Is there any kind of record of when programs have historically done their visit weekends? Scheduling when you've only heard from a few programs is a nightmare. I wanna leave the weekends for my top two or three choices open in case I get accepted, but sometimes it's hard to figure out when those are.
I'm sorry to hear you didn't get into Wisconsin, as that was a good fit for you.
What a lot of applicants don't realize is that these programs (especially top 20 and up) are so competitive, you really have to be strong across all facets of your application to get in. There can be weaknesses, but there certainly cannot be weaknesses across multiple application materials. Because every single cycle there are 20-30 applicants that essentially have rock solid applications in all categories. Then it comes down to a numbers game (some schools may only admit one Russian comparativist for example, and someone might be better than you and take that spot).
We also have a tendency to think that weak GRE scores or GPA is the reason our application got sunk and reluctant to criticize more personal things, like our writing samples and SOPs. But people get in with average/weak GRE scores get into programs (even top ones) all the time; I know this is true because I got into 3 top 20 programs on the back of a pretty average quant score (something around 75th percentile).
My personal anecdote. I had a good application but I had three weaknesses: my UGPA wasn't great, my GRE wasn't great, and my writing sample wasn't as good as it could have been. There were two other Latin Americanist applicants that did extremely well (think both of them got into combined every single top 10 place, and almost no rejections). By all accounts, both of them had nearly perfect applications. How was I supposed to compete with them when there were often 1-2 spaces MAX for LA comparativists? I couldn't. They took the spots. Was I perhaps in contention for one, or a couple, of those top 10 places? Sure, probably. But at the end of the day they have better applications than I did.
We have to look at these things holistically, all facets of your application matter. Weaknesses can be overcome, but the margin of error is extremely small. We shouldn't be so quick to assume that our GRE or GPA sunk us, but also introspectively look at other components of our application (LORs, hard to do, but you can probably guess, SOP, writing samples, ect) that may also be weak compared to the top applicants.
Hi all
International student, I claim one acceptance from Northwestern (Theory). Apparently decisions are send out by subfield. Email from Graduate Director of program, with full tuition coverage and stipend.
I wish you all good luck!
Hi all
International student, I claim one acceptance from Northwestern (Theory). Apparently decisions are send out by subfield. Email from Graduate Director of program, with full tuition coverage and stipend.
I wish you all good luck!
and654 got a reaction from ShropshireLad in 2017-2018 Application Cycle
and654 got a reaction from izmir in 2017-2018 Application Cycle