2021-2022 Application Thread

[patchie]

Applied for a PhD at Northwestern University only. Currently it is the only school that offers what I am looking for. I look forward to receiving an interview invite. The waiting game is psychologically traumatic. Trying my best to focus on something else.

[Theory007]

4 hours ago, patchie said:

Applied for a PhD at Northwestern University only. Currently it is the only school that offers what I am looking for. I look forward to receiving an interview invite. The waiting game is psychologically traumatic. Trying my best to focus on something else.

If you are serious about going to graduate school, I will very highly recommend that you apply to at least a handful of schools. I'm sure you can find more than just a single one that offers what you're looking for.

[sbidyanta]

11 hours ago, honeymoow said:

Where did everyone apply? I was quite restrictive: Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, MIT, and Columbia. Might get massacred but we'll see. 

Northwestern, USC, Kansas, Cincinnati, UNL, FIU and Pittsburgh. I'd be more than happy with a funded offer from any of them.

[sbidyanta]

12 hours ago, Not_A_Crook said:

 

Hey sbidyanta,

Northwestern uses the CollegeNet application system which does require the recommenders to make an account before they can submit their letters. One of my recommenders had this problem, and I contacted the Help Desk from CollegeNet. They said they requests went out okay, the only issue was my recommender had not made an account. Once he made an account he was able to upload, no problem

Thank you! I contacted them, and they pretty much said the same. However, they also agreed to receive recommendation letters directly, which is what I'm going to tell my professors to do. 

[kufambrian]

15 hours ago, honeymoow said:

Where did everyone apply? I was quite restrictive: Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, MIT, and Columbia. Might get massacred but we'll see. 

U Michigan - Ann Arbor, OSU, U Minnesota - Twin Cities, and U Wisconsin - Madison. I'm specifically interested in polarization and urban-rural divides, as well as political psych (I have degrees in polisci and psych), and these are the only four programs in the country that meet those interests. I think applying to less is better if they're the best fit! Also, I couldn't afford to apply to more.

[honeymoow]

8 hours ago, kufambrian said:

U Michigan - Ann Arbor, OSU, U Minnesota - Twin Cities, and U Wisconsin - Madison. I'm specifically interested in polarization and urban-rural divides, as well as political psych (I have degrees in polisci and psych), and these are the only four programs in the country that meet those interests. I think applying to less is better if they're the best fit! Also, I couldn't afford to apply to more.

In case you're interested, I can actually think of several top-ranked programs with faculty who study those topics, and whose applications are not yet due. Princeton (McCarty), MIT (Magazinnik, and cross-registration/advising at Harvard (Enos, Levitsky, Ziblatt, etc.)), NYU (Rosenthal), and Chicago (Berry), among several others.

[LatinAmericanFootball]

I was submitting some last apps and just realized I wrote on my (already submitted, due by Dec 1st) SOP for Harvard how its "Department of Political Science" is a great fit for me. It's actually called Department of Government. Am I doomed?

[honeymoow]

2 hours ago, LatinAmericanFootball said:

I was submitting some last apps and just realized I wrote on my (already submitted, due by Dec 1st) SOP for Harvard how its "Department of Political Science" is a great fit for me. It's actually called Department of Government. Am I doomed?

I definitely wouldn't say it's a dealbreaker! (but the department name is not insignificant)

[LatinAmericanFootball]

Yeah, I'm trying to think that it won't be a dealbreaker if they really want me... but it's still a gaffe. At least I have something to blame if I don't get in!

[Not_A_Crook]

I doubt that will doom you, but who knows. Most professors realize you are human and that minor mistakes are inevitable. In one of my SOPs I said something to the effect that "my goal is to attain a professorship in in political science." I suppose it would be worse if I said I had a degree in pubic policy, rather than in public policy. Spell check doesn't catch every mistake! You will likely find typos in nearly any document if you look hard enough. 

[honeymoow]

On 11/2/2021 at 10:35 AM, LatinAmericanFootball said:

I'm not in the US, but my feeling is this year will be calmer. There is less uncertainty re: politics, the economy, and the pandemic. We will probably see a small decrease in the supply of people applying (going back to industry, other sectors) and an increase in the demand of applicants as departments admit normal-sized cohorts and the ones that suspended admissions go back to normal (perhaps with bigger cohorts to compensate the gap year).

Just as a point of discussion, I've heard internally that there's expected to be an increase of applicants—those rejected from last year, those seeking admission ahead of the coming recession, etc. Will be interesting either way! 

