plisar

I would add MIT to Penelope's list, even though EE and Africa aren't strong points.

Thank you.

Nope, if you've been admitted to a school, it means that they think your application is impressive. Study hard, don't be afraid of late nights, lack of sleep, and pursuing good ideas, and you'll be fine.

And by the by, a thesis may be helpful, but no one applying to grad school in political science has published articles. No one. To think that one would be necessary to get in is absurd. People with articles published can, do, and often get declined. A thesis is useful, but as a writing sample typically. If you write a qualitative small-N thesis and apply to any of the top-ten schools, don't think that it will push you over the edge. In my experience, your writing sample is one of those things that can only hurt you. I will continue to say that the most important things in this process are your recommendation letters and your statement of purpose. If one or both of these factors are bad, no GPA, GRE score, thesis, article, or anything else is going to save you.

Hey Slacktivist. Nice to see some new blood here. I couldn't disagree more with all the advice you are getting here. First of all, I'm sorry to hear about your health problems. This happens more often than people think and is completely excusable reason for the lower than expected GPA (especially if the quarter is completely on the left side of the distribution of your grades). In your case, it may be necessary for you to have at least one of your letter writers (or some documentation) that can prove your medical issues on the application. I would talk it over with a trusted advisor at your university. Your last four quarters of at 3.8 are incredible and will be a signal that you are not all talk--committees will typically recognize this. The lack of economics and calculus classes will not hurt you in the admissions process. What will hurt you is a GRE-quant score less than 750. In your case I highly encourage you to shoot for an 800. It's an essential signal to the committees that you can do the math required of you and it is a fairly achievable goal given the amount of time you have to prepare. I can PM you with more details as to how to ensure at least a 780+. Honestly, I think you can shoot for the moon, but it seriously depends on how many applications you can afford to send in. My advice is different if you apply to five schools versus 20. Either way, please do PM me and we can discuss things further. I'd be more than happy to help out. You seem like a smart kid, and you have absolutely NO NEED to restrict your applications to the bottom half of the top-50 or "outside of the top 50" as people have told you. That's absurdity. PS

If the file was completed correctly on the applicant end, it was reviewed by Columbia. This means transcripts were sent in and all letters were received. That is the applicant's responsibility. The conspiracy theories on this board this year are mind boggling. It just seems like yesterday that you were openly referring to one of my advisor's students as living in a 'fantasy land' because s/he got accepted to all the schools s/he applied to. I've tried to be helpful by sticking around this year and providing some context based on my experience wearing as a former employee of a graduate program, a former applicant, and now a graduate student. Since it seems that my insight is not wanted, I'll cease visiting. -PS

Everyone's files were reviewed at Columbia.

Penelope is right, again, of course. Those placements are quite good. I'd be quite happy with a placement at any of the places you listed.

Ugh. SWOT, you know my opinion on this. I really think that you need to go to Wisconsin. I think that if Chicago comes through off the waitlist, you should go to Wisconsin. I think that you really need to turn down the Yale offer now so that you most assuredly take one of your two possible Ph.D offers.

Congrats! What a great choice!

Almost all of us were advised by professors to send applications to a broad set of schools (typically between 10 and 20) and I don't think that you need to be telling others off because they did this. More importantly, people can and should be allowed to talk about their entire experience, and shouldn't be made to feel bad for wanting to get off the wait list at a "top choice." We should be rooting for AP, not making him feel bad. He's certainly not bragging. That being said, admitted folks, take your time making your decisions .Don't feel like you're obligated to those on wait lists in turning down schools quickly. And as a side note, I'm really saddened to see how this year's crop of students is interacting, at least on this website. I'm good friends with many people who used this site last year, and got drinks with them a number of times over the summer. I've written R packages with one person who is now attending my alma mater, and look forward to seeing him when I go back to visit. In summary, this is a grind, and you need friends in the profession. For those of you who have made it quite clear who you are, think about that every time you make a post on this forum that is snarky. For those of you who have yet to be outed publicly, there is no need to use anonymity to be mean spirited. You've all posted a ton of identifying information, and there is no need for any of you to be anything but collegial to one another.

duplicate, sorry.

Wow, you guys really are haters aren't you. I can confirm he was admitted to every school he applied to. How about instead of spending time gossiping about someone on the internet, you figure out which schools you want to go to based on your acceptance list. SP is already doing that based on his.

Echoing everything that Realist said, UPenn and Cornell are at best on par. I don't think OP should be spending 22.5K to get a similar offer as he got this year.

Go to Cornell and work with Katzenstein. You'll get an amazing placement and you'll learn a lot.