AuldReekie

Most Universities use different grading systems for their Masters degrees. 65% at some universities is a Merit, below a Merit at others and some don't award Merit/Distinction at all. I'm assuming you'll be getting letters of recommendation from some of the faculty at the institution where you did your MA? They're best placed to tell you how you compared to your fellow students and to get that across in their letters for you. Sorry that this isn't really an answer, but I don't think many US universities require a masters anyway, so it should be of some benefit to you.

Oh you academics, always hopping between universities

I gather that Q is on the low side, especially as IPE can be pretty quant heavy. Boulder, Washington and UT-Austin have average GRE scores hidden away on their websites, so have a look there. Suffice to say if you think you can improve your scores without impinging on prep for other areas of your applications then do it.

I've only seen this from @SuseJohnston on income/voting. Individual voter level data will be released in a few months.

Already the devolution proposals are getting caught up in political football between Labour and the Conservatives.. right time to switch off, it's not going to get better. Still it was an amazing exercise, so many people voting and getting involved in politics for the first time. I'm looking forward to the election study data coming out, some incentive to get better at using R

Crazy campaigning today, up to 90% turnout in some parts of Edinburgh and a dictatorship worthy 100% in some areas. I'm definitely reminded why I don't want to be involved in politics any more... Still it'll be an interesting night as the results come in. Probably a No from Scotland.

It's been quite fun in Edinburgh, but the urban/rural and rich/poor divide is astounding. I remember been taught about the demise of class based voting from about age 15 . Three polls today, all 52% No, 48% Yes . Suffice to say there's not much point in me trying to do anything related to my applications over the next 72 hours... ======== However, I shall try to offer something other than just "squee, independence referendum". In my word doc on SOPs I have collected a few bits from the forum and elsewhere, here's what I can find on research statements etc. Bear Braumoeller - OSU Dan Nexon - Georgetown Nuno Monteiro - Yale

I gather there's a sweet spot.. but too focused and you count yourself out of places even though your interests will develop. Took the GRE a couple of weeks ago and got a decent increase over my first attempt (almost two years ago?!) but still not fantastic in the Quant section. So that's something for me to think about, but the SOP is more important for now. 3-4 days to go until one half of Scotland is very annoyed!

Very few schools in Europe ask for GRE scores and I'm no sure if they're mandatory any where. If you know you're only applying to Europe then you don't need to take it. Lucky you!

Fine... still drafting the personal statement before I send it to my letter writers. That and obsessing over my final list of places to apply to. How are you doing?

Afraid I can't help with theory :/. British politics going into a bit of a frenzy, first poll to show support for Scottish independence ahead.. --- Still waiting for my official GRE scores to come up.. couldn't write them down and I was rather nervous that I can't remember precisely what they were now! Also trying to work on my SOP and finalise my list of schools, considering applying to12 ± 3... provided my referees are OK with so many.. oh for a standardised system for these letters! I hate feeling like I'm imposing on people's time, especially to deal with all this awkward bureaucracy.

Hello! It's awfully quiet around here, but it'll pick up soon enough. Good luck with your research project and the GRE, I found Magoosh pretty accurate. I've been out of things for a wee while myself, but eager to get going again. Scotland is still conspiring to be as big a distraction as possible, latest polling is beginning to show a big swing toward the pro-independence side, with 18 days to go... I've always been a bit of a political anorak, but it's bewildering... impossible to go outside without hearing people talking about it.

Did the credits/courses taken at university 1 and abroad count toward your degree at your final institution? Most applications allow you to input each university and the relevant GPA separately. I'd go with the GPA from the final university, although I believe you might need to send transcripts for all three.

<GRE appointment reminder> Don't schedule your GRE a few weeks before your country decides whether to be independent folks! Hope everybody's preparation is going well.

