Profile Evaluation Request (Ph.D. application/ IR subfield)

[guest12345678]

Hello everyone. I am wondering if you'd be willing to give an honest evaluation of which tier of schools (if any) I should be considered by.

M.A. in Political Science 3.9 GPA (3.9+ for Political Science courses) (degree expected for April)

B.A in Philosophy minor in History, GPA is...well, not good. It's about 3.3 for final 2 years of study.

*both schools are not tier 1 schools*

Research experience: (1) interned at a think tank as a researcher, involving some experience with R. (2) Research assistant for graduate programme. 

Publications: (1) I've been published (as sole author) in a political science journal, with professors from various parts of the U.S./Europe as part of the committee. (2) article in student journal (3) I have about a half dozen opinion pieces published in newspapers, all on subjects of foreign affairs

Teaching: four terms experience, excellent reviews

LOR: I think they're going to be very strong. They're all from tenured professors. 

Statement of purpose: I worked really hard on it, but I have no idea how to measure this myself.

Misc: peer-reviewer for student journal, presented at conference, a couple awards/scholarships but nothing special. 

 

Honestly, if I get one acceptance to any school of any tier, I'll be happy. If not, such is life and I'll move on. I've applied to four schools. 

[polisci_gal]

@guest12345678the fact that you've been published as a sole author in a political science journal is impressive. I also think that you grad GPA is attractive to admissions and faculty as well. Having experience in research and teaching is another great boost. In terms of the SOP- I know thats a big part of admissions, did you have any of your LOR writers review it? If you got the go-ahead from any of your mentors or profs then that would be helpful too! Seems like you've got a pretty good profile overall though. I hope you get in somewhere!! I"m sure you will. All the best

[icemanyeo]

8 hours ago, guest12345678 said:

Hello everyone. I am wondering if you'd be willing to give an honest evaluation of which tier of schools (if any) I should be considered by.

M.A. in Political Science 3.9 GPA (3.9+ for Political Science courses) (degree expected for April)

B.A in Philosophy minor in History, GPA is...well, not good. It's about 3.3 for final 2 years of study.

*both schools are not tier 1 schools*

Research experience: (1) interned at a think tank as a researcher, involving some experience with R. (2) Research assistant for graduate programme. 

Publications: (1) I've been published (as sole author) in a political science journal, with professors from various parts of the U.S./Europe as part of the committee. (2) article in student journal (3) I have about a half dozen opinion pieces published in newspapers, all on subjects of foreign affairs

Teaching: four terms experience, excellent reviews

LOR: I think they're going to be very strong. They're all from tenured professors. 

Statement of purpose: I worked really hard on it, but I have no idea how to measure this myself.

Misc: peer-reviewer for student journal, presented at conference, a couple awards/scholarships but nothing special. 

 

Honestly, if I get one acceptance to any school of any tier, I'll be happy. If not, such is life and I'll move on. I've applied to four schools. 

Backing up @polisci_gal on this as well. I think you have a very strong profile, especially with a sole-author publication and your research/conference experience. Did you submit any GRE scores? PhD admissions this year seem like the Hunger Games with the number of schools receiving an uptick in apps also being ones that have waived the GRE, so that throws a wrench in decisions this year. Best of luck with admissions!

[sherlock holmes/M]

18 hours ago, guest12345678 said:

Hello everyone. I am wondering if you'd be willing to give an honest evaluation of which tier of schools (if any) I should be considered by.

M.A. in Political Science 3.9 GPA (3.9+ for Political Science courses) (degree expected for April)

B.A in Philosophy minor in History, GPA is...well, not good. It's about 3.3 for final 2 years of study.

*both schools are not tier 1 schools*

Research experience: (1) interned at a think tank as a researcher, involving some experience with R. (2) Research assistant for graduate programme. 

Publications: (1) I've been published (as sole author) in a political science journal, with professors from various parts of the U.S./Europe as part of the committee. (2) article in student journal (3) I have about a half dozen opinion pieces published in newspapers, all on subjects of foreign affairs

Teaching: four terms experience, excellent reviews

LOR: I think they're going to be very strong. They're all from tenured professors. 

Statement of purpose: I worked really hard on it, but I have no idea how to measure this myself.

Misc: peer-reviewer for student journal, presented at conference, a couple awards/scholarships but nothing special. 

 

Honestly, if I get one acceptance to any school of any tier, I'll be happy. If not, such is life and I'll move on. I've applied to four schools. 

May I ask u how many schools did u apply for? 

[guest12345678]

9 hours ago, icemanyeo said:

Backing up @polisci_gal on this as well. I think you have a very strong profile, especially with a sole-author publication and your research/conference experience. Did you submit any GRE scores? PhD admissions this year seem like the Hunger Games with the number of schools receiving an uptick in apps also being ones that have waived the GRE, so that throws a wrench in decisions this year. Best of luck with admissions!

 

17 hours ago, polisci_gal said:

@guest12345678the fact that you've been published as a sole author in a political science journal is impressive. I also think that you grad GPA is attractive to admissions and faculty as well. Having experience in research and teaching is another great boost. In terms of the SOP- I know thats a big part of admissions, did you have any of your LOR writers review it? If you got the go-ahead from any of your mentors or profs then that would be helpful too! Seems like you've got a pretty good profile overall though. I hope you get in somewhere!! I"m sure you will. All the best

 

Thank you both! I appreciate the kind words. 

I don't have a GRE score, however one of the schools I applied for doesn't ask for it, and it's a good school. One of the schools I applied for may just disqualify me because I don't have one, even though it's not required but "strongly recommended". I didn't have any of my supervisors review my SOP - I only compared them with samples and looked up the dos and don'ts. Thanks again to you both.

[guest12345678]

22 minutes ago, sherlock holmes/M said:

May I ask u how many schools did u apply for? 

Hey,

I applied to four!

[sherlock holmes/M]

24 minutes ago, guest12345678 said:

Hey,

I applied to four!

Good luck with your applications! 4+1 here!