cbsag123

I'm currently drafting my SOPs and I'm wondering how to signal to departments that I'm a good fit. Other than identifying faculty to work with and talking about how their research agenda aligns with mine, are there other things applicants typically talk about in SOPs to indicate good fit?

I would like to jump in as well. I'm considering applying to top programs this cycle (Michigan, Princeton, others), but my GRE is on the lower end for these programs, or so I believe (163 Verbal, 165 Quant). Also, my writing score is... bad. Should I send it anyway? Also, I'm not a native english speaker. idk if that changes things?

When schools ask for employment experience since secondary school, does that include (unpaid/underpaid) internships and such or is it limited to actual employment? For example, following my freshman year I had an unpaid internship for 2 months over the summer. Would I include this?

Thanks, that makes me feel better. I'm losing my mind over the tiniest things lol

Hi all, I was wondering if you'd recommend reaching out to faculty at a given institution before applying there? My recommenders all said that that wasn't necessary, but now, a few weeks before apps are due, I'm freaking out thinking I should have reached out long ago. If you do think it's important to reach out to faculty beforehand, do you think it's too late to do so now? My applications are due between Dec. 1st and January 15th.

I see. I have another question: At my university, they offer two different intro classes, a standard one and an easier one for people that aren't as good at math. Will admission officers know which stats course is the "regular" one? My university is a fairly big, well known university.

Probably Western, but I'm also interested in countries like Germany, Austria, or Finland

europe! would it make more sense to look into programs in europe for that then?

Hi everyone, I'm a college student who wants to go to grad school for polisci (or something polisci related) right after college. I'm taking intro to statistics next semester, a class that's seen as one of the toughest weeders at my university. I was wondering, do you guys think graduate admissions committee's will care if I take this class pass/fail? I've already taken Econ 101 and a quantitative research methods class in the political science department and gotten an A in both of those.

thank you all! I think area studies would fit most closely with what i wanna do. however, i cant find any kind of ranking of universities offering area studies. Any advice?

Hi all, what are the best MA programs in poli sci in the US (and also UK)? I heard Columbia's MA was a scam, so I was wondering if you could give me some advice as to where to look

I'm sorry for asking so many questions about this, but when you guys say that prestige of the undergrad institution matters, do you also mean these "chymps" schools? Would a person that went to Michigan (not remarkably prestigious compared to the other chymps schools, otherwise) have an advantage over a person that went to a top 20 college? This is all very confusing to me tbh

Could you explain what you mean by CHYMPS?

So, how do I know if my institution is prestigious enough? Which rankings are the ones the adcom people take into consideration? Also, does it matter if it's an overall university ranking or major-specific ranking?

How important is the prestige of my college to the grad adcoms? Does it really matter where I got my BA, and if it does, which rankings are the best to indicate my school's reputation?

I have taken classes in quantitative research methods as well and I'd consider myself to be proficient in R too. I also took intro econ classes, but I've never taken any stats classes. Would that be considered a decent quant background?

thanks a lot! any other opinions?

I've seen many posts of people talking about having a quant background when applying for polisci phd programs. what exactly is a quant program? is having taken some econ classes considered a quant background? or is a econ minor? what about stats/methodology classes?

What are the best schools in the US for Ph.D students that want to focus on Germany/Europe?