xinguin

This might mean you're on the waitlist for the waitlist - so a long shot. I know CUNY does this.

No idea! Last I heard, they had narrowed it down to a handful of applicants. They also received a historic number of applicants this year...

Looking for methodological diversity is more of a PSI thing. There's already a ton of grad students doing qualitative work - but it's ultimately about who applies and who accepts, right? PGSC looks more for regional interest in applicants, like what part of the world you're interested in studying. The divide between the two divisions is pretty substantial - PGSC is heavily theoretical and usually attracts people who intellectually work in Marxist tradition. PSI tends to be more about (domestic) public policy and policy-related issues like family, educational inequality, etc. The department is pretty small, so you have to be sure you know what you want to study. But there's also a lot of opportunities to collaborate with other departments like public health, education, etc. And yep - rumor has it they're looking for 6 people this year, as opposed to the normal 4. But the new funding system (which is pretty hefty - same as other private elites) still applies to the new cohort. Hope this helps!

You'll have a better chance of being accepted if you're willing to do quant / shown aptitude for doing quant research, mostly because this is what the program is looking for right now...

Who is your POI at Hopkins?

They were when I was applying last year - quite a few people were accepted to Harvard, UCLA, NYU, etc. I'm assuming it's people like you that's keeping others at bay.

Johns Hopkins is really good for that. They're pretty competitive (great stipend, small cohort) and admit you based on your geographic interests though. Wisconsin and Yale might also be good fits.