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Wallerstein

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Everything posted by Wallerstein

  1. I heaven't heard either. But I also think they have already sent out all admissions and waitlists. Still, optimistically, I'd say they might be considering our files for the MA program which, if I remember correctly, we have applied along with the PhD. But it could be just a simple delay... So far, I have received all my rejections a couple of days after people started posting them on the results page.
  2. Realist: Don't get me wrong, I think adcoms and faculty members in the US are very competent. And I am sure it is out of their interest to select the best candidates regardless of their nationality. That is why I am working so hard to get into a PhD here. But I still feel that as hard as they try, it is always difficult to get rid of that bias. Maybe, as you say, for British and some European countries adcoms can read all signals. Or even for South Korea or Canada. But for countries that send less students to the US, I think that lack of information can still be a problem... I think there should be less than 10 people from my country doing a PhD in Political Science in the US right now. And probably many schools that I'm applying to have never read an application from someone who studied at my school... Concerning the GRE, I totally understand that it is important and if it is that difficult for an international student, then the PhD is going to be hell. I had an ok score on my GRE (650v and 800q) but it took me about 6 very precious weeks of study to get there. During that time I could have been working on my writing sample, SOP or bonding with professors... I am certain that a native speakers can have a similar performance with less work, leaving more them free time to work on other aspects of their applications. Or, if I was a native speaker, other aspects of my application would have been better, given a constant GRE. I think all educational systems are biased towards their native population. Getting in a PhD in Germany, for example, is very hard for people who have not attended a German university. And the same applies for the Netherlands or Switzerland, for example. Well, and in my country it is certainly very hard (if not impossible) to get in a doctoral program without a domestic degree or a degree from an internationally famous educational system. Concerning Wtncffts arguments, I have the feeling that you are stating that the system should be biased ("that's the way it is. That's how US schools do things.") which is not absurd at all...But in that case you agree with me that the system is kind of biased, you just don't think its is bad (which I also don't think). Ultimately I just think it is a bit biased, but also it is almost impossible for it not to be (at least for every country) and that it is not that bad that it is biased... It would be a horrible system if it was biased against domestic minorities.
  3. I am definitely not a qualified person to discuss this topic, but I have a strong feeling that there is a bias against international students. And I say this as an international student applying now, after a 2 years MA in the US... I can see three main reasons for that. First is the GRE. I have the feeling that committees do not properly weight the difficulty of taking this exam when english is not one's first language. Not only that, but also the structure of this exam is one that American students are already used to (from the SAT and so on) , while international students generally are not. Second is that I don't think committees have perfect knowledge about universities around the world. My undergraduate university is the best in my country and the admission rate is less than 10% for undergraduates... Even when adcoms know of this university, I doubt they would know that the average level of students there is super high (I think it is higher than the top 25 school where I did my masters), even though grades are generally super low (a 3.2 GPA was the highest in the history of the department). Third is the recommendation letter system. Not all countries make use of this mechanism for selecting students. Since in my school back home very few students go to the US for their PhD's , my professors had little experience writing recommendation letters and, ironically, avoided any excessive praising of my skills and abilities... nearly the opposite of the letters I've got from American professors. I don't think adcoms intentionally discriminate against international students, but I have the feeling that this system is slightly harder on International students then it is against American students. And, given the same skill level of two students, one American and one International, I believe an American one would perform better on this application process simply because she would now how to work this system better and adcoms would know how to read her signals better. Still, I think the US has probably the most welcoming educational system.... but it is a bit unfair to international students.
  4. PhD students at CUNY have to teach a lot. I know its not a very well ranked department, but for sure students finish their degrees with a great teaching experience. One may also have to teach in the Harlen or Queens campus which I think should count a lot on learning some teaching skills!
  5. wtncffts: Thanks a lot. But I guess my link it's just not there. I still hope it's a good sign!
  6. Hey there, I need some help from those who applied to Northwestern. I've just checked their graduate admission tracking system which directed me to their online application website by telling me that they have made their decision. But I simply can't find the link to their admission decision. Where is it????? Cheers
  7. I am also getting kind of crazy while waiting for the results, but none of the universities I've applied to gave me any feedback. Any bets on what is coming out first: Brown, Cornell, Columbia, WUSTL ,Chicago, CUNY or Harvard? Cheers
  8. I think 550v and 800q is not that bad. 550v is what, about 75%? I remember reading that the average of Harvard PhD admitted students (in all fields) was 570v and 770q. It means that for every accepted applicant with a 600v there is someone with a 540v. It might be that PoliSci is more competitive than the average program, but I am sure that all top 10 programs have admitted people with 550 in the verbal section of the GRE. Of course it would be better if you had an 800 in the verbal section, but it would also be better for a bunch of people to have a master with honors at Oxbridge or even 800 in the quant section. Nobody has a perfect application! I think you should apply to those schools and, if you are sure you want to start a PhD next year, I'd also recommend applying to other places. I also think that speaking other languages can be an asset if you play it right. In IR it is not that important, but in comparative politics and continental theory it is. Just keep in mind that you have an excellent background and although some Universities might not pay enough attention to your application because your GRE scores I'm sure that others won't make the same mistake. Good luck
  9. Thanks a lot for your reply! Given what you said, I would like to ask you a few other questions concerning the LOR. I don't really have a very close relationship with any of my past professors, but I wrote decent papers and was a good student in their disciplines. Some of them liked my work and even offered me help for this application process. So: a. How should I weight the professors' willingness to help me out with how famous/important he is? Meaning, should I ask LOR to professors who were more open and friendly to me or to the big names in the discipline? more specifically, a friendly young non-tenure prof. X a grumpy old professor with a big name? b. Is it ok to have LOR from prof. outside the subfield, as a from a theorist for example? c. is it ok to have letters from someone outside the discipline (historian or sociologist) who works in relevant topics? d. and, kind of pushing too far, is a letter from a really big name whose work has nothing to do with mine worth something?
  10. Sure, Harvard would be great. I didn't include it on my list because I thought it is nearly impossible to be admitted there. I thought only Ivy League students or brilliant people get accepted there. I know many people who applied there but only one who got in, and she was a Yale grad.
  11. it is from a private university, kind of known for its good theory faculty, but unranked anyway. I guess this should make the letters more valuable than the GPA, doesn't it?
  12. Hey there, I've made a list of the departments I'd like to apply in comparative politics and would like to read some opinions about it. I have the feeling that I might be aiming too high, although after looking at the rankings some of the big names in my list were not close to the top... The schools are: Berkeley Brown Chicago Cornell Columbia CUNY Johns Hopkins Northwestern WUSTL Yale I'm planing to study Europe, probably both Western and Eastern, and those departments seemed to have many interesting faculty members doing research on topics related to what I'd like to work on. i have a decent background: Very quantitative undergraduate program, 2 year master in PoliSci with classes in comparative and theory (mainly continental theory) with a 3.95 GPA, 1450 on my GRE (800q, 650v), I speak the languages of the countries I'm interested in studying and hope to get some good LOR ( though not so sure about that yet.) But not sure if it is enough for those schools. So, my questions are: a. I'm I aiming too high? b. Should I add other schools to that list? c. If so, what other schools would you recommend me? I'm looking for decently ranked schools with good comparative departments which aren't too quantitative... not afraid of numbers, but tend to prefer more qualitative/historical approaches. And I'd also like having a good theory department around, with some continental theory professors.
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