Kalmar

They fund most but not all. I know a bunch of people who didn't get any funding.

Congrats! I received a weird email from them on Friday saying there has been a delay in processing the application by the Graduate Admissions Division. Called and they said a decision has been made but that the admin team haven't had a chance to process the decision so couldn't tell me! Don't know what to make of it all.

Anyone applying for the MRes/PhD at LSE who have heard back? (Or Oxford or Cambridge for that matter!)

It's OK! All finished. Submitting my applications these days. Where are you applying? And are you applying for next September?

Just checked with the grad office, they said they need them by the deadline. Prof still hasn't written back. What to do? Shall I pester him with another email? FWIW the deadline I told him is in two days, but seems like he is dodging my emails

Any other applicants to political theory PhD programs in the UK? I'm just about to finish off my applications and send them.

Thanks, I've done that now! Fingers crossed it will work out. Just in case, do you think it would be possible to send off the application without the LOR before the deadline and perhaps add the LOR a few days later? The website doesn't specify and I'd rather not ask.

So, one of my LORs still hasn't come through. I'm not sure whether I am partly to blame (I probably am!), but here's the status: I have an app deadline this coming Monday (15 Dec) My referee agreed to write a LOR over a month ago. I specified that the deadline was 15 Dec a week ago (yes, should've said initially, but only found out now that I need to upload the LOR myself BEFORE the deadline, and that he doesn't have to upload anything) How do I ask him for the LOR now, given the deadline coming up very soon? Do I basically order him to write it asap (I suspect he hasn't written anything yet) or what?

I'm applying for PhDs in Political Theory in the UK. I need two writing samples. I have the following options: 1. Excerpt from an essay submitted as coursework for my MA a year ago Pros: Fits my PhD proposal topic extremely well. High grade. Cons: Written a while ago, maybe my writing is slightly better now. Too long, so I'll need to edit it down (not necessarily a bad thing, but means more work!) 2. Essay submitted as coursework for my MA a month ago Pros: Recent. Well-written. Cons: Not my highest grade. The topic is slightly off and might be off-putting for the admissions people. 3. Book review forthcoming in a graduate-run but peer-reviewed and generally fairly respected journal Pros: Evidence of publishable writing skills. Highly concise, well-written. Cons: Journal is small. A review/not original topic. 4. A chapter/excerpt from my forthcoming MA thesis Pros: Will be my best example of writing. Can be tailored to work well as a writing sample. Topic fits well. Cons: Not written yet! Might be a stretch to have done soon and I want to apply ASAP. I won't have any official feedback from my tutor (i.e. no feedback form or grade), so seems less official. In which order would you rank these as suggested writing samples, considering I need two?

Brilliant, that's very helpful. Generally speaking, are journal submissions done through connections or just submitted by virtue of being good enough on their own? As in, do I need someone to vouch for me to the journal or can I just submit something when I think it fits well enough?

I'm about to enter graduate school (in the arts and humanities) and have a handful of ideas for papers I'd like to write. I have a lot of time on my hands right now so I'd like to begin writing with the hope of eventually getting one or more of these papers published (even if it's in lesser journals). My undergraduate thesis received a very high mark and I'm also thinking of editing it into an article format for publication. I have never done this before and would appreciate any help or guidance. How do I go about writing articles intended for journals?

Which academic discipline are you in?

I'm looking at various MA degrees, including one at the uni I'm currently at. Is it considered better to go to a different uni for PG studies? I'm quite happy at my current uni but I'm worried it's not considered a great idea to stay on at the same institution.

Any thoughts?

Firstly thanks for a helpful response. LORs are my main concern. I have one professor who will be able to write a very good LOR, and the person I hope will supervise my undergraduate dissertation is quite famous in the field and has contacts at several of the universities I'm applying to. For the third referee I'm not sure at all - I know someone who was a visiting professor at my uni who has now left. He didn't teach so we only knew each other personally, and I don't know if that's useful. He's very relevant to the field, though. Other than that I'm quite unsure... Any tips/advice how I can improve this section? Re: GRE, I'm not sure whether I'll apply to the US (primarily looking at UK and Canada at the moment).

It's hard to get funding at MA level in the UK, but fees are so low already (compared to the US) that it will probably still be much cheaper than being state-side. Have you considered some of the universities offering free MA degrees? Copenhagen, Lund, Uppsala, Aarhus, Oslo, Bergen are all strong universities that offer no-fee MA programmes in English. They aren't Oxbridge but definitely up there with a lot of UK/US universities. Living expenses in Copenhagen aren't much higher than London if you factor in accommodation. The Netherlands also has a few decent universities with very low fees (Leiden, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Maastricht etc.). To answer your questions, I don't think UK universities look for anything different to US ones, but of course given the much more specialised nature of UK undergraduate degrees I assume UK undergrads might be at a slight academic advantage if they're from the same field - so I would imagine it's a matter of emphasising that you're more well-rounded as well as demonstrating how you have the necessary expertise/depth of the particular discipline you want to study. I don't know if that's at all helpful though!

