Sad Politics

I don't think it hurts to reach out, though fair warning: I'm not sure what the GPA norms are in your country, but a "perfect" GPA in PhD programs in the US often doesn't mean too much. For most classes (methods sometimes being the exception), at least in the US, the scale is basically A = average, B = bad, C = drop out. If a perfect GPA is indeed meaningful in your country, I would reach out to departments and also try to mention that the grading standards are more meaningful than in the US. 
OTOH, if like 50%+ of your cohort is also getting a perfect GPA, I mean you could try updating departments, as this can't hurt. It just might not really make a difference. 
More broadly, I'm not completely sure how much of an impact really high GPAs have on admissions (esp in between going from a 3.7 to a 4.0 on the 4-scale). Of course it's hard to decorrelate because it's highly correlated with letter quality, GRE, etc., but anecdotally it's clear that there is reasonable variance even in top departments of past GPAs. 

Please don't!
I have not commented on any of the previous posts and have really held my tongue not to engage so far, and honestly - it would be fantastic if the GRE didn't matter at all since being out of school for over 20 years wasn't all too beneficial for my quant score - but how sad would it be if we were to discourage opposite opinions and try to silence those who state them just because we want the world to be a certain way. We shouldn't and won't be able to shape everything the way we want by ignoring those who challenge our beliefs, we should see the discourse as an opportunity to re-evaluate what we believe to be true and come to informed decisions after weighing all the evidence. 
You have contributed so much to this forum, have given advice again and again, and invested your time and energy to help us, who come after you, navigate our way through the application process and more, please don't leave. 

Your quant GRE is definitely a weakness, but plenty of people in this forum have been admitted at top schools with Q scores of ~155. Assuming you get past this "first round" your profile looks strong enough to have a good chance at any department. I would suggest you ask one of the letter writers (probably the one that knows you the best) to highlight your quant skills in their letter. 
Also, NYU seems to be particularly picky with quant scores, so unless your fit there is great there might be better places to apply to.

General Interest Political Science Journals which turn out formal work:
American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Quarterly Journal of Political Science
 
Field Journals:
Journal of Theoretical Politics, Social Choice and Welfare, Political analysis, Legislative Studies Quarterly
 
Econ Field Journals:
Games and Economic Behavior, Journal of Economic Theory, Economic Theory, Economics and Politics, Theoretical Economics, Public Choice
 
Just look at faculty who publish formal theory and look at which journals they publish in. Other related terms "positive political theory" "positive political economy" "political economy" "political economics"
 

Hi! Looking at your profile, your research experience definitely seems to be very solid. I also know that the University of Delhi is very well known, compared to other non-US institutions so I feel like you have good chances of getting into a Public Policy PhD, but I must admit that I do not know too much about Public Policy programs. I think that, in Economics, your GRE quantitative score might hurt your chances. Perhaps you could consider applying to some of the top European universities  (Bocconi, UPF, Paris School of Economics, Stockholm, Bonn, Mannheim, UC3M). I am not sure, but I think that some of these programs do not require the GRE and I know that some of them are still receiving admissions, so perhaps you should check them out. I wish you the best of luck with your applications. 

I just moved off from the waitlist and got accepted at UGA's PhD program.  IR/subfield.
I'm so thrilled!!!!!

Hi everyone, received an offer for an MPhil at Oxford along with full funding from Nuffield College. That's that for this cycle for me, and I will be accepting the Oxford offer unless one of my PhD waitlists works out. Its been good, and thank you for being such a supportive community!

