Profiles and Results 2009

[rustytrix]

Profiles and Results 2009

Since many people have received all of their decisions, it seems like a good time to create this thread. This thread pertains to applications submitted in late 2008, for entry into the PhD program for the 2009/2010 school year.This will be a useful reference for future applicants who are wondering about the profiles of students who are admitted and rejected from various schools.

This thread is meant to be a reference thread only. Please fill out the information below, but post any comments or questions in a separate thread. This is the major difference with the "Poli Sci 2008-2009 cycle" thread in that this thread will, hopefully, contain only the information listed below and involve no discussions so it will be easier for future generations to look up pertinent information. If anyone thinks more needs to be added to the list below, please pm me and I will make the changes. Other comments will be deleted from this thread.

PS: I borrowed this idea from another forum and some of the text above has been plagiarized

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad Institution:

Major(s)/Minor(s):

Undergrad GPA:

Type of Grad:

Grad GPA:

GRE:

Any Special Courses:

Letters of Recommendation:

Research Experience:

Teaching Experience:

Subfield/Research Interests:

SOP:

Other:

RESULTS:

Acceptances($$ or no $$):

Waitlists:

Rejections:

Pending:

Going to:

What would you have done differently?

[expatbayern]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad Institution: Lower-tier LAC

Major(s)/Minor(s): International Affairs/German Studies (double-major)

Undergrad GPA: 3.89

Type of Grad: 1-year MA at top-10

Grad GPA: 3.9

GRE: 720v 800q 5.5a

Any Special Courses: 3 game theory courses (1 undergrad, 2 grad)

Letters of Recommendation: 2 associates (both very well-known in the subfield), 1 post-doc (who was assistant at a top-25 by the time the letters were submitted) at MA institution

Research Experience: BA and MA theses, 1 major conference presentation, no RA experience or publications

Teaching Experience: none

Research Interests: IPE, Institutional Design, Bargaining

SOP: I don't know what I'm supposed to answer about this, if someone has specific questions, feel free to PM me

Other: 1 year studying in Germany, German fluency

RESULTS:

Acceptances: NYU, Rochester, UCSD, Wisconsin, OSU, UWashington (Unfunded)

Waitlists: Michigan, Harvard

Rejections: Princeton, Yale, Chicago, Northwestern, WUSTL

Pending: none

What would you have done differently? Not much--I'm actually pretty certain (given certain private communications) I would have been accepted at a couple of the places I was waitlisted or rejected in a normal year, so maybe apply in a better year, but I'm pretty satisfied with my results.

Updates: Michigan said they probably wouldn't make me an offer and I struck my name off of their wait list. Harvard says they probably will make an offer but that it won't be before April 15th. I have accepted Rochester's offer.

[rising_star]

There's already this thread on undergrad stats here: viewtopic.php?f=48&t=13193, so is this more than a duplication?

[rustytrix]

There's already this thread on undergrad stats here: viewtopic.php?f=48&t=13193, so is this more than a duplication?

I will tell you why this is not a duplication:

1)The "undergrad stats" thread was from last year and only 6 posts out of 3 pages of posts are from this year

2) As we all know the economic climate has severely affected the admissions process this year so a thread dedicated to this admission cycle would be far more useful to people applying next year

3)The other thread contains discussions which, like i mentioned already, was not meant to happen in this thread

...so if you think that is fair enough, please delete your comment (and this one as well) so we can move on with the "framework" of having no comments on this thread.

EDIT: In fact, I would really appreciate it if you could "take over" the control of this thread and help to delete any random comments made by people. Thank you.

[Ferrero]

rising star might need to shoot to 7-11 to get some ICE for that burn!!!!

[cjh19]

I agree that the thread is useful--I'd been thinking of starting one myself. I think the benefit is putting people's backgrounds and outcomes in one convenient place, with observations and suggestions for the next round of applicants. I know that I've spent a fair amount of time combing through the enormous main thread and the undergrad stats thread to put together backgrounds and outcomes for other posters. I think this would spare next year's applicants the trouble.

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad Institution: University of Pittsburgh

Major(s)/Minor(s): Politics and Philosophy, Russian and East European Studies Certificate. BPhil degree.

