Do I Have a Chance?

[WilliamHsieh]

Hello everyone:

I am an applicant this year, and I found this forum only recently and it is very useful. Wish I had known here earlier.

I applied for ten schools, but so far I have received eight rejections. As here in my country we do not have much useful information or connection available for applicants to collect updated information, I would like to hear some advice and suggestions from experienced professionals and fellow applicants, especially who have successfully been admitted into top programs.

Especially, I would like to ask for the knowledgeable and experienced people here what are my chances of getting into top programs and what schools should I be looking for as safe schools. Thank you. And here is my profile.

MY PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: BA in Political Science (major in political theories and comparative politics from the best national university in Taiwan)

Undergrad GPA: 3.78/4.0

Type of Grad: MA in Political Science (major in international relations, minor in comparative politics from the same university where I received my BA)

Graduate GPA: 4.0/4.0

GRE: V 740 Q 800 AW 3.0 / V 650 Q 800 AW 3.5

(the story with my GRE is that the higher verbal score was from my second test, and originally the AW was 4.0, yet I received mostly 6.0 and 5.5 in my preparation classes, then I decided to ask for a rescore, and it ended up being lower and I was very depressed. Should I retake the GRE to focus on a higher AW score?)

TOEFL: Total 109, Reading 29, Listening 25, Speaking 26, Writing 29.

Math Courses: haven’t taken them after high school

Stats Courses: (undergrad) applied statistics and I got an A and a B in two semesters

Econ Courses: (undergrad) economics with a pretty bad score, a B and a C

Letters of Recommendation:

One from my thesis advisor, a professor who is an important advisor to the President of my country and currently a cabinet minister. PhD of Virginia.

One from an associated professor who specializes in comparative politics. I took her classes both in undergrad and in graduate school and received great scores in all those classes. And she thinks that I have very good chances in getting into the top programs. PhD of Chicago.

One from a professor from Israel, who is a professor emeritus and a chair of one of the research committees of the international political science association. I presented a paper which was a draft version of my thesis in a conference he chaired, and since then we maintained good relations. PhD of Johns Hopkins SAIS.

One from my mentor, who is a senior professor and director of the highest research institute for political science in my country. I took his classes on comparative politics and wrote a report that he was very impressed and I received the highest score. I subsequently took that good report and expanded it into an academic paper and presented at an academic conference in the U.S. This professor only wrote letters for three schools for me, as he is popular and many people asked him for recommendation. PhD of UC Berkeley.

Research Experiences:

I received a fellowship for government sponsored undergraduate research project and did my own project. It is considered a high honor for undergraduate students in my country.

I have also presented several papers in international and national academic conferences, and most of the papers are in English.

Aside from these more academic research experiences, I was Model UN chair several times in college and did some research to write several study guides on international security issues.

Teaching Experience: TA in department of foreign languages for Spanish. Did not teach in the department of political science.

Research Interests: International Relations, with a focus on U.S.-China relations and international security in Northeast Asia, and I hope to build a theory accounting for the role of China in the international system in East Asia.

My thesis is a comparison of U.S. policy on the nuclear crises of North Korea and Iran. And my research interests in U.S.-China relations partly derived from something I found in the process I wrote my thesis.

I also have interests in comparative politics, with a focus on semi-presidential system and democratic consolidation. Presented some papers on these topics as well.

Applying to: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Cornell, U Penn, Georgetown, George Washington, Johns Hopkins, Brown

I mention my research interests in IR and U.S.-China relations in most of the SOPs I submitted for these schools.

Taking into account my profile, do I have a chance in getting into these schools? What should I improve in my application? And because I received really bad scores on my GRE writing, should I consider retaking GRE to get a better score?

I would also like to ask when I apply for PhD next time and if I still continue my interests in U.S.-China relations, what schools should I add to my list, and what schools that I applied this time should be left out?

Or if I want to research democratization and semi-presidential system, are there good programs in the U.S. specializing in this topic for me to apply?

Also, can someone offer me some ideas on what schools should I consider safe schools?

Thank you.

