Welcome to the 2014-15 Cycle

[ecm07e]

I flunked out of University of Miami my first year and then went to a CC for 1 year to get my GPA back up (was on Deans List Spring and Summer semesters). I then graduate from Florida State with a 3.1 GPA (factoring in my first year). I think it is a testament to what type of student you are if you can face adversity and still come out on top. But that is just me. I might be completely wrong . But I did get accepted to all the schools I applied to except Georgetown and I received a personal email asking me to reapply next year. 

[ARealDowner]

Well, I just submitted my research honors project for the MPSA conference on the recommendation of my advisor...I wish I was going to find out if I'm accepted before I have to send applications in, but the website only says that submitters will be notified by the end of December, unfortunately. Is it worth mentioning in my Statement of Purpose that I've put in a proposal, but am waiting to hear back, or is that pretty meaningless without an official acceptance? 

[AmericanQuant]

Well, I just submitted my research honors project for the MPSA conference on the recommendation of my advisor...I wish I was going to find out if I'm accepted before I have to send applications in, but the website only says that submitters will be notified by the end of December, unfortunately. Is it worth mentioning in my Statement of Purpose that I've put in a proposal, but am waiting to hear back, or is that pretty meaningless without an official acceptance? 

 

Submitting your work to a conference is a sign of seriousness about your work and that you understand that going to grad school is all about research, so it's definitely a positive. That said, a lot of junk gets presented at MPSA, so even getting accepted isn't prestigious (almost everything gets accepted).  Definitely provide adcoms with the means of looking at your rsch though.  If you're short-listed, people might look.

[AuldReekie]

Oh you academics, always hopping between universities 

[testingtesting]

Really struggling with figuring out how to do my SOP....I'm not going over 1,000 words, which is limiting. Here's my paraphrased structure, anyone got any advice?

 

***The hardest part is in explaining my past research (i've done a lot) and the faculty's without breaking the word limit. Is dedicating only 1 paragraph to the university's fit appropriate? I've been told explaining your interest in detail and then mentioning some relevant faculty will let them drawn the link, since they know who their faculty are and what they've done - probably better than you!***

 

I worked in public policy and studied public policy, but realized i'm not interested in analyzing policies but rather how economies affect the policymaking process and the policymaking process affects economies.  This interest arose when I was reading books/paper A, B, C, which brought up some questions. It also inspired my MA dissertation and a paper I wrote that won some awards. As a result, I'm applying to your university for comparative politics/political economy. 

 

At University X I'm  interested in the informal and formal institutions that cause inequalities in political participation and the effect of these inequalities on political economic outcomes. After reading X and attending Y I became interested in examining through a comparative lens, the relationship between class inequalities of voting behavior and electoral turnout and how this shapes the extent, structure, and financing of redistribution.  While there are many questions related to this that would be exciting in developed countries W, Q because of M, N, there is a lot of opportunity to look at this in other contexts where it has been under explored - in particular developing economies and hybrid regimes.  

 

During my MA dissertation, I noticed that there is plenty of literature on how variable X affects democratization and plenty of literature on how variable X affects voting, with many focusing on economic theories related to redistribution and welfare states, but little integrating these two literaturesl: as a result our models don't really make much sense - we can explain democratization pretty well and elections in young democracies pretty well, but do our models of voting in young/fragile democracies really line up with our models of democratization, as it pertains to this variable? This has large implications for redistribution, as theories D, E of redistribution in these contexts are based on economic models that would need to integrate both of these!  

 

In attempting to answer problems in this area, I would draw on past skills gained doing research at PLACES where I did THINGS. This provided me with good skills for doing research and tools that i hope to build on during my coursework phase at university ____. While a lot of this research is public policy research, it uses the same skills and i've been able to synthesize and understand research from across disciplines and subfields.

 

Additionally, my academic training provides me with all of this useful methods training and acquaintance with polisci such as ______ in courses on ____ that I  took with _____.   I have experience with political science due to these courses, and I'm very quant although i don't have any math courses on my transcript (try taking my econometrics sequence without math!)

 

University ______ is a good place to do research on this because Prof _____ and Prof ______ are there.  Their focus on _______  and _____ are highly pertinent.  Additionally, they use similar quantitative approaches that I'm interested in given the rise of data in countries of interest and new advances in methods such as X, Y, Z.  During  grad courses and undergrad, I focused on quant methods and formal modeling...I hope to build upon these strengths but also look forward to developing skills for mixed methods that are often necessary for comparative stuff.

Please take me, I'm great and <3 you!

[AuldReekie]

Really struggling with figuring out how to do my SOP....I'm not going over 1,000 words, which is limiting. Here's my paraphrased structure, anyone got any advice?

 

I fear I'm not qualified to comment, but have a look for the Profile/SoP/Results threads to get an idea of what people have written. Here's the the 2012 version, but there's one for each of the last few years. 

 

How is everybody else doing?