[LatinAmericanFootball]

Yeah, guess I didn't expect the worsening economy or the new Covid variant lol. I remember a lot of talk last year about how recessions and uncertainty make people go after graduate studies, and these were some of the reasons for the high competitiveness in 2020-21. Another reason to apply broadly...

[Not_A_Crook]

2 hours ago, honeymoow said:

Just as a point of discussion, I've heard internally that there's expected to be an increase of applicants—those rejected from last year, those seeking admission ahead of the coming recession, etc. Will be interesting either way! 

I think that because the GRE is still basically optional at most programs (the ones I've researched anyway), this will probably be another reason why the number of applicants will remain at historical highs, since that significantly reduces the cost/effort involved in applying.

Thankfully I took the GRE about 4 years ago, and pretty much nailed it (167 V, 161Q, 5.5 Writing). I'm assuming this would give me a considerable advantage over someone who has not taken the test, ceteris paribus. Does anyone have any thoughts or insights on what a strong GRE score means in a pool of applicants where many have not taken the test?

[LatinAmericanFootball]

39 minutes ago, Not_A_Crook said:

I think that because the GRE is still basically optional at most programs (the ones I've researched anyway), this will probably be another reason why the number of applicants will remain at historical highs, since that significantly reduces the cost/effort involved in applying.

Thankfully I took the GRE about 4 years ago, and pretty much nailed it (167 V, 161Q, 5.5 Writing). I'm assuming this would give me a considerable advantage over someone who has not taken the test, ceteris paribus. Does anyone have any thoughts or insights on what a strong GRE score means in a pool of applicants where many have not taken the test?

There were some quite successful people last year on the forum who did not submit GRE scores, so I assume they were mostly used as tie-breakers in schools that made them optional or did not request them at all. I also scored pretty well so I'm sending them everywhere, but most of the departments I'm applying to made them mandatory this year anyway.

[larama]

6 hours ago, Not_A_Crook said:

I think that because the GRE is still basically optional at most programs (the ones I've researched anyway), this will probably be another reason why the number of applicants will remain at historical highs, since that significantly reduces the cost/effort involved in applying.

Thankfully I took the GRE about 4 years ago, and pretty much nailed it (167 V, 161Q, 5.5 Writing). I'm assuming this would give me a considerable advantage over someone who has not taken the test, ceteris paribus. Does anyone have any thoughts or insights on what a strong GRE score means in a pool of applicants where many have not taken the test?

It doesn't. That's the whole point of GRE being optional.

[Not_A_Crook]

13 hours ago, larama said:

It doesn't. That's the whole point of GRE being optional.

Probably the point of making it optional is to not automatically disqualify students who are coming of age during the pandemic and thus have no access to the exam, no? Not that the test doesn't or shouldn't matter. Certainly I can imagine what a competitive profile looks like without a GRE score. Yet it's hard to believe that given two otherwise identical profiles, where one has a strong GRE score and the other no score, they would be treated the same or as if the score doesn't exist.

Edited December 10, 2021 by Not_A_Crook
grammar

[Theory007]

2 hours ago, Not_A_Crook said:

Probably the point of making it optional is to not automatically disqualify students who are coming of age during the pandemic and thus have no access to the exam, no? Not that the test doesn't or shouldn't matter. Certainly I can imagine what a competitive profile looks like without a GRE score. Yet it's hard to believe that given two otherwise identical profiles, where one has a strong GRE score and the other no score, they would be treated the same or as if the score doesn't exist.

Despite the GRE being optional, I'm sure it matters as much as always. Adcoms will sometimes look at 10-15 virtually identical candidates (but this year probably more!) but one with a strong GRE score will signal that he or she really is outstanding - proven under controlled conditions. I do not think however that GRE tests taken at home - during the pandemic - count for anything. This was probably the real reason that they made the GRE optional because anyone who took the test over the past two years could have cheated and probably did. But a test taken before the pandemic is still very valuable. Few people will submit such one and if you did well I think it will count strongly in your favor.

[larama]

2 hours ago, Not_A_Crook said:

Probably the point of making it optional is to not automatically disqualify students who are coming of age during the pandemic and thus have no access to the exam, no? Not that the test doesn't or shouldn't matter. Certainly I can imagine what a competitive profile looks like without a GRE score. Yet it's hard to believe that given two otherwise identical profiles, where one has a strong GRE score and the other no score, they would be treated the same or as if the score doesn't exist.

Yes, they would be treated the same way. At least most of the programs I'm applying to, where GRE is optional, state that. If you're applying to humanities you'll notice that many universities do not even like the exam. I had a zoom call with the graduate coordinator of one of the programs I'm applying to and he literally said: "Thank god we got rid of GRE". GRE doesn't measure knowledge or research capabilities (and is biased and undermines diversity), so, at least in humanities, it would not give you any advantage over candidates who didn't take the test. 

