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LM2022

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Everything posted by LM2022

  1. I think for international students an AW of 4.0 is ok. It is not great, but not horrible either.
  2. Some programs release their results in mid or late January, some in early or mid March, most of them in February.
  3. I just wanna say that it is so sad to see such an useful thread came to an end several years ago. It helps a looooooot in my own application circle. Hope some faculties somewhere will pick this up again.
  4. 164 is not low for Q, but not exceptionally high either. 156 is definitely not good for V, and will hurt your chances, but if I have an exceptional, exceptional, exceptional profile that makes you look like quant geek then I think 156 will not necessarily "doom" you. AW is a bit low as well, but as I said if your background is mainly quant, those inperfections, in the eyes of some profs/adcom members, are tolerable. If you are not a quant geek, retake the exam.
  5. I think his case may be different from us...his government will pay for his study, so maybe the department/him is not bound by the April 15 rule.
  6. wow...I just wanna say your wailist is amazing...hope you get into Harvard
  7. I second this... One more thing...from your Q scores I guess you are not very into quant stuff. If that is the case, you might want to consider try harder on those programs where qualitative approaches or other "alternative" interdiscplinary approach (as opposed to more popular interdisciplinary approaches like political economy or computational political science) are highlighted. You might wanna consider UCSC for your next round (if you are still interested). They dinstinguish themselves from other US political science departments by doing studies of "politics" rather than poltiical "science". Applying to PhD in History, East Asia Studies, or antropology may also be a way out for you.
  8. I think the problem is that you really need a good reason/execuse if you wanna defer your PhD matriculation. I doubt that one can defer PhD enrollment only because one is dried up in the previous studies. So maybe you can come up with a plan on how to spend this gap year, and make the plan look fulfilling, meaningful, and urgent (so you really need to defer), but also actually laid-back. Then you can take the plan to the DGS and...wish you good luck!
  9. I agree, Duke is super fantastic. Can I trade my JHU offer with yours, pbspoon? You mentioned JHU is ranked slightly higher in your field. Let's trade our offers so we can both be happy! (just kidding)
  10. I think that means you are accepted. As long as you didn't fake your credentials (which I believe you definitely haven't done), you are fine. Just be cooperative and let the bureaucrats do their jobs.
  11. btw are you waitlisted by Georgetown? I think if you can be wled by Georgetown then definitely you would have a shot at JHU. May I also ask what s your subfield?
  12. I think JHU has not only sent out the admits but also the rejections. If you have heard nothin from them yet, I would say that s a good sign: maybe you are on a waitlist but they just didn't tell you that.
  13. I heard that in addition to usnews ranking, APSA also has a ranking for political science departments/PhD programs. May I ask where I can find such a list? I cannot find it on the APSA website.
  14. Well...I am a foreign-trained lawyer so I am not very sure if I am qualified to also speak for my US counterparts, but I guess the problem is that we are trained very differently from social scientists. Although there are a variety of approaches to legal scholarship (law & economics, legal-socio analysis, etc.), they all ultimately boil down to helping doctrinal legal analysis and serving the application of legal rules. By contrast, social science is all about describing phenomena, identifying causes, drawing universal models from social facts. So basically we are trained to be advocates, lobbyists, and worldly problem-solvers; but they are trained to be scientists developing new knowledge. Well, although in their decades of legal service some lawyers can eventually develop a good sense of how things work and where the problem is (like Hans Morgenthau, a lawyer who became a political scientist), that does not make lawyers automatically social scientists. We are still essentially different species.
  15. One interesting observation: On the same day last year, the 2020-2021 application thread had already had 147 pages; By contrast, we just reached 62, which was reached by the 2020-2021 thread on Feb 4th. Why? Are there fewer applicants this year? That doesn't make intuitive sense because I know that a lot of people are doing a second circle this year (including me). So what happened?
