Mixedmethodsisa4letterword

UC Davis is a top 20 program with a very solid placement record. From what I have heard, the quality of MAPSS is declining in recent years as they admit more students. For instance, a few of my friends in the program told me that they cannot easily find their professors. If I were you, I would take the UCD offer and say thank you...

I think overall your profile is really solid. However I am not quite sure about your choice of programs. Who are you gonna work with at Harvard? Two China scholars there are fantastic but they are both comparativists...as for MIT it should be noted that Tsai is shifting away from Chinese politics. Hou at UPenn and Yang at UChicago are also both comparativists and hardly do anything on security. Another potential concern is your GRE quant score although you could still very much prevail in IR by doing purely qualitative work (e.g. Abrahms and Greitens).

What exactly do you want to study?

Hey guys, Although I did not apply in this cycle, I think this is about the time to start this thread. Good luck with your pending applications! PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: Major(s)/Minor(s): Undergrad GPA: Type of Grad: Grad GPA: GRE: Any Special Courses: Letters of Recommendation: Research Experience: Teaching Experience: Subfield/Research Interests: Other: RESULTS: Acceptances($$ or no $$): Waitlists: Rejections: Pending: Going to: LESSONS LEARNED: SOP: