Weightage of a research paper

[disintegrate]

Hi,

Am trying to figure out the weightage a research paper has to the application. I plan to write one in the realm of international affairs. My SOP will focus on research aspirations. I do not have international experience. So, hoping this gives me some brownie points. What dya think??

Thanks,

Disintegrate

[Mal83]

Hi,

Am trying to figure out the weightage a research paper has to the application. I plan to write one in the realm of international affairs. My SOP will focus on research aspirations. I do not have international experience. So, hoping this gives me some brownie points. What dya think??

Thanks,

Disintegrate

I'm not sure where a research paper would fit into the application for IR programs. Even if you could submit a writing sample I don't think the admissions committees would actually read an entire paper, there is usually a length limit. Your SOP should be sufficient. Especially for GWU, the application to the Elliott School does not require a writing sample and the instructions explicitly say that your SOP is enough. There was also no room for a writing sample on the AU application, it could have been an option but I know it wasn't required. There are a lot of components already to the application and I would really concentrate on them rather than writing a research paper that probably won't get read. It's considered bad form to submit extra materials that are not even mentioned in the application instructions. Just to give you a little perspective, for the Fall 2011 admissions cycle, The Elliott School of International Affairs at GW received over 2100 applications, I can say with quite a bit of certainty that no one on that committee was reading research papers. I would make sure that you take the time to really write a solid SOP, you will have to make it clear that the program is a good fit for you by relating your experience, education, and career goals to what you want to study there. How have these things prepared you for graduate study? Being that IR is a professional degree, you will want to make sure that you communicate what the degree from that school will do for you, basically what do you want to be qualified to do? I went so far as to name a few organizations I'd like to work for. Is there a specific area of IR you want to specialize in? If so, you should mention it in the SOP. The committee will see from you transcripts that you were a good student and have produced fine work so really what they're interested in is how well you communicate your reasons for pursuing an IR degree, how your experiences have prepared you for it, what you might be able to bring to the table (as in perhaps a different perspective on IR being from India, something like that), and what your career goals are. That's how they know how prepared you are. I mean if you come across a program that requires a writing sample then that's one thing and of course you'll have to create something, but I don't know how often that will come up, I only applied to 3 schools. Hope that helps, don't hesitate to ask anything else.