  16. Hi Hazel, I think we probably talked before on the result page. I am also an international applicant from East Asia and this is my second application cycle, although this circule is not very successful for me either. If you really want to get into Top Schools, I would say that high GRE is better than no GRE, but it is not enough to make up for your lack of quantitative skills. I have a not bad GRE (164V, 168Q, AW5.0) but my writing sample is a piece using interpretivist/poststructuralist method---so it is super qualitative. As a result, I got rejected by most US schools that I applied to, and the only one that accepted me is very qualitative heavy. Frankly although I am grateful that I have been accepted, their emphasis on qualitative/theroatical training over quantitative analysis still makes me worry if I can eventually find a job to teach after getting the degree. So, if you really wanna reapply to US PhD in Poli Sci programs, after finishing your GRE, I strongly recommend you to learn as many quantitative skills as possible before the next round of application. If necessary, do a master in data science. Write a writing sample that using advanced statistical method. Show you understand math. I believe if you can manage to show that you have strong quantitative skills, every department would be crazy for you, because your other experiences are so interesting (Unique background, knowledge in Iran and Middle East, Military-related experience). However, as it is already noted by some, it is not necessary to get a PhD in Poli Sci to get a think tank job. If you are really interested in Think Tank or policy analysis only, try doing a PhD at policy schools like Fletcher School at Tufts, SAIS at JHU, SIS at AU, or even Rand Grad School. And finally...apply to more schools. 20, or 30, if necessary.
  17. Hi VehlynBlackfyre, Just out of curiosity, how did you end up applying to both Political Theory programs and Environmental Sustainability/Urban Planning programs? They look quite distinct, as one sounds more philosophical and the other seems more scientific. Does a certain research interest of yours happen to concern both? Or you have complete different interests in both fields and decided to apply to both?
  18. This is my second application circle, although this one is also not that successful (only two acceptances and one is unfunded). But after seeing the profiles of those more successful applicants, I feel that getting into poli sci phd program would be much easier if you are an economist or a data scientist. Unfortunately, I am just a stupid lawyer who has difficulties in doing math.
  19. Thanks for your interest, but I am not very sure if my way of doing things is an example to follow, because as you can notice in my signature, I was rejected by Brown, despite they gave me an interview earlier. Background: International student with a bachelor degree (law), two master degrees (international law, international relations), and a graduate certificate in International Relations. The master in law and the certificate are granted by two US schools. I am now a full-time research assistant in a law school doing international law stuff. My GPA is all right. GRE is 164(V)168(Q)5.0(AW). My WS is very qualitative, even somehow aligns with critical theory. I have one publication but it was still under the journal's consideration when I submitted my application form. The structure of my SOP: 1st paragraph: begining with a series of interested research questions. a summary of my research interests; 2nd paragraph: talk about my interest in great power politics, substantiated by a conference paper; 3rd paragraph: a research idea about international law; 4th paragraph: emphasize that although I have laid out several distinct specific interests, they are revolve around one theme, and I am open-minded so my research interests may change; 5th paragraph: a statement of fit; 6th and 7th paragraph: qualifications and experiences; 8th paragraph: methodological training that I recieved. I could be wrong, but I think it is not always necessary to mention your motivation/personal anecdote in the SOP, unless you consider them as your unique strength (which is very rare in the eyes of adcom, though).
  20. At this point, if you haven't recieved anything from them and wonder if you should assume rejections, the best way to figure out is always call them/write them directly.
  21. Hi guys I have a quick question: what should I do after getting admitted? I was accepted by a PhD program and I think my chances at better programs are slim, so I will probably go there. However, they only emailed me the offer letter and didn't mention anything about things like virtual visit, which makes me wonder if they have a virtual visit for admitted students. I have also seen some posts mentioning that they were contacted by POIs during or shortly after the admission process, but this didn't happen to me. Should I reach out on my initiative? If I should, to whom should I reach out? Graduate Program Director? Current Students? POIs? And what should I ask? I am sorry if these questions look silly or stupid, but this is the first time I got admitted into a PhD program so I really don't know what should I expect...
  22. Your reasoning makes sense. The shortlist must be very preliminary. But if that is the case, I would be very surprised because I think my friend's creditential is pretty good and I cannot imagine how he/she can be removed just because of GPA or TOEFL scores, as he/she aced these things. Cornell is really much more competitive than I can ever imagine.
  23. I am also applying to Cornell and haven't heard anything for myself. But a friend of mine also applied there and this is what he/she (just don't wanna give away the gender information) has been through: In early January when he/she was trying to send them some updated materials, they told he/she that there is no need as he/she was not in the shortlist...so guys they had a shortlist already in Januray... In Feburary they approached he/she again and ask if he/she still wants to be considered for MPA/MPP, because he/she indicated on the application system that if the PhD application was unsuccessful, he/she would like to be considered for MPA/MPP. This is all I know. Good luck to all.
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