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In other majors, I saw that many departments (psychology, sometimes sociology) are interviewing the prospective students before admitting them to the Ph.D. program. In political science, is this a common practice? Have you ever been interviewed before by an admission officer or by your POI?

Hi all, Is a score of 307 too low for funding consideration and/or admission to an MPP program? I am not great at standardized tests which is why I am debating retaking it, however, I am not sure I can do that much better. This is the one portion of my application that is causing me anxiety. 5.5 Writing 153 Q 154 V My undergraduate GPA is 3.33 (3.60 in my major) and I will have five years of work experience by the time I enroll. Most of my experience is in private sector within the healthcare industry. Schools I am applying to: Michigan (Ford), Duke (Sanford), and Chicago (Harris). Thank you.

Anyone applied to PhD in Stats program at UBC or SFU to start in Fall 2019? The application deadline has passed, so I am assuming that they are reviewing the applications at the moment.

Hi all, Is a score of 307 too low for funding consideration and/or admission? I am not great at standardized tests which is why I am debating retaking it. 5.5 Writing 153 Q 154 V My undergraduate GPA is 3.33 (3.60 in my major). Schools I am applying to: Michigan (Ford), Duke (Sanford), and Chicago (Harris). Thank you.

For agricultural econ/ applied econ.

Hi Is there anyone here who is applying / current or ex student of the Masters in Development Studies/ Masters in International Affairs Program at IHEID, Geneva. I had a couple of queries on admissions, scholarships and career prospects. thanks

Hello, I am finishing my bachelor's a year early and I have a late birthday, so I'm only 20 years old, and will be 20 during interviews. Do you think program directors of programs based around people (counseling/social work, etc.) would take my age as a negative or am I over thinking? Thanks

Can someone tell me my chances of getting into a master's counseling program? I know it isn't crazy competitive but I'd like a current, rejected, accepted, or former counseling student to let me know the likelihood of getting in. LMK if you want school names to better help determine my fate, lol. Cumulative GPA: 3.2 Major (psychology) GPA: 3.6 GRE: (not great) Writing - 3.5 Quantitative - 146 Verbal - 150 Strong recommendation letters (3) Research Experience: Mentor at high schools and conduct research based on youth development with my various mentoring results Thanks

Often I hear the phrase "oh this year or xxxx-year was super competitive." Is that really true? I have a feeling that the number of applicants to a PhD program, especially in a popular STEM field, will continue to increase, making it increasingly more competitive. Any insights into the admission process? Thanks!

Hi all, I'm thinking about applying to Duke (both ThD and PhD), Chicago, and Fuller for a PhD in theology (with an emphasis on theological ethics, political theology, modern theology (19th century European)). I would love to hear feedback from some people with experience regarding my chances for acceptance. I have two major concerns about my credentials, but I'll lay out my profile to provide some context. B.A. in Philosophy from Rutgers University. (GPA 2.0) <-- first major point of concern-- I was NOT in a good place at the time, struggling with depression and probably generally was too immature. M.Div Westminster Theological Seminary (GPA 3.65) M.Th University of Edinburgh (67.5% -- 2:1 honors) According to the Fulbright UK-US Commission, the UK mark conversion to US goes something like this: 65-69 --> 2:1 honors --> 3.7 GPA, 70+ --> 1st Class honors --> 4.0 GPA I received a 70 on my dissertation portion. I had one rogue negative mark (48%) in one of my classes due to severe illness. Without this one class, my cumulative average jumps up to 70% which would have made me eligible for graduation with distinction and 1st class honors. I was also the Postgraduate Taught Masters Programme Student Representative I've received feedback from two professors who know me well, one of whom is a very well established scholar in the field of theology and society/politics (David Fergusson) at UoE and they both said they are happy to write a strong reference for me. Fergusson especially was one of the markers for my dissertation and I also received a 71 in his class. The prof for whose class I received the low mark told me he'd be willing to write a note to explain that my mark would have been significantly higher if not for the late penalty for a paper submitted due to illness. I have presented 2 papers at two separate academic conferences, and I have 1 published book review. I have not yet taken the GRE, but I will be taking it in a week. The Practice Test from ETS PowerPrep marked me at 163V, 151Q and a practice test from Princeton Review at me at 163V, 150Q, 5.5AW. That was from about 2 months ago, and I've been studying aggressively since then to brush up on my math, so I believe both my verbal and my math would see some improvement when I take it next week. I also have, as part of my M.Th degree, a 15,000 word dissertation written. I've worked hard since finishing my undergrad to make up for my past flaws, but that one negative mark on my Edinburgh record is haunting me. I know that both Duke and Chicago are extremely competitive, so I don't know to what realistic extent I can actually compensate for my undergrad record with my UoE record. The negative mark doesn't help either. Does anyone with experience at either of these schools have some honest, blunt feedback for how competitive (or not) I'd be as a candidate? Sorry for the long wall of text and thanks in advance for any feedback you guys can give me!

