will my working experience help me a lot in my application? help!

[ruczy]

hi every body, I am intending to apply for a respectable political science PHD program in 2015 fall, and here is my profile:

 

Undergraduate situation: Renmin University of China ( a top 3 university in social science in China)

 

Major: International Relations, GPA: 3.43/4.0

 

Minor: Public Administration, GPA: 3.41/4.0

 

GRE: V163/Q170/AW3.0 (sigh!)

 

TOEFL: haven’t taken yet, but I scored a 109 6 years ago, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

 

And here is the point, I have worked in the research division of a provincial government in China for more than five years, and my job is mainly about doing government directed researches about Chinese political systems. Unfortunately, all my researches were published under government leader’s name, so I  don’t have any published works.

 

Here are the questions, will my working experience help me a lot in my application? What is my chance to get a offer from respectable schools?

And will my analytical writing school seriously hurt my application? Do I need to retake the GRE?

 

Thanks a lot! 

[TheGirlWhoLived]

Obviously, it's always nice to have a published paper, but you're work experience sounds great to me. It is probably stronger work experience than a lot of people applying. 

I had a weak analytical writing score too. It didn't hurt me one bit. I don't think schools focus on that score too much. Plus, I had a strong writing sample, so clearly the score was not representative of my abilities. 

No one can say where you will get in, but it sounds like you have a strong profile. 

Edited April 23, 2014 by TheGirlWhoLived

[ruczy]

Obviously, it's always nice to have a published paper, but you're work experience sounds great to me. It is probably stronger work experience than a lot of people applying. 

I had a weak analytical writing score too. It didn't hurt me one bit. I don't think schools focus on that score too much. Plus, I had a strong writing sample, so clearly the score was not representative of my abilities. 

No one can say where you will get in, but it sounds like you have a strong profile. 

thanks a lot, so it seems that I should start to work on my sample work and sop, and forget about the embarrassing aw score

[hj2012]

Work experience isn't usually all that important for PhD programs, although your experience sounds related to your future research. Also, what do you consider to be "respectable"? It may be in your best interest to retake the GRE considering your low GPA.

[ruczy]

Work experience isn't usually all that important for PhD programs, although your experience sounds related to your future research. Also, what do you consider to be "respectable"? It may be in your best interest to retake the GRE considering your low GPA.

like top 30 in political science, is it possible?

[ruczy]

Work experience isn't usually all that important for PhD programs, although your experience sounds related to your future research. Also, what do you consider to be "respectable"? It may be in your best interest to retake the GRE considering your low GPA.

i think i should retake it too, but i really hate to do so, beside, I am not sure i could get a better score in the aw section

[TheGirlWhoLived]

I really don't think you need to. If you have a strong writing sample, I don't think it would matter. Especially if you don't think you would do better in AW anyway. 

Not all work experience matters, but this one sounds like it would be an advantage. It's research related and it's definitely something I would emphasize on your SOP if you think it prepared  you for grad school.

No one here can tell you whether you will get into a top 30. I would apply. I would say to focus more on what school fits you and not on rankings though. 

[ruczy]

I really don't think you need to. If you have a strong writing sample, I don't think it would matter. Especially if you don't think you would do better in AW anyway. 

Not all work experience matters, but this one sounds like it would be an advantage. It's research related and it's definitely something I would emphasize on your SOP if you think it prepared  you for grad school.

No one here can tell you whether you will get into a top 30. I would apply. I would say to focus more on what school fits you and not on rankings though. 

 

thanks, that helps a lot. Anyway, i was quite optimistic about my application up until  i found out my AW score yesterday, i think now i am reclaiming my confidence. I think i could find some professors whose academic focus is China issues, especially Chinese political systems or local government

[hj2012]

like top 30 in political science, is it possible?

 

I think top-30 is reasonable, although I would echo GirlWhoLived in saying that rankings are not as important as overall "fit" in terms of your areas of interest and your methodologies. My only other pointer would be to have a native speaker carefully read all your materials (SoP, writing sample, etc). While your English is good, your posts show that you still make little errors every now and then. With a good SoP and writing sample, I don't see why you wouldn't be competitive for top PhD programs, though it's impossible for anyone to predict PhD admissions. ^^ Good luck!

[ruczy]

I think top-30 is reasonable, although I would echo GirlWhoLived in saying that rankings are not as important as overall "fit" in terms of your areas of interest and your methodologies. My only other pointer would be to have a native speaker carefully read all your materials (SoP, writing sample, etc). While your English is good, your posts show that you still make little errors every now and then. With a good SoP and writing sample, I don't see why you wouldn't be competitive for top PhD programs, though it's impossible for anyone to predict PhD admissions. ^^ Good luck!

 

Thanks a lot for your advice! 

[structuralBio]

Regarding your analytical writing scores, that you highlighted in red, while it is a little more impactful on foreign applicants than american applicants (since less scrutiny is given to our ability to read and write English), it is honestly not a big deal, if your TOEFL scores are good and your SOP is good they will be able to see that you understand English well. the analytical writing section as I understand is given little credence because it is poorly setup and poorly graded and schools understand this (I'm a native English speaker and I only got a 3.5 myself!), so no you don't NEED to retake the GRE. Regarding your research, just because your name isn't on the published paper doesn't mean you didn't make a real contribution. Though having your name as first author is very impressive, its quite rare for it to happen without already having a graduate degree. Your letter of rec from your superior should fully explain how involved you were in research and your contributions and I think schools will find that quite impressive, you can also point to specific research papers, that although you are not listed as an author on that you can claim to have been involved in. Overall, I think you look pretty strong, just do well on the TOEFL and make sure your SOP is very good (have multiple people who speak fluent English, especially English native speakers if possible, look over it)

[ruczy]

Regarding your analytical writing scores, that you highlighted in red, while it is a little more impactful on foreign applicants than american applicants (since less scrutiny is given to our ability to read and write English), it is honestly not a big deal, if your TOEFL scores are good and your SOP is good they will be able to see that you understand English well. the analytical writing section as I understand is given little credence because it is poorly setup and poorly graded and schools understand this (I'm a native English speaker and I only got a 3.5 myself!), so no you don't NEED to retake the GRE. Regarding your research, just because your name isn't on the published paper doesn't mean you didn't make a real contribution. Though having your name as first author is very impressive, its quite rare for it to happen without already having a graduate degree. Your letter of rec from your superior should fully explain how involved you were in research and your contributions and I think schools will find that quite impressive, you can also point to specific research papers, that although you are not listed as an author on that you can claim to have been involved in. Overall, I think you look pretty strong, just do well on the TOEFL and make sure your SOP is very good (have multiple people who speak fluent English, especially English native speakers if possible, look over it)

thanks very much!