Welcome to the 2016-17 cycle!

[waterloo715]

Hey all! Let's get a thread going to vent about our efforts (and anxieties). Here is a link to last year's thread: http://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/69447-welcome-to-the-2015-2016-cycle/?page=1. 

This is my first cycle. Applying to 12 programs as a comparative major. Focus on democratization, hybrid regimes, and institutions. Retaking the GRE soon. This is definitely the weakest part of my file, but I am hoping for a decent enough score to crack the top 15-20. How's the process coming along for everyone else?

Best of luck to everybody applying! 

[resDQ]

19 hours ago, waterloo715 said:

Hey all! Let's get a thread going to vent about our efforts (and anxieties). Here is a link to last year's thread: http://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/69447-welcome-to-the-2015-2016-cycle/?page=1. 

This is my first cycle. Applying to 12 programs as a comparative major. Focus on democratization, hybrid regimes, and institutions. Retaking the GRE soon. This is definitely the weakest part of my file, but I am hoping for a decent enough score to crack the top 15-20. How's the process coming along for everyone else?

Best of luck to everybody applying! 

 

Thanks for starting this! I'm still working on rough drafts of everything!

 

[krapp]

Hey everyone!

 

This is my first PhD cycle as well (just completed an MS). I've got a field of 8 programs lined up for IR, focused on international organizations, international law, and a bit of security studies. I'm currently knee deep in drafting and re-drafting SOPs and generally working my way through the application process. I'll be retaking the GRE in a couple weeks, hoping to push up my quant numbers a bit. 

 

Hope things are going well for everyone else!

[Determinedandnervous]

Hey all, I went through all this last year, so if you have any questions about the process or would like to know more about my program (Penn State), by all means post here or send a message.

[resDQ]

Just spent a small fortune sending out GRE scores.

[krapp]

I've got the GRE coming up in about 1.5 weeks. I'm retaking to try to boost up my previous scores (162V, 153Q, 5.5W) and I'm in that stage of pre-test panic. I'll be fine to at least match my Verbal score, but I'm doubting that I'll be able to boost the Quant much, if at any. I know that a quant like 153 is a pretty significant limiting factor, so yea...

 

And yea @resDQ, the whole application process is so expensive! 

[jazzmintea]

Hi everyone, I'm still working on my SOP, CV, and maybe schools even (still not finalized with which schools to apply to). Applying to IR as my major subfield and Political Theory as my minor or second subfield. Hoping to get into OSU or GWU. This is my second cycle so I really do hope I can get in this time. Please!!!!! Meanwhile, good luck everybody  

Edited October 24, 2016 by jazzmintea

[changeisgood]

On 10/22/2016 at 7:39 AM, krapp said:

I've got the GRE coming up in about 1.5 weeks. I'm retaking to try to boost up my previous scores (162V, 153Q, 5.5W) and I'm in that stage of pre-test panic. I'll be fine to at least match my Verbal score, but I'm doubting that I'll be able to boost the Quant much, if at any. I know that a quant like 153 is a pretty significant limiting factor, so yea...

 

And yea @resDQ, the whole application process is so expensive! 

I'm right there with you on the GRE, but I'm done taking it.  I've done just about as well as I can.  Just going to go with it and see what happens.

[changeisgood]

On 10/21/2016 at 0:24 PM, Determinedandnervous said:

Hey all, I went through all this last year, so if you have any questions about the process or would like to know more about my program (Penn State), by all means post here or send a message.

So, like, I'm applying to your program, eh?  I've got pretty good fit as far as I can tell.  You've got a couple of Profs working in my preferred area (AP/judicial politics).  If you've got any suggestions to tailor my file I'd appreciate the help!

[kaboom987]

Sent out only two applications for the Winter 2017 admissions (not may school accept during the Winter term)... If it goes south then I'll send out 5/6 in for the Fall term.

Patiently (anxiety riddled) waiting haha

[Monody]

Hey all,

I will be submitting an article for review probably in about 2 to 3 weeks, most likely at JCR, and wanted to ask how I should notify the departments at which I applied of this. Of course, I will update the SOP and CV wherever possible, but some like Columbia, NYU or Duke do not allow any changes after the submission of the application. Should I send a small notice to the person who is responsible for the process or is there a more appropriate way of going about this?

Thanks.

 

[krapp]

If you can wait to submit your CV until after the article is submitted you could include a category for "Under Review" or something like that. I'm not sure how much an admissions committee would consider it, but that's one approach. 

[Monody]

I have my doubts that the review process is sufficiently quick, at least from what I read to be the norm. So far, I generally got the feedback that it can only improve my chances of admission so nothing would be lost I guess. 

