Fall 2009 PhD Applicant! Do I stand any chance?

[mormegil]

So, do I stand any chance with my choice of schools (given below) or am I fooling myself? I am an international applicant.

One thing responders should remember is that my choice of schools is constrained as I'm applying with an undergrad degree (currently in senior year) which is a British format 3-year long. Most US grad schools don't accept such degrees for admission unless supplemented with a masters degree.

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad:

B.Sc. Economics (Honors), with Maths and Political Science as minors. Very large, old and well known Indian university. Has long history of placing students at decent U.S. universities.

Undergrad GPA:

Waiting on that. Should be mid-to-high second class, roughly in the 3.0 to 3.4 range after conversion. The GPA is specific to my university. A caveat is that my university is infamous in India for grade deflation (as it is known in the US).

GRE:

1440. Quant: 790. verbal: 650. AWA: 4.5

I gave the GRE twice. 1st time got 1160. Quant: 670: verbal: 490. AWA: 4.0. Although I'm told by grad program directors at the places I'm applying to that taking GRE twice doesn't matter especially if the score improves (as it has). I hope it is so.

TOEFL iBT: 104.

Economics courses:

Micro, Macro, Statistics and Econometrics, Development, International Trade, Public Finance, Mathematical Economics, Indian Economic History and Economic Policy Analysis.

Math Courses:

Everything. Modern Algebra, Linear Algebra, Calculus, Linear programming, 2D and 3D geometry, vector analysis, numerical analysis, Stats.

Maths grades should be average.

Political Science Courses:

Indian constitution and politics, World constitutions (US, UK, China, Switzerland, France), politics and elections, usual undergrad political theories.

Research Experience:

Published papers in 2 national level conferences and at 2 international conference (in political economy, economic development and governance).

Teaching Experience: none.

Research Interests:

comparative politics, including political economy, elections, development and politics, South Asian politics, development and governance et al.

LORs: Will be extremely strong.

Two from my college. One professor (from another college) with lots of national and international publications. He knows me very well and I've been with him to conferences. All 3 have PhD in Economics from my country. Is that a disadvantage?

Another nationally famous Sociology professor (PhD from Mcmaster) who knows me pretty well and was the track chair in one of the conferences I've been to.

SOP: Just started working.

Concerns: Endless. To be pithy,

1. (Potential) average marks or GPA. International students especially from my country apply with much better marks.

2. I will be applying with only an undergrad degree. Almost all applicants from my country and I believe most international applicants apply with a graduate degree or they are already enrolled in a graduate program. But I will be in my final year of my undergrad program. I think this will be the biggest handicap to my profile and will heavily affect my chances.

3. Low GRE AWA score.

Applying to:

PhD: Chicago, Emory, Johns Hopkins, UPenn, Notre Dame, SUNY Buffalo, Washington University in St. Louis, Princeton, Virginia, Texas A&M, Claremont Graduate, Cornell, Northwestern, Rice, Georgetown.

Terminal MA (just to be safe): Villanova, Marquette, San Diego State, U. Nebraska - Lincon, U. Nevada - Reno.

[Ferrero]

I think you will be competitive at the slate of schools you listed. It is good you have some back-up M.A. programs. I think you will land an offer from one of those Ph.D. programs. It will come down to fit.

[rising_star]

1) I think you're applying to too many programs. Especially if you don't have a top GPA or the master's that many schools want (as you said).

2) You don't want a letter from someone that knows you from a conference. You want one from someone that's familiar with your academic work.

3) You focus here a lot on economics but barely mention political science. Make sure your interests in political science are concrete, so you can convey them to the admissions committee.

[ordinonuovo]

You don't have an edge in any of the areas that admission committees will be looking,

unless you haven't told us. Your research interest is way too broad.

I would say that you still don't have a safety school among

the PhD programs.

Yes brutal, but that is my take on the situation.

[mormegil]

You don't have an edge in any of the areas that admission committees will be looking,

unless you haven't told us. Your research interest is way too broad.

I would say that you still don't have a safety school among

the PhD programs.

Yes brutal, but that is my take on the situation.

Thanks you, ordinonuovo !! Yes, it's brutal but hey honest opinion is what i need.

Would you please explain what do you mean by your first line? What are the areas the adcoms are looking for exactly?

Yes, my research interest is a little broad but that's the way it is. I guess I have to be tactical. I won't be mentioning all of my interests in a particular SOP. For example, if a school doesn't have any faculty working on for instance, democratization, i won't be mentioning my interest in democratization.

You're right that I don't have a safety school for PhD (i have mentioned the reason in my OP). I'm applying to 5, maybe 6 terminal MA programs (which gives funding) as safeties.

Methinks Claremont Graduate U., a borderline Top 50 program (and incidentally, an excellent research fit with me), a safety school for me but you guys would probably know better. What do you think?

Thanks again.

[mormegil]

@Ferrero,

thank you for your views !! Me too think the fit may become the decider. I'm worried s**tless about my ordinary GPA.

@Rising star,

thank you!

yes, i will be mentioning my interest in political science research in my SOP. Besides, my conference papers should throw some light. My major field is economics, but i had also political science as a "general" subject, the course load of which is almost as large as my major subject.

