Faculty perspectives

[Sartori]

And thank you for all the assistance -- it reduces the stress for many.

Sensible. I will do that. For now, it might be time to swap the gradcafe for mindfulness exercises and the sauna.

[Facade19]

No responses to my questions on the previous page?

Edited January 23, 2015 by Facade19

[AuldReekie]

No responses to my questions on the previous page?

 

I'm not faculty, but struggle to see how your law degree and bar exam(s) would have any real bearing (positive or negative) on your applications..  

[Facade19]

I'm not faculty, but struggle to see how your law degree and bar exam(s) would have any real bearing (positive or negative) on your applications..  

 

Fair enough. Thank you. 

[BFB]

Just a quick question: do committee members take into consideration an applicant's matriculation of her/his law degree and passing of the bar examination? Would members also take into consideration the amount of times an applicant took to pass the bar examination? Also, do members, if at all, take into account the particular jurisdiction for which the applicant passed the bar examination for? For instance, some states' bar examinations are considered more difficult and tenuous, and therefore, the passage rate is lower. 

 

Do these factors matter at all for purposes of evaluating an applicant's prospective chances of succeeding as a graduate student in the field of political? Or are they marginally looked at when evaluating an applicant's credentials? 

 

Thank you!!

 

 

No responses to my questions on the previous page?

 

 

Whoops! Missed it entirely. Sorry.

 

Speaking only for myself, I think a JD is of nontrivial value, in that on average it probably indicates that you're better at digging up evidence and making a concrete argument than you otherwise would be. It might also indicate that you're more interested in proving an argument than assessing it in a balanced fashion, but I strongly suspect that we can counteract that tendency if it exists    So yes, I'd say a JD is worth noting. Passing the bar, on the other hand, I don't know that I'd consider very much—not sure how much it tells me beyond what the JD already does.

[Facade19]

Whoops! Missed it entirely. Sorry.

 

Speaking only for myself, I think a JD is of nontrivial value, in that on average it probably indicates that you're better at digging up evidence and making a concrete argument than you otherwise would be. It might also indicate that you're more interested in proving an argument than assessing it in a balanced fashion, but I strongly suspect that we can counteract that tendency if it exists    So yes, I'd say a JD is worth noting. Passing the bar, on the other hand, I don't know that I'd consider very much—not sure how much it tells me beyond what the JD already does.

 

Thank you very much for your reply! I definitely needed to hear that. I really appreciate you taking the time to do so. 

[Duvergerian]

Hello, everyone. I'm applying to graduate schools this cycle and was wondering when you would advise letting recommenders know about admissions results. As they come in? In batches? In one lump at the end? And should one mention schools to which one was denied admission, or only those to which one was accepted or waitlisted? Thanks!

[slacktivist]

Depends on how close you are with the professors. I have two recommenders I've come to know personally, and I email them as they come up. The third couldn't be bothered to write specific letters of recommendation (I sent his through Interfolio), so I'll just let him know how things turn out in the end.

[BFB]

Hello, everyone. I'm applying to graduate schools this cycle and was wondering when you would advise letting recommenders know about admissions results. As they come in? In batches? In one lump at the end? And should one mention schools to which one was denied admission, or only those to which one was accepted or waitlisted? Thanks!

My rule of thumb would be, contact letter writers whenever a response from them would be useful to you. Regardless, though, a final tally would be nice.

[DubbyTee]

Hi BFB. I would first like to thank you for answering all of these questions, and really giving knowledgeable insight into the process. It really is nice to hear how the process works.

 

My question though, is more of a concern for me that you have covered before, but of course, I am still worried. My GRE Quant score is low (151), and my verbal is higher (159) with a decent analytical (4.5). I just really fear that my Quant is holding me back, even though I have other good qualifications (4.0 GPA, 2 publications, 3 conference papers, etc.). My concern is that my Quant score is dragging me down, and I was just curious to see how much weight that holds during the process. 

 

Thank you so much again for doing this!

Edited January 28, 2015 by DubbyTee

[BFB]

Hi BFB. I would first like to thank you for answering all of these questions, and really giving knowledgeable insight into the process. It really is nice to hear how the process works.

 

My question though, is more of a concern for me that you have covered before, but of course, I am still worried. My GRE Quant score is low (151), and my verbal is higher (159) with a decent analytical (4.5). I just really fear that my Quant is holding me back, even though I have other good qualifications (4.0 GPA, 2 publications, 3 conference papers, etc.). My concern is that my Quant score is dragging me down, and I was just curious to see how much weight that holds during the process. 

 

Thank you so much again for doing this!

 

Hard to say in general -- different adcomms think differently, etc. To my mind, though, two publications and 3 conference papers, if they're all solid, are serious considerations and probably go a long way toward compensating for low GREs. YMMV, of course.