Undergrad GPA: 3.92

Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA:

GRE: 800V 660Q 5.5

Any Special Courses: Graduate course on qualitative comparative research design

Letters of Recommendation: Three full professors

Research Experience: Honors thesis comparing French and Russian political institutions and democracy

Teaching Experience: N/A

Subfield/Research Interests: Comparative, post-communist political transitions

SOP: Standard

Other: Couple of University research fellowships, one not-super-prestigious national scholarship, currently a research fellow at an NGO in Washington.

RESULTS:

Acceptances($$ or no $$): No funding at Texas-Austin, George Washington. Very generous offer from the University of Iowa.

Waitlists: Emory

Rejections: Cornell, Stanford, Berkeley, Indiana

Going to:

What would you have done differently? I think the result this year was fair. Economic situation might have contributed to the lack of funding. I'll come back and edit this if I think of anything I regret doing/not doing.

[DrewCarolina]

I've been lurking for a while so I thought I'd contribute something

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Major(s)/Minor(s): International Studies (specialty Europe and politics), Political Science

Undergrad GPA: 3.76

Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA:

GRE: 660V 710Q 5.5W

Any Special Courses: N/A

Letters of Recommendation: One Associate Professor, One Full Professor, Director of Local IR NGO

Research Experience: N/A

Teaching Experience: N/A

Subfield/Research Interests: IR/International Organizations

SOP: Standard

Other: A semester of work at a local NGO.

RESULTS:

Acceptances($$ or no $$): University of Toronto MA with partial funding (small graduate award)

Waitlists: N/A

Rejections: Wisconsin, Michigan, WashU

Going to: Toronto

Differently: A lot of things. In retrospect I would have written an honors thesis. Also, I would have applied to more places with more safety schools, especially considering the economic situation. In general, I would have informed myself more about the process. Overall, though, I'm not unhappy with the result.

[catchermiscount]

Undergrad Stuff

Institution: Top 40 state engineering institution -- dropped out after a year -- GPA 1.8

Mid-sized Catholic midesetern university -- dropped out after a year and a half -- GPA 3.7

Poor directional southern state university -- graduated (!) -- GPA 4.0

Total GPA: 3.5

Major: Government

Minor: English

Grad Stuff

Institution: Top 25 doctoral program -- transferring out due to some faculty issues.

GPA: 3.9

Major: IR

Minor: Methods

GRE

V: 700

Q: 800

AWA: 5.0

Research Interests

International security, especially bargaining, victory, resolve, and rivalry; domestic politics in IR, especially leadership and resolve; and methods, especially scaling and creating better measures for the scientific study of IR.

Miscellaneous

Special classes: prob/stats, OLS, MLE, time series (ICPSR), simultaneous equations (ICPSR), formal theory, multidimensional scaling

Skills: R, Stata, SAS, SPSS, LaTeX

Teaching

TA four semesters.

Won departmental teaching award.

Coursework toward certificate in collegeiate teaching

Will TA at ICPSR this summer.

Research

RA one semester

Results

Accepted with funding: Illinois, Rochester, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Penn State,  Rice

Waitlisted: Emory, UNC

Rejected: Michigan, Princeton, Yale, NYU, Duke, WUSTL, Chicago

Going to: no idea yet

What would I have done differently? I might have applied a bit more nationally -- I tried to stay within a reasonable different from home with a few exceptions, but I didn't consider, say, California schools. I was lucky in that I got into a few places not far from home, but, given the business, it's not a wise practice. I might also have been a bit less specific in my SoP -- I know that sounds strange, but since I was already a graduate student in a PhD program I wanted to show that I had really solidified what I want to study. Overall, though, I'm happy.

[mangopenguin]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad Institution: LAC

Major(s)/Minor(s): BA in Mathematical Economics, Minor in Political Science and Math

Undergrad GPA: 3.8

Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA: N/A

GRE: 700V, 740Q, 5.5

Any Special Courses: Statistics I/II, Econometrics, Mathematical Economics

Letters of Recommendation: 2 full econ. profs, 1 poli. sci prof.

Research Experience: Bush foundation young research scholar

Teaching Experience: Tutor/TA for econ. dept.

