readeatsleep

i agree. lev, youre simplifying things at an alarming and offensive rate. 'only the super rich attend PhD programs' is a silly thing to say. additionally, proposing that wealth should allay concerns about admission to a top ranked program is illogical and insulting.

im extremely excited about the prospect of studying at u chicago. that said, i need to come to grips with the fact that i probably won't get it. i am therefore also becoming particularly excited about northwestern, yale, and johns hopkins, as well as the committee on social thought at chicago. i know i am an excellent fit for chicago's program - the question is about my qualifications, the relatively random admissions process, and my SOP. wish me luck!

i agree with cpaige and hawk. first, the main reason the economic trouble has made graduate school more difficult is not necessarily because of an increase in the quantity or quality of applicants, but a decrease in the number of funded positions within departments. second, while the quantity of applicants may have certainly gone up, i dont see why the quality will have. excellent students who have prepared themselves for an academic career is probably constant, while those who have decided to 'go back to school' dont strike me as candidates for top 10 programs. additionally, economic turmoil turns students' attention toward practical job training, not academia. finally, the worst of the downturn was last year. the dow recovered 61 percent this year. i imagine this means there will be more positions open (but this may not be entirely true). however, i do not want to claim that the process is not more competitive than it has ever been. i do think, though, that people tend to overstate the situation in a romantic attempt to make the application process seem like some sort of battle to the death where only the strong survive. in reality, the process is more of a crap shoot, and the idea that one needs a 700 in order to be accepted demonstrates a profound misunderstanding of the way the admissions process works. do not take your successes or your failures in the admissions process too seriously.

Chicago's website says: 638 Verbal, 698 Quantitative, and 4.85 Analytic, and 3.6 gpa

natofone- those statistics for duke are very interesting. do you have similar statistics for any other programs?

i think a home made gift is good. i made my letter writers cookies - lemon sugar cookies! just something that takes a bit of time on your part to recognize the time the letter writer took on their part.

do we really think admission committees think that way? "this candidate shows an inability to follow isntructions" just doesn't seem like the kind of thing that an admission committee will say, analyze, evaluate, or take seriously. i guess, in the end, its better safe than sorry though.

so, all these programs basically require 1000 word SOPs. but, usually the SOP is converted into a PDF file when it is submitted, which means the words can never be counted. additionally, i doubt anyone would count the words given the number of SOPs read. my question: how seriously do we need to take these word counts? can we just limit our SOPs to a reasonable length, i.e., two pages, going over the 1000 word limit without egregiously abusing it?

hey everyone, ive got a final draft of my SOP for political theory i'd like comments on. please PM me if you'd like to lend a hand, and i would of course love to exchange SOPs and comments! good luck with your applications.

hey all; i'm a political science/philosophy student applying to political theory programs this year. i would like to be in a department at a school with a sociology department that has someone working on network theory, in the vain of deleuze and, more recently, luc boltanksi. this is pretty radical french theory, and i dont know very much about its reception in american sociology departments. it may invovle 'social network theory,' communicative action/habermas, or references to 'nodes' and 'networks' to a certain extent. hope someone can educate me! thanks -m

I see! I took the GREs a month ago and have not yet received my score report. I suppose this is the cause of all my troubles... thanks for everyone's help. I will continue to struggle and blame ETS for all of my problems.

my problem is that my 'online confirmation number' is not working, and i need to contact customer service in order to get my registration number to order score reports. so im trying to contract customer service, not the normal score reporting number. how did you all order scores? my 'online registration number' which is 8 0's followed by 8 more numbers, seems to be useless, and is the only identifying information i have other than my social security number, which also isnt working. how did you find your registration or confirmation number? i cant seem to find ine in any of my correpsondence with ETS.

so, like many of your, i have had serious problems ordering additional score reports online for the GRE. so, today i tried ordering them on the phone, to no avail. then i called customer service. the woman in customer service claimed that she would be able to help me, but not until the 'system' was back online. i agreed to call back in two hours to straighten everything out. when i called back, i was greeted with a message informing me that due to the number of calls being received, ETS has shut down their customer service. so let me get this straight. you make it impossible for students to use your service (a service you have manufactured into a mandatory element of admissions), and then shut down the only means of helping us through the process? i am outraged, i mean, outraged. anyone else having this experience?