I'm in the precarious situation that before my final year, my GPA is set and not possible to improve/worsen (I'm at a UK university where we use discrete degree classifications). This essentially means that while I'm hoping to get strong predictions/final grades in my final year exams, these will take place after applications and decisions, and in either case I won't be able to bump up my GPA at all. I'm currently wondering how to best improve my application. I'm applying for an MA in Islamic/Middle Eastern Studies. I already have 1 year of very good professional experience, albeit not related to the field (except a few projects I've done which are). I recently won a research scholarship to go to the Middle East this coming summer to conduct research and write up a project. This will hopefully form a significant part of my SOP, but I'm looking at ways to improve my position further. I'm taking up Arabic in my final year as well as picking the most relevant courses. In addition, my final year dissertation is going to be on a highly relevant topic. I've been active in activist groups on ME issues. I've got a good media contact who would let me publish relevant articles on a decently visited website. Some ideas I currently have which I hope to achieve in the coming year: Attend major relevant conferences Become research assistant for a relevant academic at my institution Write relevant articles What else could I do to boost my application? Any ideas?

I'm doing my BSc in the UK where degrees are 3 years long. This means I'll be applying half way through my 3rd (and final) year. We don't have professors teaching our seminars; they're led by PhD students in their final years. Only lectures are taught by Professors. I'm really worried about how to solve this problem, it seems US applicants stand much stronger by having an additional year in college and closer interaction with professors... I'm applying for a free-standing MA btw, not a PhD. 1. Must LoRs be from Professors (i.e. established academics)? or 2. Could I theoretically get people with whom I've worked on extra-academics to write a LoR if they're PhD students? I know two people who could write amazing LoRs if that's the case, but they're only PhD students. 3. I know one highly relevant academic very well but he hasn't taught me - he's more of a mentor. Would he work? 4. I also have a professional working relationship with the Dean, who is a very well respected academic. He wouldn't be able to write about my academic ability but certainly write about my working ability etc. Would he work? I've got my academic advisor who's a pretty well-established academic and who would write a very good LoR. Then there's the person I'm hoping will supervise my undergraduate dissertation next academic year. But the problem here is that he will only have known me for 3 months by the time I'm applying, which is next to nothing. He is the key figure to get a LoR from as he's been at my top two schools either as a PhD student or a Professor, so he'll most likely know a large percentage of the faculty, including admissions tutors. What to do?

Thanks a lot that's very helpful. What kind of places would you compare SOAS and Edinburgh to? And which US schools would be considered the most prestigious for Middle Eastern Studies and related subjects - Harvard and Columbia?

Thanks - I was hoping for some more qualitative/anecdotal stuff though, I see you did your first two degrees in the UK, what's your feeling?

I'll be applying for an MA in Middle Eastern/Islamic Studies/History in next year's cycle, and I'm wondering how non-US programmes compare to US ones. I'm currently doing Political Science at LSE, and staying in Europe will be much cheaper and easier, but I'm not sure if the programmes and institutions are up there with the best US ones. Oxford - MPhil Modern Middle Eastern Studies Oxford - MPhil Islamic Studies and History Edinburgh - MSc Arab World Studies SOAS - MA Near and Middle Eastern History SOAS - MA Middle Eastern Studies Lund - MA Middle Eastern Studies Copenhagen - MA Islamic Studies AUB - MA Middle Eastern Studies In the US, I've had a look at NYU, Chicago, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, UCLA, Berkeley and a few others (as an international intending to live/work in Europe/Middle East, I need the name recognition more than e.g. Texas-Austin's expertise, sadly enough). I'm hoping to go on to do a PhD, but I don't have any academic training in the field of study yet, hence why I'm initially opting for an MA. What would SOAS or Edinburgh be equal to in terms of US institutions, reputation-/quality-wise? And how about AUB? Thanks so much in advance!

Hi, what's your profile? UG degree/institution etc.? Good luck, I'm hoping to apply next year

Hi everyone, I'm currently finishing my undergraduate degree in Political Science at LSE. I am taking relevant modules in state-formation, nationalism, and democratisation this year with a focus on the Middle East in them all. I have a very good but not perfect score (we don't use GPA in the UK). I did a mock GRE the other day and scored V640-740 and Q750-800 (the new software gives ranges). I'm hoping to get this travel-research scholarship which will allow me to do my undergrad dissertation in-depth in the ME next summer for 3 months. I also have a year's really good professional experience in a politics-related job. I'm trilingual but all three are Modern European languages. I'm mostly interested in modern history, post-colonialism, critical theory etc. - Columbia is hence my dream school. But NYU, Chicago and Harvard look good too. However, I don't speak a word of Arabic/Turkish/Farsi.My plan is to go to Lebanon/Syria the summer preceeding my MA and pick up some Arabic, and either do Arabic or French slightly more casually (during weekends etc.) until then. Is it a requirement for good programs to speak Arabic? My alternative plan is to go to my country's military for a two-year ultra-intensive Arabic interpreter program with 1/4 spent on military training, 2/4 on MSA and ME studies, and 1/4 on a dialect. I would then apply to do an MA after this. However, I would like to know whether I have any chance of getting accepted at e.g. Columbia MESAAS without speaking more than basic Arabic? Thanks a bunch in advance!