[resDQ]

5 hours ago, Monody said:

Hey all,

I will be submitting an article for review probably in about 2 to 3 weeks, most likely at JCR, and wanted to ask how I should notify the departments at which I applied of this. Of course, I will update the SOP and CV wherever possible, but some like Columbia, NYU or Duke do not allow any changes after the submission of the application. Should I send a small notice to the person who is responsible for the process or is there a more appropriate way of going about this?

Thanks.

 

 

Just email the DGS if anything changes. It is unlikely it will because the review process takes forever and possibly to your benefit if it doesn't (under review > rejected, IMO).

[PoliticalOrder]

It's a good signal that you have a working paper, but anyone can 'submit' a paper to a journal; it doesn't mean anything unless you get a revise and resubmit. I doubt it makes any difference whatsoever to your application. 

[Monody]

Fair enough, but as I said even if they don't get back positively to me before the submission deadline, it won't hurt and it's still valuable experience. That said I will discuss the paper with one of the LoR writers next week, so that he may be able to provide some credibility to it if it only remains a submission for the time being. 

Edited October 26, 2016 by Monody

[resDQ]

1 hour ago, PoliticalOrder said:

It's a good signal that you have a working paper, but anyone can 'submit' a paper to a journal; it doesn't mean anything unless you get a revise and resubmit. I doubt it makes any difference whatsoever to your application. 

I would say it only matters if it is accepted, but we are grad school applicants not graduate students looking for a TT job! Submitting a paper is a wonderful signal. 

 

[PoliticalOrder]

1 hour ago, resDQ said:

I would say it only matters if it is accepted, but we are grad school applicants not graduate students looking for a TT job! Submitting a paper is a wonderful signal. 

 

Not really, a revise and resubmit at this stage in the game on a solo authored paper is about as high as anyone can expect. 

There are downsides to this 'signal.' For one, I would imagine the writing sample is going to be the paper that you submitted to the journal. If they think the writing sample is not that high of quality, making a big deal about submitting it to a journal in your CV and SOP could be viewed as a negative not a positive. 

Furthermore, you have to be aware that there is a decent chance your paper could get desk rejected in the next month or so. Your paper is not currently 'under review' and it may be dishonest to represent it that way.

[Monody]

Just to be clear. The writing sample is not the paper I am talking about. I submitted an abbreviated version of my BA thesis that focuses on the formal argument and the quantitative part. And of course I am not stupid enough to lie myself into grad school.

The idea is simply to submit it mid-November after having received some feedback from profs at the department and then making some slight adjustments to the documents in the end of November either calling it a working paper if rejected or a submission otherwise. As I mentioned in another thread as an international applicant I ever more strongly get the feeling that my education will be - some what  understandably - discounted and I just hope that my problem of missing extensive formal research experience will be even to a minimal degree improved. And either way, writing it was quite nice and revealing regarding some development in the specific field in the recent years.

 

[resDQ]

I think the best thing to do is to be honest in the CV that it is under review and email the DGS with an updated CV whether the news is positive or negative. Every single academic has experienced rejection. It will not hurt your file. It will show that you are trying and that is a part of the game. 

[Determinedandnervous]

I had something under review when I was applying. I got into 7 schools, so I don't really think it will hurt you. They aren't expecting you to be this political science genius right out the gate, so even if the thing that you submitted (if you use it as your writing sample) isn't that great, you'll at least get points for being professionalized enough to understand enough of the academic publication process to submit somewhere.

[polscimajor]

21 hours ago, Determinedandnervous said:

I had something under review when I was applying. I got into 7 schools, so I don't really think it will hurt you. They aren't expecting you to be this political science genius right out the gate, so even if the thing that you submitted (if you use it as your writing sample) isn't that great, you'll at least get points for being professionalized enough to understand enough of the academic publication process to submit somewhere.

Hi @Determinedandnervous, would it be possible for you to tell us your basic profile and which schools you got into?

I'm sorry if I'm asking something too personal-- you can always say no =)

Thanks.

[guest56436]

I scored 162V, 153Q, 6.0AW the first time and recently 159V, 158Q, 6.0AW. Do you guys think I should just send both of the scores? The upside is that it's nice to show that I can hit the 90th percentile in verbal and it shows some growth in math skills. The downside is that it tells them that I did score only 50th percentile on math once (two years ago). 

[resDQ]

17 minutes ago, Comparativist said:

I scored 162V, 153Q, 6.0AW the first time and recently 159V, 158Q, 6.0AW. Do you guys think I should just send both of the scores? The upside is that it's nice to show that I can hit the 90th percentile in verbal and it shows some growth in math skills. The downside is that it tells them that I did score only 50th percentile on math once (two years ago). 

 

I would not send the 153Q, but that is my opinion. I did well on the AW (5.5) the first time. The second I got a 4.5, but I did better overall in quant and verbal, so I am refusing to retake over the AW. Of course, AW is not as important as the other two scores. 

[PoliticalOrder]

Yeah, I am having trouble weighing the costs on that one.