[Profiles and Results 2009]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad Institution: Top-20 LAC

Major(s)/Minor(s): Politics (theory concentration)

Undergrad GPA: 3.4 (doh!)

Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA:N/A

GRE: 760 Math, 690 Verbal, 6.0 Writing

Any Special Courses: Honors in political theory

Letters of Recommendation: Two full-on Politics professors, one history associate.

Research Experience: Honors. Year-long electoral politics research grant. A few semester-long research seminars.

Teaching Experience: Two political theory courses as a Teaching Assistant.

Subfield/Research Interests: Theory (literature, narrative, something?)

SOP: I tried to cast myself as a candidate with an interest in documents and methods that lie outside the traditional boundaries of the field, but with a distinct interest in using those interests to promote the study of politics.

Other:

RESULTS:

Acceptances($$ or no $$): UVA, UNC, U. Chicago (MAPSS)

Waitlists: UNC

Rejections: Harvard, WashU, Berkeley, Duke, etc.

Pending: None

Going to: UVA

What would you have done differently?

Unfortunately, a 3.4 undergraduate GPA is considered digging yourself into a hole in this insane little world. Ideally (for this process), I wouldn't have had all the fantastic, time-consuming experiences that made my undergraduate time so worthwhile. But, that's what I did and I got into one of my top couple of choices. So, maybe it's not that big of a deal.

Really, though, I think my application was handicapped by my GPA. So, kids, study hard if this is what you think you want to do. Get straight As and I think this process could be a little bit less stressful.

Also, make personal connections with professors. If they like you, I get the sense that they really do "adopt" your file during the admissions process.

Lastly, just going out on a limb, obsessively checking the results page of GradCafe can come to do more harm than good. Just saying...

[Give us hope! What schools are you NOT accepting?]

I've just started reading this site after discovering it a month or so ago. I figure I ought to start contributing something.

I just told UNC that I will not be accepting a spot (coming off the waitlist). I'm in the theory subfield.

Good luck someone!