jjiffy

Yeah I agree that the main problem area for you is the GPA, which is not *stellar*. That said, you seem to have plenty of quant experience and research under your belt, so I think you will make a competitive applicant. PhD applications is a crapshoot for everybody but I wouldn't mind coming in with your profile. As always, fit, SOP, and writing sample will be key.

Any department that interviews an applicant is strongly considering them. They wouldn't bother to interview them if they weren't. To find out which schools tend to them, I would urge you to check the results pages and see if people posted interviews in previous years. Comb through the available data and flex those research skills lol. Off the top of my head, I know that Duke tends to do interviews but that is the only one I can think of. As for getting worried...I wouldn't.

I know this isn’t the most helpful response but it really is a mixed bag. Most places don’t interview, but some do. Those that do might do it for various reasons: such as to narrow down a short list, do a final check for likely admits, or check edge cases. On the whole though, I would say being invited for an interview is a good thing. Maybe it means you were deemed an edge case that wasn’t good enough to be accepted outright, but the majority of applicants don’t even make it that far. As for which schools: I recommend going back through other years and seeing which schools relevant to you have done them in the past. That said, schools probably change their methods from year to year, and there is likely variation within sub fields.

Oh yeah no worries! I didn't take much stock in that post on the results page.

I don’t think anybody heard back from OSU, no?

I haven’t heard anything about this year. I was accepted last year without being interviewed though.

Yep, but word of caution to everybody applying to OSU: the department sends acceptances ~Jan 20 but they only send the results of the university-wide funding competition about a month after. Last year I got my acceptance and thought I was all good but I was notified that I was on the funding waitlist in February. Just wait until you have the funding letter before you celebrate!

I wouldn't worry. The earliest anything came out last year was around the end of January.

In theory, you could live three hours away and commute, but you would have to do so to attend classes and meet with faculty. It would be onerous, but that would be up to you. I think it would be highly unlikely that top programs would allow you do get out of coming to campus frequently though. I wager that most departments want students in the classroom, in offices, etc. Your PhD shouldn’t be majority online.

@Theory007 I appreciate the candid response. Actually the profile is different than the last cycle beyond just the MA. The writing sample used last year was admittedly subpar and I was frustrated I was not able to use my thesis but it was still not done at the time. I am now ready to use it as a writing sample and I believe it will be a substantial improvement. I am also replacing one of the letter writers from last year with somebody who can submit a more personal and positive letter. As for the SOP, it is being reworked from the ground up. I think there were some problems with it last year that I am trying to rectify in this year's. So in fact, all three elements you mention are receiving attention. I have been considering expanding the pool I am applying to to get out of the top 10, and I will likely heed your advice. Thank you.

Hi everybody! I am on round 2 of PhD apps. I graduated a year ago but decided to pursue an MA after getting shut out of PhD apps last cycle (except for an offer with no funding). I plan to focus on international relations with a specific focus on military effectiveness, conventional war, and civil-military relations. I am wondering if my chances will have changed much from last year now that I am working on an MA and COVID has sort of moved along. I would like to know what you all think. Thanks for taking a look! Undergrad: 3.73 GPA, special honors in the major and magna cum laude. Major in International Affairs with a minor in history. Private school, around #50-60 but top 10 in IR. I was involved in a 2 year undergrad research program/fellowship. I also won a large (by undergrad standards) grant to work on the project during the summer of 2020. I have presented the final work at a symposium with the rest of my cohort and it will be published in a sort of edited volume for the program but I don't intend to do anything else with the final product. I also was involved in another research seminar that more closely aligns with my current research interests, and did an independent study of a PhD level IR field seminar. My biggest weakness here is lack of quant skills. I took a survey econ course and then intro to stats in sophomore year but I got a c+ in it. Masters: I am currently working on a 1-year, research intensive MA at a top 10 program. My concentrations are international security and research methods. I am working on the PhD quant methods sequence here, along with some courses in qual methods/research design and IR seminars. I am in the early stages of an MA thesis but it won't be ready to use for this round of applications. GRE: 168V/160Q/5.5AWA LORs: I think I will have pretty strong letters of recommendation from my undergrad faculty. First is from a famous faculty in the field who I knew since sophomore year and advised my undergrad thesis. Another is a well known prof in the subfield who I took multiple classes and an independent study with. They have been very active in trying to help me with grad apps and are well connected in the field. Last letter will be from a non-tenured professor who was the director of my undergrad research program and I got to know very well over two years. Unfortunately, I have only been at my MA school for a little while so I haven't had much time to build relations with profs here. Writing Sample: I will be submitting my final undergrad thesis. I changed research interests while writing it so it is totally unrelated to what I am working on now and want to work on in the future. It is my best finished work though. Both my advisor and the research program director liked the paper and gave it positive feedback. It's been through tons of rounds of edits and I feel confident saying it is polished, if not the most well designed research project. Other: I applied to ~10 schools last year and got pretty much straight rejects. I got an acceptance to OSU but it didn't come with any funding. I'm not sure what to make of it but I feel like given that I got at least one acceptance as a fresh undergrad during COVID, it means that I should be in a decent position this year. Schools (list is still a work in progress) : Stanford, MIT, Columbia, Chicago, UC Berkeley, UCSD, OSU, Duke Let me know if y'all think these are within reach or if there are others I should be applying to. Thanks!

My feelings exactly. Such a relief to have this.

Nope, they said I could expect an email with funding info in the near future.

Just got an acceptance to CIR! Was in an email about 45 minutes ago with other info to come.

For real!

Claiming MIT reject via email just now. Still waiting on UCLA and Georgetown but I think they have already sent out admits so that closes out PhDs for me. Congrats to all those who got in during this brutal cycle!

I heard at around 11:15 central. They seem to be releasing funding offers slowly over the last couple days.

Just a generic rejection, they got 600ish applicants or something. Very boilerplate.

Here's hoping! Fingers crossed!

Yeah I'm not totally sure. I think I'll still go just in case I get funding even though I doubt its coming. I had also been really looking forwards to it but this sure throws some cold water onto it.

IR

Cornell rejection here, also just heard back that OSU put me on their funding wait list. Bummer. Was thinking I was safe with the OSU acceptance. Anybody know when we can expect to hear back from MIT?

Claiming a UCSD reject. Fingers crossed for Berkeley to come soon.

Stanford, Chicago, MIT, Berkeley, UCSD, UCLA, Cornell, Georgetown, Duke, Madison, OSU

I can't say for sure but I would bet so. Sorry We are still early in the season though, so have hope!