Claiming an acceptance from Cornell off the waitlist in CP. So thrilled! 
2a/2w/8r/1p

PROFILE
Type of Undergrad Institution: International Student
Major(s)/Minor(s): Political Science (Comparative Politics)
Undergrad GPA: 3.86 (equivalent)
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 168V/168Q/6.0W
Any Special Courses: Political Methods Course, Statistics Courses
Letters of Recommendation: 1 Professor, 1 Associate Professor, 1 Assistant Professor (I've worked extensively with all of them).
Teaching Experience: I've been an undergraduate TA for six different courses
Research experience: Undergraduate thesis (which turned into my writing sample), RA for eight faculty projects
RESULTS
Acceptances: WUSTL, OSU, NYU, and MIT (all funded); Chicago (MACSS, 2/3 tuition covered)
Rejections: Texas (Austin), Chicago (PhD), Michigan, Harvard, Berkeley
I don't really feel like I "learned" a lot during this cycle, mainly because we get so little information about what we did "right" and why we did not get into the places we didn't get. Besides, we are working with such a small sample that it is easy to make unwarranted generalizations (for instance, looking at my results you could conclude that international students are guaranteed to get in at universities that are usually abbreviated using acronyms...) So, I'll echo some of the previous points that have been raised, as I feel they are sound advice.
1) I think starting early is a good idea, it gives you time to go through your materials several times (although don't over edit! especially your statement, at some point it's just not worth it) and you give recommenders enough time. Also, going over the online forms is a pain, so dedicate some time to that.
2) I would say that taking the GREs is mandatory for international students, even if they say its optional. I just cannot see them accepting an international student (that is not from a hugely famous school) without any frame of reference. One exception could be doing an MA in the US, but that is quite a lot more expensive than just preparing for the GRE.
3) I got offers without doing an MA so I'm glad I did not postpone the process, but maybe in other cases it would make sense (e.g. a bad undergraduate GPA).
4) I was glad of the amount of schools I applied to, I think nine is the sweet spot (as long as you diversify your pool).
5) During the process I only spoke with one professor from the departments I applied to, and it was because we knew each other previously. I think contacting people you don't know just to say "hi I'm applying to your department" is probably not productive. If you have questions, just ask the graduate coordinator. Again, maybe it helps (how can we know, really), but to me it felt wrong.
6) While we can do a lot of research about each department we apply to, some things are just out of our control. For instance, I later learned that one of my POI in one school had moved to a different school a year ago, without any sign of it a) in the original school's website, b) in his google scholar; c) even in his personal webpage. Lesson: academics suck at updating public facing portals, so just assume this will happen with at least one professor and don't worry about it too much (I doubt that was the reason that I didn't get in that particular place).
7) I think fit may be somewhat overrated. I applied to places that had people that were close to my current interests, but at the end I still weighed how broad the place was when making my decision. And I believe the committee assumes you'll change your interests once you start the program. So I guess just apply to places you like?
8/ When waiting for the results, assume that not hearing back is a rejection. I don't think there was a single case this year of someone getting an acceptance later (without being on a waitlist, of course).
9) Finally, some stuff that helped me decide where to go: a) everybody loves the place they are in, so read between the lines for criticism and stuff that is not great about their departments; b) speak with current graduate students individually (for instance, I asked the professors I spoke with to contact me with some of their graduate students), and not only the ones that directly approach you; c) open houses are useful, if only to meet your potential cohort; d) during one-on-one interviews with faculty I usually asked them about their current and future projects, which was useful for gauging how much I wanted to work with them; and e) former graduate students are also a great resource, particularly what their dissertations were about (for instance, if no one has done anything related to your current interests, that is a red flag).
I don't regred hanging around at Grad Café one bit, even if it was stressful sometimes. It really helped seeing other people in my same situation, and everyone are so nice. Take care, and good luck!

PROFILE
Type of Undergrad Institution:  International university
Major(s)/Minor(s): Economics
Undergrad GPA:  3.7 
Type of Grad:  European university
Grad GPA:  4.00
GRE:   168 Q, 165 V, 5.5 AW
Any Special Courses: Lots of statistics and econometrics courses. 
Teaching Experience: Worked as a TA for two courses last year.
 
