IRTphd915

Oh btw, I decided to accept Indiana's offer... I should've mentioned this two days ago ? I'm enjoying the discussion/heated argument about non IU/UCI schools lol

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: small unranked state school Major: Political science Undergrad GPA: 3.5 First MA: SEC School GPA: 4.0 Second MA:Top 60 Political Science program (also SEC)- left PhD program after 2 years for personal reasons GPA: 3.85 GRE: first time V159/Q153/AWA5 second time V161/Q151/AWA5 Letters of Recommendation: 3 really good letters from well-published academics Research Experience: 1 sole authored publication in a good (not great) academic journal; 1 work in progress; 5 conference presentations Teaching Experience: TA for 5 semesters; Instructor of American Government for 3 semesters Subfield/Research Interests: IR/CP RESULTS: Acceptances($$ or no $$): Indiana University $$ University of California, Irvine $$, University of Georgia ($$ - funding info to come), Arizona State University $$, University of Nebraska $$ Rejections: Vanderbilt, Rice, Oklahoma Going to: Indiana University Suggestion (copying and pasting one of my comments from another post): If you decide to contact a potential adviser, make sure your email is worth their while. Don't waste their time by saying how much their work interests you and that you'd love to work with them on some unstated future research project. What I did was contact potential advisors and asked if they could provide feedback on an original research idea related to their work. I put a lot of thought into these research ideas (e.g., I showed that I had a grasp of the previous lit, provided a well thought out argument with hypotheses as well as alternative hypotheses). All except one replied very quickly and expressed enthusiastically that they were interested in providing feedback, and indeed were very insightful about how to think about the causal mechanims involved, other possible ways I could approach the research question and what new literature (or important works that I did not mention) I should read. After having an in-depth discussion, I then said that I was interested in the program and that I may apply and that I would enjoy working with them in the program. One of the profs I contacted told me to mention her name in the application and that she would put in a good word for me (I recieved a fully funded offer from that school). I had a detailed discussion with a prof from another department who thinks my research is promising, but that program rejected me. I didn't contact any of the faculty at IU and still received (and accepted) a fully funded offer from them. So, it may or may not help to contact potential advisors, but it certainly doesn't hurt you. At the very least, you will be seen by your potential future advisor as someone who's very serious about research.

Greetings! In light of your not-so-stellar quant score, I'm just going to provide some general info and a few tips that I hope will help you decide whether or not to spend huge amounts of time and/or money that will go into re-taking the GRE. I got V159/Q153/AWA5 in my first attempt and a 161/151/5 in my second attempt and got a fully funded offer from a top 20 program. As you can see, q score-wise I was in the same boat as you and had similar questions. So, here are a few things to consider. Before you apply, make sure you're a good fit. It must be noted, however, that I have one sole-authored publication, one work in progress (a top scholar on the subject believes it's promising), one research proposal (another top scholar believes this one is promising as well), 5 conference presentations, a pretty good SOP, great LORs from well-published researchers. I also had high grad and undergrad GPAs and did well in all introductory and advanced statistics and methods courses. I'm not confident I would have gotten into a better program with my scores, but apparently others were accepted into top 10-15 programs with lower scores. All in all, as I'm sure you've probably seen or heard before, it would greatly help if the rest of your profile was very strong. What exactly that means, I'm not sure. High GPA, a great SOP, stellar LORs are essential. Extensive research background (conference presentations, publications, perhaps serving as a research assistant, etc.) obviously further strengthens your application. You would also benefit from having taken and excelled in statistics, methods and other relevant math courses. This should be highlighted in your SOP. Others may say that you should contact potential advisors in the programs you will apply to and express your interest in working with them. That's not necessary. However, if you do decide to contact a potential adviser, make sure your email is worth their while. Don't waste their time by saying how much their work interests you and that you'd love to work with them on some unstated future research project. What I did was contact potential advisors and asked if they could provide feedback on an original research idea related to their work. I put a lot of thought into these research ideas (e.g., I showed that I had a grasp of the previous lit, provided a well thought out argument with hypotheses as well as alternative hypotheses). All except one replied very quickly and expressed enthusiastically that were interested in providing feedback, and indeed were very insightful about how to think about the causal mechanims involved, other possible ways I could approach the research question and what new literature (or important works that I did not mention) I should read. After having an in depth discussion, I then said that I was interested in the program and that I may apply and that I would enjoy working with them in the program. One of the profs I contacted told me to mention her name in the application and that she would put in a good word for me (I recieved a fully funded offer from that school). I didn't contact anyone in the top 20 program I was accepted to, so, again, it's not necessary. It certainly could help, though. Anyway, I'm sure others will provide some other important things to consider, but I hope this helps! Message me if you have any questions.

obnoxious... That research interests are more likely to change than not while in grad school is a really good point. And it's much more reasonable to go into a program with a general idea of what you want to study, but with an open mind. I think a lot of good points have been made here. Thank you all for your input - it's been quite helpful in getting me to think more about how I will make my decision.

Thank you for your replies Dwar. I agree that if one feels strongly about fit or personal success at one school over the other and both are in the same general tier, then definitely follow your heart. But what's making my decision a little less simple is that if you look at the Oprisko or NRC rankings, IU is ranked 15 and 18 while UCI is ranked 36 and 45. So, I'm also reluctant to say that they're in the same grouping. UCI nonetheless has decent placements and the professors that I'd work with have placed well in the past. So, yeah, I've got some thinking to do over the next few weeks. I may ultimately follow my heart when making my decision.

So, I've gotten fully funded offers from both programs. Although IU is ranked higher than UCI in every respect, UCI is a better fit. There are a few associate professors who I would enjoy working with at UCI but only one assistant professor at Indiana who I think would be okay to work with (the associate professor I hoped to work with at IU recently took a professorship somewhere else). Taking this into consideration, would it be wise to choose UCI over Indiana? Or would you still go to Indiana despite it being an okay fit at best? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for the info... just got an offer today. Very likely going to accept it!

Has anyone been accepted off the Indiana University waitlist?

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: small unranked state school Major(s)/Minor(s): Political science Undergrad GPA: 3.5 First MA: SEC School GPA: 4.0 Second MA:Top 60 Political Science program (also SEC)- left PhD program after 2 years for personal reasons GPA: 3.85 GRE: first time V159/Q153/AWA5 second time V161/Q151/AWA5 Letters of Recommendation: 3 really good letters from well-published academics Research Experience: 1 sole authored publication in a good (not great) academic journal; 1 work in progress; 5 conference presentations Teaching Experience: TA for 5 semesters; Instructor of American Government for 3 semesters Subfield/Research Interests: IR/CP RESULTS: Acceptances($$ or no $$): University of California, Irvine $$, University of Georgia ($$ - funding info to come), Arizona State University $$, University of Nebraska $$ Waitlists: Indiana University (fully funded if offered a spot) Rejections: Rice, Vanderbilt Pending: University of Oklahoma No advice that you haven't already heard or seen.

To all of those admitted to the PhD program at UC Irvine, has the School of Social Sciences contacted you about funding yet?