PoliSci 2008-2009 Cycle

[CAPoliSciPhD]

Hi Everyone,

Going off last year's ridiculously long thread, I decided it's high time to start this year's thread for all of us going through this agonizing process. I can tell I'm already nuts because I think I read the entire 58 pages of last year's ramblings by the applicants. Wonder what's become of them...

Anyway, feel free to post schools you've applied to, stats, and sooner than we realize...we can post the dreaded acceptance/rejected status monikers...

-CA

[technocat]

Mmm, ok, I'll bite. I'm applying for a PhD in political theory. Did my undergrad at a top 20 school, 3.8 GPA. Took some time off to work in media/politics. Applying to: Texas, Chicago, Georgetown, Notre Dame plus some other schools in related disciplines. How about you, OP?

[CAPoliSciPhD]

Ah good point! LoL - I think I'll win the award for applying to the most places...(and prob have the lowest stats on this board) 3.1 ugpa (state school )3.96 grad gpa (nearly unheard of large university)

U of WA

UCLA

UC Davis

Notre Dame

UIUC

WashU

UNC

GW

Georgetown

Maryland

Not really sure if I have a shot anywhere....which is extremely depressing, but here's to hoping! Thinking about if I should add some other schools where I may have a better shot to get in, but not sure if it'd be worth having a phd from those places anyway...

[flyingwalrus]

My understanding is that the DC schools aren't very good with funding, so you might want to drop them in favor of a couple of different departments. Your advisers should have a reasonable idea of where you should apply and where your chances of admission are best.

[polisci09]

Undergrad GPA- 3.97, Majored in Poli Sci and Philosophy (small state school)

GRE: Verbal 710, Quantitative 740, Writing 6.0

(my life story is on the "good enough to get in?" page)

Applying to:

Ohio State

Wisconsin-Madison

Indiana-Bloomington

Illinois- Urbana-Champaign

Penn State

Michigan State

Pittsburgh

[rlayla]

Howdy:

Here are my stats:

Undergrad, top 10 private, political science and near eastern studies

GPA: 3.82, major: 3.9

GRE: q800, v710, awa 5.5

PhD political science

field: comparative, middle east

applying to:

Ohio State

MIT

Harvard

U Michigan

Princeton

Yale

Stanford

Berkeley

Columbia

Yes, I know I have no backups. I'm praying.

[CAPoliSciPhD]

flyingwalrus -

Yeah, I'm very familiar with all of the departments - at this point in the process, I'm not dropping any schools - I will only add. You're right about the DC area schools, but I decided to apply nonetheless. My issue now isn't picking programs. (It's freaking Decemeber, I hope by now everyone's done their research!) The truth is there are so many random factors that go into the admissions decisions, I'm just applying to more programs hoping I match up with a department that I'd be willing to actually go to.

I saw someone else on here applying to Pittsburgh, what's your subfield?

[polisci09]

I'm applying to Pittsburgh. My sub field is American Politics--focusing on national institutions. There are 4 or 5 faculty whose research interests work with mine, and everyone I've contacted has been wonderful (not the case at some other schools). That being said, Pittsburgh is my safety.

[BigCheese]

Hello Everyone

PhD Political Science-American Politics

Undergraduate GPA 3.8

Masters in Political Science from Ivy League University

GRE: 700-Verbal

650-Math

Yale ?

Columbia

Johns Hopkins

WashU

Harvard :roll: :shock:

Georgetown ?

UPenn

[fenderpete]

Not sure how my profile compares as an international but I'll post my UK results in case they make sense to people

UK Undergrad (top 10 research uni): 74 in Politics and IR (First class honours, think that's the same as summa cum laude)

GRE: 610 Quantitative 690 Verbal (Still haven't got my AWA from ETS thanks to the Xmas post!)

Spent the summer working in a Palestinian refugee camp and travelling around Israel and Egypt. Prior to university I worked in freelance music journalism.

Applied to:

UPenn

Princeton (WWS PhD in PP)

Stanford

Columbia

Chicago

Research wise very much the Middle East and conflict resolution so hopefully UPenn, Stanford or Princeton would be a good fit... I've got an interview for the Thouron Award in January, so hopefully that could help me with Penn!

Nice GRE scores by the way guys, as a UK applicant it was all a bit foreign to me, I hadn't touched maths since I was 15!

[vig180]

Hey y'all, just stumbled across this website today; wish I'd found it months ago.

I keep hearing conflicting things about my chances: some people say it's a crapshoot anywhere, some people say I'm fine if the schools read my application (which I'm somewhat worried about because my undergrad school isn't highly ranked), some say I'm worrying too much and will be fine. We'll see.

PhD PoliSci- IR/Security Studies/Conflict

Large state school- Honors Program

Undergrad Majors: Int'l Affairs (IR concentration), History

UG GPA: 3.99

GRE: 800v, 780q, 5.5w

3 conference papers (1 best paper award), working on a few other publications, field research in Africa, several independent research classes, 4 strong recs with 2 well-known polisci profs, lots of extracurricular stuff and awards

Applied to:

Harvard

Yale

Stanford

WashU

UCSD (I'm surprised I haven't seen this school on too many peoples' lists- I've heard a lot of good things from here)

MIT

Hope I'm not over shooting...I've got some backup options too just in case, but they're masters programs/jobs.

[jackassjim]

True, I only found out about this website a short while ago, and I don't know many grad school applicants, but I've never seen anyone with a gre that high. 780 quant, ok, sure, but your verbal is truly impressive.

If the stats are real, then you must be a future star. You don't seem to really have a safety option in your list though.

