British Political Science Applicant

[bishbashbosh]

Hello everyone,

I've done a little forum search but can't find much info relating to my questions- so either they haven't been answered much before, or I'm an idiot. Anyway, I'm looking at Political Science PhDs in the US (not for this application year, but the next) and I'm feeling a bit clueless about the whole thing. I'm British and went to a British university so I basically have no clue about the application process. So, my questions:

1. I have a BA in History from Cambridge- I've tried to convert my degree classification to a GPA but got wildly differing results. I got a very high 2:1 if that means anything. By the end of this year I'll also have an MLitt in Security Studies from St Andrews, and I hope to do pretty well. Would this be the kind of background that you need for, say, the top 20ish PhD programs? (I understand that letters of recommendation etc are more important- but wondered if I'd be laughed out the door immediately.)

2. I'm reasonably confident that, given some time to relearn maths, I could score well on the GREs. Has anyone used a good study guide thing for the GRE (esp the maths) that they'd recommend?

3. I've only got basic maths- I gave it up after my GCSEs when I was 16. I was quite good at it, but have no advanced maths. Is this likely to really sink my app? I'm not averse to quantitive methods, but I hear there are some very quantitive schools- if anyone could suggest schools to maybe avoid based on this, that would be great.

4. As an international student with zero cash, I'll need funding. Is it therefore sensible to apply to more private schools for a greater chance of getting $$$?

If it makes a difference, I'm interested in comparative politics and IR. Schools I'd be interested in (interesting faculty, places look cool, funding sounds promising): Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Chicago, Cornell, Duke. I haven't looked into schools much yet, as I have no idea where to aim.

Thanks for any help/advice at all!

[adaptations]

Hello everyone,

I've done a little forum search but can't find much info relating to my questions- so either they haven't been answered much before, or I'm an idiot. Anyway, I'm looking at Political Science PhDs in the US (not for this application year, but the next) and I'm feeling a bit clueless about the whole thing. I'm British and went to a British university so I basically have no clue about the application process. So, my questions:

1. I have a BA in History from Cambridge- I've tried to convert my degree classification to a GPA but got wildly differing results. I got a very high 2:1 if that means anything. By the end of this year I'll also have an MLitt in Security Studies from St Andrews, and I hope to do pretty well. Would this be the kind of background that you need for, say, the top 20ish PhD programs? (I understand that letters of recommendation etc are more important- but wondered if I'd be laughed out the door immediately.)

2. I'm reasonably confident that, given some time to relearn maths, I could score well on the GREs. Has anyone used a good study guide thing for the GRE (esp the maths) that they'd recommend?

3. I've only got basic maths- I gave it up after my GCSEs when I was 16. I was quite good at it, but have no advanced maths. Is this likely to really sink my app? I'm not averse to quantitive methods, but I hear there are some very quantitive schools- if anyone could suggest schools to maybe avoid based on this, that would be great.

4. As an international student with zero cash, I'll need funding. Is it therefore sensible to apply to more private schools for a greater chance of getting $$$?

If it makes a difference, I'm interested in comparative politics and IR. Schools I'd be interested in (interesting faculty, places look cool, funding sounds promising): Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Chicago, Cornell, Duke. I haven't looked into schools much yet, as I have no idea where to aim.

Thanks for any help/advice at all!

I'll do what I can to answer a few of your questions:

1. Sorry - I don't know much about British grades, so I can't help here.

2. Checkout the GRE forum. There are lots of good discussions there. That said, the usual option that are reasonably successful include Princeton Review, Kaplan, etc. I hear a lot about Barons, but haven't personally used it.

3. I wouldn't worry too much about your previous math background, especially if you score well on the GRE. I certainly wouldn't avoid programs just because of it (unless they explicitly say you need to have gone through multivariable calc or something). You may need to work on getting up to speed before you start, but many schools offer pre-semester math camps, or you could take another class to brush up.

4. I don't think private/public is the right way to think about this. For example, Michigan and Ohio State University both provide full funding to all admitted Ph.D. Poli. Sci students, and they are both public. You should read whether schools will provide full funding to international students - I know UCSD says they will not.

As for your list of schools - you've certainly selected great programs that would be a challenge for anyone to get into, so you may want to continue refining/expanding your list. Best of luck.

[alleycat393]

1. I have a BA in History from Cambridge- I've tried to convert my degree classification to a GPA but got wildly differing results. I got a very high 2:1 if that means anything. By the end of this year I'll also have an MLitt in Security Studies from St Andrews, and I hope to do pretty well. Would this be the kind of background that you need for, say, the top 20ish PhD programs? (I understand that letters of recommendation etc are more important- but wondered if I'd be laughed out the door immediately.)

Don't even try to convert your grades into the GPA system-the British and the GPA systems are completely incompatible. Most unis will not ask you to convert but if they do google something called WES and that'll give you a righ estimate. I would only suggest your using it if your uni give you no choice.

2. I'm reasonably confident that, given some time to relearn maths, I could score well on the GREs. Has anyone used a good study guide thing for the GRE (esp the maths) that they'd recommend?

