I thought I would post my stats if only to reassure people reading that you don't need to have some stellar academic CV and research experience to get in. You just have to be a solid student and have a good story to tell. Be unique!
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad Institution: Colorado State University
Major(s)/Minor(s): Political Science, Certificate in Diversity in Law (now in the Ethnic Studies dept.)
Undergrad GPA: Graduated Dec 2007 with 3.97. But when I started, my GPA from long, long ago was too low even to get into a state school. I had to go to community college for a semester to get some decent grades. My very first GPA when I dropped out of the first college? 0.95
Type of Grad: n/a
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 670q/700v/5.5a (but I didn't need it)
Any Special Courses: grad course in Nationalism and Nation Building
Letters of Recommendation: Dean of Liberal Arts College, full professor of the grad course, visiting prof I had for two senior courses, person I had done some work for.
Research Experience: None
Teaching Experience: only my children
Subfield/Research Interests: National identity formation in Third Culture Kids/Nationalism & Globalism/Media studies
SOP: Used what I had written for a scholarship I didn't get. Worked pretty hard on it. Went with a fairly narrative structure since I don't have a lot of academic experience but I do have a lot of life experience
Other: I'm 42 years old, divorced with three kids. I've traveled a lot in the last few years and had some life-changing experiences. I mentioned them all in my SOP. I also did some research and found out that my specific interest is lacking in research. I looked carefully at where I could best study what I wanted to study.
RESULTS:
Acceptances($$ or no $$): London School of Economics, Msc Political Science, small financial aid package, waiting for scholarship info to be released.
Waitlists: n/a
Rejections: n/a
Pending: n/a
Going to: LSE
What would you have done differently? I might have studied more for the GREs, though I ended up not needing them. I might have applied at more than one school. I was kind of clueless. I talked to a professor at Goldsmiths who said 'all you can do is write yourself OUT of an acceptance.' but I didn't apply because I wanted the LSE name.