deutsch1997bw

This. I was on the waitlist at a very prestigious graduate program last year (top 10), but I was rejected from all of the top 25 and beyond programs I applied to. It's very random.

When did you find out that you had been placed on the waitlist? I was wait-listed at my top program last year. I found out about this on February 15. I sent a follow-up email regarding the waitlist approximately one month later, in which I mentioned that this program was my top choice. Waiting really sucks, but give it time. I hope everything works out for you!

I was on the waitlist for CP at UNC last year, and I did not find out about my status until April 14. I, too, was told that, based on previous years, I had a good chance of being admitted. I was ultimately not accepted.

I was asked to describe my current research. That was the easy part. The difficult question was: "Why political science?". I was not expecting that question. Isn't it obvious why I'm applying to graduate school in political science and not, for example, anthropology?

I wouldn't do anything. Waiting sucks, but it is what it is. And I write this as someone who was in a similar situation last year. Sending an email to the program asking about your status might signal to the admissions committee, among other things, that you don't have enough patience and therefore aren't mature enough to enter a graduate program. Good luck!

I had an interview with UW-Madison around that time last year and, if I recall correctly, I heard back approximately 1.5-2 weeks later. I was told by one of the professors that interviewed me that they would take three weeks to make decisions after interviews, though.

Hopefully today we'll hear something. The waiting game is preventing me from concentrating on ~200 pages of reading that I need to complete by tomorrow!

I think we'll find out either today (so sometime in the next two hours) or tomorrow.

Does anyone know what time of day we should find out (i.e., morning, afternoon, etc.)?

I read something about this on the CLS Applicants FB page. My understanding is that the shutdown will not affect when decisions are released. Hopefully we find out sometime this week. In previous years, decisions have been announced (primarily) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

January 12, I believe.

I was interviewed by the admissions committee at UW-Madison last cycle.

I had this issue with one of my letter writers last cycle. All of the institutions I contacted regarding the late letters were fine with it.

Michigan, Ohio State, and Minnesota come to mind...

When I applied to programs in Fall 2017, I was wait-listed at UNC-Chapel Hill (#11) and interviewed at UW-Madison (#14 or something like that). My GRE Q score was substantially lower than yours. I had really strong LORs (one d my letter writers was a fairly well-known methodologist) research experience, and conference presentations. So, in other words, other aspects of your application can make up for weak GRE scores.