Subfield/Research Interests: American/Political Behavior- Immigration

RESULTS:

Acceptances($$ or no $$): Fellowship from OSU, full funding from UIUC-- also accepted to Iowa, Nebraska, U of AZ.

Waitlists: U Michigan, MSU, MN

Rejections: none

Pending: none

Going to: OSU

What would you have done differently? I spent almost no time on my applications-- probably could have developed them a bit better. I don't think I could have improved my LORs; however, I do wish that I would have played the math card a bit more.

[polisci09]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad Institution: public university (unranked)

Major(s)/Minor(s): Double Major: Pre-Law Poli Sci and Philosophy/ Minor: General Poli Sci

Undergrad GPA: 3.97 (will graduate 3.98)

Type of Grad: None

Grad GPA: None

GRE:710 Verbal 740 Quantitative 6.0 Writing

Any Special Courses: 1 semester methods 1 semester stats

Letters of Recommendation:2 full poli sci profs, 1 full philosophy prof

Research Experience: Published a few articles

Teaching Experience: 3 semesters teaching a sophomore level poli sci class, 1 semester TA

Subfield/Research Interests: American Politics, institutions: legislative politics, state and local government, interstate relations,judicial politics (maybe Conn Law at some point?)

SOP: Obsessed over it. One of the most time consuming parts of the apps process.

Other: Laundry list of campus involvement

RESULTS:

Acceptances($$ or no $$): OSU, UW-Madison, UIUC, Indiana-Bloomington, Michigan State, Penn State, Pittsburgh (all funded, 1st year fellowships at Penn State and OSU)

Waitlists: None

Rejections: None

Pending: None

Going to: OSU

What would you have done differently? I spent too much time worrying about getting in/not getting in, rather than contacting professors, making sure schools were a good fit, etc. I'd say I was pretty successful though.

[rlayla]

I miss being able to procrastinate on this forum before I heard back from all my places and had nothing else to talk about. So I'll bite:

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad Institution: U. Chicago

Major(s)/Minor(s): Political Science, minor: Near Eastern Studies

Undergrad GPA: 3.8

GRE: 800q, 710v, 5.5awa

Any Special Courses: Not really.

Letters of Recommendation: 1 lawyer/lecturer/program director; 1 historical/middle east scholar; 1 anthropologist/middle east scholar; 1 big name poli sci guy

Research Experience: quite a bit: post-bac fellowship ($$ to do research); a few publications; work with/grants from research institute; several international conferences

Teaching Experience: none really

Subfield/Research Interests: middle east, culture, religion, gender

SOP: spent a lot of time on it

Other: I hated extracurricular activities.

RESULTS:

Acceptances($$ or no $$): Ohio State, Berkeley, Michigan, Uchicago (CIR). No funding fom CIR, but 5 year fellowships from the rest.

Waitlists: Stanford

Rejections: Harvard, Columbia, MIT, Princeton, Yale

Pending:

Going to: Probably Berkeley

What would you have done differently?:

My writing sample had absolutely nothing to do with my proposed research interests. I don't know why I thought that was a good idea at the time, but it probably wasn't. Also, I wrote to a bunch of profs before applying, and I don't think it made a lick of difference oddly enough. Finally, I stressed out too much, but that's probably unavoidable.

[aria880]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad Institution: LAC

Major(s)/Minor(s): Double major, History and International Studies

Undergrad GPA: 3.99

Type of Grad: MA in European History, teaching university

Grad GPA: 4.0

Type of Grad: MA in Political Science, different teaching university

Grad GPA: 4.0

GRE: 770Q, 700V, 6.0AW

Letters of Recommendation: One full professor and two associates

Research Experience: Undergrad thesis, two MA theses

Teaching Experience: 3 years full-time at the community college level preceded by 3 years adjuncting at the CC and the 4-year levels

Subfield/Research Interests: IR/constructivism

SOP: Pretty solid (this was my second year applying to programs so I had plenty of time to fine-tune it), though in hindsight I think I could have done a better job of tailoring it to each program

Other: Conference presentations, a variety of professional activities related to my job, and lots of undergrad extracurriculars and honor societies

RESULTS:

Acceptances($$ or no $$): OSU, Wisconsin, UIUC, Georgia, Florida (full funding everywhere)

