International PhD applicant - What are my chances?

[dreamerr33]

I am planning to apply to some of the top universities in US for a PhD with focus on Industrial relations. I am an International applicant.

The question which has been bugging me off all these days. I am even a competitive applicant?

If anyone could provide me feedback on my application, I would highly appreciate it! Thank you in advance

Here is my profile,

• Programs aiming for: PhD programs with focus on Industrial Relations

• Schools applying to: Top US schools in the discipline

• Undergrad Institution: Mediocre university

• Undergrad Major: Slightly relevant discpline

• Undergrad GPA: 3.5/4

• Masters University: One of the top social sciences university in my country.

• Masters Major: Highly relevant discipline.

• Masters GPA: 3.5/4

• GRE: 152V/161Q | 4.0W

• Languages: English(Fluent | TOEFL - 108), Italian(CEFR B2)

• Leadership Experience: Coordinator in two academic conferences in my university, and co-organized the annual event of my department.

• Professional Work Experience: None. Graduated recently

• Research Experience: 2 research Internships relevant to the field of study(Highly relevant but unpaid), 1 Government Research Group Project(slightly relevant and paid), 2 unpaid Research projects done as a part of Graduate coursework(one relevant and other irrelevant)

• LORs: Two from faculty under whom I have done minor research projects(slightly relevant to Industrial relations), and performed exceptionally well in their class. The third one is from my research Internship supervisors, where I did research work highly relevant to Industrial relations. Unfortunately, my Masters thesis advisor has left the university, so I couldn't ask her for a letter.

• Strength of LORs: Expecting a great one from my Internship supervisor (although it is not of academic nature), and good letters from the faculty.

• Writing Sample: My Masters thesis. Not a groundbreaking work. Just a small knowledge gap I filled.

• Publications: None

• Concerns: Concerned about low Verbal and Analytical writing scores in GRE, and recommendation letters not being too strong and the fact none of them is from my Masters thesis advisor (I wonder how big a weakness would that be in my application, should I be explaining it in the SOP?). Another concern is that my Masters thesis didn't turn out that great a work as I would have wanted it to be.

 

[dreamerr33]

Is my profile so bad that I haven't received a single reply

Shall I give up on my dreams of going to grad school

[Ppkitty]

Why are you only wanting to apply to top universities in the US? Even the most qualified student in the US will have a difficult time of it. 

[8BitJourney]

I think its harder to comment on international applicants WAMC as its already hard enough to rate US applicants. More so because PhD programs in anything related to psychology tends to be a crapshoot and incredibly competitive.

But if I'm to compare you to an I/O Psych applicant I'm going to be honest: you're going to have a rough time. Your GRE and GPAs aren't bad but they aren't spectacular which is more problematic for international students versus a domestic applicant. Applying to top tier schools only is a bad idea for applicants with perfect stats so I would suggest you diversify your list. You also have to make sure your letter writers will really throw all the compliments at admissions committees for you. A 'good'/average letter is easy to spot and not having one from your Master's advisor may raise red flags even if they left the university. 

If you aren't applying for I/O psych I would suggest a different subforum where they may be more knowledgeable.

[dreamerr33]

22 minutes ago, Ppkitty said:

Why are you only wanting to apply to top universities in the US? Even the most qualified student in the US will have a difficult time of it. 

@Ppkitty

Well, I am just applying to five PhD programs. 2 of them come under the top ten universities and the other 3 under top 30.

I couldn't find many universities having faculty with similar research interests so that of mine, and not many universities with PhD programs having deep focus on Industrial relations either.

 

14 minutes ago, 8BitJourney said:

I think its harder to comment on international applicants WAMC as its already hard enough to rate US applicants. More so because PhD programs in anything related to psychology tends to be a crapshoot and incredibly competitive.

But if I'm to compare you to an I/O Psych applicant I'm going to be honest: you're going to have a rough time. Your GRE and GPAs aren't bad but they aren't spectacular which is more problematic for international students versus a domestic applicant. Applying to top tier schools only is a bad idea for applicants with perfect stats so I would suggest you diversify your list. You also have to make sure your letter writers will really throw all the compliments at admissions committees for you. A 'good'/average letter is easy to spot and not having one from your Master's advisor may raise red flags even if they left the university. 

If you aren't applying for I/O psych I would suggest a different subforum where they may be more knowledgeable.

@8BitJourney

I did look for other subforums for discussion on topics related to industrial, labor and employment relations, but couldn't find any.

What do you mean when you say "Applying to top tier schools only is a bad idea for applicants with perfect stats?"

I had thought of applying to more universities, but ended up with just 5 at the end because these 5 have faculty with research interest similar to that of mine.

Thank you for the suggestions

[8BitJourney]

8 hours ago, dreamerr33 said:

@Ppkitty

Well, I am just applying to five PhD programs. 2 of them come under the top ten universities and the other 3 under top 30.

I couldn't find many universities having faculty with similar research interests so that of mine, and not many universities with PhD programs having deep focus on Industrial relations either.

 

@8BitJourney

I did look for other subforums for discussion on topics related to industrial, labor and employment relations, but couldn't find any.

What do you mean when you say "Applying to top tier schools only is a bad idea for applicants with perfect stats?"

I had thought of applying to more universities, but ended up with just 5 at the end because these 5 have faculty with research interest similar to that of mine.

Thank you for the suggestions

Sorry I forgot an "even" in there. Essentially, even for people with perfect gpa/gre scores the application process is difficult as there's no one formula to determine your chances of acceptance.