Fall 2016 Political Science PhD - How can I improve my application?

[MastersHoping]

Ok so you do not speak any Asian language , you do not even know whether you want to study Korean or Japanese and you want to do study East Asian Comparative politics? sounds like a bad approach. If you want to deal with more than one East Asian country -try IR. Comparative is not regionally focused. If you are interested in CP look for a topic that you are interested in. If one of the East Asian countries has a political/ social system like that, you can bring it to the comparison. Usually even then you compare the country with other countries in other regions. Even then, you need a firm grasp of language usually.

 

Also your list of schools looks very arbitrary, more diplomacy MA focused.  If you are interested in diplomacy definitely IR is the way to go.

 

I speak Chinese, and am intermediate in Korean - I just happen to be fluent in French. I want to keep with up with learning Korean and it would be nice to add on Japanese. 

For CP, I'm interested in some particular policies that China has toward North Korea. 

And you're right about the list of schools - they are indeed ones that are very much focused on their MAs! 

 

Edit:

Lol wow kaykaykay's post really sparked a lively debate XD

 

I appreciate your advice kaykaykay, and I will definitely research more before applying.

As for subfield, I'm still pretty sure I wanna do comparative. 

But these schools are, as you mentioned, ones that have had an MA focus. Maybe it's just cause I'm in an MA program right now that's very much focued on diplomacy. Meh. 

And for the topic, there's a particular topic I'm interested in, and regionally it's in NE Asia. 

Edited May 27, 2015 by MastersHoping

[MastersHoping]

No problem. I would also suggest looking at the job placement records of the schools that you are interested in applying for. This is very important if you are looking to work in academia.

 

Yes, I plan on applying to 6, perhaps 7 schools. Fortunately, many schools have application fee waivers for AmeriCorps volunteers. I know people who applied to 10 schools this past cycle and it just seemed like a waste to me. I have a group of 5-6 schools that really match my research interests and they are also institutions where I can see myself spending the next 5-7 years at.

 

I studied french in school from a young age and my parents are both native speakers. Have you studied any Asian languages?

 

Ah c'est cool. I learned it from a young age too, but my level is probably only around a high school level of fluency. 

Yeah I speak Chinese and am learning Korean. 

When I said I'd trade French for Korean or Japanese, I meant that I'd give up the level of fluency I have in French for an equivalent level in Korean or Japanese. 

Edited May 27, 2015 by MastersHoping

[billythekid72]

Ah c'est cool. I learned it from a young age too, but my level is probably only around a high school level of fluency. 

Yeah I speak Chinese and am learning Korean. 

When I said I'd trade French for Korean or Japanese, I meant that I'd give up the level of fluency I have in French for an equivalent level in Korean or Japanese. 

Cool! Well Chinese is an excellent language to know. I took a few years of Mandarin back in elementary school but don;t remember much now.

 

LOL, regarding the debate.

 

Any advice on how to strengthen my application kaykaykay or victory dance?

[victorydance]

Any advice on how to strengthen my application kaykaykay or victory dance?

 

Two things:

 

- Don't get lost in your past achievements. While you have a good record of accomplishments, many of the ones on the list really have no bearing on whether you get admitted or not. For example, most of the stuff listed under 'activities' is completely irrelevant to grad admissions. What matters above all is research experience. Only focus on the most relevant things related to your research interests out of the list of past achievements to highlight in your CV and SOP. 

 

- Just focus on the things you can control: writing sample, SOP, and GRE scores. 

Edited May 27, 2015 by victorydance

[billythekid72]

Thanks for the advice victorydance. I figured most of the achievements (non research related) would bear little to no effect on the admissions process. Do you think that I have 'sufficient' research experience to put forth a competitive application?

 

I am currently working on those last three aspects of my application.

[victorydance]

I mean, yes, you held a RA position for two semesters for a prof, that is sufficient right there. Plus a handful of other research assistant positions, whether those are totally relevant to your research interests is not clear but they certainly don't hurt. Honours thesis. Plus a few internal grants for research. This is very solid and fairly close to my personal research experience as well. 

 

The important thing is to leverage those LORs (preferably only from professors) and tie in your experience into your research interests so it's cohesive to an admission committee. 

 

The wording is a bit confusing, but did you get authorship credit on the paper, or just help him/her get it published? Because a publication at this stage of the game is a major boon to your application.

[billythekid72]

Thanks, I felt that my research experience was fairly solid but wasn't sure how it would stack up against other applicants. The research assistant positions and my honors thesis have all been catered towards my specific research interests purposely. I kinda of wish I had started doing research a bit earlier in my undergraduate career but I am happy with all of the experiences and opportunities that I have had so far.

 

Yes, I will definitely be leveraging my LORs to convince the admission committees that I understand the type of research that is conducted in the discipline and that I sufficient experience conducting this type of research.

 

I would like to apologize for the confusion. Unfortunately, I did not get authorship credit on the paper, I helped my professor get it published. I worked mostly on creating data sets and running regressions but I was thanked in the acknowledgement section.

 

Thanks again for all of your help!