AuldReekie

Congrats Duvergian. -- I'm gonna go eat some cake..

It's often said that the GRE can put you out, but it's not enough on it's on to get you in. It's just one tool among many used by adcoms..

So my sincere thanks to the grad secretaries who took the time to check and not just dump my applications. It is appreciated!

The interesting (archaic) degree naming system in Scotland is causing a few problems with some international offices... Four 'ancient' universities insist on awarding Masters degrees for four year undergraduate degrees and so a few places have emailed asking where my undergrad transcript is! The EU talks about standardising qualifications, but we can't even manage to do it within one country

I remember an old article by Dan Nexon on the Monkey Cage which really emphasised the need for international applications to get their referees to put grades into a useful context. Even within Britain itself it can be a nightmare. At most British universities there's a completely difference incentive structure with many courses (or even whole years) not counting towards the final grade and this can really alter how one studies. Interstingly my alma mater is introducing a GPA system now... Still I'll not moan. The US system is still much more open, at least from a financial aspect, than many others.

I see it, well now I know it wasn't just me rejected on the 7th..

Damn you OSU (and other schools that interview )

Made some beer to distract myself today and it should be ready in four weeks ... four weeks ... hopefully we all have good news within four weeks ... we'll all have good news within four weeks .. right ... Suffice to say it didn't distract me for long enough!

I'm aware and have already used it! I'm thinking more about larger scale acceptances/rejections and not just the odd university here and there

So it's Monday tomorrow and looking at previous years there could be some acceptances this week..

I've found moving house (by bike) helps

Cheers everyone. Yes, they normally do interviews on/around the second week of January. So, no news is good news for all you other Emory-ers

So I have the dubious honor of having both the first result of the cycle AND the first rejection. It seems I won't be going to Atlanta, Georgia (Emory)! It was a generic email from the graduate school sent early this morning (6am?! EST). One of the lower ranked schools I applied to, a reasonable fit and no interview... Long way to go...

Well done . What do you want to study? No.. I'm trying to distract myself. Luckily we've got a big cycling trip planned in the summer and my generally pessimistic nature has me thinking up back up plans. Anything that's not my old job! (Politics.. eugh.) Woop! I've decided not to apply for UK PhDs. I've quite a few friends just finishing and the job market looks truly atrocious and it just doesn't fit what I want to do as it's much harder to get an academic job in the US with a degree from the UK.

I can only hope the silence in this thread means that PoliSci graduate programs have received fewer applications this year. Lurkers... come forth!

I don't know. Have a look at the websites.. do they mention what they expect GRE wise? Do you have good research skills and ideas? etc. There are too many imponderables to just say 'you will get in'.. Did you only apply to four schools? I think most people apply to substantially more. Still we will all find out soon enough.

I think Emory are the only ones on your list that interview. One would imagine they'd email if they're unable to contact you. Happy Hogmanay/New Year

Feel for us British applicants then... due to the nature of our degrees there wasn't a single Political Science student that took a math major or course. In fact most of us wouldn't have been allowed to even if we'd wanted to as the rough equivalent of AP Math was a pre-requisite.

At least you feel there was some improvement . Final week of January seems to be when things begin to heat up. Have a look at the results page (http://thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php?q=political+science&t=a&pp=250) for your universities. Our only school in common is Columbia (unless by Texas you mean TAMU?) and they seem to notify people in the latter half of February. I know some of the previous years applicants made spreadsheets - using the results of previous years - with when they would be likely to hear from a school, but I can't find any of them now. Good luck!

I hope everyone had a good christmas. Too early for worry!

Cheeky buggers!

Submitted my Vandy app after the DGS email to applicants saying to get in as soon as possible to help committee give full consideration. Which Indiana? All I remember is that Indiana - Bloomington was Dec. 1st.

Final application in. Not helped by the fact that much of Florida State's IR faculty have departed in the past few months! All done now..

Maybe when there's opportunity to improve and correct things.. As you said the main issue is probably the GRE Q and that doesn't look good. 144 = 18th percentile. That's in contrast to ND's average admitted score of 156 (64th percentile) or UPenn's 158 (71st percentile) to take a few examples from your list. A low GRE score can also have implications for funding (although I'm not familiar with the practices of most of those schools). IR can be very heavy on the math, so it could be a big issue. So, if unfortunately you're not successful this cycle you've got one glaring potential issue to improve . Good luck. You're GPA is good, but it seems like a very competitive process and every department weighs things differently. Let's hope we're both still not here next year..

It's all a bit late now... why torture yourself?