On your second point, i'm just banking on hope. Political Science admission i guess is very random and subjective. Don't you think if i apply to, say, 6 less programs my chance of getting in gets diminished further? :mrgreen:

[Ferrero]

Claremont is indeed a safety school for many applicants, as is SUNY Buffalo.

[mormegil]

Claremont is indeed a safety school for many applicants, as is SUNY Buffalo.

I can only hope all those folks applying at Buffalo and Claremont get in and choose to enrol at higher ranked places with fat funding. :mrgreen:

[rising_star]

@Rising star,

thank you!

yes, i will be mentioning my interest in political science research in my SOP. Besides, my conference papers should throw some light. My major field is economics, but i had also political science as a "general" subject, the course load of which is almost as large as my major subject.

On your second point, i'm just banking on hope. Political Science admission i guess is very random and subjective. Don't you think if i apply to, say, 6 less programs my chance of getting in gets diminished further? :mrgreen:

Yes, admission is random. Applying to fewer programs can allow you to submit better materials to each program. Quality is better than quantity. Also, I think the funding at Claremont is notoriously bad.

[mormegil]

Yes, admission is random. Applying to fewer programs can allow you to submit better materials to each program. Quality is better than quantity. Also, I think the funding at Claremont is notoriously bad.

True that. Claremont funds less students than an average Political Science PhD program.

I haven't started applying yet and at the end I may end up not applying to few schools that are in my 'final list' like Princeton, Johns Hopkins and such which may be too fancy to give me an offer. The dilemma is that my major is economics, and as pointed out in a thread below such an applicant has to appply to as many places he can afford. At least 15 to be safe, provided he is not a 'stellar' student from a tier I American university. Currently, there are 15 PhD programs in my final list and 5 terminal MA ones. But then quality is indeed better than quantity.

[GradHappy]

Quick Profile of Myself:

I am a 4th year political science major at a large public school.

I expect to graduate either magnum cum laude or suma cum laude.

Overall GPA: 3.91 Major GPA: 3.88

GRE: 1390 = Q: 740 + V: 650 AWA: 4.0 ?

*How important is the AWA score?

I am looking for a comparative program with a focus on electoral studies.

Anyone have an idea of where I have a good shot of getting in?

I am trying to determine "safety schools" I can apply to.

[Penelope Higgins]

AKarn - for electoral studies, a few places that come to mind are Princeton, UCSD, Irvine, Duke, and UNC. There are, of course, many others - electoral studies is not my field, but these are a few schools that occur to me as good places for that.

With the grades and test scores you have, if you can supplement them with strong letters from some of the 'names' in comparative politics at Florida, you will be in good shape for the admissions process. To find safety schools, I would look to see where the authors you find interesting are teaching - not all of them will be at top 10 departments...

[bluewhenitsgray]

A 4.0 writing score looks sort of mediocre by itself, but if you can include an example of your writing along with your application that seems to suggest the score is a fluke, it shouldn't be an issue.

[GradHappy]

Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better. I'm quite pleased with my writing sample, I just hope it is looked at during the admissions process.

Does anyone have any suggestions regarding contacting professor and such. Are applicants usually invited to do interviews or should we try to arrange them ourselves?

Did anyone pay a service to help them with their personal statement? I know some grad students who swear by it and others who do not suggest it. I'd love to hear some opinions.

Anyone know of good programs in Canada for electoral studies (besides U of T)?

PS This site is great. I really appreciate all the grad students for helping us applicants out.

[rising_star]

Does anyone have any suggestions regarding contacting professor and such. Are applicants usually invited to do interviews or should we try to arrange them ourselves?

Did anyone pay a service to help them with their personal statement? I know some grad students who swear by it and others who do not suggest it. I'd love to hear some opinions.

Anyone know of good programs in Canada for electoral studies (besides U of T)?

PS This site is great. I really appreciate all the grad students for helping us applicants out.

AKarn, I definitely wouldn't pay a service to help you with the personal statement. Fellow applicants, current grad students, and your professors are your best resource in this area.

Interviews aren't all that common. More common is a paid visit after getting admit where you can meet with faculty. So no formal interview per se, at least not in my (non-poli-sci) experience.

[flyingwalrus]

I think Emory conducts interviews, but other than that I've never heard of anything other than a paid visit once you've been accepted.

[bluewhenitsgray]

Emory does conduct interviews. It's a weird experience. Most other places don't.

[phdhopeful]

Hi

I have sent in applications to most of my programs that I'm interested in applying to, but wanted to find out whether or not I stand a chance. My undergrad was in Biology and my Master's was in Public Health. I have about 3 years of work experience, excluding internships and volunteer work. I have worked in the healthcare industry, doing research and consulting, and have several publications, working papers and presentations. My volunteer experience and internship experience have been in the areas of women's rights, reproductive rights and for an international org. I am interested in pursuing a poli sci PhD to study the intersection of public health and politics; I have applied to comparative politics programs, and outlined several research projects I would like to work on. Do I stand a chance?

[Penelope Higgins]

A lot of departments will be very interested in your research interests, and there is no discrimination against applicants who don't have previous degrees in political science so long as they can clearly define a research interest within comparative politics - which it sounds like you were able to do. Depending on your test scores, letters, etc. I would say that you stand a good chance. Best of luck.