Edited October 18, 2014 by RLemkin

[ARealDowner]

Taking the GRE on Thursday, so it'll be nice to get that out of the way. Other than that, I think I just finalized my list of schools I'm applying to...7 for sure, 3 others that are a maybe. Tweaking/working on my SOPs too.

[Evgeny55]

I know this is quite common question but I am little bit concerned about GRE scores. I took test at 14th of October and got 161 Q 163 V, don't know AW score yet. So, am I in good shape for top-tiers like Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, Yale and Columbia? I know that I probably above any cut-offs. My substantive interests are interstate and intrastate conflicts, with emphasis on quantitative research and game-theoretic modelling. I have Fulbright Scholarship for my current M.A. education and couple of prestigious scholarships back in Russia (my country of origin and undergrad education), also APSA 2014 annual meeting travel grant. 

[cooperstreet]

higher is better. I think those scores would be on the lower end of those accepted, but not the lower end of those that applied.

[ARealDowner]

The only thing I would consider is that the mean GRE scores most schools report online somewhere are going to be weighed down a lot more by outliers on the low end than the top...since the ceiling is 170 on each section, and the average reported by top schools is probably somewhere between 160-165 on each section, there's not much room above it. However, if someone got a pretty low score on a section but had an outstandingly good rest of the application, that one very low score is really going to weigh the average down, while the median incoming student's GRE score is actually going to look higher than the average GRE score.

 

More anecdotally, I just noticed that by looking at the data provided by one of the schools I'm considering where the average GRE score per section was something like 162 or 163, but when it broke it down by person, it was a lot of 165-167 range people with a select few sub-155 people thrown in. So take that with a grain of salt - if your GRE happened to be close to that low end, maybe you end up becoming one of the people whose application is great enough in toto to be one of the few that makes it in. However, just keep in mind that something else in your application will have to be that much better than the people applying who are closer to those median scores.

[Evgeny55]

Will see. I am applying to 10 places, I think I definitely have a shot at 1 or 2 places, though all 10 are top-tiers. I am not sure about other places, though with a bit of luck I think I can get to Ivy League school. Stanford is probably a waste of 125$, but even if the choice is purely random, this gamble has positive expectation, so I will send an application. 

[AuldReekie]

The only thing I would consider is that the mean GRE scores most schools report online somewhere are going to be weighed down a lot more by outliers on the low end than the top...since the ceiling is 170 on each section, and the average reported by top schools is probably somewhere between 160-165 on each section, there's not much room above it. However, if someone got a pretty low score on a section but had an outstandingly good rest of the application, that one very low score is really going to weigh the average down, while the median incoming student's GRE score is actually going to look higher than the average GRE score.

 

More anecdotally, I just noticed that by looking at the data provided by one of the schools I'm considering where the average GRE score per section was something like 162 or 163, but when it broke it down by person, it was a lot of 165-167 range people with a select few sub-155 people thrown in. So take that with a grain of salt - if your GRE happened to be close to that low end, maybe you end up becoming one of the people whose application is great enough in toto to be one of the few that makes it in. However, just keep in mind that something else in your application will have to be that much better than the people applying who are closer to those median scores.

 

Political Theory applicants probably have a bit more leeway with their Q scores and that could partially explain it. Although it seems plenty of theorists do well on both sections anyway.

Edited October 20, 2014 by RLemkin

[ARealDowner]

I could definitely see that, RLemkin. On a related note, I could see them giving more discretion to non-native English speakers on the Verbal score, especially if offset by good TOEFL/writing sample/SOP.

[AuldReekie]

I could definitely see that, RLemkin. On a related note, I could see them giving more discretion to non-native English speakers on the Verbal score, especially if offset by good TOEFL/writing sample/SOP.

 

Probably

 

Alas I doubt I'll get a 'We don't *do* math in the UK' free pass for my GRE  . 

[HopefulNeurotic]

So I took the GRE last week and am fine with my score, but not completely confident. I'm mostly applying to top programs, with a couple in the 20s-30s for good measure. I'm considering retaking the GRE for peace of mind (I'm in the same range as the poster above). I barely studied at all due to a combination of illness and arrogance, so I'm fairly certain I can score higher. Buuuut, the earliest I can retake it is November 11th. Do you guys think that's cutting it too close to deadlines? Most apps are due December 15th with I think one due December 1st. I know U of Chicago says something along the lines of "it can take 4-6 weeks for your scores to be sent from ETS"... Retake or no? 

Edited October 21, 2014 by morganizedchaos

[nojogo1991]

Question: Does anyone know how the rules for LORs work?

 

Do you merely have to upload the names of letter writers by the final application date?

 

Or do the recommendations themselves have to be uploaded by that date?

[AuldReekie]

Question: Does anyone know how the rules for LORs work?

 

Do you merely have to upload the names of letter writers by the final application date?

 

Or do the recommendations themselves have to be uploaded by that date?

 

I'm pretty sure that at most places the letter themselves need to be submitted by the deadline.  A few schools allow you a couple of weeks leeway (OSU for example), but it's by no means uniform. 