i agree. fear of the passive voice is passe. additionally, i think the passive voice is philosophically superior to the active voice, since the active voice creates a fantasy of agency in the subject.

hi! i study political theory/philosophy, particularly, the history of political thought (esp. rousseau and hegel), models of democracy and deliberation, and critical theory. im applying to chicago, yale, harvard, princeton, duke, northwestern, and johns hopkins. i am finishing an m.a. in philosophy now at a school in NY. im from arizona originally, and did my b.a. in connecticut. im confident in my stats (3.83 undergrad with 4.0 major gpa, 4.0 grad gpa, phi beta kappa, high honors, thesis prize) and have recs from well known professors, but my gre scores are nothing special (710V, 680Q)) and i feel a bit hampered coming from a philosophy program. im also a nervous wreck! finishing my SOP and writings sample now, and looking for a few 'safety' schools to apply to (advice welcome). good luck everyone!

*bump* ive swapped SOPs with a number of students already and have found the process to be very helpful. please PM me if youd like to exchange comments! good luck everyone!

Hello friends; I was hoping a few of you might want to critique my SOP, since I'm coming close to a final draft. I would love to swap statements and am willing to exchange services. My statement is at about 1000 words and is focused on political theory. Private message me to swap. Thanks!

whether or not your analytic 'kills' your application, you should still try and make the rest of your application as good as possible. dont focus on what you can't change - improve what is still within your power to change. particularly your writing sample and SOP. additionally, i would imagine that the impact of the analytic writing section depends on what subfield you are interested in.

cool thanks for your comments. yes, ets is the worst. im continually amazed by how much of a scam standardized testing is.

i took the gre on october 30th and have still not received my score report in the mail! i need the report ot fill out applications so i can get my analytic score and my percentiles. how long did it take everyone else to receive their scores? also, is anyone having trouble electronically requesting additional score reports? i tried several times yesterday and the website kept failing. now the option is down on the website.

im very happy to read that, thank you.

what do you mean by 'fine for a place like chicago'? i thought chicago is about as selective as it gets. is this not the case? princeton says its scores are generally "above 700," but a 1390 averages pretty closely to 700 apiece. are these scores not adequate for harvard, princeton, or yale?

yes, chicago is my top choice!

hello all; i am in a philosophy M.A. program now and am applying to political science Ph.D programs. i have 4 recommendations at my disposal: 1 from the chair of the philosophy department of my graduate program (very famous person, mediocre rec) 1 from the chair of the political science department of my graduate program (very famous person, decent rec) 1 from a political scientist at a well know political science program (not a famous person, will be an excellent rec) 1 from an intellectual historian at my alma mater (not a famous person, will be an excellent rec) so! some programs allow 4 letters of recommendation, and for these programs i have no conflict. however, others only allow 3 letters. initially i thought i would have to choose between the two lesser known recs, which is tough because they will both be excellent. however, i am beginning to think that i may abandon the chair of the philosophy department, since his rec will only be so so. is it important that 2 of my 3 recs come from professors at my graduate program? do you think an excellent rec from an undergrad professor will be better than a lackluster rec from a superstar at my grad program? thanks for any advice!

hello all; i am in a philosophy M.A. program now and am applying to political science Ph.D programs. i have 4 recommendations at my disposal: 1 from the chair of the philosophy department of my graduate program (very famous person, mediocre rec) 1 from the chair of the political science department of my graduate program (very famous person, decent rec) 1 from a political scientist at a well know political science program (not a famous person, will be an excellent rec) 1 from an intellectual historian at my alma mater (not a famous person, will be an excellent rec) so! some programs allow 4 letters of recommendation, and for these programs i have no conflict. however, others only allow 3 letters. initially i thought i would have to choose between the two lesser known recs, which is tough because they will both be excellent. however, i am beginning to think that i may abandon the chair of the philosophy department, since his rec will only be so so. is it important that 2 of my 3 recs come from professors at my graduate program? do you think an excellent rec from an undergrad professor will be better than a lackluster rec from a superstar at my grad program? thanks for any advice!