Orlien

YES! 
 
Stay positive.  Fight your doubts by remembering your historical accomplishments.  Those are the seeds for your future success.  Looking forward to your good news!

LOL. Thank you. I asked "will I get into ______ [school name]." The results were remarkably close to my expectations. Ha!

Claiming a Princeton

Claiming a Princeton

Georgetown DGS dropping down from the ceiling, ninja style, and whispering rejection in your ear

I don't know.. this is probably kinder and swifter than an acceptance sans funding

Note attached to a coconut attached to a swallow.

Hm. I like all chocolates, except the ones with mint in them.

Well, not really. This implies that the information you need to write a strong SOP and determine that a school is one you want to apply to is exactly the same level of information you need to write a precise rank-ordering between those schools. Before you apply, you should have a sense of the general strengths, some people you would like to work with, a general sense of placement, etc. This allows you to make the decision of whether the expected value of an application is higher than the application cost, and to mention a few POIs/strengths of the department in your SOP to demonstrate you've thought about fit. Once you've been admitted to a set of schools you need to set out to resolve as much of remaining uncertainty as possible so that you can narrow the confidence intervals around your estimates of expected value and make a better decision between the options you have. It is unreasonable to expect that applicants will have done enough research ex ante that they will not need to engage in more information-gathering after having offers in order to make a more fine-grained evaluation of the options, particularly given that many applicants apply to 10+ schools.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this question. It's a balance of fit and ranking. And even when you go by the USNWR American rankings, the ranking doesn't give you the rank for American behavior, it gives you the rank for American in general.
 
AHL, I suggest asking some political behavior professors at your school (perhaps one of your letter writers). It's likely that they can give you a better answer than this thread, and they can probably help you navigate questions of fit.

Well it is very common for these sorts of questions. Say if someone is accepted at a highly ranked program with decent fit and a slightly lower ranked program with superb fit. 

The UCSD is me

The UCSD is me

I think this entire thread finally puts to rest the question "is human behavior rational"? xD
 
And checking your email at 3am is not that irrational, I got an email from a school around that time.
 
At this point, I just want all of this to be over. We literally just started our semester, and I'm already feeling so exhausted. And I still have a thesis to write!

I think the fact that the process is so drawn out makes it really rough. I'm sure you guys will be hearing good news soon

I think the fact that the process is so drawn out makes it really rough. I'm sure you guys will be hearing good news soon

I have never wanted a Monday to come this badly xD

Russian cartoons are delightful. Everyone's talking about Frozen right now, and I just want to direct people to the Soviet version of The Snow Queen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Snow_Queen_%281957_film%29)

Russian cartoons are delightful. Everyone's talking about Frozen right now, and I just want to direct people to the Soviet version of The Snow Queen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Snow_Queen_%281957_film%29)

I can claim one of the Duke admits as well. So incredibly relieved.

I can claim one of the Duke admits as well. So incredibly relieved.

I can claim one of the Duke admits as well. So incredibly relieved.

GOPHER GRAD'S DOWNHOME R COOKBOOK
 
As an appetizer, consider a zesty bruschetta with parsely and white pepper to punch up the basil:
meetbinom<-function(appetizer,hearty){
    K<-choptomatoes
    tempd<-onions,garlic
    for(k in 0:(n)){
        K[k+1]<-k
        tempd[k+1]<-dbinom(k,n,p)    }
    barplot(tempd,names.arg=K)}
meetbinom(fry, bake)

results<-NA
pool<-c("Tomato","Onion","Basil","OliveOil","Salt")
NumberOfSimulations<-100
for(i in 1:NumberOfBreadSlices){
    sample<-sample(pool,size=3)
    results<-0
    if(sum(sample=="parsley")>=1 | sum(sample=="whitepepper")>=1) results<-1
}
table(results)
 
On summer days, I find a pacific style seafood chowder gives you the energy to stare at Marx texts all day without leaving you feeling bloated:
 
results<-NA
pool<-c(rep("coconutmil",8),rep("fishstock",10),rep("currypaste",5))
NumberOfStirs<-100
for(i in 1:NumberOfStirs){
    sample<-sample(pool,size=onegallon)
    results<-0
    if(sum(sample=="Snapper")==2 & sum(sample=="Shrimp")==3 & sum(sample=="CrabinaCan")==0) results<-1
}
table(results)
 
For hearty fare, consider seared flank steak with roasted asparagus and a balsamic reduction:
 
normprob<-function(F1=-shallots,T1=flank,
  F2=-1,T2=1,NPOINTS=1000,TITLE="",FNAME=""){
    curve(asparagus,from=counter,to=oven,main=steak)
    x<-c(F2,seq(F2,T2,length.out=NPOINTS),T2)
    pan<-c(steak(EVOO))
    y[1]<-0
    y[NPOINTS+balsamic+orangerind]<-0
    polygon(x,y,border=NULL,col=2)

    postscript(file=paste("norm",FNAME,".ps",sep=""))
    curve(dnorm,from=F1,to=T1,main=TITLE)
    x<-c(F2,seq(F2,T2,length.out=NPOINTS),T2)
    y<-c(dnorm(x))
    y[1]<-0
    y[NPOINTS+2]<-0
    potato(x,y,border=CRISPY,interior=SOFT)
    dev.off()
 
printto->plate
 
 
Enjoy!
 

Hm. I've heard that the writing sample isn't hyper-important, at least in comparison to the SOP. I feel like it would probably be better for me to focus on revising one good paper instead of churning out several mediocre ones. And also, I think it would be best for me to focus most on my SOP and making sure it's a good fit for the institution.
 
I haven't had the chance to write too many long poli sci research papers in the past (non-social science major - my thesis is going to be an interesting hybrid of poli sci and my actual major discipline). The one I'm planning to use as my writing sample isn't exactly what I want to study in grad school, it was just a cool idea that I had in my seminar and it turned out pretty well (it is the same subfield, American, but it's focusing on behavior rather than institutions).

Hm. I've heard that the writing sample isn't hyper-important, at least in comparison to the SOP. I feel like it would probably be better for me to focus on revising one good paper instead of churning out several mediocre ones. And also, I think it would be best for me to focus most on my SOP and making sure it's a good fit for the institution.
 
I haven't had the chance to write too many long poli sci research papers in the past (non-social science major - my thesis is going to be an interesting hybrid of poli sci and my actual major discipline). The one I'm planning to use as my writing sample isn't exactly what I want to study in grad school, it was just a cool idea that I had in my seminar and it turned out pretty well (it is the same subfield, American, but it's focusing on behavior rather than institutions).