I used Barron's book. The PowerPrep software is also supposed to be very good but I couldn't use it because it was not compatible with Windows 7 64 bit which is what my computer has. I also used a bunch ofrandom resources I found using google extensively

3. I've only got basic maths- I gave it up after my GCSEs when I was 16. I was quite good at it, but have no advanced maths. Is this likely to really sink my app? I'm not averse to quantitive methods, but I hear there are some very quantitive schools- if anyone could suggest schools to maybe avoid based on this, that would be great.

GCSE level math is just fine for the GRE. Cracking the GRE is all about test taking strategy-the math is not very difficult at all. Practise loads and make sure you know excatly what to expect from the test and you'll be fine.

4. As an international student with zero cash, I'll need funding. Is it therefore sensible to apply to more private schools for a greater chance of getting $$$?

You might wanna read up really well on what your individual unis say about funding because it can vary quite a lot from one to the next.

Thanks for any help/advice at all!

Good luck!

Ps:- I'm also studying in the UK (not British though!) at the moment. Finishing my undergrad in July 2011 and applying for September 2011 start PhDs. PM if need anything else

[balderdash]

Hello everyone,

I've done a little forum search but can't find much info relating to my questions- so either they haven't been answered much before, or I'm an idiot. Anyway, I'm looking at Political Science PhDs in the US (not for this application year, but the next) and I'm feeling a bit clueless about the whole thing. I'm British and went to a British university so I basically have no clue about the application process. So, my questions:

1. I have a BA in History from Cambridge- I've tried to convert my degree classification to a GPA but got wildly differing results. I got a very high 2:1 if that means anything. By the end of this year I'll also have an MLitt in Security Studies from St Andrews, and I hope to do pretty well. Would this be the kind of background that you need for, say, the top 20ish PhD programs? (I understand that letters of recommendation etc are more important- but wondered if I'd be laughed out the door immediately.)

2. I'm reasonably confident that, given some time to relearn maths, I could score well on the GREs. Has anyone used a good study guide thing for the GRE (esp the maths) that they'd recommend?

3. I've only got basic maths- I gave it up after my GCSEs when I was 16. I was quite good at it, but have no advanced maths. Is this likely to really sink my app? I'm not averse to quantitive methods, but I hear there are some very quantitive schools- if anyone could suggest schools to maybe avoid based on this, that would be great.

4. As an international student with zero cash, I'll need funding. Is it therefore sensible to apply to more private schools for a greater chance of getting $$?

If it makes a difference, I'm interested in comparative politics and IR. Schools I'd be interested in (interesting faculty, places look cool, funding sounds promising): Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Chicago, Cornell, Duke. I haven't looked into schools much yet, as I have no idea where to aim.

Thanks for any help/advice at all!

1. What college? I'm at Cambs now doing an MPhil. A high 2:1 should be around the 3.7/4 range. Lots of American apps (for instance, 2/3 of the incoming students at Stanford) don't even have a masters (or an MLitt), so you definitely won't be "laughed out the door immediately" for your qualifications.

2. No real recommendations on the GREs other than you need to practice it a lot more than you probably think. Basic algebra sounds easy until you forget the rules of geometry - as a quick test, what are the relationships among the sides of a 30-60-90 right triangle? If you don't know it by heart, you're going to be in trouble. So the punchline is that you shouldn't underestimate the difficulty.

3. No worries on the math. It would be better if you had it, but it's not a disqualifying shortcoming - and besides, there's not much you can do now. You'll probably have to do more than you'd want at the PhD level, though.

4. Apply to the programs with which you'd fit best and that are good in what you want to study. It's much more common for PhD students to get funding in the US than in the UK, and the proportion of people on a simple department grant/stipend is much higher than at Cambs, where it's all Gates or Fulbright or whatever.

Hope it helps.

[GopherGrad]

My take:

1) Your degrees are fine preparation in terms of subject matter, but I don't know anything about British grades. It appears that more knowledgable posters put your GPA well into competetive range for the most selective programs.

2) I was years out of math(s), too, and ended up doing very well just by using the study aids offered by the exam itself. They are taken from real, recent questions, which is a huge advantage (I used to write practice LSATs for national test prep agency, and when I was benchmarking my peers it quickly became obvious that some books lack any ability to mimick the tone and focus of the real exam).

However you prep, i would positively recommend using the official GRE study aids (which are, I think, free with test registration) and basing my evaluation of other materials based on thier fidelity to the original.

3) It won't "sink" your app, but most people would recommend some statistical methodology at least, and maybe higher math if you want to impress a particularly quantitative department or sell yourself as a great quantitative candidate. I went back and took a methods course to bolster my credentials and understanding.

4) Others have mentioned that funding is not necessarily more generous at private schools, and that's important to remember. The US has many excellent public schools that will offer full funding and some private schools (Georgetown, for example) offer very few students money. You should certainly add a few public schools to your list.

BUT

I spoke awhile ago with a UC Berkeley student wrapping up his time who mentioned that California's specific budget problems were causing faculty to worry that some students partway through might even LOSE funding. I don't know anything factual, but that it came up at all gave me pause. State governments are suffering right now. You'd do yourself a disservice if you were admitted to a public school and you didn't research the politics and budget and then ask some frank questions of the faculty. If I am blessed enough to be admitted to Berkeley, that will be the first thing I do after I sober up and tip all the chairs in my apartment back on their legs (it'll be a hell of a party).

Edited December 6, 2010 by GopherGrad