grantman

Congrats to you, the Fulbright should be a very interesting experience for you and I wish you the best in all of your endeavors.

Well I have already wrote my congressman about this issue, I recommend that those who are U.S. nationals to do the same. While I will never have the privilege to complete use NSF funding I hope you all will have the opportunity to do so.

To address your first concern, I have not been diagnosed with any testing disabilities, I just get anxiety in high stress situations like standardized testing which prohibits me from performing well. Secondly, I have taken graduate level courses given that I will have my Master of Public Administration degree here in the next few weeks. As i mentioned previously I here shortly will begin working on a paper for publication based off of my graduate thesis and I will also begin a massive research project. I thought that my 3.7 undergraduate and 4.0 graduate g.p.a would be enough to compensate and demonstrate to most universities that I would be an asset to their school, but I guess I was mistaken. Again, I am interested in hearing what others may have say. If you please would not mention the GRE's in your comments I would be very grateful.

Good Afternoon Everyone, Despite my bad cycle this year, I am still on the fence, so to speak, about applying again next year. While I am currently working with a professor on a publication and I am currently in the beginning stages of a massive coding project, I am interested in some individuals think about how I can further bolster my application next year. Thus far I plan on applying to U. of Toronto, McGill, and UBC. While they are all Canadian schools, they do not require GRE scores (with the exception of UBC which does require GRE scores), since I did not do well on the scores I am interested to hear how I can bolster my application keeping in mind my low scores. Please feel free to PM me with your thoughts.

Sorry for my absence on this forum as of late, I just wanted to wish all the best of luck as you either begin or continue your graduate education. While I wish I could be in the same position as you, regardless of my negative cycle it has been the utmost pleasure getting to know you all personally and I know you all will succeed in the future.

While I appreciate the sentiment, I think I would be a terrible motivational speaker especially given the fact I still have terrible stage fright.

Okay I was somewhat hesitant about replying but I think I must. I am actually from and still live in Northwestern Ohio, so I saw a great deal over the 9th District Democratic Primary. While Representative Kucinich was liked amongst many who would label themselves as progressive, I think Marcy Kaptur deserved to win this one. Representative Kaptur is one of the hardest individuals in Ohio that I know who can also deliver on her promises she makes. What plagued Kucinich was that I feel he took he seat for granted by focusing on national politics rather than being a representative for his district, hence why I think he lost. I am not trying to start a massive debate, I just wanted to add my two cents since I am from the area. Also, while people may think it interesting to live in a swing state, it is not necessarily fun when you are bombarded with campaign ads every two seconds. I am interested to hear what others think.

Thank you both for your kind words they really mean a lot to me. @Max Power: While I appreciate you calling me the nicest person in the forum, but I am sure there are others who might be more worthy of the title. Also, for some reason I thought you got your new name from the Simpsons, but I find it humorous you got it from a hair dryer.

Finding a job, I mainly looking at think tank jobs as well as occupations in international development. I am also looking at jobs within the federal government. In terms of applying next season, I am not sure if I will, especially if I land a decent job with hopes for advancement.

I am sincerely sorry to hear about your bad cycle. I truly hope that the Fulbright comes through, Turkey is an awesome country. I only wish I was smart enough to consider doing a Fulbright, but I guess not.

Thanks for the support, but Washington just back to me, and as expected it was a rejection.

Well my cycle is officially done, rejected from Denver. Therefore, I will be around a lot less than I am usual, I wish you all the best of luck as you visit and decide on schools.

kalapocska, Thank you for your response. I am currently looking into U. of Toronto. I am beginning to look at schools in United Kingdom and Australia. I am looking extensively at LSE but I have heard good things coming from Warwick and Manchester. I am also looking at ANU and University of Sydney. If anyone else has any thoughts on any schools I should consider I welcome any and all advice.