[AuldReekie]

So I took the GRE last week and am fine with my score, but not completely confident. I'm mostly applying to top programs, with a couple in the 20s-30s for good measure. I'm considering retaking the GRE for peace of mind (I'm in the same range as the poster above). I barely studied at all due to a combination of illness and arrogance, so I'm fairly certain I can score higher. Buuuut, the earliest I can retake it is November 11th. Do you guys think that's cutting it too close to deadlines? Most apps are due December 15th with I think one due December 1st. I know U of Chicago says something along the lines of "it can take 4-6 weeks for your scores to be sent from ETS"... Retake or no? 

 

Try the GRE forum to get a better idea of timelines, it can be pretty variable. November 11th should be fine, but I'd make doubly sure if I were you. 

[AuldReekie]

15 online applications created.. pwooowh.  My poor referees

[AuldReekie]

Making sure all my transcripts have been sent. Got to love those universities that accept online submissions, less keen on the university-that-shall-not-be-named that demands two official transcripts! Still awfully quiet in here... 

[ARealDowner]

I know, it's been pretty dead compared to previous years it seems.

I have to work on sending in the transcripts too, hopefully this week I'll have time to get around to that. I did just hear back from a POI for the first time, only emailed her because I wanted to know if she'd be retiring anytime soon. Got a response back very quickly from both her and a fellow professor she thought was a good fit for me. Both mentioned they thought I'd fit in well at the university, so that was good to hear.

[BFB]

Really struggling with figuring out how to do my SOP....I'm not going over 1,000 words, which is limiting. Here's my paraphrased structure, anyone got any advice?

 

***The hardest part is in explaining my past research (i've done a lot) and the faculty's without breaking the word limit. Is dedicating only 1 paragraph to the university's fit appropriate? I've been told explaining your interest in detail and then mentioning some relevant faculty will let them drawn the link, since they know who their faculty are and what they've done - probably better than you!***

 

...

 

University ______ is a good place to do research on this because Prof _____ and Prof ______ are there.  Their focus on _______  and _____ are highly pertinent.  Additionally, they use similar quantitative approaches that I'm interested in given the rise of data in countries of interest and new advances in methods such as X, Y, Z.  During  grad courses and undergrad, I focused on quant methods and formal modeling...I hope to build upon these strengths but also look forward to developing skills for mixed methods that are often necessary for comparative stuff.

 

In general, applicants under-research fit to a surprising degree. They tend to conclude that they want to go to University X for whatever reason (generally, its US News ranking factors in quite a bit, I think) and then make the best case that they can for fit by reading faculty web pages. The result can often be transparently bad. For example, when I see someone interested in studying civil wars list me as POI, I know they've dug up one project that I've worked on and used it as justification. A glance at the rest of my cv shows that I really don't do civil wars. We don't generally rank those applications very high, because before April 15 the applicant will probably realize that the fit is bad and go somewhere else.

 

A much better approach is to select on fit first—take a more broad first look at places to apply and keep your eye peeled for anyone whose research really meshes well with yours. Fit is a really big deal. I strongly suspect that you can do a lot better coming out of a twentieth-ranked department with an advisor who can help you do great work, than you can out of a tenth-ranked department with an advisor who's smart but doesn't really do what you want to do.

 

Put another way: we select pretty heavily on fit, and other schools probably do too. Given that that's the case, your best strategy for maximizing your options is to apply to those places where the fit is best.

[BFB]

I'm pretty sure that at most places the letter themselves need to be submitted by the deadline.  A few schools allow you a couple of weeks leeway (OSU for example), but it's by no means uniform. 

 

While this is true, on behalf of my hard-working admin person I'd urge you to ensure that the letters are in in as timely a manner as possible 

[esotericish]

 

 

For example, when I see someone interested in studying civil wars list me as POI, I know they've dug up one project that I've worked on and used it as justification. A glance at the rest of my cv shows that I really don't do civil wars. We don't generally rank those applications very high, because before April 15 the applicant will probably realize that the fit is bad and go somewhere else.

 

Can you think of an example of how you've seen this done well? I'm really struggling with figuring out how to talk about my interest in the faculty (in so few words) without it sounding contrived or cherry-picked. How general or specific should one be? 

[BFB]

Can you think of an example of how you've seen this done well? I'm really struggling with figuring out how to talk about my interest in the faculty (in so few words) without it sounding contrived or cherry-picked. How general or specific should one be? 

 

As specific as the facts merit. If you're interested in international conflict and scholars A-D are all interested in international conflict too, write that. If you're interested in the role of collective memory in the perpetuation of the conflict between Israel and Palestine, Professor Smith is a prominent expert on the Israel-Palestine dispute, and Professor Jones is an expert on the politics of memory, say that. The latter makes a more compelling case—but don't invent an interest just to make a more compelling case, because then you can end up being stuck at in a department that really can't advise you very well.