Highlife

Dear bright, I hope for you that one of the next five applications works out. From your background it seems like possible reasons for a rejection from a top 3 university may be the low GRE AW score, the lack of proper training in sociology, and lack of publications or honors making up your good but not amazing grades these schools often require. If you do not get accepted anywhere this year, I would recommend you to do the following: retake the GRE, take sociology courses somewhere, somehow, only to submit a writing sample that someone else has graded as being excellent. These are just some suggestions, there is much you could do to improve your "credentials". I would not aim lower than the top 60th, but work on your application to make you more attractive as a future student.

Most application forms specifically note that you should not convert your grades. Even if they do not state that, I would not convert them. For example, British grading in polsci is on a percentage scale, but, and this is a big but, in contrast to the Sciences, noone gets 100%. An A starts with 70%, which makes a conversion somewhat difficult. The Canadian system must be well-known to US profs and admissions people. I would not worry about it.

that must be tough having to wait that long. But at the same time, there is still a chance things might work out. It seems like you really want this, and therefore i think it is only right that you should keep on following your dream. I myself will have an 18 months gap between finishing my MA and starting my PhD. It was a difficult time period, and I often was annoyed with myself for not managing to organise a PhD beforehand. But now, things have worked out for me and I will be starting in August/September. So, keep your hope up, but plan for the worst. That is always the best in my opinion. Good luck.

Well, I don't have to tell you that it is tough getting funding in the UK. In my opinion the only way to go is via either the British Council or the individual universities. That will be tough competition, and definitely not easy to get, but what else can you do. Good luck

Please, let us know how things work out for you. I am keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Some universities allow you to submit four references. If that is possible, I would take three polsci academics and your psychology person. Otherwise, well, I guess it is worth the risk if you don't have other good referees. As long as they are academics with PhDs, and they can talk about your intelligence and dedication to your work and draw a link to polsci, you should be fine. I applied after an MA in European Studies for an IR/PT PhD and had references from a PT lecturer, Chinese Pol Prof, and 2 EU Lecturers (all from the UK and not well-known in the US). One of them knew me very well, and thus could talk about my personality, character and dedication, while the others focussed on my academic work. The mixture worked out well for me. Hope my experience helped you decide what to do.

Concerning the Canadian university. You should keep in mind that if you are coming back to the US or desire to do so, you might run into some problems, if the Canadian PhDs are not considered to be of equal value to the US ones. (I am European, so no general US bias from my side!).

I have to make a similar decision, only with my field being Pol Theory at both Yale and Harvard. Any thoughts on that choice are appreciated. I am going to the open days in April, you too, ajc123?

I finally got rejected from Princeton. Just thought I should updat you guys. Hope others got accepted. Am still waiting for the official rejections from the other four unis I applied to (Cornell, Chicago, WUSTL, NYU).

Sorry, I was somewhat unclear. I was definitely rejected from JHU, but most others have not come back to me personally. However, looking at the survey results, the acceptances for Cornell, Chicago, NYU, WUSTL and Princeton have already gone out. But, I may be wrong, and they may still accept people in the second wave of acceptances. Again, I am sorry, my personal assumptions may have unintentionally and possibly unnecessarily made you worry that you are rejected. I wish you luck that Princeton will accept you!

Hey everyone, I got rejected by JHU, Chicago, Cornell, WUSTL, NYU and Princeton. Now I have to decide whether to go to Harvard or Yale. I feel pretty happy, and am glad I don't have to reject the other places....

Getting an almost identical result being a non-native speaker, I just want to add some things to the previous post. It took me a months to learn the vocabulary and it was not really a lot of fun. I used the same guidebook and that helped a lot. I focussed on the 1,000 words highlighted in it. Concerning the maths part. I have not done maths in the last 6 years, though I was doing well before that. I found the test not to test any maths knowledge past 2nd year of high school, however, the tricky thing is the timing. With practicing and getting used to the different exercises you can really really speed up your response time. I did not time myself during my practice work, however, I tried to guess at first glance what the answer was and then tried to work it out mathematically. In the actual exam, I sometimes knew the answer before the page had fully loaded. Having time to spare sure helped in the last few questions which due to the computer adaptiveness of the test, were somewhat difficult.

I wonder whether I could ask you philosophers a quick question. I am studying political studies with a political theorist/philosophy focus (am not starting that debate). I have applied and have been accepted to Harvard and Yale for PolSci/Government, but have trouble deciding. One factor, for me, would be the strength of the philosophy department in political philosophy. Do you have any thoughts on this?

I just found out that they are only paying up to 600$. I know, this is not little, but if my flight costs 900$ (its right before easter) and if I have to pay for accommodation, food, travel, I don't think I can afford this. I know the decision on where to go to grad school will be for the next 5 years, but then, is it really such a life-changing decision if you decide between Harvard and Yale. Both will be good, both have advantages and disadvantages... What is your opinion or advice?

It really seems like you did the best you could. And if you cannot wait for another year, then I really am keeping my fingers crossed for you that you manage to get into the MA. Maybe afterwards, they will be able to scoot you up into the PhD programme. I just hope you will manage to get some funding as well, as that is often the problem with MAs... wishing you the best of luck, even if I cannot console you.