Waitlists: Minnesota

Rejections: Duke, Texas, Michigan, Maryland, Northwestern

Pending: UNC (though I assume I've been rejected at this point)

Going to: Most likely OSU

What would you have done differently? This whole process is an emotional roller-coaster, but I think the best thing one can do is keep from becoming too emotionally committed to any program until you know the entire picture (what the funding will be at said program, what the verdict is from EVERY program you've applied to, etc.). I went through some unnecessary ups and downs by getting over excited about getting accepted somewhere only to realize days later that there was absolutely no way I could actually attend that program (funding in one case, location in another--I come attached to a spouse who must be able to find work).

My $.02 to future generations of applicants: Don't expect a high GRE/GPA combo to get you into all the schools you want to attend. Good numbers might crack open some doors for you, but you've got to do the other things (LOR's, SOP, writing sample) very well in order to be able to fully open those doors.

[Canofbeans]

A bit of a Canadian perspective on this

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad Institution: Just regular, most universities here are not that different in ranking

Major(s)/Minor(s): Political studies minor global studies.

Undergrad GPA: Cumulative: 3.0, last twenty courses: 3.67

GRE: don't need it

Any Special Courses: nope

Letters of Recommendation: two full professors, one assistant

Research Experience: Two Research assistantships, one in my field of interest.

Teaching Experience: N/A

Subfield/Research Interests: Critical IR/security studies, critical theory

SOP: Pretty good, reviewed by a few professors and worked on it for quite a bit

Other: none that I can think of.

RESULTS:

Acceptances($$ or no $$): McMaster: International relations (fully funded, tuition, TA and extra money). McMaster: Gobalization (funds included TA and Tuition). York Political science (10,000), Western (15,000).

Waitlists: none

Rejections: York: Social and Political Thought

Pending: Ottawa

Going to: McMaster IR

Things I would do differently: I worked on my applications for about 8 months, freaked out, stressed mostly because of my low GPA. Although I don't know what I would have done differently, get better grades probably, it would have taken away all the stress and anxiety during the process. And I probably wouldn't have applied to schools like Western.

[Descrates]

Type of Undergrad Institution: Top ten political science dept

Major(s)/Minor(s):BA, Political Science/Political Theory

Undergrad GPA: 3.935, with 5 upper div A+'s, which I pointed to repeatedly on my app, resume, and SOP

Type of Grad: none

Grad GPA: none

GRE: 740v, 680q, 4.5w(!)--I really didn't take the writing section that seriously, maybe that was a problem. But I felt my writing sample was extremely strong (honors thesis, won highest distinction). Guess I'll never know.

Any Special Courses: Not really.

Letters of Recommendation: Well connected Assistant Professor, Distinguished Professor and former editor of the top journal in my subfield, Professor of Philosophy.

Research Experience: Honors Thesis

Teaching Experience: None

Subfield/Research Interests: Political Theory/ Continental Philosophy, Environmental Philosophy, Multiculturalism, Modernist and Liberal Critiques

SOP: Worked fairly hard on it, but not more than a few weeks

Other:

RESULTS:

Acceptances($$ or no $$): Fully funded fellowships from UCSD and Duke, Chicago (MAPSS)

Waitlists: Chicago (PhD)

Rejections: Johns Hopkins, Princeton

Pending:

Going to: Looking like Duke

What would you have done differently? I would have applied to more schools, even if I felt the fit was less than optimal. I regret that I didn't at least apply to Harvard and Yale. I also would have tried to tailor my SOP to the particular depts I applied to--I sent virtually the same statement to all the depts, including Princeton, whose word limit was roughly 600 words short of my SOP (1600 words). Maybe tried harder on the writing portion of the GRE, though the one school I applied to that doesn't request a writing sample (UCSD) accepted me with their highest offer of funding. I'm absolutely certain the success of my honors thesis was critical--it demostrated to my recommenders that I was capable of doing theoretical research at pretty high level, which they could then feel comfortable conveying to the depts. I'll definitely recommend it any undergrad I work with who is mildly interested in grad school: there's almost no down side to it. In the end, however, it seems like I did best at the places where my recommenders had the closest connections. I guess that's the game we're playing now, folks.

