What went wrong with my applications? (Comparative, Chinese politics)

[t.hobbes]

hello everyone,

In the past application cycle, I applied to more than 10 American schools, from top 10 to 50+, for PhDs with intended field in comparative politics (Chinese politics in particular). My goal was to get into a fully funded top 50 programme. Unfortunately however, I ended up having merely one admission from a safe school (50+) without funding. I was wondering if anyone could kindly have a look at my background and tell me what problems I may have. Any comments would be appreciated.

BA & MA: I’m a Chinese national, but had both degrees in the UK. The undergrad is a top 10 institution where I studied history & politics, with a focus on IR & country politics. I read politics again at the MA level in an institution whose East Asian programme is among UK’s top 3. I had courses on Chinese foreign policy, law, human rights & economics.

GPA: both scored 68 on average (2.1), with most essays marked as distinctions.

Recommendation letters: two very well-known professors on Chinese law & economics who also happened to know me well, and a Chinese politics professor (also my supervisor) for whom I had been working as a research assistant

Writing samples: all about Chinese politics written as term papers at the MA level, highly qualitative

GRE: V: 720, Q: 770, A: 4.5

Research interests: elite politics, authoritarian resilience, and prospects for democratisation in China. One intended project is on political reform in the 1980s.

Conferences & papers: I had presentations at several conferences in the UK & US, all of which were about Chinese politics. I will co-author an article on Chinese foreign policy early next year.

Questions:

1. does the fact that a large number of applicants applied this year whereas fewer slots were available have anything to do with my apps result?

2. which aspect(s) of my qualification are the weakest that I need to improve significantly to get into a top school?

3. Shall I do another MA in a top American institution first? To gain some quantitative method training in political science perhaps?

Thank you very much in advance.

t.hobbes

Edited June 26, 2011 by t.hobbes

[runonsentence]

I highly suggest you ask the DGS at some of the schools you applied to for feedback on your application. Adcoms are usually happy to tell you what you can do to strengthen your application, and will be able to give you the specific reasons they found your packet weaker than that of other applicants.

One reason I highly suggest you do this is because the single-most important factor for getting into a good graduate program is fit with the institution you applied to. We won't be able to advise you about how well your application packet demonstrated fit with the institutions you applied to, but the adcoms at those insitutions will be able to do so.

[kaykaykay]

As previously said it is really hard to say what went wrong, it could be just bad luck, lack of fit etc... The numbers do not look bad, but there are quite a few applicants/

My only idea is that political science in the US is quite different from the UK and a lot of research topics which fall under political science in the UK would be regarded as history, or area studies topics in the US. As the competition is very big if no one feels that they could advise you in these areas in a department you may fall out of the competition.

You may try to ask the departments what went wrong, but you should be prepared that they may not be able to tell you. Also you could talk with someone who has a degree from the US or knows the system very well, and discuss your research agenda and SOP with them. Maybe you have to reconsider what you want to study, how you market it or the department you are applying to.

[catchermiscount]

Fit and competition problems are exacerbated by the fact that (1) China will likely be a hot topic in years to come; and (2) only a handful of American departments have devoted substantial resources to the topic. Moreover, many of the best places for Chinese politics (Harvard, Michigan, Stanford, etc.) are just really tough to get into generally. Selling yourself as a China specialist is tough. Along those lines, you may want to (1) think a little more broadly about east Asian studies; and (2) link yourself into broader topics in comparative politics (e.g. institutional features like, say, corruption). That would likely make you more attractive to schools that don't have a direct strength in Chinese politics but that are looking to coach up good comparativists.

The usual, generic suggestions apply. Do you have experience with quantitative or formal approaches to the study of politics? Can your writing sample incorporate a simple model or basic data analysis (not that data on Chinese politics would be easy to come by!).

I do have one friend that had a very strong profile applying from China, used that strong profile to gain acceptance to a master's program in political economy (specializing in China) at a top 5 department, took some methodological classes over the summer at ICPSR, and then parleyed all that experience into admission to a top 5 PhD program with a focus in Chinese politics. So, it is entirely possible to use time (and a little money on the master's front) to get more exposure to American-style political science and work toward your larger goal.