bonavenirforall

PROFILE:Type of Undergrad Institution: International Institution Major(s)/Minor(s): econ, political scienceUndergrad GPA: 3.9GRE: 163/168/5.0 (took three times to improve score)Any Special Courses: 6 graduate-level courses in political scienceLetters of Recommendation: 3 letters from professors from Research Experience: 6-month research experience at Washington think-tank, 4-month research experience at a research institute in a foreign country. some RA work with 3 faculty members, one independent research.Teaching Experience: NoneSubfield/Research Interests: CP, IROther:RESULTS:Acceptances($$ or no $$): #4, #9, #12, #15, #17, #19. #24 Waitlists: #19, #Rejections: #1, #4, #7, #9, #19, Pending:Going to: Probably east coast LESSONS LEARNED: 1. Start working on your sop as early as possible: This is my second time applying to graduate school, and I began to work on my sop in July. I noticed that my first draft was garbage and kept revising and updating until December. During this process, the feedback I received from professors and friends in Ph.D. programs was very helpful so I strongly recommend you guys to ask for feedback if possible. 2. GPA: I think the GPA doesn't matter. I saw my friends whose GPA is lower than 3.5 got in top programs. So guess we don't need to be obsessed with that. 3. Don't push yourself: As everyone knows, this application process is very random and we cannot guarantee anything. Last year, I was frustrated and I thought I lost my way after my application cycle was over. I couldn't get any acceptance, and out of frustration I kept hurting myself and pushed me so hard. However, looking back, although it remains unclear, I might have been a qualified applicant but couldn't get in due to fits, luck or random things. Last year was not what I expected to be and this year was also different from what I expected to be (though better than I anticipated). So please be confident and don't need to blame yourself. If you keep moving on, I believe you will nail it.