my first post - seeking advices on specific defects in my file

[taxcollector]

Hello, Everyone

I’ve been reading existing posts on this forum for a while, and now I should probably consult you guys a few questions based on my own situation. Instead of listing my stats and then ask “what is my chance”, I am combining the stats with specific concerns below, hopefully it makes it easier for other people to see my questions. Any comments will be appreciated

Four defects in my file:

1. Unknown undergrad institution for Poli Sci

My undergrad is a big comprehensive university, but week in Poli Sci (out of top60). The most immediate consequence is that my letter writers in Poli Sci may not be recognizable to the grad school admissions that im applying, even though I developed very good relationship with them through course work and research experience. So, generally speaking, what is the importance of pedigree?

Will this effect be significant enough that I will have to consider going to a better school and get a MA first? I understand that a MA wont be expected, but I also noticed that most people in previous posts who got into top tiers hold a BA/MA from very well known universities, so im kinda worried about this, and, unfortunately, this is something that I cannot fix in the short term.

2. Bad first year grades in chemistry

Several Cs, Ds and a F, but my major GPA is good (mostly As). I guess it shouldn’t be a huge issue per se, however, given the fierce competition in top programs, things might be different…

Another concern is that the admin may see it as a red flag in the sense that they are “hard science” courses. To fix that, I got 800 in GRE quant section, took multivariable calculus, stats, and simple regression and got good marks in them. I hope these makeup efforts are obvious by themselves to the admins, but do you think I should address them in the SOP as well?

3. Letters from faculties that are not Poli Sci

My undergrad program is interdisciplinary, so my courses are not concentrated in Poli Sci, there are a lot in Econ and other faculties. I can get some letters from Economics, History, Sociology faculties. But I don’t know if poli sci admissions will buy them...

4. RA experience not from Poli Sci

My research interest is a combination of political economy and comparative (East Asia). However, the RA I have been doing for a year is for a sociology prof, and the bulk of my work deals with qualitative materials, but the research topic is on China and several South East Asian countries. I know it would be better if it is in poli sci or econ, but this was the only position I could get. So I don’t know how valuable this experience is, or, in other words, is there any "better ways to sell it” in the SOP?

I was lucky enough to have a relatively well know prof in my subfield from another university as my honours thesis advisor. Later on this thesis won a first place in an essay contest of multi-university political economics association (I would consider this is something equivalent to publishing in a good student journal, so not comparable to publication in standard peer-reviewed journals). After reading other people’s SOPs posted on this forum, I think I can write an indepth SOP based on my previous research papers. But at the same time, I feel that given another year or so, I could probably improve it a lot and write another major research paper. So, again, this raises the question of whether I should get a MA first….

Now I am looking at schools like Madison, Duke, and Cornell. I guess none of them are easy to get in… do you guys have any suggestions or tips? Also, I am still looking for good fits that I can add into my school list. Besides my research interest, I would prefer schools that are more balanced with qualitative and quantitative methods (so shouldn’t be too quant heavy ones like MIT?, NYC or Rochester). But due to my limited knowledge of graduate programs, I would appreciate any one who can give me some recommendations.

Thanks!

Edited September 17, 2011 by taxcollector