redcoat

I'm British - I have undergrad and masters degrees in economics from good British unis (not oxford or the LSE though!). I'm not completely sure how to convert, but I guess my GPA would be something around 3.8 or 3.9. GREs were 780Q and 720V. Also a couple of year's work experience in a research-oriented role. They said on the phone that it was the 'fit' that got me in - I want to do work in comparative political econ, so I think my economics background helped yes, it was one of the names I mentioned in the SoP

Yeah sorry, that wasn't based on any hard info, just guessing they may not have finished if still making calls today.

I can claim the MIT admission in comparative. Phone call from a professor this morning. Very unexpected to hear on a sunday, but I'm thrilled either way. So don't give up hope if you're waiting on MIT...

I can claim one of the minnesota admits (comparative). What a relief after no news from Princeton and Berkeley - I was starting to think I was going to get nothing at all this year

I think they must be done, surely. Especially since, according to an earlier poster, their admit weekend is 6th-7th March, so it's getting very late for people to make travel plans. Also, no schools seem to spread out acceptances over more than a week. I can only assume that Berkeley acceptees, especially in comparative, are under-represented here. A massive shame, as it was my top choice school. But I've put it from my mind now: waiting to hear back from the other 7 places I've applied to, none of which have given any news yet (sigh). Their application (the departmental supplement one) says we'll hear by the end of Feb, so it can't be too long until rejections come out now

Anyone claiming the Berkeley admit in comparative?

I didn't really understand that acceptance - why would they ask for a degree certificate from someone who's degree is from the US? I assumed it was just a troll. I've also applied to Berkeley for comparative and heard nothing, like many other here clearly. It's confusing - clearly they made some admits earlier in the week in American and Theory, but there were only four claimed, which seems like a tiny number given the number of acceptances posted on here for other schools. So either they haven't finished with their admissions yet, or else by chance people who've been successful at Berkeley just don't happen to post on these boards as much as people who've been accepted at other schools.

For what it's worth, I'm in a very similar position and applying to almost the same list of places. I majored in a different subject so I don't have any writing samples related to political science. But I do have a 40-page masters thesis from another social science, using a lot of statistical techniques, that I got an excellent grade for. I've decided to submit that to Berkeley (as they're asking for a full paper) and for everywhere else I have taken an extract from the longer piece of about 12 pages containing the key bits of analysis, plus a summary of the whole paper and missing sections at the beginning of the extract. I don't have much sense of how sensible a tactic this is, but my only other option was to submit a lit-review type piece on my area of interest that wouldn't contain evidence of research abilities. Everyone I have spoken to, including professors in the field, have said that the most important thing with the writing sample is that it shows you can do original research, and that you shouldn't submit something containing only a lit review etc. Princeton kind of allude to this on their website, where they say "The writing sample should be a seminar paper or a couple of chapters of a senior thesis (along with a thesis summary). Ideally, the sample would move beyond a literature review to display research abilities and capacity for original thought. "