Hello Everyone, I am a Bangladeshi student and have recently submitted my application for a masters degree in Computer Science to University of Saskatchewan. I was contacted by their graduate assistant for a dean's scholarship nomination. Given I have a couple of conference papers, overall score of 8 in IELTS and a CGPA of 3.84 (out of 4) in my bachelors degree, what do you think my chances are of getting accepted?

Hi all-- first time posting here so if something is off please be patient with me :) I'm currently in the process of applying to neuroscience Ph.D. programs (hopefully with a computational neuroscience focus). I'm applying straight out of my undergrad and am absolutely terrified... I was convinced by my parents (mistake no 1) to apply to all the top tier schools in my field. Ie: Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown, Princeton, NYU, Cornell, MIT. I'm also applying to Boston U, Mt Sinai (aka Icahn School of Medicine) as kind-of backup schools. (Realistically I think they're the only ones I have any shot at MAYBE getting an interview.) I know everyone asks this here, but: do I actually have a realistic chance of getting in? GRE: first attempt, 169V/162Q/5.0AW. second attempt, 164V/164Q/5.0AW. GPA: 3.69 cum, 3.6 (biochem) and 3.7 (math) major GPAs at my current school, but they don't count my (two years of) transferred credits from community college. With transfer credits, 3.84 cum GPA, 3.73 (biochem) and 3.84 (math) major GPAs. Math, biochem double major. I've been doing math research for ~1.5years, in a field that has neuro applications, but haven't actually done any neuroscience research. (1 publication as 2nd author; lots of poster/conference presentations.) My college is a mid-level public university, with no neuroscience program or coursework. However, I've tried to choose my electives so that they would help a grad degree/career in neuroscience. I'm active in academic clubs on campus and have some leadership experience. I also have quite a lot of community service, if that helps. Without revealing personal details I am very "well-rounded" both on paper and irl. I have 4 solid letters of rec, and am fairly confident with my statement of purpose. I interview well, but of course I have to get invited back for an interview first... I've been in contact with some faculty from most schools. At the very least, an email back from them saying "you look like a great fit, email me again if you get an interview". I'm sorry if this is a stupid thing to ask, but I'm nervous that I'll send out 11 apps and get 11 rejections. Please let me know what you guys think! Do I need more low-level schools? Are these all too much "reach"? Or would I be better off taking some time off to work as a lab tech or RA, and then applying in a few years from now? Thanks in advance~ ~coffeeveins

MFA application opened up this month!!! Who's ready for 2018 freak-out forum?

I am a Canadian citizen who has recently graduated with B- (3.2 GPA) in Health Psychology MSc with honours. I have 3.7 GPA for Psychology BSc. Hons degree. However, they are both British psychology association accredited courses which I completed in England because I initially wanted to complete my PsyD degree in England due to the program being 3 years. However, it is very expensive without fully paid scholarships (which I had for my undergrad and postgrad) and I also had a change of heart and I don't want to be far away from my parents anymore so I have decided to move back to Toronto. For York Uni, I have to apply for MA for clinical (can't apply to PhD I checked with the clinical director) and do my thesis all over again (not really opposed to the idea as it will give me more experience) but I wasn't aware that Canadian universities require GRE scores for MA applications and right now I am in England so its difficult nearly not possible for me to do GRE Exams. I am not sure what to do. I am thinking of applying to MA programs regardless and risk it for a conditional offer and do GRE if I get accepted (prepare for it meanwhile as I need that time). I do have 4 years worth of research experience but I don't have publications and I've been working as a healthcare worker for autistic young adults and adults in England but I am not sure if they will consider that for MA. Plus, I have an online appointment with one of the professors working in the autism field at york u and I really want to do research in ASD as well as clinical work. For Ottawa Uni, I can apply for PhD for clinical and I will get accepted for MA based on my MSc and BSc but I have to pass English or French language proficiency test to meet the second language requirement. I am not sure if I have to do the French language test because I do have OSSD and degrees in English but English is not my first language. I was born in India and gained my Citizenship in 2012. In addition to that, I have to forget the entire research aspect in Autism area because the potential clinical supervisor professors are not doing research in autism at UOttawa (not a single one- I checked the entire list). If I don't get into the MA program this year, I know I can apply next year with GRE scores but I feel like I'll waste another year and I don't know if I'll get a job relevant to the clinical program in Toronto based on the education I have from England. And I feel very demotivated and stuck in a dead-end. I've tried asking admissions office/clinical directors/ and a couple of professors but I received very cold replies.

