Grad School Rejection: Worth trying to find out why?

[smk67]

My best guess is the six year layoff has something to do with it. If you called and asked what you could do to make yourself more competitive next year, they will probably say taking some extra classes and perhaps getting a letter from one of the profs to show your enthusiasm for further education.

[ebranig]

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The only serious research I did as an undergrad was for my senior honors thesis. And I've never had anything published, but I thought it was exceptionally rare for undergrads to get stuff published.

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This is why you didn't get in. It's pretty obvious...

[Jdanz]

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The only serious research I did as an undergrad was for my senior honors thesis. And I've never had anything published, but I thought it was exceptionally rare for undergrads to get stuff published.

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This is why you didn't get in. It's pretty obvious...

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I don't think this is really true. I doubt most matriculating PHD students have been published, but I am open to being corrected.

[60Vauban]

PhD programs are research, research, and who you know. If you haven't published under your own name you need to have done the work for a prof in undergrad or masters. Your undergrad stats are pretty vanilla compared to the kids they let in.

Best suggestion is to research the profs and find one who teaches what you really want to learn down to the specialized field. That prof will be the one to get you in. Oh and if you don't get along with that prof on a personal or professional level your PhD will become your living nightmare. Good luck.

[HajiShirazu]

Yeah, you got screwed because of the lack of research, no doubt. I know that in the sciences at least (which are less competitive) you won't get in anywhere decent without some sort of research, and for the top 10 you need pubs in addition to top tier grades and test scores. Many of these places are like 500 apps for 20 spots, it's hilarious.
Personally most people I know who got their name on pubs in undergrad didn't do much in the way of actual creative work. Usually they just button-pushed or maybe did a little programming while the grad students and postdocs did all the actual work.
With regards to your actual question I have read that they do take admissions very seriously and if your application was otherwise competitive, which it sounds like it was, they spend a lot of time on reading the materials. My guess is that you probably could talk to someone who would tell you the truth about why you didn't get in and give an honest evaluation, although they might not talk much about your recs.

[hanster]

I asked a friend of mine who's going to Harvard's polisci PhD program right now about your situation. He basically said you didn't have enough connections plus a lack of research. But mainly because you didn't have connection. My friend said he had a very influential adviser and basically got him into all the top political programs (Stanford, Princeton, Harvard). He was a summa cum laude at UCLA with a near perfect GRE, but he got in last year and is currently attending Kennedy's School of Government. So I'd think he knows what he's talking about.

[NickMPK]

Bumping this thread since I got such a crazy awesome result.

I ended up of emailing three professors at Princeton politely asking if there was anything I should do in the future to improve my application: the Chair of the Politics Dept., the Associate Chair of the Dept., and the Chair of the Politics Admissions Committee.

The Associate Chair said he was out of the country all semester and not part of the admissions decisions this year. The Chair of Admissions said they got so many applications that he couldn't remember enough about mine to said anything useful. Oh well.

Then this Friday afternoon (a month later), I got a call from the Admissions Chair. He said that they had made a mistake in not providing for a wait list, and that I would have been first on the wait list if they had, and that they could offer me admission! Plus a fellowship for full tuition plus a 24K/year stipend.

I really have no idea if I was actually first on the wait list or if he reconsidered my application after I sent the email. (It seems kind of strange that the admissions chair wouldn't remember my application if I was actually first on the wait list.) In any case, sending the email certainly didn't hurt, and may have pulled off a miracle.

I accepted the offer the next day and will be pursuing a PhD in Politics from Princeton starting this fall.

[Butso]

nj

[CheckRaise]

congrats man

[Golden_Rhino]

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congrats man

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Seriously. You must feel fifty feet tall right now.