Thesis on The Wire....Advice

[urbanac]

Hi all,

 

I majored in poli sci/english and have worked in education for about 4 years. I want to get serious about applying to grad school next year (apply next year, admit 2015). I'm most likely going to be applying to a bunch of political science MA and/or PhD programs in poli sci-specifically interested in political theory (how much of a cliche am I ?!) 

 

In my senior year of undergrad, I received a fellowship for legal theory (what I really want to study) under which I produced a thesis paper. It was a 50 page paper that essentially took the work of a legal theorist named Robert Cover and applied it to The Wire (yes, the TV show) to examine institutions of authority/power and morality. 

 

Assuming it's a well written paper (grammar, clarity of ideas), what are your thoughts around submitting this paper for top tier political science programs. My big concern is that there's a lack of quantitative analysis/ research and grad programs will think it's fluffy/not important. Thoughts? 

 

[Tao.of.Graduate.School]

It's difficult to know what to advise without reviewing the paper, but I would encourage you not to dismiss the paper outright. Graduate students in Political Science typically come from a number of fields, presumably because the discipline encourages outside perspectives (at least, let's hope!). In other words, I would encourage you to play up your fellowship and indicate how it and other opportunities gave you a unique perspective on the field. Quantitative analysis and research can be taught at the graduate level, so I wouldn't worry too much there.

 

Good luck to you!!

[urbanac]

Thank you..."how it and other opportunities gave you a unique perspective"-- that helps a lot. 

 

Does anyone else have any experience with this kind of thing or are there any other materials about what's considered too fluffy for a writing sample? 

[rising_star]

Why would it be too fluffy? If you used legal theories in a sophisticated way, it demonstrates your critical thinking, analytical, and writing skills, all of which are things you want to showcase in a writing sample.

[juilletmercredi]

Is there a lot of quantitative analysis in political theory anyway?  You should submit a writing sample that reflects what you are going to do, and if you are going to do political theory without a lot of quant analysis then that should be fine.

The real problem with it is that it will be too long.  Most writing sample requests are of 10-20 pages in length.  So you would have to submit a section of it.