[blackcoffee64]

If you go to National Taiwan, you should apply to University of South Carolina and list John Hsieh as your POI. It's my understanding we have a great connection with that university. FYI, I go to USC

[puddle]

You mention that you have already applied to schools and are still waiting on results from 2... isn't it a bit early to consider fresh applications? It seems like your profile is strong so maybe you would benefit from asking the schools to which you have already applied what you could do to improve your results next time.

Also, I really wouldnt worry much about your GRE AW score (most scores don't care a whole lot about this) especially since your Verbal score is so high.

My one suggestion is that you look into programs in Public Policy or IR... just a thought.

[CooCooCachoo]

Most schools don't care about AW, this is true, but I'd still think these scores are a clear red flag (and the fact that you've taken it twice doesn't help in this case, as both scores will be visible, suggesting they aren't a fluke). If you want to do quant work, however, this shouldn't matter. But there seems to be little logic in your selection of schools: some rather traditional/positivist schools alongside unis that are more known for qualitative research.

Best of luck!

[Helix]

I don't think the AW score is a problem--my understanding is that it's usually discounted if you're also providing TOEFL scores.

Re: your selection of schools, I agree with CooCooCachoo. I'm comparative, not IR, so maybe I'm missing something, but Brown is still a somewhat heavy Latin America shop (also, contrary to popular belief it is *not* a safety school with a good name, its admissions are actually quite competitive). Also not sure about JHU (whether you applied to SAIS or main campus, since I think Kellee Tsai is the only person they have in the polisci department working on China issues and she's a comparativist?). For IR/US-China relations, I think you should look at UCSD's IR/PS PhD program since they have a specialty in Asia-Pacific issues, although they are somewhat more policy-focused. Also, Columbia should probably be on your list for IR, and possibly Stanford. In terms of "safeties," although there really isn't such a thing anymore with how competitive admissions are, take a look at the faculty at UIUC, maybe the University of Washington-Seattle.

I think the #1 thing you should do is revisit your SoP. You mention interests in both IR/US-China relations and in democratization, which is more of a comparative subject. Being clear about exactly which you want to address will allow you to make more explicit connections with faculty working on these issues.

[WilliamHsieh]

Thank you for every valuable opinion. To blackcoffee64, thank you for your information about the University of South Carolina, I'll go and check that program.

Also thanks to Coocoocachoo and Helix for your comments on choosing schools. Do you guys (or other people here) have more comments on which schools are better options for qualitative research now in the U.S.? I have this feeling that it's like every school is going very quantitative and I am thinking about doing otherwise. Thank you.

[blackcoffee64]

No problem! Here's the profile of the professor I mentioned:

http://www.cas.sc.edu/poli/facbio/Hsieh.html

[AuldReekie]

No problem! Here's the profile of the professor I mentioned:

http://www.cas.sc.ed...cbio/Hsieh.html

I may be wrong but he doesn't look the ideal advisor for the OP's research interests. Seems to research in CP and teach some IR on the side?

[Helix]

On 3/19/2012 at 10:30 AM, WilliamHsieh said:

Do you guys (or other people here) have more comments on which schools are better options for qualitative research now in the U.S.? I have this feeling that it's like every school is going very quantitative and I am thinking about doing otherwise. Thank you.

On qualitative work, two comments. First is, if you want to be successful in political science academically, it pays to have some familiarity with and "literacy" in quantitative methods, rather than eschewing them altogether. Second, however, is that there are some departments that have been traditionally strong in qualitative methods or are still open to students pursuing qualitative projects. Listing a few just off the bat, Harvard has a large enough department to accommodate a variety of methodological approaches and has some qualitative folks working on democratization (Ziblatt); UChicago is a very qualitatively oriented department, although there is now some recognition there that they should be more plural and they've made some effort to include quantitative training both within the department and through the Harris School; Cornell, Northwestern, and WashU all have qualitative reputations (although again, if you wanted to do quant work there are options); and despite conceptions that many have, MIT is also strong in qualitative research (they obviously have some quantitative powerhouses as well). The bigger question is, which of these places has the best support at the intersection of your methodological and substantive interests.