[letsgo2015]

Hi BFB.  Thanks for taking the time and answering some of our questions.  I have a question about funding that I was hoping you could shed some light on:  If a candidate possesses a year's worth of external funding (i.e. Post 911 GI Bill), would this in any way help increase my chances of admittance into a program?  Basically, I wouldn't require funding or even a stipend during the first year.   Or, rather is funding handled entirely separately and is not likely to be of any real consequence? 

 

Cheers.

[BFB]

Hi BFB.  Thanks for taking the time and answering some of our questions.  I have a question about funding that I was hoping you could shed some light on:  If a candidate possesses a year's worth of external funding (i.e. Post 911 GI Bill), would this in any way help increase my chances of admittance into a program?  Basically, I wouldn't require funding or even a stipend during the first year.   Or, rather is funding handled entirely separately and is not likely to be of any real consequence? 

 

Cheers.

 

Hi, and thank you for your service. As to your question, well, it won't hurt, that's pretty safe to say. How much it will help is really hard to predict, though. Some of the students applying to our program would bring money with them if they came, but we decline the application because they don't seem like a good fit with our faculty, or because something else in the file doesn't pass muster.

 

So my suspicion is that it would mainly help a little at the margin -- if you're on the medium list, it probably is a little bit easier to get to the short list if you're bringing some money with you.

[letsgo2015]

Hi, and thank you for your service. As to your question, well, it won't hurt, that's pretty safe to say. How much it will help is really hard to predict, though. Some of the students applying to our program would bring money with them if they came, but we decline the application because they don't seem like a good fit with our faculty, or because something else in the file doesn't pass muster.

 

So my suspicion is that it would mainly help a little at the margin -- if you're on the medium list, it probably is a little bit easier to get to the short list if you're bringing some money with you.

Thanks!

[JohnJ88]

Say I get into the Columbia MA program, how much would that help in future applications (and secure funding)? My grades are good, but my undergrad institution is far from the same level as Columbia.  How important is prestige?

I'm not a faculty member, but I was in the same boat these last few months sending in applications. I went to a non-flagship public university and I got into a top-tier master's program.

[changeisgood]

Hey all, it's great to have faculty from Gtown and The OSU on the forum as those are two institutions at the top of my list.   I'm starting an M.A. at Oklahoma in August and I'll be doing the PhD app cycle in 2016 for entry in the 2017-18 academic year.  I've already got a ton of info just from reading this thread, so thank you for that.  Here's to acing methods and publishing good work!

[lelick1234]

Hello Poli Sci Folks, 

I have been living in Egypt for the past four years.  I am becoming proficient in both spoken (Egyptian Dialect) and written Arabic.  I graduated with BA in history from the UCSB with a 3.88 GPA.  I focused on the history of US foreign policy towards the Middle East.  I have become increasingly interested in contemporary Middle Eastern politics, and not merely historical narratives.  I am looking into Georgetown's Arab Studies MA. I took the GRE four years ago.  My scores were V:162  Q:146 and Analytical: 4.5.  Not exactly inspiring.  But I have a few years before I plan on applying to raise those scores.  I figure with my actual real-life experience in the Arab world will be an additional plus that might lesson the blow of my GRE scores.  

 If I find that I have not grown tired of academia and I want to continue with my PhD in political science after my MA program, what field should I consider if I am going to focus on contemporary Arab politics, especially the growth of Islamist groups?  Also, who are the top professors of Middle Eastern politics?  I really like Fawaz Gerges at London School of Economics.  Can anybody else make suggests for future professors to work with? 

--Leo

[ultraultra]

Hi BFB et al., I'm not sure if anyone's still checking this thread but if so I did have one question and I surely can't be the only applicant who's ever run into this dilemma.

Basically: my writing sample is my undergraduate thesis, for which I conducted some (political psychology) experiments. The writing and tables and such all comfortably fit into the page limit for most schools. However, the appendices (specifically: my treatments, questionnaires, and coding rubric for open-ended questions) push it over the page limit. While I wouldn't really expect ad comm members to read these supplementary materials, I would feel a bit wary about excluding them.  Do you think they would be counted towards the page count and/or how would you advise applicants approach this situation?

Thank you so much for all the time you put into this forum - it's really been an amazing resource.

 

[BFB]

Sorry to have missed Leo's post. My notifications seem to be sporadic, or maybe some are being eaten by my spam filter?

Leo, this sounds like straight-up comparative politics to me. And be sure to ask schools about faculty who can advise you. If they don't have someone covering the politics of your region of interest, that's a big minus.

Ultraultra, why not put the extra bits online as a web appendix, and include a link to it in your application essay? That gives you the added advantage that you can track which institutions are interested enough to check it out :-) ... though don't drive yourself crazy checking! Sometimes having more information can make anxiety worse rather than better....

[yaddayadda]

Hi BFB, thanks for all your responses here - it's been very useful for me throughout this process.

I have a question about the SOP. In brief - how narrow/detailed should my interests be presented?

