My IR Grad school stats and acceptance/rejections

isolationist · 03-13-2009, 10:22 AM

Hey guys, I usually read this forum but never post. I saw a million threads on IR by a bunch of genius smart people, much smarter than me, and got no help because if you are like most people your GPA and GRE are okay but not that high. Of course someone with 3 majors from Harvard and 2 languages and perfect GREs will get into wherever he wants to get into. But we're not all like that, so I wanted to give my average mediocre stats and tell you guys where I have gotten in so for (08/09 cycle) just for someone's future reference on this board who is thinking of applying:

GPA: 3.13
GRE: 660q 600v
Major was political science general concentration and minors in econ and international studies.
Three excellent LORs, two from professors I took multiple classes from and one that I did a very long research project with.
A good writing sample - excerpt from a research project which I presented to a undergraduate forum.
One mediocre "honor society" for the social sciences.
Speak/Read fluent Arabic
Only internships were some website stuff and working for the Obama campaign. Nothing big.
I was on the student government but it was appointed, didn't do much.
Coursework in econ, history, poli sci, international studies.
No language taken except Chinese 101 - got a D.

Bad parts of transcript:
All five withdrawal used in first 3 semesters.
Four repeats of classes, one F but retook the class with an A so averaged to a C.
No coursework in statistics or research methods at all. Only math was a stupid "math and life" class for dumb people that was even easier than algebra.
Not very famous school academically, very mediocre state u.

Results:
American University School of International Service M.A. in U.S. Foreign Policy. Acceptance.
Catholic University M.A. in World Politics. Acceptance.
American University School of Public Affairs M.A. in Political Science. Acceptance.

Still haven't heard back from:
George Washington University in Middle Eastern studies (maybe??)
Georgetown in Security Studies (I don't think I will get in)

Anyway, if any of you can give me hope for George Washington I will be happy, but I think I like American's SIS better. I know my stats are medicore, but American is not that bad of a school, so I think I am pretty good.

Thanks,

Isolationist.

Ethan321 · 03-13-2009, 04:59 PM

Hey! Congrats on your acceptance to American! Your stats are not bad at all - your GRE scores are within range, your overall GPA is acceptable and you speak a 2nd language fluently which is more than alot of other applicants can say (ones who have taken 3 years of a second language or even 2 languages but are not fluent in either).

Anyways, at this point youll hear from GW and Georgetown within the next week so no use in fretting over what will happen. Just wait and see.

Good luck!

isolationist · 03-15-2009, 06:34 AM

Thanks Ethan! I see you have taken Arabic and Hebrew. Good job! I wish I knew Hebrew, it is such a beautiful language and the Jews are such a beautiful people with a rich history.

I think GWU is doable, probably won't get in but doable. Have you heard about Georgetown's Security Studies. I heard it was a lot easier to get into than the SFS because there are not many people who want to go there. Its my no. 1 top pick - thats exactly what floats my boat, especially for a masters.

The Sec. Studies average GRE, from what someone told me who knows a lot about their program, is a 660/670 on each section. I have a 660q, but my v is only 600 which is still pretty good, so I don't know. Hopefully they will like my Arabic, my recommendations (my prof. made a special really really good rec. just for Georgetown) and my personal statement... lol.

I wish everyone luck, this stuff is so stressful. Everyone I know hates IR so I am glad to see so many budding IR scholars or practioners in the future!

Aubstopper · 03-15-2009, 07:28 AM

UCLA had an IR graduate school fair back in october-ish and i had a chance to talk to the people from Georgetown about their security studies program (i've applied for it too). I asked the representatives what they were looking for most in their applicants and they said that research and work experience (preferably abroad) were the most important things. I also asked them the acceptance rate for the program and they said that it was somewhere around 35-40%.

I also asked GWU's Elliott school reps the same questions and i was told that fulfilling the econ prereqs was the most important thing, and that that the acceptance rate for the security policy studies program was something like 50%.

You still have a pretty good chance, i think--especially being fluent in a target language like arabic (i wish i was; it would make my life a lot easier). My GREs were really crappy (less than you guys'), but thus far i've been accepted to UMichigan and UChicago for middle eastern studies, even grabbing some financial aid! honestly, i don't think that you have anything to freak out about and believe that you're pretty much in at GWU

isolationist · 03-15-2009, 10:33 AM

Thanks for the help Aubstopper. I wish there was a "IRSchoolNumbers" like LawSchoolNumbers. Since there isn't, we just have to post each other's stats on this forum - I guess IR demands a whole package anyway, law school just pretty much looks at an index number.