[jackassjim]

I wish I had...

+Been more organized in my initial review of potential programs. Ideally, I would have built a spreadsheet right from the start with deadlines/mailing address/potential advisors + their research/contact information/required material. I ended up wasting quite a bit of effort going over the same pieces of information at different stages of the admission process.

+Not bothered applying to departments where my match with the faculty was just so-so (wastes your money and gets you rejected...)

+Not given pre-stamped envelopes to some of my letter writers. Since schools take a long time to process their mail, I was left waiting for a long time before I knew for sure that everything had been received.

+Been more supportive of my spouse during the process. Life around you doesn't stop for your admissions.

+Not wasted hours and hours on gradcafe.com instead of writing my thesis.

I'm glad I...

+Rocked the GRE. Go buy the books and do LOTS of practice tests on the computer.

+Cultivated and maintained good relationships with profs from my undergrad even if I am not there anymore.

+I was very anal about everything, especially when writing and re-writing my statement of purpose. (By the way, ask an academic or a fellow applicant to comment on your SOP. The harsher he/she will be in critiquing, the better for you.)

+I applied to long-shot schools

+Negotiated my funding package once I got in

+Started the process rather early (took the GRE in August and wrote my SOP in November)

[flatcoat]

I will be officially accepting one of my offers today (and rejecting the other), so it seems like the right time to do this. Good luck to all those applying in the coming year(s). It's a tough process, but for most of us it seems as if it was worth all the effort and waiting!

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad Institution: private, non-traditional

Major(s)/Minor(s): Interdisciplinary Studies/East Asian Studies

Undergrad GPA: non-graded program, but my first year at a traditional uni I had a 3.93

Type of Grad: overseas, very highly ranked

Grad GPA: First Class Honours

GRE: 670q/720v

Any Special Courses:

Letters of Recommendation: master's thesis advisor, current boss (I work at a research organization), professor of a recent grad course I took

Research Experience: extensive

Teaching Experience: private tutoring only

Subfield/Research Interests: IR/environmental policy

SOP: revised it over a period of 6 months, had professors edit it for me

Other: extensive overseas experience (approx. 5 yrs), 3 languages (although none to fluency)

RESULTS:

Acceptances($$ or no $$): UMD College Park, Government and Politics - accepted with assistantship, stipend, tuition waiver; University of Florida, Political Science - accepted with 2 year NSF IGERT fellowship (includes tuition waiver), 2 years summer funding, 2 years departmental funding (assistantship, stipend, and tuition waiver), and 2 year additional small fellowship

Waitlists:

Rejections: Duke, Environmental Policy

Pending:

Going to: Go Gators!

What would you have done differently? Nothing, really. I started early, researched each program and only applied to those I really liked and fit, studied hard for the GRE, etc. The waiting was extremely unpleasant, but I ended up with a great offer from my first choice school. Applying to only 3 schools felt like more of a risk when I was waiting to hear, so perhaps if I were to do it over I would add a couple more to my list to make that part of the process easier.

[AmyWW]

I thought I would post my stats if only to reassure people reading that you don't need to have some stellar academic CV and research experience to get in. You just have to be a solid student and have a good story to tell. Be unique!

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad Institution: Colorado State University

Major(s)/Minor(s): Political Science, Certificate in Diversity in Law (now in the Ethnic Studies dept.)

Undergrad GPA: Graduated Dec 2007 with 3.97. But when I started, my GPA from long, long ago was too low even to get into a state school. I had to go to community college for a semester to get some decent grades. My very first GPA when I dropped out of the first college? 0.95

Type of Grad: n/a

Grad GPA: n/a

GRE: 670q/700v/5.5a (but I didn't need it)

Any Special Courses: grad course in Nationalism and Nation Building

Letters of Recommendation: Dean of Liberal Arts College, full professor of the grad course, visiting prof I had for two senior courses, person I had done some work for.

Research Experience: None

Teaching Experience: only my children

Subfield/Research Interests: National identity formation in Third Culture Kids/Nationalism & Globalism/Media studies

SOP: Used what I had written for a scholarship I didn't get. Worked pretty hard on it. Went with a fairly narrative structure since I don't have a lot of academic experience but I do have a lot of life experience

Other: I'm 42 years old, divorced with three kids. I've traveled a lot in the last few years and had some life-changing experiences. I mentioned them all in my SOP. I also did some research and found out that my specific interest is lacking in research. I looked carefully at where I could best study what I wanted to study.

