did not switch and as it seems that was a wise decision as in some schools based on your info it is the most competetive. I would suggest that many others that find the field that you are passionate about , can write a great SOP and you can get great recommendatons and in which you have a decent writing sample. If your interest changes later you can switch subfields. AP students may sometimes finish faster ecause they do not have to do language study and sometime extensive fieldwork. But if you work with formal models eg, you will not need to see the field no matter what. so it is really not the virtue of the subfield that the students finish faster but of the path they take in their research.

This is terrible, but I would not hold a wild running administrator against the program . Get assured by official sources that your offer stands till the 15th of April and decide in your pace. Also I am not sure about the rule of thumb mentioned above, it may take you some time to decide....

Congratulations! Do not get very upset with school B they might be low on dough and that is why they are so unreliable. Then again, whatever the reason is , mutual love is the key for long term happiness!