Dark-Helmed

World War Z has a non-trivial amount of IR/conflict themes if you're looking for fun reading that you can count towards your prep.

Congratulations!

Welcome. I hope that it helped you. Re: describing your reasons for wanting to attend. I'm not sure that telling them *why* you want to attend would be as helpful as signaling your likelihood to attend if admitted. Provided that it is a true message. If you did your job correctly as an applicant -- and you did, or you would have been rejected-- they know why you want to attend. They want you there too; although, for whatever reason, your file was evaluated as lower priority. Of course, you do want to send a message of continued interest, but you did that already when you confirmed your position on the waitlist. The above primarily refers to contacting the person in the department who conveyed the waitlist information. If that contact wasn't your POI, it might be worthwhile to ping the POI, in which case you might be able to be a bit more demonstrative. They might even be able to convey back-channel information about the admissions endgame from the faculty's perspective (although I'd expect it to be high-level generalities that are interesting to people on the waitlist but not all that telling for your specific case). AO

That too. I feel like I need to ship myself off to some sort of monastery in the woods for a few weeks. Relax, look at trees, no tabbing over to TGC...

I've also just tipped over the one-month mark on a waitlist, gave into temptation, and sent in a (hopefully) low-key email today asking if there was any news. That being said, I don't seriously expect the contact to be fruitful, for the following reasons: 1) Goal: reminding the department that you exist ...But: The schools are probably very eager to know exactly the shape of their cohort, so I can't imagine that they'd delay in notifying waitlisters of changes to our status. Also, I don't think they've forgotten about us either- I'd imagine that phd yield is a subject of reasonable attention within the department at the moment. 2) Goal: Float up the list ...But: I don't think that one inquiry a month will change anything about how they assess you. More likely, place on the waitlist is also an exogenous factor, and which has to do with grant money and departmental politics about the composition of their subfields. ...Exception: You're checking in with game-changing info (ie: anything that would substantively change their expectation of your probability of enrollment or a new fellowship award that would dramatically reduce your funding) 3) Goal: Affirmation that admission is likely ...But: They're not going to commit to anything positive in writing-- don't want any indignant waitlisters who thought they were told that it was a sure thing when it was not-- so probably any information they part with would be tilted towards the negative. More likely, you and the contact person will engage in a round of vague pleasantries about how much you both hope you'll be offered admissions next year. The above being said- I still gave in and contacted them. AO

Exactly this! I keep putting off starting projects/making big plans because I don't yet know what the shape of my next 5-7 years will look like. Plus, compulsively checking my email and TheGradCafe for two months has left me with a shattered attention span.

+1,000

Congratulations! Philadelphia is a great town.

Sorry to hear that- seems like its been a rough week. At least you have UCSD!

Congratulations!

I'm just that awesome.

Emailed notification that a decision has been made by Duke, but when I go to the page I'm "not authorized to view the content." Hilaaaaarious.

One more thing: my previous post was more IR/comparative focused because basically everyone I knew who was on the Americanist or theory side of the discipline went to law school. The only people I know who are employed in politics are in Canada, where the rules are different. (Probably if I went to a different undergrad, I'd have a better sense of how you get the US staffer jobs. For sure there a feeder process, but my undergrad/MA wasn't really part of that game.) For the more quant-y domestic politics types, intro-level polling firm positions might be a very good prospect.

To my mind, the phrase means: a job that could credibly be turned into a supporting point in a future application. I know a number of people who have ended up in entry level NGO work and with staff affiliations at university research centers (primarily after a MA though). Post undergrad, several people I know left the country for development/ ESL-teaching/Embassy jobs - which is a good deal if you're a comparativist with the flexibility to pack up and go somewhere else for a year or two. (And if you're a comparativist, you're probably already planning on long stints doing fieldwork a few years down the line....right?) I've seen this happen less, but there are probably some good research/fact checking/editorial jobs at current events-related magazines and journals. Although the top-tier jobs would probably entail competing with bloodthirsty journalism grads, they could be extremely valuable for honing writing, editing, and research skills. Then there are the suggestions for entry level think tank and policy jobs, but -- and I could be wrong-- I think those tend to be lucky catches rather than something to plan on. I know that a few other thread participants have referenced being in the policy world, so maybe they could weigh in. Finally, you can always ditch the phd strategizing long-game, and find a job that seems cool. Maybe after a year or two in, say, marketing, you'll discover that poli sci was fun, but consumer behavior is more interesting. Hope this has been helpful.

You've said that it's your first round. Maybe look at an MA or field-related job and try again?

Second time around for me, and with only a waitlist to show for it, I may well be looking at a third round. I'm pretty hesitant to go go to my recommenders a third time, as I'm worried that losing one admissions cycle can be regarded as a misfortune, but to lose both looks like carelessness. (Or, rather, lack of suitability for doctorate study, but that doesn't fit so well in the reference.)

Good question. I didn't get any information about my place on the waitlist. If you were referring to my post, I was just being melodramatic and plaintive. on the slim chance that there is someone weighing an acceptance to UNC and somewhere else that holds equal appeal.

Checking in to claim one of the UNC waitlists. [...this part is no longer applicable...] Likely rejections everywhere else that I applied, so if one of you with a UNC admit has another offer that you'd prefer, you'd (maybe) help me avoid massive heartbreak..... Edited- apparently there were indeed a bunch of waitlists posted at once.

I'm still waiting. More than half-tempted to email and ask to be put out of my misery.

Congratulations to those who got what looks like the Columbia mass-notification

Congratulations to the UNC admits!

with admits to UCLA and UCSD, Minnesota winters may be a distant memory by the time you graduate.

"Slowly" becoming? I've been on the express train to incapacitating neuroses since January 26! On a more serious note, thank you -- and previous posters-- for the words of encouragement and fortitude. Even if my internal monologe has started to closely resemble Cinderella's hope for a Prince [ie: acceptance] to sweep me away to a better life of, well, academic drudgery and hard work, it is helpful to remember that this is a temporary mental purgatory. Now, back to hitting refresh on my email to see whether schools send Virgil or Beatrice.

I think that decisions are posted at the applicants.siss.duke.edu page, where there is a table for status of application.

Congrats to the Duke admit!