Admissions Advice? (Profile Included)

[Determinedandnervous]

Hello everyone, I'm applying to graduate schools in the fall and need some advice. I am interested in applying to ten schools (Harvard, Princeton, UMichigan, Yale, Columbia, MIT, NYU, Ohio State, Rochester, Cornell). I know the competition is steep for these top programs. I do not have much in the way of research assistantships, but I do have a senior thesis. Most of my experience is practicum. I'm curious if this is an issue or not. From my profile, do you have any advice on things I can do this fall semester to spruce up my chances? I already am retaking my GRE due to the lower quant score.

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad Institution: Tier 1 National Liberal Arts College, Top 10 Public Liberal Arts College (United States)
Major(s)/Minor(s): Political Science/History (Double Major)
Undergrad GPA: 3.94/4.3 (3.90 when converted to 4.0 scale) Overall, perfect scores in both majors
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 163V, 155Q, 5.0W (retaking it in September to get Quant Score up, at the suggestions of my academic advisor, cousin in a history PhD program and GradCafe members)
Any Special Courses: Research in Political Science (A), Junior Seminar in History (Research Methods in History, A), Econometrics (in progress)
Letters of Recommendation: Two from the most senior faculty in the political science department, one from an assistant professor in the history department
Research Experience: Senior Thesis in progress (subject: the role of democratic centralism in the cohesion of leftist organizations in the United States), policy research for the research assistant in the office of a Canadian member of Parliament

Teaching Experience: None.
Subfield/Research Interests: Comparative political parties and elections, Canadian Politics, British Politics
Other: Internship in the Hill Office of a Canadian MP, Member of State Campaign Committee of a political party, previous political candidate, member of media coordination team for political campaign

Edited August 23, 2015 by Determinedandnervous

[cooperstreet]

Grades are good. GRE Q is low, especially for your research intersts.

 

Do these schools have people you want to work with? For example, who at Columbia in CP studies Canada? Blattman doesn't count. Who at NYU? Cornell? Etc.

[Determinedandnervous]

I agree on the Q score, I'm studying hard to increase it.

I do have 3-4 professors at each university that would be a good fit for my research interests. Almost no professors in any program have articles on Canada or Westminster systems, but they do have backgrounds in comparative political parties and elections. I also know that one political science professor at Harvard (Dr. Peter Hall) also interned with a Canadian MP during his undergrad days, though I'm not sure that may count for much.

Edited August 23, 2015 by Determinedandnervous

[kaykaykay]

I agree with coopersatate. I am not sure how you chose the schools you want to apply to.

[PoliticalOrder]

You will not find many professors at American universities who study Canadian politics, in fact, I would say you would be hard-pressed to find even a handful that do the majority of their work on Canadian politics in the whole university system. More for British politics (or some connection with regards to Western Europe), but even then, there aren't that many of those either from what I have seen. The vast majority of scholars who study Canadian politics are Canadian, and hence usually go through the Canadian system/stay in Canada, or end up getting a job in Canada because of greater resources and demand for their skills. 

But it's not really a big deal. You should be looking at what your specific interests are within comparative politics and matching those with professors, which it seems like you are doing. An Americanist that studies comparative political parties and elections for example is much better than someone who studies judicial politics in Canada. And if you really need to go get more substantive training, you can always do a summer or year of research/studying at U of T or McGill or something during your Ph.D.

It's kind of late for this, but really the only way you are going to dramatically improve your profile (if you intend on applying this upcoming cycle) is by scoring an RA ship with a professor at your school and working on your SOPs and writing sample as much as possible. Focus on the things you can control. Ask all the professors you have some kind of relationship if you can get involved some way in their research, whether that is basic literature review or whatever. Besides that, your SOP and your writing sample is going to be what actually gets you into schools, not your GRE; write the best honours thesis possible and make sure to edit your SOP many times and get feedback from profs and/or people who have been through the process.

You also might want to try and get into an independent study course if that type of thing is offered at your school...it will help improve an existing LOR and/or increase your research experience at least a little bit.

Edited August 23, 2015 by PoliticalOrder

[cooperstreet]

Almost no professors in any program have articles on Canada or Westminster systems

If you say in your SOP, "I am applying to X university to study Canadian politics" And X university has no professors that study canadian politics, then your file will be in the reject pile for sure: bad fit. why would they accept you when they can accept another student who has the same topical interest as you, but in addition wants to study the regions that they specialize in?

[PoliticalOrder]

^ That's why you wouldn't say something like that, you would say "I am applying to study X and Y, these profs fit this W and Z."

[cooperstreet]

Then even if you get it, you face the problem of "I want to study Candian/British politics but literally no one in the department does that". Better off finding a better fit from the get go.

[kaykaykay]

Just make sure there are two-three people in each department that you want to work with (and who could advise you). As I said in another topic, I transferred after I could not find an advisor. Also this is the biggest reason for dropping out of my current program (well probably along with personal reasons). These are not low ranked places. Of course you may change your interests but it is not very good to start a program trying to find another topic or another angle of your topic while trying to get skills and knowledge of the field. 

[Determinedandnervous]

I can definitely see how this may appear to be a red flag on the fit issue. Is it wise to emphasize the topic (comparative parties/elections) and the methodological applications the professors I wish to work with use and connect it to how it can improve the problems of recent scholarship in Westminster systems?

Edited August 24, 2015 by Determinedandnervous

[cooperstreet]

Well you definatily do not want to say anything like this in your SOP: "improve the problems of recent scholarship in Westminster systems?"

[Determinedandnervous]

Yeah, I'll phrase it better on the actual SOP.

[RWBG]

I think you can make it work. I know folks who've sold the whole "there's a set of techniques and approaches currently being used by scholars at your university to study X that I think could be ported well to the study of Y in order to produce new insights". As someone who's been on the admissions committee for one of the schools you're applying to, I think some people in this thread are construing "fit" way too narrowly; we wouldn't need to see that there are people here who exactly work on your substantive area/region of interest, just that there's a plausible story by which the training and people here could help you do interesting/useful work.

[alphazeta]

I would not worry in the slightest about the lack of scholars of Canadian politics per se at the programs you're considering.  There are a handful of countries where you need to work with a "Country X" (e.g., China, Russia), but in general comparativists organize by region (and theme) rather than by country.  The relevant cleavages are, say, Africanists and Latin Americanists, rather than scholars of Namibia vs. scholars of Mozambique. 

Your interest in developed democracies (UK, Canada, your thesis is on the US) really points you towards a research community that will be dominated by Europe scholars.  "Parties and elections" in advanced democracies is a well-developed area of inquiry (though not one that's hot right now).  You should think about your interests in this way, and present them in this way.  You should not lead with your interests in UK/Canada but rather these thematic interests, perhaps later bringing in the UK/Canada.  Indicate an openness to studying other systems that may be relevant.  If you have language skills that would help, bring them up.

Your best strategy as of now is to write really good SOPs (beyond getting up that quant score).  I would advise first thinking clearly about the theoretical questions that interest you, then seeing how those fit with various faculty and how to communicate effectively about them.

[Determinedandnervous]

Thank you all! You all have given some incredibly helpful advice that I will heed.