RESULTS (PHD)
Acceptances (all $$): NYU, Duke, Yale, Rochester
Waitlists: UChicago, WUSTL
Rejections: Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, UCSD, Cornell, Georgetown, Michigan
Going to: Still don't know
LESSONS LEARNED
1. Take the GRE if you want to do quantitative research. Getting a good quant score will be good for your chances, and it is still a requirement for some good quant-oriented programs (e.g. Rochester). 
2. Fit matters. I applied to some places where my fit was very bad, and they all rejected me. Interestingly, fit was a far better predictor of where I got acceptances than ranking. 
3. Work on your SOP early. It is much more time-consuming than it seems. I left it for the last moment and it was very stressful. Also, ask your POIs and any academically-oriented friends you have to read it. The input from these people can be extremely valuable. 
4. If you are still an undergrad, also consider getting an M.A. before applying. 
5. I did not contact any POIs before applying, so I think it makes little difference overall. If you have a good reason to contact them, it may be useful, but I would advise against contacting POIs just because you feel pressured to.
Always happy to connect with future applicants.

 

Accepted off the waitlist at UIUC! I am so relieved and thrilled and all of the emotions!

PROFILE
Type of Undergrad Institution:  International university
Major(s)/Minor(s): Economics
Undergrad GPA:  3.7 
Type of Grad:  European university
Grad GPA:  4.00
GRE:   168 Q, 165 V, 5.5 AW
Any Special Courses: Lots of statistics and econometrics courses. 
Teaching Experience: Worked as a TA for two courses last year.
 
RESULTS (PHD)
Acceptances (all $$): NYU, Duke, Yale, Rochester
Waitlists: UChicago, WUSTL
Rejections: Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, UCSD, Cornell, Georgetown, Michigan
Going to: Still don't know
LESSONS LEARNED
1. Take the GRE if you want to do quantitative research. Getting a good quant score will be good for your chances, and it is still a requirement for some good quant-oriented programs (e.g. Rochester). 
2. Fit matters. I applied to some places where my fit was very bad, and they all rejected me. Interestingly, fit was a far better predictor of where I got acceptances than ranking. 
3. Work on your SOP early. It is much more time-consuming than it seems. I left it for the last moment and it was very stressful. Also, ask your POIs and any academically-oriented friends you have to read it. The input from these people can be extremely valuable. 
4. If you are still an undergrad, also consider getting an M.A. before applying. 
5. I did not contact any POIs before applying, so I think it makes little difference overall. If you have a good reason to contact them, it may be useful, but I would advise against contacting POIs just because you feel pressured to.
Always happy to connect with future applicants.

 

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad Institution: Large public university (Latin America).
Major(s)/Minor(s): Law
Undergrad GPA: 3.54
Type of Grad: Law
Grad GPA: 3.9
GRE: 169/164/4
Any Special Courses: Quantitative Methods for Political Science (graduate); Comparative Politics (graduate).
Letters of Recommendation: 3 political science professors I worked with at my university.
Teaching Experience: TAed for the graduate class "Data Science for Legal Research".
Research Experience: Undergraduate and graduate thesis, multiple RAs during undergrad and grad. 
Other: Paper accepted at IPSA, editor of university's law review, 1st place at undergraduate admissions exam, two research fellowships, programming experience with Python and R, public interest legal work related to political science.
RESULTS (PhD)
Acceptances: Michigan ($$$), Duke ($$$), UT Austin ($$), Rice ($$)
Waitlists: WUSTL
Rejections: Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, UCSD, Berkeley, Yale, NYU, MIT
Going to: Michigan or Duke
LESSONS LEARNED
1. Do well on the GRE, especially if you don't come from a traditional/quantitative background. Yes, they say it's optional, but if you are an unorthodox candidate you should do it. It's an opportunity to signal some quantitative competence and general knowledge of English. 
2. Cast your net wide. You never know where you are going to get in, it's a very noisy and obscure process. I was rejected by some schools where I had very, very promising talks with faculty. At the same time, I was accepted at places where I almost didn't apply because I thought I had no chance.
3. Do a Master's degree if you can. Even if it's not at a top school, it signals that you want to pursue an academic career. It also gives you time to RA for professors in your desired field.
4. Really spend time on your SOP. I suggest the following structure, that I learned by reading other successful SOPs: 1 introductory paragraph listing each research interests; 1 paragraph per research interest, detailing what work you have done on each one; 1 concluding paragraph explaining why you want to go to that university in particular.
5. Learn computer programming. You can get wonderful research opportunities just by offering to write code. I recommend the book "Hands-On Programming with R", by Garrett Grolemund. The online version is free.
6. Focus on your strengths, particularly if you aren't already a political scientist. Explain why your background makes you uniquely qualified to do the work you want to do. As a Latin American lawyer, I got into programs with strong judicial politics and/or Latin American politics groups. I would have a much tougher time if I wanted to specialize in American Politics.
7. Accept that you can't really control the outcome. Luck plays a HUGE role in the admissions process. If I had to apply again next year, I would probably get into an entirely different set of schools.