In about two weeks I will hear from GWU and Georgetown, so we'll see, I will post the accept/reject for all of you guys benefit.

UCLA09 · 03-20-2009, 01:00 AM

Congrats on getting into American's SIS.
As an undergrad at UCLA, I have a 3.8 GPA, multiple internships, and 4 years of Army experience, however the GRE scores were low....1170 and 3.5 writing. Needless to say, I didn't get in GWU....
But in my opinion even if you don't get accepted into GWU, you deserve a pat on the back for getting into American's SIS. That school has a great foreign policy program.

Aubstopper · 03-20-2009, 03:25 AM

your stuff for GWU might be up now.

funny thing is...i didn't get into GWU, yet i got into UChicago and UMichigan with scholarships...

i chuckled a bit when i saw the rejection...no loss to me at this point.

Ethan321 · 03-20-2009, 09:50 AM

Congrats on your acceptance to American! I think studying Foreign Policy there will open up alot of career doors for you!

I just found out that I was accepted into GW so I'm quite excited about that. If we're both in DC in the fall I would definetely be interested in doing an Arabic-Hebrew exchange if you had the time!

isolationist · 03-20-2009, 05:23 PM

Thanks all. I hope "U.S. Foreign Policy" is a better field job wise than "International Politics." I am pretty sure I am going to get a Ph.D. and my interest is mostly in international security. I would work for private sector though and not government or contractors because I am a dual citizen and my friend who is a security clearance investigator said they are not allowed to give security clearances to dual citizens.

Ethan, we should definetly do an Arabic-Hebrew exchange next year!

I have no idea if I got into GWU or not because I keep trying to check it and I don't understand how that website works. It says my "transcripts are not recieved" and that my application is incomplete, even though they sent me an email and said they had lost my transcripts but they had definitely received them. I also sent them to GWU 2 times officially, and one time even unofficially through email because they said they needed one immediately since they lost it (thereafter I sent it again officially, just to make sure, even though they didn't ask for it).

Maybe the system is just bugged up or something. I will check out the mail later in the week to see if I have gotten in or not. I think probably not.

Man I should have applied to U. Chicago, I think it is possible I would have gotten in.

isolationist · 03-23-2009, 05:23 PM

GTown - Sec. Studies. Rejection.

theslicknick6 · 03-24-2009, 11:13 PM

hey guys, I got rejected by the sec studies program at georgetown as well
but got into the international science and tech policy at GWU Elliot so pretty excited about that. Do any of you guys have science backgrounds as well and are going to Elliot?

also look through your emails isolationist, i had the same problem and it was because i didnt use the proper login that they had sent me, i literally had to try three different logins before i found the right one

isolationist · 03-25-2009, 02:55 AM

Thanks man. I just checked GWU, rejection as well for the Middle Eastern Studies program. That was pretty hard to take, because I really wanted to go there. This is just not a lucky year because of the high applicant pool, I bet last year I would have maybe gotten in. It is ok though.

SIS is good enough for me. People get good jobs from there even in finance and stuff related fields. I also got into American SPA, so I might actually do both at the same time which is probably pretty difficult. I think SIS will be really good, I am going to take a lot of electives in the other fields (International Politics, Regional Studies), so that I am very well rounded when I get out of there. I think in the end I will have a good background in the stuff I want to get a good background in.

Good luck everyone else, I hope you get into the schools you want to get into.

msra6pj2 · 03-25-2009, 08:59 PM

OK so i just got my rejections from
SAIS and Georgetown.
But Ive got GW and NYU. Im not sure what to think of syracuse, the program seems nice but its not ranked anywhere except for Public affairs and its not in DC :S
Anyone else get into GW direct from undergrad?? Anyone have any idea about GW's accomodation and deposit deadlines?

Aubstopper · 03-25-2009, 09:49 PM

i still haven't heard from SAIS...no email...no mail...

UCLA09 · 03-26-2009, 11:16 PM

Msra6pj2: Here are a couple of ranking surveys to let you see how Syracuse's Maxwell School has been ranked. It appears its competitively ranked below the top names. And in most cases in the top 10.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/c...id=4685&page=1

http://irtheoryandpractice.wm.edu/pr...eport_2009.pdf

http://web.wm.edu/irtheoryandpractic...07.pdf?svr=www