mormegil

Hey, congrats to the UGA and the NWU guy who got in! I just received an e-mail from Notre Dame's program coordinator saying that my file is under review by the committee and the results won't be out at least before february end or early March. So the talk about Notre Dame that CAPoliSciPhd mentioned is indeed right on. I applied to ND. I'm in Comparative Politics.

Damn. I'm so waiting on Northwestern. Been checking the site every hour for my rejection. Maybe they are supposed to come out next week?

Count me on that list. Which schools are high in your list?

Beats me. They are a Top 50 program, even if borderline. I guess they are not really that bad a program. How are they surviving as a department with that kind of a funding policy? Maybe I'm missing something here.

Hey, thanks spark25. I heard they are VERY stingy with tuition remissions. Even if one gets a fellowship/RA, most accepted students have to pay a substantial part of the tuition. Heh.

Congrats!

I am told that Claremont Graduate, where I applied, is quite stingy with funding. Maybe someone could elaborate how stingy they are? When the admits from CGU are due anyway? From the results search I noticed 3 admits around late february in the previous years. Their deadline was Februaury 1. So maybe the admits go well into March?

Congratulations !! You're burning down the admissions highway. Yeah.

Phew. You give me hope. And congratulations !! So I guess the first wave of admits at TAMU are already over/going on. Have the first wave of rejections started arriving yet? Any news on that?

My Notre Dame applyyourself page says 'application submitted'. Did somebody say they've started to update the pages? On the other hand, DHL took 13 friggin' days to deliver my transcripts to Texas A&M. 13 DAYS! I had already missed their deadline as I got my transcripts in the first week of January and the grad school told me to send them by first week. I have completely lost hope on TAMU for this snafu. And the worst thing is, they still haven't updated my application page. It says they haven't received my transcripts yet. Maybe I should call them? Of course, I could always say 'who wants to live in College Station?' :mrgreen:

Well said.

Me too. I had a typo at my SOP to the most schools I sent my application. The worst thing is, the typo was a glaring word repetition (2 words at that) in the very 2nd line of the SOP. Bummer! I'm still at a loss how the repetition escaped my eyes and MS Word.

Thanks man. With the recession and all, how many are they taking in this year? I see there's already been 3 admits at Emory posted at grad cafe. So there's probably 5 admits already if not more. I'm an international student in a South Asian country. Will they call me or do they call only domestic US applicants? Man, I'm so waiting for Emory. The rejection will be hard. :cry:

Folks, did anyone hear when Emory results are out? I see forum member coachrjc has already got an admit at Emory. Are they trickling in or did they give out admits to everyone? Can anyone clarify this?

Hello, been lurking for sometime now. Now that we are in the first week of February, paranoia is finally getting to me. So here's me profile in brief. International applicant. Large, relatively well known Indian University; Econ. Major, with Minors in math and Political Science. We don't have GPA system, but got 2nd class in Econ. and Pol. Science. (my university is infamous throughout India for 'grade deflation' as it is known in the US). Terrible math grades. (might hurt my chances?) GRE: 1440; Quant.: 790; Verbal: 650; AWA: 4.5 TOEFL iBT: 104. (24 in speaking section). 4 presented papers in international conferences in India. Work experience with a regional NGO for a year, related to micro-credit, rural co-operative societies and rural women. 3 very strong LORs. 2 from Econ. professors from my university who knows me very well. 1 from a Geography professor from U. of North Texas whom i got to know well in a conference and he was the chair in the conference track i presented my paper. The SOPs were utilitarian. Mostly, I described my research interests and previous research experience. Mentioned professors whom I would like to work with and why in the department I am applying to. Research interests: Comparative Politics, Political Economy. (I can be more specific but I'm a lazy chump and my fingers hurt). Applying to (PhD): UChicago, Northwestern, Texas A&M, Johns Hopkins, Notre Dame, Claremont Graduate, Emory, WashU, Rice, Purdue. (MA): Villanova, Marquette, UNebraska- Lincoln, San Diego State, Northeastern.

True that. Claremont funds less students than an average Political Science PhD program. I haven't started applying yet and at the end I may end up not applying to few schools that are in my 'final list' like Princeton, Johns Hopkins and such which may be too fancy to give me an offer. The dilemma is that my major is economics, and as pointed out in a thread below such an applicant has to appply to as many places he can afford. At least 15 to be safe, provided he is not a 'stellar' student from a tier I American university. Currently, there are 15 PhD programs in my final list and 5 terminal MA ones. But then quality is indeed better than quantity.

