<p>I wanted to receive any feedback you have (especially if you relate your own personal experiences) regarding my credentials for admission into some top political science PhD programs</p>
<p>My credentials:</p>
<p>-Graduate from Michigan, 3.96 cumulative GPA (4.0 in Public Policy major)
-Political science minor (4.0 minor GPA)
-GRE: 590V, 720Q, 5 Analytic Writing
-Two published papers (in peer-reviewed undergraduate research journals)
-Very active on campus (research assistant for five professors, managing editor of an international affairs publication, writer/editboard of school newspaper, resident advisor, international affairs society member, etc.)
-Took graduate courses in statistics (two just attended, the other received an A grade)
Interned at a well-known social science data archive; became acquainted with research methodology and statistical analysis
-Born in Europe, traveled broadly, speak two European languages (other than english)</p>
<p>I want to focus on comparative politics (and W. Europe) and here are the schools I'm applying to:</p>
<p>Harvard, Michigan, Princeton, Stanford, UC Berkeley, U Chicago, Columbia, Yale</p>
<p>I think I am really strong, but my GRE scores (75th-85th percentile scores) are weak. Do you think I have a shot?</p>
<p>PhD programs in general are not as formulaic as law school, med school, or other graduate programs, so your stats will only take you so far. So while I think you have a solid record, other factors are also very important, especially your statement of purpose, writing sample, and letters of recommendation. Furthermore, I really hope you applied to some safety schools, because the competition at all of these programs you’ve listed is incredibly fierce.</p>
<p>That being said, if you did have a strong writing sample, have received strong letters from senior faculty, and have a well-thought out statement of purpose, then you might have a shot. But again, without any safety schools in your list, you might get rejected from all of them.</p>
<p>Of these schools, I know Chicago at least offers a 1-year MA program to highly qualified students (such as yourself) to improve your record. I mean if you get rejected across the board but get into that program, you should seriously consider doing that program instead.</p>
<p>Thank you for your reply and for your very helpful feedback. With regards to safety schools, I was admitted to Michigan Law as a pre-admit over the summer. I applied to Michigan Law because it has a special program whereby UM students with high GPAs can apply without taking the LSAT and because it has a strong international law/comparative law curriculum (allowing me to still study the EU, except through a slightly more legal and less political perspective). Essentially, MLaw is my ‘safety’ school, so I only applied to Polsci programs that I would either prefer over MLaw or which would be a close call.</p>
<p>tpavone,
In follow-up to the comment by Sisyphus86, unsuccessful applicants to Chicago PhD programs are generally referred to one of their MA programs, so a separate application is not necessary. With your exceptional academic record, I’d say you have a decent shot at getting into Chicago’s PhD program, particularly if your references are good (given how competitive PhD admissions are these days, there are no guarantees, obviously). With your record, though, I’d be very surprised if you weren’t offered at least an MA placement at Chicago, most likely with a 2/3 or full tuition scholarship.<br>
Good luck.</p>
<p>I will definitely let you know how it turns out. I think this is an interesting experiment to see how much weight programs put on the GRE, since I think it’s the only weak part of my app. I hope one or two schools sees through those…</p>