polsc

PROFILE:Type of Undergrad Institution: Large public R1 – not state flagshipMajor(s)/Minor(s): Public AdministrationUndergrad GPA: 3.84Type of Grad: NAGrad GPA: NAGRE: 159 (Q), 161 (V), 5.0 (W)Any Special Courses: 4 graduate-level political science courses (1 PhD, 3 Masters), half-a-dozen quant methods courses, probability theory, research designLetters of Recommendation: 3 –– a) Undergraduate thesis advisor (asst. prof, methods), b) Undergraduate research supervisor (assoc. prof, American + methods), c) Grad-level research design professor (assoc. prof, comparative)Teaching/Research Experience: Quant-heavy undergraduate thesis I plan on submitting for publication, national conference presentation (with a second acceptance at time of PhD applications), 2.5 years of RA experienceOther: Strong R, subfields are Methods and AmericanRESULTS:Acceptances: WUSTL, OSURejections: Harvard, Princeton, Michigan, MIT, Columbia (MA offer), Duke, UNC, NYU (MA offer), USCPending: UVA (Waitlist)Attending: WUSTLLESSONS LEARNED: My GRE scores were a) not where I wanted them to be and b) out of line with the rest of the admitted cohort at WUSTL (at least according to the results page). I'm under the notion that my coursework –– which includes grad-level stats and undergrad probability theory, alongside a number of courses in computational methods –– helped make up for this. My writing sample applied many of these computational methods, and I believe my letter-writers emphasized my strengths in quant poli sci. All in, I felt I was building much of my application to make up for this. The lesson, here, is to spend more time preparing for the GRE. It's hard. I gave myself two weeks to prepare and took it in early October, so I was unable to retake. As soon as I began exploring the possibility of applying to PhD programs as an undergraduate (beginning of junior year), I spoke to (virtually) all of my poli sci professors. I received lots of advice, but the most frequent feedback was to take as many methods courses as possible. Causally, I have no way of knowing the extent to which this played a role in my admission (n = 1, selection on the DV, etc.), but I certainly wouldn't have been able to write the paper I submitted or elaborate my research goals had I not. I spent much of my undergrad building relationships with faculty members – both my letter writers and others in the department. When decision season rolls around, and the rejections are coming thick and fast, it's helpful to have a group of people who understand the process rooting for you. Again, no way I can attribute a causal effect to this, but my research statement was almost entirely focused on research plans. Of the seven or so paragraphs, one was dedicated to my academic background, and one described my fit for each program. It also exceeded the length limit at (just about) every program to which I applied.