BornAndRaised

Congrats to all those who have received acceptances already! Much deserved, I'm sure. =) Quick question. I just wanted to know when we start hearing back from the following schools: Princeton, Yale, Chicago, Northwestern, Washington, George Washington, Johns Hopkins, Indiana - Bloomington, Cornell and Berkeley I've applied there and am trying not to check my app status till absolutely necessary. Also, do schools also email you the result or do they just update the status? And all the best to those of us who haven't heard back yet. Hopefully, good news is on the way. =)

Is anyone else having sleepless nights? The more I think about it, the more I believe I'm not gonna get any acceptances. Eek!

Hi guys! I have a question. How much of a disadvantage is it to apply straight out of school for these Pol Sci PhDs? Worst case scenario, I'll be heading to Kings College, London for an MA in IR. (I just received an offer today. Phew. I'm going to grad school!)

I've applied there as well!

Hi. Anyone else applying to IUB? I have a question. I've submitted my application but one of my professors still hasn't uploaded his LOR. He's out of station and isn't responding to my emails/calls/texts. Will my application be considered incomplete if he doesn't upload it today? Or can he do it in a few days. IUB is one of the places I actually think I have a decent shot at and not being eligible just because of this seems horrible. =(

Nuclear proliferation and deterrence is one of my research interests.

Hi, I'm thinking of listing KCL as one of my options for the Commonwealth Scholarship and wanted to know more about the department, program and its reputation. Any advice? Thanks.

Hi guys! I just wanted some advice on the schools I'm gonna apply to. I'm interested in qualitative methods but I wouldn't mind doing some math and switching to a mixed methods approach as well. My interests lie in international organizations, nuclear policy and South Asia. These are the schools: 1. Yale 2. Berkeley 3. Cornell 4. Chicago 5. Johns Hopkins 6. Northwestern 7. Indiana, Bloomington 8. UW Seattle 9. WashU 10. Georgetown 11. Syracuse 12. UT Austin 13. Notre Dame Thanks!

Hi. I'm working on my SOP and was wondering about what needs to be written in terms of a research question. How general/specific should it be? And should I mention that I'd like to use a qualitative or mixed methods approach? I'm not horrible at math but I'm more inclined towards doing qualitative work. I'm not a Political Science/IR major (I major in Development Studies and minor in Economics) and though I know what I want to work on, I'm afraid I can't be too specific about it. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

What other schools should I be looking at then?

Also what parts of the application are most important - GPA, GRE, writing sample, SOP?

Hey guys. I took my GRE today and my raw scores are about the 94th percentile in Verbal and the 74th in Math. Honestly, I thought I did much better in math. =/ Is this score okay? Or should I take the GRE again? I want to study IR with a qualitative bend so I'm looking at schools like USC, Berkeley and Cornell.

I know that I'm going to have to do some quant courses but I want to do what is necessary for my research instead of having to do courses just because the school prefers it. Does that make sense?

Another query. How important is work experience? I'm applying straight out of school but I've done 2 internships - one at a think tank and one at a public policy school.

Is there any way to find out GRE scores schools would like for Pol Sci? I take the GRE in 3 weeks and I'm so darn nervous. I'd just like to know what I should aim for. Also, I'm interested in IR but I don't mind doing some CP too (I'm a development studies major in my final year of an integrated MA program). Do you think I should mention this in my SOP or would saying so make me seem confused?

I've also heard from some professors that Michigan is quant heavy too. Is this so?

Okay, let me correct myself - I have barely done courses in Math/ Stats. I've done some simple calculus, basic stats and some decision modelling (but I only got a C in it). In this case, is taking Formal Theory the better option? Also, isn't Princeton's only requirement the Research Seminars?

But how are these schools?

Hi, I'm an international student looking at PhD programs in the US for 2013. 1. I'm currently pursuing my 5 year integrated MA in humanities and social sciences (I major in development studies and minor in economics). My university is the best in the country and well known world wide. However, it's mainly an engineering institution. The MA program is relatively new. I'm part of the 3rd batch. I have one of the highest GPAs in my class. (If you look at the pol sci courses, I have a near perfect GPA) 2. I have 2 good internships - one at the country's biggest think tank and the other at one of Asia's best schools for public policy. 3. Ideally, I'd submit my thesis as the writing sample but I won't be done with it till my final semester so I'm reworking a paper I wrote for an IR course. 4. I'd like to study IR (nuclear policy, foreign policy analysis, liberal institutionalism, strategic thought in Asia). 5. I don't want a program that is quant heavy cause I've only done a handful of math/stats courses. The schools I'm looking at are: Princeton, Stanford, Yale, Michigan - Ann Arbor, Wisconsin - Madison, Indiana - Bloomington, UPitt, Washington - Seattle, Johns Hopkins, Brown, Colorado - Boulder, UPenn, Cornell and Ohio State. Are these schools a good mix? Are there any other schools I should look at? Also, what GRE scores would these schools like? (I'm taking the GRE in a month) Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.