IR Undergrad straight to PhD

[zapatos]

Hi all,

 

I'm a rising senior at an Ivy and, after a few years as an RA and more advanced coursework, I'm really hoping to go straight into a top IR PhD program and go into academia. How common is it to go straight after undergrad? Would you recommend it? I know I'll be competing against people with masters in poli sci or other related degrees, so I want to go into the Fall 2016 application cycle with my head on my shoulders.

 

Here are my stats:

 

Major of Political Science: IR. Minor in a fun humanities.

Undergrad GPA: 3.9+ (major 4.0)

 

Research Experience: RA working on coding a dataset for past year and a half (will continue). Summer 2014 RA at a different CHYMPS school. For my work-study job I also RA/TA for a professor in my humanities minor. The first two RA positions have really influenced what I hope to pursue in graduate school and will write about in my SOP.

 

Quantitative experience: possibly a weakness. Two Calc courses in HS, then here basic economics, macroeconomics, and a data analysis/stat class designed for majors. I know STATA and have thought about teaching myself SPSS and/or R. Next semester hope to take a math methods class.

 

LORs: 1 from poli sci professor I do research for, 1 guaranteed from the humanities professor I RA/TA for, and probably the third from an adjunct professor in political theory who I think knows my work and capabilities well.

 

Writing Sample: I was going to submit a 25 page term paper from a political theory class I took, unless this is a bad idea.

 

Senior Thesis: Waiting to hear back on acceptance to the program, but I think I will get in and write my thesis on something related to the topics for which I have already been serving as an RA and hope to apply to grad school.

 

GRE: Taking soon! I have been scoring in the mid 160s on verbal/quantitative practice tests.

 

Hoping for: A good fit somewhere at a top 10 institution with a professor whose research interests closely match my own. I'm concerned about placement after my dissertation and am still a bit unclear about what the top IR programs are.

 

Is it reasonable for me to hope to get into a top department as an undergraduate if I can produce good LORs and a focused SOP? Is there something else I should be doing to show my commitment or to better prepare myself? What IR programs should I be researching?

 

Looking forward to hearing your opinions!

[victorydance]

I think anywhere from 20-40% (perhaps even higher but not sure) of admitted students of Ph.D. programs come straight from undergrad. So it shouldn't be a concern if you have a strong application.

 

The only thing that worries me is that you say you are interested in going into IR, but yet only one of your LORs will come from IR profs and your writing sample may or may not be in IR. Ideally, you want all three of your LORs coming from IR profs if you are currently studying IR and want to continue studying IR. Of course, you don't need all three that's just the ideal situation but having one from an adjunct theorist and one from a separate discipline is kind of alarming.

 

If I were you I would definitely try to do the honours thesis with a IR prof different from your RA prof. This means that not only can you use a section of your thesis as your writing sample but you will also get another solid letter from someone from IR instead of the political theory prof. 

 

Having two letters from profs you have been an RA for + honours thesis adviser is solid. 

[OriginalDuck]

I know of several people who have gotten into top programs straight from undergrad. From what I understand, schools are looking for potential as a researcher, which can be shown without already having a master's degree. 

 

I would disagree somewhat with victorydance as far as your LORs, but this is based only on anecdotal evidence (a lot of my advice is based purely on my own experience; YMMV). None of my LORs were from political science professors, much less profs in my subfield; they were all from the law profs I'd been working with more recently. I think the most important thing you can look for in a recommender is someone who can speak to your skills and character with specificity because you have worked with them.

 

On your writing sample, I don't think there's a problem with using a term paper (I did), but a lot of applications won't let you submit one that's 25 pages.

 

Your hope for "A good fit somewhere at a top 10 institution with a professor whose research interests closely match my own" is important. I got into all the schools that I mentioned specific professors I wanted to work with in my SOP, and none of the schools that I didn't. I'm not suggesting name-dropping will get you admitted, but research fit seems very important.

 

From what I can tell, the best things to do at this point to increase your chances of acceptance are to get a great GRE score and do a lot of research on what schools have professors that share your interests. I would also pay really close attention to placement records of the schools you're thinking of applying to.

[victorydance]

I would disagree somewhat with victorydance as far as your LORs, but this is based only on anecdotal evidence (a lot of my advice is based purely on my own experience; YMMV). None of my LORs were from political science professors, much less profs in my subfield; they were all from the law profs I'd been working with more recently. I think the most important thing you can look for in a recommender is someone who can speak to your skills and character with specificity because you have worked with them.

 

Yeah, but you were coming from law were you not? Like I said if you are coming from a political science program and you were studying IR, there's no reason you shouldn't have more than one LOR from an IR prof. 

[OriginalDuck]

Yeah, but you were coming from law were you not? Like I said if you are coming from a political science program and you were studying IR, there's no reason you shouldn't have more than one LOR from an IR prof. 

 

Yeah, so it made sense to use the professors I had worked with most recently. You could be right that most people should have LORs from professors in their sub-field, but I mentioned my own experience because it shows LORs from professors familiar with you can work regardless of their specialty. To me it seems that would be more useful than one from an IR professor who isn't really familiar with the student; the impression I got from the original post was that zapatos was much closer with some other professors than the IR profs. Of course, I have no way of knowing what really goes on in the minds of those on admissions committees, so I can only speak from my experience with the disclaimer that it may not work out the same for everyone.

[zapatos]

The only thing that worries me is that you say you are interested in going into IR, but yet only one of your LORs will come from IR profs and your writing sample may or may not be in IR. Ideally, you want all three of your LORs coming from IR profs if you are currently studying IR and want to continue studying IR. Of course, you don't need all three that's just the ideal situation but having one from an adjunct theorist and one from a separate discipline is kind of alarming.

 

If I were you I would definitely try to do the honours thesis with a IR prof different from your RA prof. This means that not only can you use a section of your thesis as your writing sample but you will also get another solid letter from someone from IR instead of the political theory prof. 

 

Having two letters from profs you have been an RA for + honours thesis adviser is solid. 

 

Thanks so much for the advice you guys! I hadn't thought too much about the subfields of the professors who will be writing them--my IR classes have tended to be larger and I haven't gotten to know the professor as much as I have in my IR/theory-ish seminar.

 

 

On your writing sample, I don't think there's a problem with using a term paper (I did), but a lot of applications won't let you submit one that's 25 pages.

 

How long are writing samples usually supposed to be? Do people use chapters of theses and sections of papers? 

[mb712]

How long are writing samples usually supposed to be? Do people use chapters of theses and sections of papers?

Most of my applications had listed requirements. A quant paper I had written that was about 15 pages + figure/reference pages was appropriate for most.