Hi, I wanto to apply to various Ph.D's in Political Science (UCLA, UCSD, USC, UCI, UCSB, PITT) but I don't know how horrible are my scores to be accepted in those universities. My GRE scores are: 145 V 154 Q I also have an horrible TOEFL of 88 I'm going to take the TOEFL again in november and I am also planning to take again the GRE. Help, please

I would like to provide some information regarding the reality of getting admitted to top 5 ranked Canadian graduate schools in the Computer Science Program. I work in the field and it appears to me that many applicants are not aware of some of the basic requirements to be admitted that are not overtly stated but definitely required. Unfortunately, I am unable to reveal my university or position as I wish to remain anonymous. Most of the time, you MUST have previous degree from a top school of your country, especially for students with a degree outside of Canada/USA/UK. This is extremely crucial for international students and unless you meet this requirement, it is extremely difficult to be admitted. For most countries, you will need to be in the top 5-10 universities in your country (excluding Canada/US/UK/India). For India, UK, and Canada you will generally need to be in the top 20 universities and for the US, top 50 may be considered, however, top 20 has a greater chance of being admitted. One of the first considerations of the reviewer is the school in which you graduated and how that school ranks in your country. To elaborate, having a degree from a top university is important because this is the only sure way to prove that you are performing well academically because the teaching standard and research caliber of top schools are widely recognized and can easily be compared top Canadian universities. It is impossible for each top Canadian university to understand the teaching, grading and research standard of hundreds of thousands of universities in the world, including many in a foreign language with public and private systems and most reviewers will not dig around for information regarding unknown institutions. For example, there are some universities that give a grade of 75% or above to only one in a few thousand students, whereas another university can have a graduating average of 3.7 GPA. With variations like these, unless you graduated from a top university in your country where the general grading trend and teaching quality is recognized by the Canadian school, your chances of admission are slim to none. Furthermore, the other reason a top university is important is that reviewers want to see reference letters from colleagues or faculty they know and value the opinions of. Since most top researchers in Computer Science meet in major conferences, presentations and events around the world, they are aware of each other’s work, reputation and standards when writing and reading reference letters. Most of these outstanding members of the academic community are also positioned in top schools coinciding with the reviewer’s search applications from top schools. The top Canadian graduate programs in Computer Science receive over 1000 and sometimes even over 2000 applications per year, with three reference letters per application this is an astronomical number of letters to read. Taking this number into account, while the content of reference letters matter, the respectability of the reference writer is arguably even more important. For example, a reviewer reading 100 applications a day would have to read 300 reference letters, 100 of them may indicate that the student is in the top 10% of their program. In the end, being top 10% may not mean anything because there are too many top 10%s and it does not indicate the quality of the student or education. Moreover, there have been examples where the same reference writer indicated that three different students from the same year and class were the number one student in their class. In cases like these, reviewers go back to looking at the top universities, since the caliber of education is known, and they may know the reference writers, therefore, ensuring the letter is reliable. If you believe that there are many exceptions to the rule, consider that the admission data from the previous year from one of the top Canadians schools: only TWO offers out of more than 100 offers made were outside of the guidelines above. Of course, an excellent statement, GPA, reference letters, GRE, and English proficiency are also required even from a top university. Moreover, other factors such as publications, conference experience, research projects and work experience, other achievements are also considered, however, if you do not meet the top university requirement, you will likely need astounding achievements in the other factors to even be considered for admission. The information provided refers to research Master’s and PhD programs in top Canadian universities and does not necessarily reflect industry targeted master’s programs in Computer Science. I am happy to answer any questions or clarify any points, feel free to contact me or respond to this post.

