Profile evaluation please! top 10 phd chance?

[modesteffect]

Greetings!

long story short:

undergrad: a Mexican top 5 uni, bio-computing, 3.5, minor economics 4.0

masters:

1st: a top 50 US computer science, 3.9;

2nd: a top 20 US political science, 3.8

- worked in two notable US tech companies for 10 years, then decided to take my 2nd master. 

areas: IR, IPE, CPE

gre: 160, 168, 4.5

research:

- worked as full time RA for 3 projects for my 2nd master prof, a notable IR/PE scholar.

- working with a Stanford notable IR/PE prof toward a formal publication (I will be the first author since it's my project, not yet published)

- working with a UCLA non-notable IR/PE prof toward a formal publication (1st author, not yet published)

- research intern in mexican federal governments research inst.

- other CS RAs 10 years ago

2 computer sci conference publications 10 years ago. not top ones.

others: 

- NGO experience

- civil rights promotion org cofounder.

 

I am trying to apply to top 10 IR programs. But I am new to polisci, want to know my chances. Thanks! 

 

Edited July 18, 2021 by Chrisopps

[plus]

168V or 168Q? If V, perhaps it would be worth retaking the GRE if you are aiming at top 10 programs, since it would be slightly lower than Duke's average scores*. Overall, your profile seems really competitive on paper, but the admissions process is very noisy. If your SoP & writing sample are solid, I believe you have a good shot .

https://gradschool.duke.edu/about/statistics/political-science-phd-admissions-and-enrollment-statistics

[modesteffect]

13 hours ago, plus said:

168V or 168Q? If V, perhaps it would be worth retaking the GRE if you are aiming at top 10 programs, since it would be slightly lower than Duke's average scores*. Overall, your profile seems really competitive on paper, but the admissions process is very noisy. If your SoP & writing sample are solid, I believe you have a good shot .

https://gradschool.duke.edu/about/statistics/political-science-phd-admissions-and-enrollment-statistics

Thanks for the reply! sorry I didn't write clearly. It's 160v 168q, and English is not my native tongue. Agree that the adproc is messy esecially in these two years..  

[Theory007]

4 hours ago, Chrisopps said:

Thanks for the reply! sorry I didn't write clearly. It's 160v 168q, and English is not my native tongue. Agree that the adproc is messy esecially in these two years..  

I think these are great stats - maybe a higher verbal score would have served you well, but I think adcoms will take account of the fact that English in not your first language so maybe it will not be much of a disadvantage. And the rest of your profile looks good too.

You have a chance at a top-10 school, but let me urge you to apply widely. Even for someone with your profile chances are slim at a top 10 department. So apply to schools anywhere in the top-30 and I think you would have a good chance getting in somewhere. Everyone wants a top-10 spot, but many of those places accept only something like 5% of those who apply. And often it is the same few people who get into Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. so I would be very conservative and also apply to great school you might have a higher chance at. In short; the competition is stiff for anyone and if you confine yourself to only top-10 schools chances are that you will not get in anywhere.

Hope this helps! I wish you the best of luck!

 

[modesteffect]

26 minutes ago, Theory007 said:

I think these are great stats - maybe a higher verbal score would have served you well, but I think adcoms will take account of the fact that English in not your first language so maybe it will not be much of a disadvantage. And the rest of your profile looks good too.

You have a chance at a top-10 school, but let me urge you to apply widely. Even for someone with your profile chances are slim at a top 10 department. So apply to schools anywhere in the top-30 and I think you would have a good chance getting in somewhere. Everyone wants a top-10 spot, but many of those places accept only something like 5% of those who apply. And often it is the same few people who get into Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. so I would be very conservative and also apply to great school you might have a higher chance at. In short; the competition is stiff for anyone and if you confine yourself to only top-10 schools chances are that you will not get in anywhere.

Hope this helps! I wish you the best of luck!

 

Thank you so much! I will also focus on some 10-20 schools. I am retaking GRE too. Thank you for your valuable suggestions!