<p>“I get the feeling that many of you who responded are in the humanities… perhaps not even in a top 15 program?”
Seriously buddy? I don’t know about everyone else, but I am in the sciences and I got interview invites to most of the top 10 schools in my field and will be attending one of the best schools for my field. </p>
<p>I really don’t see why you are so concerned with AA here if you already have a good app. At this point, shouldn’t [you want] your accomplishments alone get you into grad school? You seem like you’ve got the numbers, resume, recs, etc. - so even without all this AA business, the only thing here I can see killing your app is your personality (which can be an important factor in grad school admissions).</p>
<p>I think you are competitive without affirmative action or any kind of tip toward diversity. Now that you’ve supplied more information about publications and research, it’s easier to assess your chances, although, of course, no one can predict outcome. You might also want to look at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School. Cornel West (originally from Harvard) is the driving force behind the African-American Studies program, a department that could dovetail with your interests even though West may not be an official part of the WWS. (Universities these days encourage cross-departmental collaborations.) </p>
<p>Next, it’s bad form to post a question on a forum – and then belittle other people for trying to answer because you were able to find the answer with a simple Google search. I, for one, am asking, “If it was so easy to find the answer, why didn’t you perform that search first?” We all gave our opinions to the best of our knowledge. Most of us have solid, working knowledge of how universities and graduate admissions work, and while we may not have specific information about the political science programs that interest you, we are not dishonest. A little more diplomacy would have been appreciated.</p>
<p>“…the only thing here I can see killing your app is your personality (which can be an important factor in grad school admissions.”</p>
<p>LAC operon: with regards to your first comment (not quoted here), notice that I said “MOST…are not in top 15 programs”. Thus, your invitations to interview at top 10 programs (not any acceptances yet) is not inconsistent with my statement (I would expect better logic from someone in the sciences, hopefully this does not prevent you from getting in anywhere. Second, how do you know that personality plays a big role in poli sci admissions at Harvard? They do NOT grant interviews. The only source they really have regarding my personality is my letters of rec – I have been able to conceal how big of an ******* I am from my recomenders, all of which essentially think I am the second coming. I think I know what you are going to say – personality plays a big role in your experience. Well, buddy, another [. . .] extrapolation… From the fact that interviews occur for grad programs in the sciences (obviously to screen out the [. . .]science nerds), it hardly follows that we should expect such a practice would occur in poli sci.</p>
<p>“I got interview invites to most of the top 10 schools in my field and will be attending one of the best schools for my field” - I guess you didn’t read the second half that I have been accepted to graduate school - I mention the invites as I had to turn down schools because I had too many invites from the top ten (also, in the sciences, invites are only offered to people they are very likely going to admit). I am not trying to brag - I said that because I feel the number of invites I received was in part because I knew how to put a successful application together - I know the grad school admissions game very well. CC forums were a big help in the beginning to figure things out and I just want to try and help others learn what I did.
Also - I did know that Harvard polisci doesn’t do interviews - but your personality comes through your written word in your apps (word choice). All I can say is that hope Harvard reads this thread - if they want you after reading this - then great.</p>
<p>One, do you <em>really</em> need AA at this point? With a degree from Stanford, strong GPA, and excellent test scores? Take a hard look at yourself. You worked your butt off to achieve great things, not because you let your race pave the way to success. It seems to me that you’re more (or at least SHOULD be) concerned about creating the very best scholar that you can be, regardless of your race.</p>
<p>Two, I can only hope that porkypig has taken notice of your writing style and find your application this winter. Your comments to posters who are just trying to be helpful and guide you along are quite condescending.</p>
<p>Even if you are a random poster, be careful. There ARE professors on these boards who are lurking or posting and you just don’t know what schools they’re from. People recognize each other by their writing style and each person’s style is unique (that’s why high school English teachers have no problem grading papers that don’t have names on them). You’ve written enough here for porkypig and others to figure you out on an application.</p>
<p>Oh good lord…let me get this straight. Someone who has studied racial politics with some of the world’s most renowned professors is asking whether being a URM will be advantageous on College Confidential?</p>
<p>OP: All I’ll say is that given your interests, you will probably be applying to work with some of my colleagues. Given that we get more than 10 applications for each position, nobody is “guaranteed admission.” Lucky for you I’m not on grad admissions this year.</p>
<p>Considering it’s a black male who attended SLS and who has referred to specific research interests/experience, if anyone wanted to, they can easily profile and blackball you during upcoming admissions.</p>
<p>Yeah, thanks Oyama. I was probably out of line with the last post… I didn’t mean it as a threat, but a suggestion. Still I suspect the OP is just pulling everyone’s chain, and doing a very good job of that.</p>
<p>Yeah, I agree. I didn’t mean anything against you regarding the last post–just saying that if the OP was serious about all this, then he did a good job profiling himself for any interested (or disinterested, now) parties in the future.</p>