EDIT: If you need help with some aspect of your application, please feel free to send me a private message :)!

Hi everyone, my cycle's officially over & I want to thank you all for making this space so helpful and supportive throughout the stressful process! (even tho I mostly just read your posts) I'm now planning to start at NYU in the fall (CP/methods) and focus on internet/social media politics & political movements. If you're considering NYU, have similar interests, or want to freak out over grad school, feel free to dm :))

Those two in particular are WashU and NYU

PROFILE: (American Politics)
Type of Undergrad Institution: Large state public university in the South
Major(s)/Minor(s): Political Science/History
Undergrad GPA: 3.72
Type of Grad: Large state public university in the South
Grad GPA: 3.93
GRE: 155V/154Q/5.0AW (only submitted to 4 schools that required it)
Any Special Courses: Math up through calculus in undergrad. Full stats sequence in MA program. Lots of coursework relevant to my field of interest. 
Letters of Recommendation: In total I have five letter writers that I alternated between schools. Four associate profs, one full. All were considered strong.
Teaching Experience: None. 
Other: RA'd quite consistently since Junior year. Awarded a research fellowship for my MA program that included working in a "post-doc" type of research position. APSA Conference presentation. Pi Sigma Alpha Conference presentation. Two papers in publication (both under review). Lots of generic leadership roles in undergrad, as well as many graduate school bootcamps attended (like many). Also, I am an URM. 
RESULTS
Acceptances: UCLA, USC, UCSD, Vanderbilt, Illinois, Wisconsin, Northwestern, OSU, Princeton, MSU
Waitlists: None
Rejections: Michigan, Stanford
Pending: Harvard (presumed rejection)
Going to: Princeton
 
LESSONS LEARNED
1.) This cycle was unprecedented. I feel as though many got into schools they least expected. Others none at all. Some of us few got in to many. The cycle was exceptionally unpredictable and to be honest, I am not sure if there is one "golden ticket" package that gets you into graduate school anymore.
2.) GRE is not as important (at least this cycle). To all but four schools I did not submitted my GRE. They didn't require it so I didn't submit it. To be honest, not submitting didn't seem to affect my cycle much at all - plus I got into half of the schools that required it. This area was my biggest weak point and was a real concern of mine going into this. Overall though, it just didn't seem to matter all that much.
3.) Reach out to faculty. I did at all but one school, and I was rejected from that school. Every school I was admitted to I had extensive conversations with faculty and students who I thought matched my interests. Not only did it provide a personal connection, but it also allowed me to really tailor my personal statements to their specific research interests. 
4.) Personal statements are of upmost importance. Write them. Have someone review (preferably a faculty member you trust). And then rewrite. I cannot stress enough how important my personal statements were in this process. Tailor them to each school you are applying to. Write for the purpose of selling yourself and the department as a link that mutually benefit each other. 
5.) Everyone is different. I learned this through my own experience this cycle. We can spend all day comparing ourselves to previous people across forums, but in reality, each of us are unique and that plays a role in admissions. Just be yourself! Don't try to imitate other people's successes - be the best version of yourself. I admitted my flaws, displayed them brightly, and was still a successful applicant. I think in hindsight, being flawed actually shows that you are willing to be taught, which is one of the single most important aspects of graduate school. 
 