[Not_A_Crook]

7 minutes ago, larama said:

Yes, they would be treated the same way. At least most of the programs I'm applying to, where GRE is optional, state that. If you're applying to humanities you'll notice that many universities do not even like the exam. I had a zoom call with the graduate coordinator of one of the programs I'm applying to and he literally said: "Thank god we got rid of GRE". GRE doesn't measure knowledge or research capabilities (and is biased and undermines diversity), so, at least in humanities, it would not give you any advantage over candidates who didn't take the test. 

This is not an apples to apples comparison, since the above discussion is within the context of political science admissions specifically. Assuming you are applying to a history, English/literature, or anthropology (or similar) program, sure, they may not care much about the GRE because half the test measures abilities which have almost no relevance to the discipline (i.e., the quantitative portion).  I think it's a fair assumption that political science is a much more quantitatively based than anything you would find in the humanities, and that an admission candidate's performance on the Quant section is a non-trivial part of the process.

[Theory007]

1 hour ago, larama said:

Yes, they would be treated the same way. At least most of the programs I'm applying to, where GRE is optional, state that. If you're applying to humanities you'll notice that many universities do not even like the exam. I had a zoom call with the graduate coordinator of one of the programs I'm applying to and he literally said: "Thank god we got rid of GRE". GRE doesn't measure knowledge or research capabilities (and is biased and undermines diversity), so, at least in humanities, it would not give you any advantage over candidates who didn't take the test. 

How is the GRE biased and undermines diversity? I'm genuinely curious. The GRE measures ability (or correlates with it) and there is tons of evidence for this. Sure some people do well in graduate programs with a low score but GRE and some people with high GRE scores do poorly. But on the whole it predicts performance.

[larama]

1 hour ago, Theory007 said:

How is the GRE biased and undermines diversity? I'm genuinely curious. The GRE measures ability (or correlates with it) and there is tons of evidence for this. Sure some people do well in graduate programs with a low score but GRE and some people with high GRE scores do poorly. But on the whole it predicts performance.

Departments that made the GRE optional cited concerns that the costs of the exam ($205) and of test preparation disproportionately affect underserved students. Critics also question what the test scores actually prove. 

“Studies suggest that GRE scores are not great indicators of graduate-school success and underserve students who cannot afford test prep or to take the exam multiple times,” said Professor Zemer Gitai, former director of graduate studies in the molecular biology department. 

Professor Johannes Haubold, director of graduate studies in the classics department, cited concern “that standardized tests are culturally biased in favor of certain groups, and that they end up testing primarily how good one is at taking tests.”

This is from a Princeton website. You can go on and on. 

To add to this, take for instance the writing section of the exam. It does not even take in consideration that someone who writes a 300 word essay might write better and have greater ability to write concisely than someone with a 500 word essay - which is proved to result in better scores.  

[Sigaba]

2 hours ago, Theory007 said:

Your post.

 

@Theory007, IMO, this topic is too controversial and too important for such broad brush/blanket statements without offers of supporting evidence.  

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2021-32469-001

https://arxiv.org/abs/2009.14027

[honeymoow]

This is obviously anecdotal, but I spoke to several professors in my political science department (one that yields a lot of applicants each year) and they all told me that having taken and performed well on the GRE was beneficial, even with the test being optional at a lot of programs.

[LatinAmericanFootball]

22 hours ago, Theory007 said:

Despite the GRE being optional, I'm sure it matters as much as always. Adcoms will sometimes look at 10-15 virtually identical candidates (but this year probably more!) but one with a strong GRE score will signal that he or she really is outstanding - proven under controlled conditions. I do not think however that GRE tests taken at home - during the pandemic - count for anything. This was probably the real reason that they made the GRE optional because anyone who took the test over the past two years could have cheated and probably did. But a test taken before the pandemic is still very valuable. Few people will submit such one and if you did well I think it will count strongly in your favor.

Do you have any evidence to back that up, e.g. people in adcoms saying they don't trust the GRE At Home? I took it at home and know people who took it at home last year, and I can assure you that even if I wanted to cheat (which I obviously did not) it would have been very hard to do so, as ETS protocols are very rigid. In fact, GRE online boards are filled with people that got their tests cancelled because they did something slightly suspicious which the proctors understood as possible cheating even if it wasn't.

[rash_sulganni]

I just thought I will check-in and wish everyone applying this year the best of luck! This community was very supportive as I went through this process last year; it helps to know about and connect with others going through the same experience. All the best!!!