RESULTS:

Acceptances($$ or no $$): London School of Economics, Msc Political Science, small financial aid package, waiting for scholarship info to be released.

Waitlists: n/a

Rejections: n/a

Pending: n/a

Going to: LSE

What would you have done differently? I might have studied more for the GREs, though I ended up not needing them. I might have applied at more than one school. I was kind of clueless. I talked to a professor at Goldsmiths who said 'all you can do is write yourself OUT of an acceptance.' but I didn't apply because I wanted the LSE name.

[leetchisgod]

Type of Undergrad Institution: Top 50 US private

Major(s)/Minor(s): Business Administration, Political Science

Undergrad GPA: 2.78 overall, 3.40 Political Science

Type of Grad: Top 20 UK

Grad GPA: 3.8ish, merit overall, distinction on dissertation

GRE: N/A

Any Special Courses: Research Methods, Research in Practice, International Political Economy

Letters of Recommendation: Head of department, program director, full time lecturer (dissertation supervisor), I'd imagine they were pretty positive

Research Experience: Dissertation and a small project for research module

Teaching Experience: Mostly presentations from undergrad and a student led conference at grad school

Subfield/Research Interests: International political economy, critical IR, heterodox economics

SOP: Pretty decent, detailed, about 5 pages when all that was required was about 2

Other: Explanation of why grades at undergrad were low and how I turned things around

RESULTS:

Acceptances($$ or no $$): University of Alberta - teaching assistantship, research assistantship, possible tuition waiver

Waitlists:

Rejections: McMaster, Carleton, Queens

Pending:

Going to: Alberta

What would you have done differently? Not wasted my money applying to the other schools. My first choice was Alberta and I'm very happy I got in. I wish I had done this all a year earlier, could have had my phd before 30!

[Aubstopper]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad Institution: UCLA

Major(s)/Minor(s): Middle Eastern and North African Studies with a minor in Hebrew

Undergrad GPA: total GPA is a 3.65 and major GPA is 3.68

Type of Grad: n/a

Grad GPA: n/a

GRE: bad

Any Special Courses: was in M.E. studies honors program abroad and took classes with former israeli politicians/diplomats

Letters of Recommendation: a) Farsi Professor Religion/Philosophy professor c) Israeli ambassador that i did research under.

Research Experience: was a research intern at the Harry S Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace in Jerusalem studying Iran's influence in Africa. Research will be published in a book.

Teaching Experience: I was a tutor in 9 subjects, a Student Instructor at a local community college in Biological Anthropology, tutored Palestinians in Ramallah and Darfur refugees in Jerusalem, etc

Subfield/Research Interests: the Levant and Iran.

SOP: it was pretty kickass

Other: Lived abroad in the West Bank and in Jerusalem, Israel. I have studied Hebrew, French, Farsi, Arabic, and Swedish and am at varying levels of fluency in each.

RESULTS:

Acceptances($$ or no $$): University of Chicago (Middle Eastern Studies with scholarship), University of Michigan--Ann Arbor (Modern Middle Eastern and N African Studies), Boston University (International Relations and Religion)

Waitlists: n/a

Rejections: SAIS (Strategic Studies), GWU (Security Policy Studies), Georgetown (Security Studies)

Pending: King's College London (Terrorism, Security and Society)

Going to: University of Chicago (MA Middle East Studies)

What would you have done differently? bring my GRE score up. I didn't really study because i didn't have time with school and everything. I decided at the last minute to apply to grad schools...so there wasn't much preparation there. It didn't really matter in the end, but i'm thinking about getting my doctorate and for sure i'll need to bring that score up! Oh and i wouldn't have bothered to apply to SAIS and GWU because as it turns out, i loathe economics anyway.

[sonnyday]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad Institution: Small Tier 3 University

Major(s)/Minor(s): Political Science

Undergrad GPA: 3.6

Type of Grad: None

Grad GPA: N/A

GRE: 620 V, 640 Q, 5.0 W

Any Special Courses: Not really

Letters of Recommendation: I suppose they were good. I'll never know, but I asked those professors most closest to that I had good personal and professional relationships with. All political science professors (one research mentor).

