WestCoastChap

After many drafts and much thought, I've polished off another final version of my SoP, but I'm getting discordant advice on the length and specificity of the statement devoted to research interests. Any rules of thumb on how much of the 1000 words most places grant I should allocate to my neophytic thoughts on a scholarly agenda? Between the brief "grab" opener, sufficient background to explain my return to academia from the workforce, and some show-not-tell of why I'll be a good addition to the program and a productive scholar (in the "what i've done since I first walked on water" section), there's not an abundance of room left. More importantly, as others have noted, I hope that my research interests will be further developed by grad school--if I could do it without the degree, I probably would. FWIW, I'm a lawyer with law & courts interest (shock!) hoping to study low-hanging judicial behavior fruit (e.g. lower courts and the margins of Supreme Court action). Thanks in advance.

I'm not sure if my GRE Score Report will get here in time with my percentile ranks; can anyone share what a 770V / 730 Q is in percentile terms? Also, I was able to get the GRE powers-that-be to tell me my AW percentile but not score. It looks like 84 = 5.0, is that correct? Help much appreciated.

Thanks very much. Yes, HYP-ish (depending on the wife's geographic needs) is my intended target, and my legal career is related to my specialty--well, at least the JD is. And the SOP itself should demonstrate the relationship. How has your application process worked out--happy to be done (if not already) with the selling-yourself portion, and ready for the bargaining time? That pesky waiting gets in the way, but it's better than learning vocabulary or factorials.

I graduated at the top of a top law school in 2006 and, after four years of corporate law hell to repay the loans, intended to transition to the public sector. But I have always harbored some hope of ending up in academia so I took the GRE last weekend and did fine. I'd only go to a top PoliSci or MPP program, and only with funding--I'm leaving a $200k job behind. So, in what I am sure is an annoying repeat of many past threads, can I get some thoughts on my chances in applying this late? GRE: 770V, 740Q, AW? LSAT: 99th% 2006 JD top 5 school, top 10% class 2003 BA from good but not spectacular college, polisci major, magna How high can I reasonably shoot? Thanks for the time and best of luck to all!