I'm broadly interested in the relationship between cognitive biases, political communication, and the structure/durability of policy attitudes. There are many applications of this topic and many people I could work with, and there are lots of different sub-questions I am interested in. Would it be okay to list a few questions that I might be interested in (basically in the form: How does x heuristic effect opinions on y? repeat) and then list the methods I would generally use, or would ad comms be looking for me to pick one question and outline it in depth including a nod to previous scholars of the topic? I don't want to seem unfocused, but I also don't want to come across as narrowly interested in one specific type of effect (e.g. the negativity bias), and then be shut out on the basis of fit (even if I scour webpages, there could be things I don't know like faculty moving away from the school or topic or being overloaded with students, etc.). I've been scouring previous SOPs in this forum, but there seems to be a lot of variance.

Also - what's your take on the whole "this is an event from my childhood that inspired my interest in political science" approach? If opposed, how do the best SOPs usually begin? Apologies if you've answered this question before -- grad cafe changed their forum interface or something so all the links on the earlier pages are now broken.

Any advice you can give me would be much appreciated! Thanks

[BFB]

In general, you want to show evidence of professionalization. Toward that end, you're probably better off discussing a general area of interest and then a few interesting questions within that area. Interesting questions really stand out. If you haven't already, read Dina Zinnes' ISQ article, "Three Puzzles in Search of a Researcher." Think in terms of puzzles -- what puzzles you?

Bringing in childhood events can go either way, I think. Some people find it useful to understand your motivation, which is important for gauging how committed you are. Others blow right past it to the more academic stuff. I don't think it's a big risk unless it takes up a lot of your space. I'd be more inclined to include something if it's really relevant to commitment.

[Triscuits]

Just a quick question, since application season is now underway.

My grades were meh in my three undergraduate years. Then I improved and my Master's dissertation was summa cum laude (overall degree: magna cum laude). Is a sharp improvement over time good, irrelevant, or bad (admissions committees look for anything to eliminate you, I guess)?

[BFB]

Congrats on the summa!

Really hard to say. I think admissions committees in general keep an eye peeled for improvement over time, though they may be bound by rules (minimum GPA, e.g.) that make it more difficult to admit such students. There might also be individual members who insist that overall GPA means more than trajectory.

Basically, like a lot of things, it falls into the category of "responses will be so random that you probably shouldn't worry about it." The later grades and accomplishments will speak for themselves. You might mention GPA improvement in your statement, just briefly, so that it doesn't go unnoticed, but beyond that I wouldn't give it much thought.

[ultraultra]

Thanks for your answer above! I'll definitely take your advice. I have a couple more questions, if that's okay.

1) How much do ad comms care about working papers? If I'm co-authoring with a few of my professors, will that be a boost to my apps, or do ad comms only care once the article has been completed/published?

2) Given that my subfield (political behaviour) tends to be article-based (rather than long books), with lots of collaboration, should I be worried if I notice that a potential advisor at a school doesn't seem to co-author articles with his/her PhD students?

3a) I think you may have answered this before but I'm not sure: to what extent can heavily quantitative coursework & RA work compensate for a lower Q GRE score?
3b) You've spoken a lot about GRE cutoffs being a factor - would you happen to know what these usually are for top 5, 10, 25 programs?
3c) A lot of graduate FAQ pages indicate that most of their students score around or above a certain percentile on the GRE. Are those percentiles the general ones, or the political science-specific ones (via)? 

Thank you so much!

 

[BFB]

On October 23, 2015 at 1:05:31 PM, ultraultra said:

Thanks for your answer above! I'll definitely take your advice. I have a couple more questions, if that's okay.

1) How much do ad comms care about working papers? If I'm co-authoring with a few of my professors, will that be a boost to my apps, or do ad comms only care once the article has been completed/published?

2) Given that my subfield (political behaviour) tends to be article-based (rather than long books), with lots of collaboration, should I be worried if I notice that a potential advisor at a school doesn't seem to co-author articles with his/her PhD students?

3a) I think you may have answered this before but I'm not sure: to what extent can heavily quantitative coursework & RA work compensate for a lower Q GRE score?
3b) You've spoken a lot about GRE cutoffs being a factor - would you happen to know what these usually are for top 5, 10, 25 programs?
3c) A lot of graduate FAQ pages indicate that most of their students score around or above a certain percentile on the GRE. Are those percentiles the general ones, or the political science-specific ones (via)? 

Thank you so much!

 

 

1) Depends on the committee and the paper. If it's one in which you've done most of the work and the professor attests to this in his or her letter, it could count for a lot. The default assumption is that you didn't do the bulk of the work, and if that's not the case you should make it abundantly clear.

2) I would be. I'd reach out to that person and ask why s/he doesn't seem to have many joint papers with graduate students.

3a) Uhh... to some extent? I mean, there's no real formula, unfortunately.

3b) GRE cutoffs are totally idiosyncratic, as far as I know. Ours are imposed by the graduate school; other departments either impose their own or don't.

3c) If it's a graduate FAQ page on a Department's website, then it's probably department-specific. Otherwise, it's probably general.

Edited November 16, 2015 by BFB