I can only hope all those folks applying at Buffalo and Claremont get in and choose to enrol at higher ranked places with fat funding. :mrgreen:

@Ferrero, thank you for your views !! Me too think the fit may become the decider. I'm worried s**tless about my ordinary GPA. @Rising star, thank you! yes, i will be mentioning my interest in political science research in my SOP. Besides, my conference papers should throw some light. My major field is economics, but i had also political science as a "general" subject, the course load of which is almost as large as my major subject. On your second point, i'm just banking on hope. Political Science admission i guess is very random and subjective. Don't you think if i apply to, say, 6 less programs my chance of getting in gets diminished further? :mrgreen:

Thanks you, ordinonuovo !! Yes, it's brutal but hey honest opinion is what i need. Would you please explain what do you mean by your first line? What are the areas the adcoms are looking for exactly? Yes, my research interest is a little broad but that's the way it is. I guess I have to be tactical. I won't be mentioning all of my interests in a particular SOP. For example, if a school doesn't have any faculty working on for instance, democratization, i won't be mentioning my interest in democratization. You're right that I don't have a safety school for PhD (i have mentioned the reason in my OP). I'm applying to 5, maybe 6 terminal MA programs (which gives funding) as safeties. Methinks Claremont Graduate U., a borderline Top 50 program (and incidentally, an excellent research fit with me), a safety school for me but you guys would probably know better. What do you think? Thanks again.

So, do I stand any chance with my choice of schools (given below) or am I fooling myself? I am an international applicant. One thing responders should remember is that my choice of schools is constrained as I'm applying with an undergrad degree (currently in senior year) which is a British format 3-year long. Most US grad schools don't accept such degrees for admission unless supplemented with a masters degree. PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: B.Sc. Economics (Honors), with Maths and Political Science as minors. Very large, old and well known Indian university. Has long history of placing students at decent U.S. universities. Undergrad GPA: Waiting on that. Should be mid-to-high second class, roughly in the 3.0 to 3.4 range after conversion. The GPA is specific to my university. A caveat is that my university is infamous in India for grade deflation (as it is known in the US). GRE: 1440. Quant: 790. verbal: 650. AWA: 4.5 I gave the GRE twice. 1st time got 1160. Quant: 670: verbal: 490. AWA: 4.0. Although I'm told by grad program directors at the places I'm applying to that taking GRE twice doesn't matter especially if the score improves (as it has). I hope it is so. TOEFL iBT: 104. Economics courses: Micro, Macro, Statistics and Econometrics, Development, International Trade, Public Finance, Mathematical Economics, Indian Economic History and Economic Policy Analysis. Math Courses: Everything. Modern Algebra, Linear Algebra, Calculus, Linear programming, 2D and 3D geometry, vector analysis, numerical analysis, Stats. Maths grades should be average. Political Science Courses: Indian constitution and politics, World constitutions (US, UK, China, Switzerland, France), politics and elections, usual undergrad political theories. Research Experience: Published papers in 2 national level conferences and at 2 international conference (in political economy, economic development and governance). Teaching Experience: none. Research Interests: comparative politics, including political economy, elections, development and politics, South Asian politics, development and governance et al. LORs: Will be extremely strong. Two from my college. One professor (from another college) with lots of national and international publications. He knows me very well and I've been with him to conferences. All 3 have PhD in Economics from my country. Is that a disadvantage? Another nationally famous Sociology professor (PhD from Mcmaster) who knows me pretty well and was the track chair in one of the conferences I've been to. SOP: Just started working. Concerns: Endless. To be pithy, 1. (Potential) average marks or GPA. International students especially from my country apply with much better marks. 2. I will be applying with only an undergrad degree. Almost all applicants from my country and I believe most international applicants apply with a graduate degree or they are already enrolled in a graduate program. But I will be in my final year of my undergrad program. I think this will be the biggest handicap to my profile and will heavily affect my chances. 3. Low GRE AWA score. Applying to: PhD: Chicago, Emory, Johns Hopkins, UPenn, Notre Dame, SUNY Buffalo, Washington University in St. Louis, Princeton, Virginia, Texas A&M, Claremont Graduate, Cornell, Northwestern, Rice, Georgetown. Terminal MA (just to be safe): Villanova, Marquette, San Diego State, U. Nebraska - Lincon, U. Nevada - Reno.