Look up the websites of universities you want to apply to, some will have the average GRE scores of admitted students and you can use these as a guide. Try looking in the subfield forum for your area of study and look for discussion there. A quick google found these scores from Minnesota for PhD. Chemical Engineering: Average Verbal Score: 160 / 79% Average Quant Score: 167 / 94% Average Writing Score: 4.2/58% (same) For example if you want to go to Minnesota (which looks to be quite highly ranked) you'll likely need to do a bit better on the quantitative side.

The idea behind the GRE is to test analytical skills that are transferable across disciplines. The old PoliSci subject test seems to have been a 120 question multiple choice exam and to be honest to me that doesn't really improve on anything when it comes to your ability to conduct research. It's There is a reason that most programs will ask you to submit a writing statement an that's because it can tell the admissions committee far more than a standardised test, polsci specific or not. Kenneth Waltz was an incredibly influential scholar within IR, but of a different time. The majority of influential work in (US) Political Science these days involves quantitative methods.. you simply can't get by without being trained in quantitative methods these days, even if you simply want to understand quantitative research. If you're applying to less quantitatively focused schools or for Political Theory then they will probably accept lower Q scores. I know it's frustrating when you don't do as well in the GRE as you want to, but you just need to focus. Analyse where you did poorly and get back down to studying for it. It's all we can do!

Yeesh.. I wish I could travel forward in time just a wee bit to skip the whole process and wait. I've been lurking on this forum for years, so I suppose it's only fair that it's my turn! Motto and thinking is definitely 'it only takes one' - would be delighted to get into any of the ~10-15 universities I'm looking at applying to. Anyway.. time to start nudging my old lecturers, from two plus years ago, to remind them who I am in preparation for references. I'm not sure how those who have been out for a greater length of time manage it. Being outside of academia looking back in certainly makes you support open access journals and the like

Search through the forum as there has been a lot of discussion about this. The consensus seems to be that it probably won't matter for admission. However if there's only one or two people at an institution you want to work with it might be worth contacting them to make sure they're not planing on moving on next semester.

Actually someone asked essentially your question of the former Texas A&M DGS last week. What he said was that all fields are similarly competitive with no hard quotas as there's an acceptance that many people will flip their stated Major/Minor at some point. That's just A&M, but there are a few forum members who were/are on admission committees, so you never know..

You don't really need us to tell you that it depends? Sure if a department has a speciality or focus that might be more competitive, but there are just too many factors at play here. My instinct is that switching your field of interest is a bad idea.. there's no point trying to game the system based on 'perceived competition' any field in a decent PhD program will have a high bar for admission. If IR is your strength and what you want to study don't try and fudge together a statement aimed at another subfield.

Cooperstreet is bang on about Georgetown, according to Nexon in 2012 they only had two IR fellowships (source).

I've been thinking about this too. Broadly I'm thinking I will only do so if I have a good reason, most likely to confirm their current research agenda or such like. I'm not worried about making sure each and every faculty member is advising/staying since I'll only apply to places with at least 2-3 potential advisers. Although I have emailed the odd professor or two during my undergraduate for what I now appreciate as rather frivolous matters and received some really nice responses.So maybe? On the other hand I'm still waiting for a DGS to reply to an email from over two months ago .

I'm sure that the Masters GPA will compensate to a certain extent. What are you publications? If they're in peer reviewed academic journals then that would be a massive positive. You say you didn't do a thesis for your Masters, but was there any substantive research training? If not you will need to apply for the Masters of Research for all degrees in the UK as the PhD has no coursework. Although some scholarships will cover both Masters of Research and PhD (contingent on grades).

Hey everyone, I can't believe I first signed up to this site almost four years ago as a slightly over enthusiastic undergraduate ( ). In the end I swithered and went off to get some experience in the 'real world' to make sure that I wouldn't get any silly ideas midway through a PhD program. Although I ended up in Brussels, perhaps not the real world! Hopefully I can focus on International Security & IR Theory, with a dollop of CP and some political psychology. Looks like I'll be applying to quite a broad range of schools and probably applying to up to 12 or so. I can't pretend to be looking forward to the application process.. Good luck everyone!