Hi guys. I'm currently getting a research mscs in a top10 university in US (top10 cs undergrad in the states as well, both rankings are major rankings), and about to apply for CS PhD this fall. Here's some info:- GRE: 161 verbal, 170 quant, 4.0 writing- intern: 3 summer interns in the bay area- research & publication: 1 first author at ISIT, 1 second author at ACL, 1 second author at EMNLP, 1 third author at EMNLP.- GPA: undergrad 3.84, grad~3.9- recommendation letters: my advisors are pretty good, although they may not write super strong recommendationsI would like to do research in learning theory, also tcs or mixed integer programming. Here's my list:- reach: UCB, Stanford, MIT, CMU, Princeton, TTIC- match: UT-Austin, UWashington, UPenn, GeorgiaTech (ACO program), UWaterloo (ACO), UCSD? Cornell?My concern is that, although I have 4 papers, only 1 is about learning theory, the other 3 are about NLP, which I'm not sure whether would help with applications for learning theory direction. ML is getting very very popular nowadays and I know ML applicants who have a lot of papers get rejected by all the universities they apply... On the other hand, is learning theory a little easier to get in compared to ML? Since the former is theoretical. Also does anyone know how hard it gets to change research topics? I have no research experiences except for some courses (and reading on my own) in TCS or MIP, but they really appeal to me.So am I being too optimistic about these choices? Thanks a lot for any suggestions!

Hello everyone, Good day. please is it a must to sit for the Graduate record Examination( GRE) in securing an admission with a college in America for a Masters Program? Thanks.

Hi there! I am a recent UCLA grad with a psychology B.A. In the fall I will be applying to PsyD programs. The trouble is, I am having a hard time identifying which schools have the best reputation within the psychology community and what will make my application strongest. If anyone else out there has a PsyD I would love some advice on the subject. Thanks!

Hello Everyone, I'll be applying for the Fall 2019 admission cycle for a Masters in US for the streams of Public Policy/Public Administration/International Development/Migration Policy. Can any kind soul assess my chances of getting admission and FUNDING. Here are my details: GPA: 3.2, Honours in Economics, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh Work Experience : - 1 year in Innovations for Poverty Actions (a US based research organization) working in a project to assess the rate of financial inclusion of garments workers in the suburbs of Bangladesh. - 2 years in a up and coming internationally ranked think tank as a Senior Research Associate. - Wrote a journal article with a professor from Duke University on SDG 13. -Co-authored two G20 Policy Briefs on Forced Migration. -Currently co-authoring a paper on SDG-Fourth Industrial Revolution to be presented at SDG Conference by Columbia University. - Have organized numerous expert and academic panel discussions and written reports. Supervised interns and juniors. - Have written funding proposals with UNDP which was submitted to UAE government. GRE - not given. Core Strengths - excellent writing skills and capability Core Weakness - not a math person Whoever assesses this, thanks in advance.

Profile School: UT Austin Major: Government (Political Science) GRE: Just started prep but first diagnostic test put me at 165 V, 160 Q GPA: 3.4 (cumulative) 3.7 (Government) (This is my main concern) Letters of rec: All 3from tenure track professors, one from a 'star' professor who I've been working in close approximation with since 2016 and who recommended doing a PhD to me. Research experience: I have plenty of research experience including a research assistant internship with an organization affiliated with the school on which I worked on several projects, both quantitative and qualitative. This included tracking banking fraud, geopolitical consequences of mines and natural resources (used STATA extensively on this) and corruption in Honduras. I have also conducted quantitative research with two professors and two of my quant own research projects. I have also presented this research at three conferences and one those was the MPSA. This is all quantitative research over a course of 2 years. Teaching experience: None, undergrads can't TA at my school Foreign language: Hindi and Urdu along with basic Spanish and French. I also have internships with various gender violence NGOs (I want to concentrate on conflict in gender for my PhD research and my current Thesis focuses on that) Do you guys think I have realistic chances of getting into a good PhD programs?