I hope this helps. After three years of being a lurker and an active participant on this forum, I believe today is the day I finally say goodbye (at least for now). I have been so thankful for everyone's guidance and support. Congratulations to everyone and I look forward to seeing many of you at conferences and in the profession! 

From your profile, I can tell that you are definitely a talented person, so I have no doubt that with adequate preparation you have everything you need to succeed. I see two areas where your application could be improved. The first is the GRE, it would be nice if you improve your scores a bit, especially in the quant section. Your scores were good, so it should not be hard for you to bring them up if you devote more time to studying. Second, it may have been a problem that 2/3 LORs were not from poli sci professors. Perhaps you should consider getting another letter from someone at LSE so that you have 2/3 letters from poli sci/IR professors. Apart from that, it is always useful to review your materials (SOP and sample). Ask your poli sci LORs to read your materials and give you feedback. I wish you good luck in your future applications.  

In my (limited) experience, if you share research interests, it is nice to ask them about their current projects. You may end up working for them, so it is nice to get a sense of what they are doing.

In my (limited) experience, if you share research interests, it is nice to ask them about their current projects. You may end up working for them, so it is nice to get a sense of what they are doing.

In my (limited) experience, if you share research interests, it is nice to ask them about their current projects. You may end up working for them, so it is nice to get a sense of what they are doing.

PROFILE
Type of Undergrad Institution: very small Public Ivy, T40
Major(s)/Minor(s): double majors in Government and German studies
Undergrad GPA: 4.0
Type of Grad: /
Grad GPA: /
GRE: 170/168/5
Any Special Courses: German philosophy, German literary studies, critical theory, Marxist theory
Letters of Recommendation: one letter from each of my major advisors (one tenured, one untenured), another one from a well-recognized scholar in the UK
Teaching Experience: four semesters as TA in German
Other: ICPSR summer (A and A+ for the courses I took)
 
 
RESULTS (PHD)
Acceptances (all $$): Northwestern
Waitlists: Harvard
Rejections: Uchicago, Yale, Berkeley, Princeton, Cornell, JohnsHopkins, Duke, Ann Arbor
Pending: UCLA, UCSC (History of Consciousness), Oxford (MPhil)
Going to: Most likely NW
 
Lessons Learned
My experiences are not applicable to most people since I was applying to do critical theory, which is a very small niche intersecting political theory, philosophy, and gender studies, etc. So take advices regarding the nuts and bolts of application process from the other wonderful posts on the thread, and I just wanna leave some more personal suggestions. (ofc if you also want to do critical theory please pm I am more than happy to talk and offer those kind of advices)
1. Fit matters: Looking back, I probably should not have applied to places like Princeton, Duke and Michigan which have basically no one doing what I am interested in and I was just trying to widen my chances. So I guess my advice is to not panic, as hard as it is, and apply to a bunch of places. With that said, I don't think you should decide not to apply to top programs that really coincide with your research interests just because you don't think you "have a shot" there.  
2. Have a support system: I cannot emphasize this enough. This cycle has been particularly brutal. I've broken down in study halls, on subway, and in the shower. This didn't go away even after the cycle when I was at a school's visit day and listening to all other ppl's brilliant research ideas and suddenly had another imposter syndrome episode. 
It took me a long time to learn how to ask for help and realize that my friends have all been there waiting for me to ask for help (because, let's be honest, I was a mess psychologically). I am still learning how to say to people that I am in distress and need to talk. But you will need these emotional outlets not just for app seasons but also to be able to survive the years of grad school to come. 

PROFILE
Type of Undergrad Institution:  International university
Major(s)/Minor(s): Economics
Undergrad GPA:  3.7 
Type of Grad:  European university
Grad GPA:  4.00
GRE:   168 Q, 165 V, 5.5 AW
Any Special Courses: Lots of statistics and econometrics courses. 
Teaching Experience: Worked as a TA for two courses last year.
 