Research Experience: Undergraduate independent research at summer institute, Publication in school undergraduate research journal

Teaching Experience: None

Subfield/Research Interests: Comparative and American Politics, Race and Gender, African Diaspora studies

SOP: Worked really hard on this, probably my best asset

Other: Part of McNair Scholars Program, Pi Sigma Alpha, Studied abroad for 6 mths in South Africa, Attended APSA research conference

RESULTS:

Acceptances($$ or no $$): University of MD, Rutgers, Ohio State (all fully funded)

Waitlists: UCLA, Johns Hopkins

Rejections: Princeton, U of IL Urbana Champ, Columbia, Brown, UC Berkeley

Pending: None

Going to: Don't know yet!

What would you have done differently?

1. Apply to programs much earlier than deadline. I would have started getting applications ready in the summer and submitted them all in November, ignoring the deadlines.

2. Made personal contact with professors I'd want to work with at APSA conference. I was overwhelmed and afraid, but in retrospect, a simple smile and recreational conversation would have been fine.

3. I think my GPA and GRE is what it is, and there is no point in stressing out over it. This almost kept me from applying for grad school. Overall, I'm happy with the results because I have great schools who chose me for me! They saw promise in my abilities through my SOP and research

4. I'm glad I did independent research (I was told my research paper was one of the main reasons I got in). Really helps those interested in a Ph.D stand out.

[Jitpring]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad Institution: UCLA

Major(s)/Minor(s): Political Theory

Undergrad GPA: 3.98

Type of Grad: Law School

Grad GPA: 3.8

GRE: 780v 740Q 6.0 aw

Any Special Courses:

Letters of Recommendation: Law professor, Priest (Opus Dei)

Research Experience: Research assistant (law school)

Teaching Experience: Tutor to No Child Left Behind students

Subfield/Research Interests:

SOP:

Other:

RESULTS:

Acceptances($$ or no $$): I was interested only in one school, and applied only to it: The University of Dallas (because of their Great Books core curriculum). Accepted into the Masters program, 1/2 tuition.

Waitlists:

Rejections:

Pending:

Going to: University of Dallas, Masters (then, if I like it, possibly Ph.D.)

What would you have done differently? Workd a bit harder as an undergrad and law student.

[CVting]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad Institution: Top-20 LAC

Major(s)/Minor(s): Politics (theory concentration)

Undergrad GPA: 3.4 (doh!)

Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA:N/A

GRE: 760 Math, 690 Verbal, 6.0 Writing

Any Special Courses: Honors in political theory

Letters of Recommendation: Two full-on Politics professors, one history associate.

Research Experience: Honors. Year-long electoral politics research grant. A few semester-long research seminars.

Teaching Experience: Two political theory courses as a Teaching Assistant.

Subfield/Research Interests: Theory (literature, narrative, something?)

SOP: I tried to cast myself as a candidate with an interest in documents and methods that lie outside the traditional boundaries of the field, but with a distinct interest in using those interests to promote the study of politics.

Other:

RESULTS:

Acceptances($$ or no $$): UVA, UNC, U. Chicago (MAPSS)

Waitlists: UNC

Rejections: Harvard, WashU, Berkeley, Duke, etc.

Pending: None

Going to: UVA

What would you have done differently?

Unfortunately, a 3.4 undergraduate GPA is considered digging yourself into a hole in this insane little world. Ideally (for this process), I wouldn't have had all the fantastic, time-consuming experiences that made my undergraduate time so worthwhile. But, that's what I did and I got into one of my top couple of choices. So, maybe it's not that big of a deal.

Really, though, I think my application was handicapped by my GPA. So, kids, study hard if this is what you think you want to do. Get straight As and I think this process could be a little bit less stressful.

Also, make personal connections with professors. If they like you, I get the sense that they really do "adopt" your file during the admissions process.

Lastly, just going out on a limb, obsessively checking the results page of GradCafe can come to do more harm than good. Just saying...

