chances for Ph.D. programs (political science, NELC, anthro) with a blemished M.A. record?

[kokocwire]

Hi all,

I'm currently a first-year MA student in Islamic Studies, and will be applying next year to Ph.D. work to several top programs -- Chicago, Yale and Princeton in Political Science, Duke and Harvard in Near Eastern Studies/Religion, and Michigan in the joint History/Anthropology program. I've got a strong undergraduate record (4.0 GPA and multiple majors), decent GRE scores (660V, 730Q, 6 writing), and a pretty strong publishing record this early in the game -- several articles, several conference papers, and I'm working on my first book as we speak. The thing is, in my first year as an MA student this past year, I took a bit of a ding, getting two A minuses (in language courses, not content courses). It was entirely on account of taking on waaay too much this year -- I took 1.5x the standard number of graduate credits, and juggled it around this book project, which was just a recipe for disaster. Still, the A minuses are there, and they aren't going to go away...

I know graduate GPA is expected to be higher than undergrad, so I'm wondering, is an A minus here and there as an MA student a deal-breaker for top Ph.D. programs? I imagine it varies across the spectrum of programs, so if anyone can comment intelligently about any of these programs all the better -- especially Michigan, as I don't specifically have an anthro background (I have sociology as an undergrad major, and I'm doing history in my MA, but no anthro specifically), so that one is going to be a little trickier. Will a less-than-perfect (but still strong) MA record stand in the way of admission to these top programs?

If this does stand to pose a problem, might it be worth retaking the GRE? My scores were above 90th percentile across all registers, but I know the verbal can stand to be improved. Might that be necessary in this case?

I practically had a panic attack after getting my *second* A-minus (I was borderline by half of a point, and my prof refused to budge). I just took on waaay too much this year, otherwise I don't think this would have happened. I'd really appreciate any feedback anyone can provide, as it'd go a long way to alleviate my angst. Thanks!

[lorinho]

I'm going to assume that you are for real, and not fishing for complements. I will also assume that you are not at an institution with a reputation for the "Gentlemen's A". An A- is a perfectly respectable grade. In fact, a B+ could be just fine to. In fact, maybe you could even get away with a B :-o. You don't have to be perfect to get into top schools.

That said, the process is capricious, and there is no way to predict the outcome completely.

[APGradApplicant]

Hi all,

I'm currently a first-year MA student in Islamic Studies, and will be applying next year to Ph.D. work to several top programs -- Chicago, Yale and Princeton in Political Science, Duke and Harvard in Near Eastern Studies/Religion, and Michigan in the joint History/Anthropology program. I've got a strong undergraduate record (4.0 GPA and multiple majors), decent GRE scores (660V, 730Q, 6 writing), and a pretty strong publishing record this early in the game -- several articles, several conference papers, and I'm working on my first book as we speak. The thing is, in my first year as an MA student this past year, I took a bit of a ding, getting two A minuses (in language courses, not content courses). It was entirely on account of taking on waaay too much this year -- I took 1.5x the standard number of graduate credits, and juggled it around this book project, which was just a recipe for disaster. Still, the A minuses are there, and they aren't going to go away...

I know graduate GPA is expected to be higher than undergrad, so I'm wondering, is an A minus here and there as an MA student a deal-breaker for top Ph.D. programs? I imagine it varies across the spectrum of programs, so if anyone can comment intelligently about any of these programs all the better -- especially Michigan, as I don't specifically have an anthro background (I have sociology as an undergrad major, and I'm doing history in my MA, but no anthro specifically), so that one is going to be a little trickier. Will a less-than-perfect (but still strong) MA record stand in the way of admission to these top programs?

If this does stand to pose a problem, might it be worth retaking the GRE? My scores were above 90th percentile across all registers, but I know the verbal can stand to be improved. Might that be necessary in this case?

I practically had a panic attack after getting my *second* A-minus (I was borderline by half of a point, and my prof refused to budge). I just took on waaay too much this year, otherwise I don't think this would have happened. I'd really appreciate any feedback anyone can provide, as it'd go a long way to alleviate my angst. Thanks!

You got ambushed on PSJR for a reason. This is either a really good troll or a really annoying serious question. Thankfully, the common thing that either of these posts would share is that they don't deserve a response.