<p>I am interested in attending the London School of Economics for PhD studies, but am trying to narrow my choice down between Employment Relations & Organizational Behavior and International Relations. </p>
<p>I am in the process of obtaining my masters degree at Harvard in International Relations, where I will likely finish with a 3.2-3.5 GPA - obviously, my final GPA depends on how well I perform this year. I am a bit concerned about my acceptance chances at LSE - since my GPA is not very high. My GPA, during my undergraduate years, was also low. Fortunately, my background and work experiences are pretty solid. </p>
<p>Does anyone have any knowledge as to which program is more competitive? The Org. Behavior or IR? My first choice would be the Org. Behavior (I have work experience in this area), but I'm wondering if I'd be better off applying to LSE's IR program since I have (or plan to have next year) my masters degree in IR. </p>
<p>Also, I am an American and heard that Americans with Ivy League degrees are highly sought after at LSE for these programs. Can anyone confirm this? What are my chances for acceptance at LSE? Any additional information regarding the admissions process with these two programs would be helpful as well. I have checked out the LSE website, but was wondering if someone could offer further and perhaps personal advice as I am unfamiliar with the PhD admission process. Thanks!</p>
<p>You should ask this in the Grad School Forum.</p>
<p>Click on “Discussion Home” in the upper-left of this screen, and then scroll down to find it.</p>
<p>These are totally different PhDs…the fact that you are thinking about them in terms of which is least competitive suggests you probably shouldn’t be doing either one of them. I don’t mean to be blunt but seriously, you are going about this entirely the wrong way. Why on earth are you seeking a PhD?</p>
<p>"These are totally different PhDs…the fact that you are thinking about them in terms of which is least competitive suggests you probably shouldn’t be doing either one of them.</p>
<p>Yes, they are different PhD’s. Thank you for pointing that out. Are you going to offer advice or are you going to mock me? </p>
<p>“I don’t mean to be blunt but seriously, you are going about this entirely the wrong way. Why on earth are you seeking a PhD?”</p>
<p>I am seeking a PhD for the same reasons that others seek a PhD - career advancement. I don’t mean to be blunt, but if you can’t help answer the question then you are going about this the wrong way.</p>
<p>You’re GPA is way too low to be competitive for a phD in IR in LSE even if its from Harvard. The people at LSE that get into the IR phD program graduate in the uk with “distinction” from their masters which is equal to a 3.7+ in american graduate school. Also you have yet to state what type of topic you want to study. I agree with the person above you are searching for LSE for the sake of prestige not because you are interested in the topic. A terminal IR masters is perfectly fine for the field, phDs in the fields are academics and its obvious thats not a career you are searching for.</p>
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<p>Make sure you don’t write the above in your SOP. In general, people seek out master’s degree for “career advancement” while people pursuing PhDs do it for passion and research, even if the degree ends up advancing their careers. The different motivations may seem subtle to you, but they are not. You’ll want to convey that deep interest in your application since sometimes that kind of passion can trump slightly lower grades.</p>
<p>As for whether LSE wants Ivy League applicants, I can’t say specifically; however, prestigious schools generally want students who have done well in other tough programs, so a 3.8 from Harvard or Princeton will get their attention. But mediocre performance at one of those schools won’t get you far – unless, of course, it is accompanied by stellar experience/research.</p>