The Student Room Group

Getting admission for a phd at a top university

I am going to start studying for an undergraduate program in international relations at a top South African university. I know that, despite the fact that South Africa's universities are the top ranked in Africa, they are not very highly ranked in the world. My question is this:
could I get admitted for a top ph.d program at a top university in America or Britan (Harvard, Columbia, John Hopskins,Yale , Oxford, London School of Economics, Kings College, etc) if I did brilliantly academically, did brilliantly at the GRE tests, and got published at top political science review journals?
You could go to a South African university and get into a 'top' PhD program without having achieved any of those other things, if you had the right research proposal and found the right supervisor. On the other hand you could do all of those things and still struggle to find a place!

Once you get to PhD level there are no broad admissions rules - it's far too specific depending on your field, particular interest, proposed research project, etc.

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