needanoffersobad

Hello everyone! As lots of schools have sent out decisions, I think it’s time to start this thread for the application cycle 2020. I believe everyone has his/her unique story to tell and I hope more people will benefit from it I will start with mine. not a fancy profile but I am satisfied since I worked hard to achieve it. If you don’t want to share SoP here, it’s totally fine. Maybe we can even have an SoP thread separately. PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: Unknown international school in east Asia. Major(s)/Minor(s): POlitical science Undergrad GPA: 3.54 Type of Grad: Top 20 world ranking university in east Asia Grad GPA: N/A GRE: V161/Q167/AWA3.5 Any Special Courses: IPSA research methods Letters of Recommendation: MA , BA supervisor, and a famous scholar Research Experience: MA is a research based degree, 3 conferences experience Teaching Experience: 1semester TA Subfield/Research Interests: IR Other: RESULTS: Acceptances($$ or no $$): Penn state $$ Waitlists: Rejections: rice, Emory, WashU Pending: Vanderbilt, Maryland, UBC, McGill, UToronto Going to: LESSONS LEARNED: 1. Take / prepare for GRE test as early as possible, especially for international applicant. I took 4 times in the past fall Waste of time and miss chances for lots of schools 2. Try to attend conferences and talk to faculties. They might remember u SOP will share it if someone asks

A quick off topic question: is it normal that the webpage for forums is always down? Or it’s just my internet’s problem

IR subfield. Received email from DGS

same here. Plus as English is not my native language, I took several GRE tests to get a good verbal score

Wow u r killing me hahah! Congratulations! Later after this application cycle, maybe u can share your tips in application. That will help lots of people I bet!

Anyone got interviews from Vanderbilt?

On one hand, of course it’s better to apply as many as possible. On the other hand, ranking and fit kinda limit my choice. For example, I didn’t apply for any top 20 schools based on my mediocre gpa which is around 3.5. I didn’t apply for schools ranking after 40 either And between 20-40, I have to make sure The department fit me. Make sure there Are at least three professors to be my POI I applied for 9 and so far one acceptance.

I applied for UBC McGill and Toronto for phd IR subfield.

I just receive one. But I am not the first one who posted the result.

Yea me too. it happens to lots of people and it’s just another normal scenario in graduate application. We will always end up something good as long as we don’t give up ourselves

Yes this is the portal. Lots of schools use this system. U will find a decision letter on the current spot of check list.

Someone posted an interview request from Vanderbilt on Feb 2. Good luck with it! May I know what is your subfield? Cuz I received an email from Emily Ritter earlier saying they will have a meeting to make a short list for interview on Feb 3. Seems like they have the meeting already?

Gorgeous ! That’s really important for everyone during this special period of time

Your last point makes sense to me and it hurts me a lot to be honest. That’s what my supervisor with US admission experience told me as well. In terms of global ranking, I am from a well known university. But I guess this well known is not well known enough to shine or compete with other international applicant.

I agree. More importantly, having seen this shocking GRE, I noticed that the GPA is not incrediblly high So I have no clue how a mediocre GPA with a super low GRE can help get a admission.

Thanks that makes a lot of sense to me. Now I feel more motivated. Thanks and good luck

Thanks for your reply. Honestly I don’t think so. My gpa is good. GRE both V and Q reach 90 percentile. LOR SOP handed in So really can’t figure it out

Not a faculty but as what my current supervisor, American and graduated from UC school , told me , there is indeed a difference. Like if a department intends to take in 8 students. 1-2 is preserved for international students. Even less in private school.

Just got an rejection from Rice. sad, kinda expected since i am an international applicant without US degree and rice is an small department compared to other. But still can’t understand how does a school make decisions this quick and without writing sample or interview? Yes, Rice doesn’t require writing sample but I submitted mine anyways. The deadline for Rice was on Jan 5. So it only took them less than two weeks to review SOP LOR GRE GPA and that’s it? How? please help me figure this out. Maybe it will help for my potential future application. Millions of thanks!