Strategy for choosing schools to apply to

[ridgey]

Hi,

Right now there are about 12 PhD programs I am seriously considering. For financial reasons, I don't want to send more than 7 applications. 5 of the schools are ranked in the top 20 (US News), 4 of those are top 10.

My application will be strong in general I think: SoP and LoRs, writing sample, relevant research experience. I take the GRE later this month and am aiming for 700-750 on both sections. My GPA is my weakness - a genuine weakness, not like those folk who complain about their "horrible" 3.8. I'm an international student so there is no exact conversion, but degree 1 + 2 is about 3.1, degree 3 is 3.7, degree 4 is in progress, won't have any grades to report before applications.

So, if I'm only making 7 applications, I don't think I have the numbers to justify having 4 of those at top 10 programs. Schools 1, 2, and 3 are ridiculously competitive (2-5% acceptance). Schools 2, 3 and 4 have an incredibly appealing structure for their coursework, allowing a minor in a related discipline, which is ideal as my research interests are at the juncture of the discipline. Only School 1 has any faculty doing research that is exactly what I'm interested in, the others have poeple using realted methodology but different topics, or looking at the same topics but with completely different methodology. School 4 is at a uni where there are interdisciplinary research centres that do work I'm interested in.

Is it more important to match EXACTLY with faculty research interests? Or is matching the overall "vibe" of the program sufficient to convince admissions committees of fit?

If you were me, where would you apply?

[academiccricket]

I don't think we can sufficiently answer this, because there isn't a lot of information presented (like what your degrees are in / how that ties into what you want to do). I might be mistaken, but I think prestige of undergraduate institution might play more of a role in international student admissions, as well as them wanting to fund you based off of your GPA (alone...you might be a stellar candidates in a lot of ways).

That said, clearly you want to go to a school with "prestige", but it is really all about fit. Even if you get a 1450+ on the GREs, and a perfect score, you'd likely be rejected from top programs--just because there aren't enough spots open. Don't focus so much on rank (which is kind of BS anyway), but who is doing work similar to what you'd like to do, departments where you'd thrive both academically and personally, and placement upon graduation. Look for requirements that average out to where yours are, and go from there.

[dowjonesindustrial]

I agree with the above. As to the 'fit' with schools, it would be easier to judge knowing your field/area of interest. If you are, just as an example, going to study computer science and want to focus on a programming language that only 1 school has faculty working with, that might be a serious problem. If you are an applicant in the humanities, however, you are much more likely to find groups of people doing interesting things in your time period/methodology than someone doing your exact line of research. A singularly perfect match may be great, but you definitely want to be looking for the programs with the "vibe" of your research. Both Harvard and Western Nowhere will reject you if you don't connect to the program at large, and both will excuse sub 700 GREs if you are a perfect fit (and the rest of your application shines to blind).

[rising_star]

Well I'd start by not using the US News rankings as a guide, but that's just me.

[ridgey]

Well I'd start by not using the US News rankings as a guide, but that's just me.

Obviously, USNews isn't a gold standard of anything. But, it you know what it measures, and how important that is(n't) relative to other factors (namely, the elusive "fit"), these rankings can be useful.

[ridgey]

Hi,

Right now there are about 12 PhD programs I am seriously considering. For financial reasons, I don't want to send more than 7 applications. 5 of the schools are ranked in the top 20 (US News), 4 of those are top 10.

I should clarify, given the comment about USNews, I meant that of the 12 programmes I'm considering, five are top 20; not that I plan to include five top 20 programmes in my final applications.

... As to the 'fit' with schools, it would be easier to judge knowing your field/area of interest. If you are, just as an example, going to study computer science and want to focus on a programming language that only 1 school has faculty working with, that might be a serious problem. If you are an applicant in the humanities, however, you are much more likely to find groups of people doing interesting things in your time period/methodology than someone doing your exact line of research...

My field is public health, and I'm looking at health policy programmes. Some programmes will let me take what amounts to a minor in political science. There are a couple of public policy programmes with a health policy track in my list too.

There are a reasonable number of researchers looking at My Favourite Health Issue. Most seem to be interested in looking at communities and treatments, while I am interested in the politics of it all. One person is looking at the politics of a different, though still interesting, issue. There is only one person I've discovered who looks at the politics (that I care about) of health in general, and has supervised dissertations applying this to all kinds of issues.

[rising_star]

ridgey, have you considered looking at MPP/MPA programs? Or maybe even doing a joint MPP/MPH?

[ridgey]

ridgey, have you considered looking at MPP/MPA programs? Or maybe even doing a joint MPP/MPH?

I'm doing an MPH at the moment (not in the US). I had briefly toyed with doing another Masters, in America, but I'd been thinking of it as a way to strengthen my PhD applications. But I don't want to be a student forever (difficult as that may be to believe with the number of degrees I have!) and I understand that funding is harder to come by for masters programmes anyway.

Come February and admission decisions being advised, I might feel differently, of course!

[rising_star]

Check out the program at Columbia. I'm pretty sure the PhD program has a policy orientation. Are you looking in public policy schools for programs?