So I've never posted on such a forum before so I'm sorry if some of the language is wrong. I am an undergraduate at UT Austin, graduating in December and stuck between opting for a masters or a PhD. Ideally I would love to do a PhD but those are tougher to get into so I was hoping to lay out my stats and get some honest opinions. I have plenty of research experience including a research assistant internship, research with two professors and two of my own research projects. I have also presented this research at three conferences and one those was the MPSA. I also have alot of experience working with sexual assault ngos (I want to focus my research on this in conflict zones) and I have training that allows me to directly work with survivors. I also have grant writing certification. Im hoping to have one publication done by the time I start applying. But the caveat is that my GPA is just a 3.4. This is because of science and other core requirements. My Government / Political science gpa is actually a 3.7 with mostly all As Do you guys think I have realistic chances of getting into a good PhD programs and if so, which ones? I haven't yet given my GRE but the diagnostic showed a 164 verbal and a 154 Quant which I'm sure I can raise significantly after prep. I also have very good professors that I'm asking for recommendations and am planning on working on my sop quite a bit. Sorry if this is a bit wordy and jumbled.

Hi. I would like to pursue a master's degree in structural engineering abroad. I'm currently doing an undergraduate course in civil engineering. So, I would like to know if each of my subject grades i.e, subjects related to structural engineering will be considered for admission or if it's just my overall cgpa. Thank you

Dear community, I am an international applicant for Fall 2019 Admission to various Cell Biology programs in the northeast of the US. I've recently (April) taken the GRE Biology subject test and got 91th percentile. Now, I think it is a quite good result but would you suggest to send it also to universities where it is only suggested or is it still to low to matter in the final decision? GPA is 3.9-4.0 depending on the conversion system I use. Thank you very much for your help. Chiara

Hey guys, it's my first time here and I have a lot of questions in my head. So pardon me if this is going to be exhaustive, but I could do with any guidance/support I can get on here. EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ME: I'm a 26 year old, Australian National (well, third culture kid) that has grown up across three countries. As a disciple of Psychology this upbringing has allowed me to interact/develop a diverse clientele. I have the following qualifications/ GPA as accredited by the World Education Service ( United States equivalence): - Bachelors in Psychology ( Honours), India : 3.21 - Masters of Science in Psychology ( with Clinical Specialisation), India : 3.50 - Masters of Professional Psychology, Australia : 3.80 ( Provisionally licensed therapist as per the Australian guidelines). I have two unpublished academic dissertations : (1) The Phenomenon of Suicidal Ideation in Individuals Who Have Attempted Suicide Before (2) A Study on the Risk Factors Among Individuals Exposed to Childhood Bullying and Suicidal Ideation. I am currently in the process of formatting and publishing my second dissertation. My GRE score is 302 ( Verbal - 153 , Quant - 149, AWA - 3.5) on second attempt. I attempted the GRE a second time with a month's difference, after I had a horrible anxiety attack because I had interviews that suddenly rocked up on the same day as my GRE. On my first attempt I scored horribly but got a 5 on AWA. I have over a year's worth of clinical work experience and multiple short term internship experiences. Given my performance academically and my diverse experience, I am really hoping to apply for APA accredited PsyD ( predominantly) programs offered by first tier universities in USA. I am thinking: Berkley, Rutger's, Baylor's, Stanford consortium program, etc. I will also be applying to regional and second tier universities with good rankings to maximise intake & minimise disappointments balance the process out. I am taking the year off to apply I am absolutely desperate to make it into a program by 2019. I have 4 questions (one very big confusing question broken into 4 confusing parts ). 1) I understand that, GRE is not everything and it depends on the holistic picture one presents through their applications. But having seen the outcome and admissions data across the fancy-schmancy universities, the GRE scores normally average to about 318 ( minimum). Should I retake the GRE a third time after putting in 3-4 months of diligent effort? 2) Orrr should I just focus on smashing my SoP's , LOR's and getting published ? 3) What are my chances of being able to make it into a well ranked university ? 4) I can do a decent job with writing, sometimes I get carried away or mess up my tenses. Can I get enough help here with editting my SoP or should I sign up for alternative services ? 5) What else should I be focussing on ? Thank you for taking the time out to go through this. I'd love to hear what you guys think