I would like to thank you all for your responses, I will take great care in looking them over. I would like to mention something about my GRE scores. While I do not want to seem confrontational or defensive, but for many years I have suffered from an anxiety disorder which makes it very difficult for me to concentrate when I am under considerable pressure and the time constraints does not help. While I studied for months for the test, I actually did better than I expected. While I am continuing to work on my issues it is slow progress in the making. While I would prefer to remain in the U.S., I am open to Canadian universities if anyone has any suggestions in that matter. @ Whirlibird I have looked at those programs but I found them unappealing to me plus the only program I see that holds any merit is at Notre Dame. I am open to all suggestions, if you would like to PM me please feel free.

Good Evening Everyone, I first want to congratulate to all of those who have claimed acceptances thus far I wish you the best of luck and safe travels as you begin to visit and contemplate which school you will ultimately attend. Not to sound like a downer, my cycle this season has not been generous to me, presently I have received 8 rejections, more than likely I feel I will hear from the final two schools in the next week or so and I do not expect great news from either of them. With that said, while I am not sure if I will do another cycle next year, I am asking for your opinion on which schools tend to be strong in state reconstruction/building as well as ethnic conflict, mainly dealing with the reconciliation process and how institutions may be able prevent another conflict. While I am aware of some schools being high strong in this field, particularly UCSD and Northwestern, I was wondering if there are other programs that are strong in these fields but may not be as competitive when it comes to application time. To promote full disclosure my GRE scores were bad, the total was 1040 (420 V, 620 Q, 4.0 A). Realizing in order for me to stand any legitimate chance in gaining entry in any school of any caliber those scores will have to be raised and I hope I can do that, but I am not highly optimistic. While that is a significant blackmark on my application I did carry a 3.70 undergraduate g.p.a., also graduating Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi, and I currently have a 4.0 in my graduate M.P.A. program with a specialization in International Development. However, both of my degrees are from the same university in Ohio that you probably have never heard of. I do have about 4 years experience serving as a research assistant as well as one year as a teaching assistant. While I do apologize for giving you ladies and gentlemen by background I thought it would be pertinent as you consider what schools that you may think fit the bill, so to speak. Again I wish you all the best of luck as you journey into the next stage of your lives and I can say with a great deal of certainty that I am jealous and envious of those of you who will be continuing your studies next year.

Just got another rejection today from Illinois. Two rejections in one day is quite disheartening. I feel like I am becoming the Debbie-Downer of this forum page and I do apologize for ruining everyone's good time.

Well I just received my rejection letter from Maryland, I can say it was not as nice as the Berkley one that was posted.

Sorry to hear your rejections from Berkeley, but on the positive side you have all gotten into some great institutions, and I look forward to hearing your final decisions on what graduate school you will attend. Furthermore, jsclar from your picture I assume you are a fan of Archer?

Congrats!

Discuss. http://news.yahoo.com/people-arent-smart-enough-democracy-flourish-scientists-185601411.html

Hooray for the internet and for boredom brought on by not working on a graduate thesis, which is do Friday.

Alright, to break the tension, watch the video below.

Congrats to you two. Georgetown is a fabulous college. Best of luck to you both in making your decisions.

One thing I would add that has been somewhat alluded to but not addressed entirely is make sure those individuals who you would like to work with get along with one another and respect one another's opinion. If you later find out that your prospective dissertation committee contains individuals who cannot stand one another, then unfortunately you may have stepped into a political debate that has nothing to do with you. The best way I feel to gauge this is by first asking the professors themselves if they like working with Professor's X, Y, and Z. I would attempt to confirm their opinion of one another based off what graduate student's think as well as what the secretaries think. Getting to know a departmental secretary really well will I think aid in your time at whatever university you decide to attend; they know the loopholes and they know who to talk to, so asking what their opinion is may give you some clues that you might not otherwise get from your visit about the status of the department. Please feel free to refute any of my comments.

I am glad to hear some people receiving acceptances today, I am sure that you will go on, where ever you end you, and become very prolific scholars. To those you received rejections, I am sure your day will come, while I am not optimistic about my chances should not mean you cannot be.