Weak GRE Quant, But Potential Stronger Areas:

[DubbyTee]

Hello Everyone!

 

I see that it is that time of year where everyone is getting anxious about results from their applications. I have been a reader for a while, and I see that I am weak in some areas, but stronger in others. I have seen other results and was always interested in how I would compare to the programs that I am applying to. I am applying to the Ph.D. Program at all these schools with a focus on the American side. I go to a small school in Florida so I am wondering how I stack up to the rest of the field. Here are my qualifications:

 

Undergraduate GPA: 4.0 (4.0 in Major [Political Science]; 4.0 Outside of Major)

 

GRE Scores: 159 V, 151 Q, and 4.5 AW (Weak Q score, but I am an extremely weak standardized test taker even with 2 months of preparation)

 

3 Strong Letters of Recommendation (Since we only have 2 Political Science professors at my school, I had both of them writing letters along with a History professor)

 

Conferences: Presented my writing sample at the 2014 Symposium on Southern Politics, and will be presenting 2 papers at Southern Political Science Association Meeting coming up in 2 weeks. Not that this counts that much, but I also had a paper at my school's conference that they had this past year. 

 

Though no where near a strong internship, I interned with the local newspaper to conduct a survey on the local mayoral race to gauge the public's interest on who would win in the race.

 

The schools that I am applying to are the University of Oklahoma, Louisiana State University, Stony Brook University, and Washington University.

 

I am just curious to see where I stand among the pack and realistic chances that I can get into the schools (but also to get funding at these schools). 

 

[AmericanQuant]

Quant score probably disqualifies you from doing american politics at WashU, not sure about the others.  Did you take any math or math-y science classes in college?  Quant score is less of a problem if you have coursework to demonstrate that you can handle the quantitative requirements for a PhD.

 

American politics is the most quantitative of the 4 main subfields, so your quant score will probably cause you more trouble than if you, wanted to do theory, for instance.

[dsg8099]

On 1/3/2015 at 4:40 PM, AmericanQuant said:

Quant score probably disqualifies you from doing american politics at WashU, not sure about the others.  Did you take any math or math-y science classes in college?  Quant score is less of a problem if you have coursework to demonstrate that you can handle the quantitative requirements for a PhD.

 

American politics is the most quantitative of the 4 main subfields, so your quant score will probably cause you more trouble than if you, wanted to do theory, for instance.

on this spectrum of most quantitative to least quantitative, how would you place IR and CP?

[AmericanQuant]

on this spectrum of most quantitative to least quantitative, how would you place IR and CP?

 

I'll leave that as an exercise to the reader...

[cooperstreet]

in between theory and AP

[AuldReekie]

I don't know. Have a look at the websites.. do they mention what they expect GRE wise? Do you have good research skills and ideas? etc. There are too many imponderables to just say 'you will get in'..

 

Did you only apply to four schools? I think most people apply to substantially more. Still we will all find out soon enough.

[anna_M]

Don't worry to much, these scores aren't terrible. It is gonna depend on the committee of course, but if your research proposal issnt quatitivative it shouldnt matter that much. Also, with american it is much easier to be admitted than IR of comparative.

 

More important is fit, good SOP, writing sample. LOR etc. Did you contact POis?  I would be worried about the number of schools you applied to. Many deadlines are Jan 15. Why not apply to a few more?

[DubbyTee]

I am just gonna respond to most of the things that were brought up, and I thank everyone for the insight into this process:

 

I really only took one math class, and it was basic in that. I took Elementary Statistics, and a case (a very weak case) could be made for Microeconomics, but that is a long stretch at that. 

 

When I looked at the schools that I applied to, WashU clearly stands out as the top school, but it is not my top school. I really am intrigued by Oklahoma, and their combined GRE range for acceptance is 300 - 315 (which isn't high, but I have a combined 310 so I am clearly in that range). 

 

I do have excellent research skills and I think that is shown in the fact that I have 3 original research papers being presented at pretty prestigious conferences in my region. People from all over the country come to these conferences at present research. Very select few undergraduates present at these conferences. 

 

I forgot to mention in the original post that I also have two published articles in SAGE Encyclopedias with another in the editing process as we speak. That may not mean much, but it is published. 

 

I did only apply to four schools because when I was speaking to my advisor at my school, he told that the more schools that you apply to, schools don't necessarily view you as a hot commodity. He has been sending students to grad school for the past 20 years and found that this is an important tactic in the process. It is also important I guess to note that my advisor has extremely strong connections with the department chairs at both Oklahoma and LSU, but that will only go so far. 

 

Once again, I thank everyone for the replies and the insight into this quite stressful process, and look forward to hearing back from these schools. 

[esotericish]

 

 

I did only apply to four schools because when I was speaking to my advisor at my school, he told that the more schools that you apply to, schools don't necessarily view you as a hot commodity.

How do they know how many you are applying to?

[RWBG]

I did only apply to four schools because when I was speaking to my advisor at my school, he told that the more schools that you apply to, schools don't necessarily view you as a hot commodity. He has been sending students to grad school for the past 20 years and found that this is an important tactic in the process. 

I served on an admissions committee and that advice sounds completely wrong to me. We don't have information about the places you applied unless you voluntarily give it to us, and either way, there's no reason we should care about that. 

[DubbyTee]

It sounded fishy to me, but you know I have dealt with him for 4 years so I figured I would trust him on that one. Oh well, we will see how it plays out though regardless. 

[cooperstreet]

That sounds bonkers to me too.

 

So does this:

 

It is gonna depend on the committee of course, but if your research proposal issnt quatitivative it shouldnt matter that much. Also, with american it is much easier to be admitted than IR of comparative.

 

It does matter much. Everyone needs to be familiar with an understand quantitative methods. 151Q score is low for political science PhD programs. Moreover, an SOP isn't a research proposal. And the relative easy with which students are admitted to subfields is entirely dependent on the program.

Edited January 4, 2015 by cooperstreet