[adaptations]

I'm back from last year. I applied to Ph.D. programs last yr and got in with no funding to one of them, and ended up taking a partially funded MA from the U. of Chicago. Undergrad GPA 3.8, GRE 770q, 690v, 5.0w. I am reapplying this year and feel that I have a much stronger application so hopefully the acceptances and the money come through.

My schools are:

U. of Chicago

Northwestern

Wisconsin - Madison

Michigan - Ann Arbor

OSU

Harvard

Princeton

Stanford

Duke

MIT

UCSD

UCLA

WashU

Rochester

Good luck to everyone! Try not to stress too much - it's not worth it.

(Whomever said they thought they would have the most applications, you have a long way to go. Faculty from my program advise applying to 15-20 schools, and a number of my coohorts are applying to 18-20.)

[CAPoliSciPhD]

Do you mind giving us a bit more information about yourself? Why do you think you weren't successful the first go around? You seem to have great stats from those mentioned above...did you only apple to a few schools or....? And are you applying to different schools this tgime?

Sorry, just curious bc I'm surprised you didn't do well the first time around!!!

[slothy]

(Whomever said they thought they would have the most applications, you have a long way to go. Faculty from my program advise applying to 15-20 schools, and a number of my coohorts are applying to 18-20.)

Thanks for sharing that - it makes me feel a lot better about all the applications I've sent out! Unfortunately one of my LOR writers has made clear that he's frustrated with me for applying to what I think is up to 18 schools now...

[CAPoliSciPhD]

Thanks for sharing that - it makes me feel a lot better about all the applications I've sent out! Unfortunately one of my LOR writers has made clear that he's frustrated with me for applying to what I think is up to 18 schools now...

Slothy - which 18 did you wind up applying to? (or at least some of the 18?) I've increased the schools I am applying to, but I'm still debating about one or two of them that I might apply to as safety schools. I need to decide in the next week to make the deadlines (the safety schools all have deadlines of 1/15) - hopefully, LOR people won't get angry like yours! How did you handle it? I'm hoping it won't be too big of a deal since most them are online now...

[adaptations]

In response to CAPoliSciPhD request for more information about my past application cycle, here's a little more. Last year I applied to 10 programs (search my previous posts for details). I don't believe there is a specific reason I didn't get in with funding. That said, areas I know I have improved on are: My SOP is much more purposeful and less of a personal statement than last year. Last year two of my LORs were from professionals - this year all 3 are professors, one of whom is a top scholar in my field. My writing sample is of a higher quality this year and shows a better use of methods. Perhaps most importantly, I will be applying as a graduate student from U. of Chicago instead of someone who graduate from a good, but not top tier liberal arts school.

I hope you find this additional insight helpful, or at least useful for passing the time between now and notifications.

Cheers,

[jackassjim]

Sorry. Edited...

[adaptations]

To: jackassjim

Welcome to the discussion. It looks like you have good numbers and experience. I wish you the best of luck.

Given that location will be so important for you and your wife, and that you are already applying to Northwestern in Chicago, can I ask why you did not apply to U. of Chicago? Just curious...

Cheers,

[jackassjim]

Hey there adaptations,

Yeah, it seems we have quite a few schools in common. Would be fun to see if we end up at the same place!

For us (my family), it's not purely a question of geography. My wife wants to practice and I want to go into academia. So the fit with the research of an advisor is much more important for me than for her. In effect, we kind of applied around my targets (don't I have an amazing partner?!?!).

U of Chicago, of course, is a great school. However, their focus in my subfield is quite at odds with the type of stuff I hope to do. In the end, it's all a question of theoretical and substantive (interest) match. For other schools, I was able to overlook that because they were especially strong in other areas such as methods. At Chicago, I just didn't see what else would compensate. Also, I guess my application there fell victim to the reputation (caricature?) that their econ dept and realist theorists have cultivated over the years.

At Northwestern, I would have a great match, a great (joint) program, and good financing prospects.

What about you? What's your subfield and what do you plan on looking at in your research?

Ciao,

[adaptations]

My general subfield is in international relations and I also have a deep appreciation for methods and formal modeling. My previous work and current focus are primarily in international political economy. I have done quite a bit with int'l trade, law, and dispute settlement. Although these have been my areas of research, I also enjoy studying int'l security and cooperation. Although my SOP and previous experience are rather focused, I am very open to adjusting my focus to take advantage of the strengths of the faculty where I attend (assuming I get in). Although I applied to programs that have a wide range of expertise, there are numerous faculty at each school that I respect and would be happy to work with. In truth, there have been few areas I have not enjoyed studying. Thus, my final research pursuit will be slightly different depending on where I attend. No matter where I go, I am confident my affinity for multiple methods will allow me to enjoy working with a range of faculty.

Hmm, I hope that helps clarify things and doesn't confuse them.

Ciao,

[jackassjim]

Hi again,

That's a great, and very sensible reply. I also believe we should allow ourselves to be "seduced" by new theoretical and methodological perspectives, as well as by new topics of inquiry.

I'm also an IPE person who has worked on trade dispute settlement. Our profiles are getting closer and closer. Hopefully they take more than one

Good luck

[fenderpete]

Have to say, of those of us applying for the same schools, at least we're all applying to different sub-fields Hopefully the nail biting is getting towards the end.

[BigCheese]

anyone's application that was due DEC 1 or DEC 15 heard anything yet? ughh im soo anxious.. :? :shock:

[adaptations]

I know it's hard, but you've got a while to wait. If you applied to Emory there is a chance you'd hear at the very end of January (probably later), but otherwise it's best not to worry about it until early Feb. Even then, allot of the schools wait until March (regardless of when their deadline was)... You can always search the results to see when the schools sent notifications in the past. That should keep you occupied for an afternoon.

GL with the waiting.