adaptations

My general suspicion is that you haven't heard from the professor because he/she is busy. I know that isn't fair, but it is far and away the most probable answer. Regarding the conference, it seems like a good idea to ask the professor if they will be there and if they would like to meet. I wouldn't put too much pressure on it, but just make the offer. Good luck,

Congrats to the admit. It is exciting that the notifications have started. As for the date, if I recall from last year, the default setting of the date admitted is one day ahead of the current day - thus you need to actively change that, which is counter intuitive.

True, I forget that sometimes a little information is worse than no information. Instead I should sing and dance to distract everyone from the errors of my ways. I could be just like Tina Fey on 30 Rock - anyone see the episode?

Actually Chicago takes longer. I wouldn't expect a decision from them for a while. Sorry, I mentioned anything. I'll just go back to crunching the numbers on admissions data or something equally exciting

rlayla: I like the way you think. Sorry to say, I have to keep my lips tight about specifics. The good news is, schools are getting busy making decisions and the news will start pouring in soon enough!

To the best of my knowledge, another school completed it's first set of decisions last week, but it has to go through the usual approvals before anything gets sent out.

I think they will. I predict that one of the big ten schools will send some notices. There are a few other schools that are likely to start notifying - it's just a question of whether anyone on the forum applied to them.

I would like to thank miratrix for saying exactly what I first thought.

It's funny, although I am still not likely to hear this coming week - the 2% chance that I will, actually has me excited to wake up tomorrow morning and check my email.

I don't see any justification for having your PI listed as an author. As was previously mentioned, they deserve acknowledgement for their contribution and suggestions, but no more if they weren't an active participant. In fact, it should be to your advantage in the long run to publish as the sole author, assuming you get the article published. Although I am in the social sciences, many of my friends are in the hard sciences, and to the best of my knowledge they do not include their PI's unless they actively collaborated with them.

I wouldn't be too quick to use first names. I had a prof. who signed all his emails with initials and was very informal. Eventually I decided to start calling him by his first name and was quickly reminded that he was to be called "professor ..." My suggestion is to continue using formal titles until you meet them and really have a sense of who they are - it certainly can't hurt to be overly formal, as opposed to offend someone for being too casual.

CAPoliSciPhD - Have you considered contacting the administration staff within the department you are applying to? I tend to find the staff within the departments to be very helpful, and depending on the hierarchy of the admissions process at the particular school, an administrative person may be able to slip an emailed copy into the file (just for the time being) until the official copy arrives. Personally, I had administrative people update my files at two schools well after the deadline, and they were happy to help (just be really appreciative!)

Most schools (at least in my field) hold an admitted students day, where they generally provide a stipend for travel and housing, plus they provide food at most functions. Thus, if you wait to visit until after you've heard the results, you shouldn't have to pay much (if anything) to check out the schools.

Sam123 - It doesn't look like Brown usually mails out notices until late Feb. to early March. Hopefully they will be a bit earlier this year, but I wouldn't count on it. More optimistically (at least for those who hate waiting - oh wait, that's all of us), I would place big money on the first notices being received next week. There are a number of schools who typically send first notices the last week of Jan/first days of February... We're almost there!

Current Chicago CIR Student here - As a student in CIR, I fully endorse the program. It is quite intense and moves at a very fast pace. It gives you the opportunity to take great graduate courses, network with outstanding faculty, and work on your own research (in the form of your MA thesis). The program provides a good deal of flexibility, so you can work on developing or pursuing your given specialty. One recommendation - if you enroll in CIR, or a masters in another top university, take full advantage of the non-class offerings. Things like workshops, speaker series, research assistantships, etc... It is through these offerings that you will really develop connections with faculty, secure strong letters of rec. for the future (along with your classes), and gain the most out of the program. Best of luck to all,

Regarding the comment about Iowa and FSU, lets not start or build upon rampant speculation (especially from completely anonymous posters). As you will note, later in the thread, individuals who were willing to include their names and positions (which still can be false if not a verified .edu account) confirmed that decisions have NOT been sent out. This is one reason I think anonymous posting is such a problem. At least the grad cafe requires a username so we can evaluate the consistency and credibility of repeated posts.

Wow guys. I know my dad's sense of humor may be rough during the application cycle, but he's still my dad.

Plisar - I don't mean to pry, but I saw you applied to 21 programs. Do you mind sharing with the community what subfield you're applying in, and if you feel like making a list - perhaps some of the schools for which you bought lottery tickets?

Well, this is certainly the time of year when people start to fret. Unfortunately - it is going to get worse. By mid February some people will be hearing, others will know nothing, and no matter who you are, there will be things to worry about. My two cents of advice is, start thinking of a plan B that is actually appealing. At the very least it gives you something else to devote some time to and it provides you with a fall back. Then when the notices start coming you will either 1) be very happy you had a plan B if things don't go well, or 2) can laugh at yourself for wasting time on plan B because you just got into grad school. Either way, it doesn't hurt to start working on a backup now that applications are done.

It is certainly desensitizing. Last year when I applied to MIT, they said all acceptances were sent via DHL. I mentioned this to my parents - shortly after, my dad starting sending packages via DHL. He thought it was hilarious.

After speaking with a professor on this subject I was given the impression that backing out of an acceptance at any point should be done with extreme caution. Although a school will almost always let you back out of an acceptance, given that they do not want to force someone to enroll that really doesn't want to, there may be repercussions. The professor I spoke with, essentially said that the schools communicate with each other when students back out of offers and that the student can develop a negative reputation in the field that could reduce chances of hiring or harm relationships down the road. Although I am somewhat skeptical how long schools would really hold a grudge, the point is, when you accept an offer you should consider it final and binding. On the issue of what to do if you have an existing offer but are waitlisted and the April 15th deadline has arrived. First, be honest with the school that has already given you an offer. You can request an extension, although they are under no obligation to give you one. If they give you an extension - great. If not, you will have to take a gamble. You will either have to accept your existing offer, or turn it down in the hope that funding and an acceptance come through with the waitlisted school. To be honest, I think the more common problem is that you have two acceptances, but one of them cannot guarantee you funding, but tells you they will make a funding decision after April 15th. Sometimes that school can tell you exactly how many people would have to turn down funding for you to receive it. Needless to say, it is an excessively stressful situation. I hope this insight is helpful. Cheers,

I would suggest waiting until you get the initial offer in writing. If the official offer doesn't have any funding (or enough), then approach proffesor/school to ask for funding.

Regarding the number of applicants to yale last year, whomever thought there were over 8000 in political science is crazy. I pulled up my rejection letter from last year, which happened to be a personalized response from within the department (so I trust it) - It says they had "about 550 applicants and less than 40 admits."

Sam123 I wish you the best of luck during this process. Unfortunately, I think your verbal score is going to significantly hinder you at the top programs. Hopefully your SOP and writing sample are top notch, which will show them what your capable of - instead of just a number. The good thing is, you applied to a nice range of schools, so hopefully good news and funding will come from somewhere.

Sam123 My initial reaction to your "am I aiming too high" question is no. However, to have a better idea, more info on your GRE, Grad GPA, area of interest, etc. are needed to really consider your question. Cheers,