Nords

Thanks! CA schools are definitely nice options. My wife is particularly excited by those (and cheering against Pitt, Syracuse, and GMU). Guess we'll see

Sorry to hear that, IR_lady! But cheer up, you're still in at BERKELEY and UCLA! Life is wonderful! =) You could go do your mountains of reading at a top 5 school and on the beach at the same time!

Haha, I know this feeling. I'm really happy for everyone who got into Pittsburgh, but I also can't wait for a few of them to decline it, so I can get in off the waitlist Best of luck to you!

I second packrats comment. BFB deserves to have a shrine built in his honor after all of his contributions on this forum. It may not seem like it, but you've doubtless helped make countless people's dream careers possible by helping us all figure out how, where and why to apply.

This thread really demonstrates why I love gradcafe. It was like a race to see who could help first! Such a helpful group here. Wish I could attend a doctoral program with all of you! =D

I can't really comment on the whether your research interest fits better in political science or communication, so I won't try haha. Honestly, your strengths seem quite impressive. Certainly good enough to get into a strong program if you correct the weaknesses As you already mentioned, your GRE is one thing that could clearly be improved. Since you would now have quite a long time to improve it, I would start right away and just do a little bit every day. On the verbal part, in particular, you can improve your score a ton with software like Anki (it's a spaced repetition system flashcard program. You'd be amazed how much you can remember just by letting the program quiz you over and over again. My score shot up from a 150ish to 170. The quant part, I suppose just requires reading and practice, but you already know that I know you said you aren't going to write a new paper, but if you are serious about getting into a good program and don't think your current samples are very good, I really think it would be worth reconsidering. I know it takes time, and can really be a pain if you're working a regular job at the same time, but this is what a career in academia is about. Other than that, the only real advice I have is to apply to more programs. Even with a great application, only 5 programs is risky. I only applied to 6 programs this time, but I really know I should have applied to 10+. In short: If you're willing to put in the work to boost your GRE score, draft a new writing sample, and cast your net a bit wider, it's absolutely worth reapplying. (Last suggestion: I know most of us who applied more than once took quite a hard look at our SOPs. I think the main thing that made my applications stronger this year was taking more time on my SOP and making sure it made my research interests and fit with the school more explicit. Donald Asher's book on Graduate Admissions Essays is particular good, imo.)

Out of curiosity, Chiz, what's your subfield?

Congrats to all you Yale admits! That's brilliant news!

True. I guess most of the visitation weekends probably don't overlap. Political Science is on the 21st of March, I think. As an international political economy student, my decision will be heavily based on how many foreign languages I hear when I take random walks across campus and how many pickup soccer games I come across.

That is indeed a good form of coffee When is your visitation weekend anyway? I would love to have some (impossible ) statistics on what things really make people choose the schools they choose. I imagine things like ego (basically how you would feel telling other people about what school you study at), coffee shops, weather, etc are often every bit as influential as actual fit.

Thanks for posting this, TMCB. It's a great link.

Thanks Brittney1. Cohen does seem like an absolutely brilliant professor to have as an advisor. All the contact I've had with him has been very positive. Now just waiting to hear about that funding offer!

Nice. I'm considering it for Poli Sci

This is a bit random, but does anyone know if there are any particularly good coffee shops near campus? I'm a bit embarrassed of how much weight this carries in my final decision between schools (No, Starbucks and similar chains don't count. I mean independent shops, preferably ones that do their own roasting.) On a different note, for those of you that have been admitted to UCR and are considering attending, what programs would you be there for?

Thanks for the input, packrat. That's quite helpful. That's pretty much what I was thinking as well, so it's nice to have it confirmed. I just sent an email

Thanks for the input. I've never been waitlisted anywhere (or even really thought about it as much of a possibility), so I'm not quite sure what to do in the situation

I have a question for anyone waitlisted at one of their top choices: Is there anything you're doing to up your chances of getting accepted off the waitlist or contacting the school at all, or are you just "waiting" to hear back?

I suppose it shouldn't surprise me considering how late their deadline was this year, but Syracuse is taking forever! Don't know what to do with myself other than stay entertained by reading all the random little arguments that break out here on gradcafe Keep up the good work everybody haha.

Congrats to all today's admits! That's great news I have a question: if a program has you on a waitlist and asked you to to not accept any other offers without first contacting them, how long should you wait to let them know you have other offers..?

Damn haha. That's a pretty intense list! Well done!

So it seems! 10 acceptances already! You're killin' it! If you don't mind me asking, where did you get accepted already?

Can't say my GPA or GRE scores were all too different the second time around. What WAS different was that I actually had a good idea of what research I wanted to pursue. That helped me pick schools that were better fits and it definitely showed in my statement of purpose. I was pissed when I didn't get in on my first cycle, but in retrospect I'm pretty happy about it. Each of the schools I applied to this time was a much better fit than the ones I applied to last year.

Now I've pretty much been expecting a rejection, though, since there are already quite a few admits and I can't imagine many of them will be declined :/ Though I would be really happy to be wrong!

Nor do I. Been waiting to hear from them for weeks :|

I strongly dislike him as well.. but just beyond that, I don't understand why everyone thinks he built his teams anymore than any other manager. The Chelsea side he inherited was stronger by a margin than the Barcelona side Pep inherited, as were Inter and Madrid. People seem to think that just cause Pep's Barcelona dominated so much that Barcelona had dominated in the previous years too. The only real "impressive" achievement of Mourinho's, in my book, is winning with Porto, but even that is only impressive if you don't know the details/didn't watch the ties. The guy played Lyon, Deportivo la Coruña, and Monaco in the last three rounds. It was a year of upsets on all sides that he consistently benefitted from by getting to play the weakest possible opponents OK, I'm done ranting. Either way Today's match is going to be huge!