RESULTS (PHD)
Acceptances (all $$): NYU, Duke, Yale, Rochester
Waitlists: UChicago, WUSTL
Rejections: Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, UCSD, Cornell, Georgetown, Michigan
Going to: Still don't know
LESSONS LEARNED
1. Take the GRE if you want to do quantitative research. Getting a good quant score will be good for your chances, and it is still a requirement for some good quant-oriented programs (e.g. Rochester). 
2. Fit matters. I applied to some places where my fit was very bad, and they all rejected me. Interestingly, fit was a far better predictor of where I got acceptances than ranking. 
3. Work on your SOP early. It is much more time-consuming than it seems. I left it for the last moment and it was very stressful. Also, ask your POIs and any academically-oriented friends you have to read it. The input from these people can be extremely valuable. 
4. If you are still an undergrad, also consider getting an M.A. before applying. 
5. I did not contact any POIs before applying, so I think it makes little difference overall. If you have a good reason to contact them, it may be useful, but I would advise against contacting POIs just because you feel pressured to.
Always happy to connect with future applicants.

 

I did not reach out to faculty. Most blog posts from professors I've read also recommended not reaching out in advance (e.g. Cyrus Samii's at NYU, Chris Blattman's at Harris). As to people talking about PoI, I was also surprised -- though I have to say, in most (all?) of the programs I was admitted to, the DGS who emailed me with the good news was also one of the people I mentioned in my SoP...

I think a few things I did right were:
Not be content with my first (mid-160) quant GRE score. I wanted to do quant work, I knew that I needed exceptional scores, and I knew that this year especially, "good enough" was not gonna be good enough. So I took the GRE again and I think that really helped, especially because my math background was pretty good but not stellar (e.g., only took some undergrad calc, no real analysis). I also did this because I was applying to several GRE-mandatory programs, which I thought would place a ton of weight on my scores, and because I assumed that GRE-optional ones would mostly receive very good scores because of selection effects (only high-score applicants would send in their scores). Apply to places with a good fit. I didn't apply to stellar places like Harvard or Stanford polisci because there's just no one there that does what I want to do. Incidentally, the places that I got rejected from were all places where I struggled to find more than 2 faculty members with whom I thought I had a good fit beyond broadly similar research agendas (e.g. democratization, institutions, development). What I mean by "fit" is, has this professor recently written a paper that made you think, huh, that's pretty close to what I'd like my dissertation to look like?  Not contact faculty. Not that it would have hurt necessarily, it's just that it's unlikely to help in any way. Better invest the time and energy reading faculty's work and seeing how it fits with your interests. There's nothing they can tell you that you can't already find online.

PROFILE
Type of Undergrad Institution:  International university
Major(s)/Minor(s): Economics
Undergrad GPA:  3.7 
Type of Grad:  European university
Grad GPA:  4.00
GRE:   168 Q, 165 V, 5.5 AW
Any Special Courses: Lots of statistics and econometrics courses. 
Teaching Experience: Worked as a TA for two courses last year.
 
RESULTS (PHD)
Acceptances (all $$): NYU, Duke, Yale, Rochester
Waitlists: UChicago, WUSTL
Rejections: Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, UCSD, Cornell, Georgetown, Michigan
Going to: Still don't know
LESSONS LEARNED
1. Take the GRE if you want to do quantitative research. Getting a good quant score will be good for your chances, and it is still a requirement for some good quant-oriented programs (e.g. Rochester). 
2. Fit matters. I applied to some places where my fit was very bad, and they all rejected me. Interestingly, fit was a far better predictor of where I got acceptances than ranking. 
3. Work on your SOP early. It is much more time-consuming than it seems. I left it for the last moment and it was very stressful. Also, ask your POIs and any academically-oriented friends you have to read it. The input from these people can be extremely valuable. 
4. If you are still an undergrad, also consider getting an M.A. before applying. 
5. I did not contact any POIs before applying, so I think it makes little difference overall. If you have a good reason to contact them, it may be useful, but I would advise against contacting POIs just because you feel pressured to.
Always happy to connect with future applicants.