[plisar]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad Institution: Top public University with a top five political science graduate department

Major(s)/Minor(s): Double Major in Political Science and History. Honors thesis in Political Science (application based honors program) with high honors.

Undergrad GPA: 3.58

Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA: N/A

GRE: 630V, 790Q, 6.0

Any Special Courses: Three semester long research design course during thesis writing process

Letters of Recommendation: Two from full tenured professors with good pedigrees, one is a top qualitative political science scholar, the other is prolific formal theorist. The third was from VAP who knew my work well and was able to talk about my work ethic and research skills. He served as my thesis advisor.

Research Experience: Honors thesis.

Teaching Experience: Two undergraduate courses in a non-political science social science department.

Subfield/Research Interests: Comparative politics, European union integration, quantitative methods.

SOP: Started with a quick personal story (about two sentences) and moved into a sumary of my past research. After this summary (about 100-150 words depending on the school), I jumped into my future research interests and then the faculty I would like to work with. I concluded with why XXX University would be the best fit for pursuing my interests. I mentioned that I would like to use advanced quantitative methods but that I also wanted to learn qualitative methodology as well.

Other: Reading knowledge of German, basic knowledge of French, Russian and Hebrew.

RESULTS:

Acceptances($$ or no $$): Cornell, Indiana University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, UC San Diego, UIUC, University of Washington-Seattle (Top Funding Package offered), University of Wisconsin

Waitlists: Cornell (Accepted in early April), Notre Dame (Immediately Declined), UCLA (Immediately Declined), UNC (Immediately declined).

Rejections: Columbia, Duke, Harvard, Michigan, Northwestern, NYU, Princeton, Stanford, UC Berkeley, WUSTL, Yale

Pending: None

Going to: University of California, San Diego

What would you have done differently?: Beyond trying to find one last TT faculty member for my third letter, the only two things I would have changed would have been to have done slightly better on my GRE's both verbal and math, and to have taken more math classes in college.

[pumpkinpie]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad Institution: top 20 university

Major(s)/Minor(s): history

Undergrad GPA: 3.8

Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA: N/A

GRE: 700/730/5.0

Any Special Courses: no

Letters of Recommendation: one from political science, two from interdisciplinary faculty

Research Experience: senior thesis

Teaching Experience: none

Subfield/Research Interests: political theory, intellectual history

SOP: all the usual - interests, academic background, faculty matches

Other: some articles in non-peer-reviewed, non-academic publications, some non-academic work experience

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Yale (history), Penn (history), Texas (polisci), Harvard (polisci), Georgetown (polisci), WashU (polisci) - all funded plus stipend/fellowship

Waitlists: none

Rejections: Chicago, Northwestern

[DrRockso]

Being that I've made my decision as to where I'll be attending come fall, it's time to post....

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad Institution: Private Southern Institution, Top 50

Major(s)/Minor(s): History/Poli Sci

Undergrad GPA: 3.2 (3.4 in major)

Type of Grad: Law School, Top 30

Grad GPA: 3.0

GRE: 720 V 540 Q 6.0 Writing

Any Special Courses: Exchange student during law school with a European institution.

Letters of Recommendation: One from Poli Sci, one from History, one from Law School

Research Experience: In the legal profession, lots. Outside of that, standard undergrad research papers.

Teaching Experience: None

Subfield/Research Interests: American/Regional Ideology

SOP: Why I'd be a lazy, crappy student who shows up to class unshaven and pants-less...or, you know, why I'd be a good fit at the school, noting their faculty and how my interests overlapped with theirs.

Other: Roughly 3 years of practicing as an attorney in two Northeastern states, including a year as a public defender, and appellate experience. Club sport athlete as an undergrad, including 2 years as co-captain. Intermediate German language proficiency.

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Ole Miss, Oklahoma, U. Georgia, U. Kentucky, FIU. (No funding at UGA and UKY)

Waitlists: None

Rejections: Vanderbilt, Brown, Maryland, Texas A&M, UNC, UVA

Pending: None

Going to: Ole Miss

What would you have done differently?: Well, it's not like I could have gone back in time and boosted by undergrad GPA, and it's not like I could have applied in a less competitive year. Re-taking the GRE may have helped, but I'm not unhappy with how things worked out for me.