Dark-Helmed

Oh. That's much harder.  
 
Do you have a sense of who the departmental anti-children hardliners are so that you can start tilting your interactions towards members of the department who might be more receptive to letting their experience with you outweigh their perceptions?  Is there a support group for graduate student parents at your school? Probably some of the mothers there will have some good school-specific advice and resources.
 
There isn't all that much you can do: you'll probably want to keep the news under wraps for as long as possible and hope/expect that your established track record of excellence and continued professionalism will suffice. 
 
And, finally, congratulations!

Congratulations to you both!

I'm sure for some, it's a matter of being paralyzed in the face of a major decision or waiting on the possibility that they'll get off the wait list at their top choice.  Some schools (e.g. Wisconsin), however, just held their visitations last weekend, which slows down the decision process for all of the other schools where their prospectives were accepted.
 
It seems strange to me to hold the visitation more than 2 months after students were accepted, especially considering that so many of us just want to have closure and start planning the next 5-6 years of our lives by this point in the process.  I guess it's really important to the faculty at Madison that prospectives see the campus when the temperature is in the high 30s instead of the mid 30s.
 

Also on a waitlist and haven't heard back.  Although I'm losing my mind and powers of concentration, I do understand why people might be taking long time to decide: humans tend to get paralyzed when faced with important decisions that requires parsing complex information.  
 
I do wish that these decisions were a bit more forthcoming- especially the ones I'm interested in, of course!
 
In the meanwhile, I feel like I should go participate in some sort of study about the neurological consequences of stress for prolonged periods of uncertain duration. If you put me in an MRI machine right now, the machine would probably just spit back a picture of a mushroom cloud.

School already told me I will hear mid to late April... though that hasn't stopped me from obsessively hoping the email/phone call will arrive sooner.  
 
They also haven't rejected anyone (according to the board) so part of me is wondering if everyone got a blast waitlist email... 
 
I keep thinking of this... 

http://demotivators.despair.com/demotivational/challengesdemotivator.jpg

...and knowing that the job market will probably feel worse

Also on a waitlist and haven't heard back.  Although I'm losing my mind and powers of concentration, I do understand why people might be taking long time to decide: humans tend to get paralyzed when faced with important decisions that requires parsing complex information.  
 
I do wish that these decisions were a bit more forthcoming- especially the ones I'm interested in, of course!
 
In the meanwhile, I feel like I should go participate in some sort of study about the neurological consequences of stress for prolonged periods of uncertain duration. If you put me in an MRI machine right now, the machine would probably just spit back a picture of a mushroom cloud.

Also on a waitlist and haven't heard back.  Although I'm losing my mind and powers of concentration, I do understand why people might be taking long time to decide: humans tend to get paralyzed when faced with important decisions that requires parsing complex information.  
 
I do wish that these decisions were a bit more forthcoming- especially the ones I'm interested in, of course!
 
In the meanwhile, I feel like I should go participate in some sort of study about the neurological consequences of stress for prolonged periods of uncertain duration. If you put me in an MRI machine right now, the machine would probably just spit back a picture of a mushroom cloud.

Also on a waitlist and haven't heard back.  Although I'm losing my mind and powers of concentration, I do understand why people might be taking long time to decide: humans tend to get paralyzed when faced with important decisions that requires parsing complex information.  
 
I do wish that these decisions were a bit more forthcoming- especially the ones I'm interested in, of course!
 
In the meanwhile, I feel like I should go participate in some sort of study about the neurological consequences of stress for prolonged periods of uncertain duration. If you put me in an MRI machine right now, the machine would probably just spit back a picture of a mushroom cloud.

Also on a waitlist and haven't heard back.  Although I'm losing my mind and powers of concentration, I do understand why people might be taking long time to decide: humans tend to get paralyzed when faced with important decisions that requires parsing complex information.  
 
I do wish that these decisions were a bit more forthcoming- especially the ones I'm interested in, of course!
 
In the meanwhile, I feel like I should go participate in some sort of study about the neurological consequences of stress for prolonged periods of uncertain duration. If you put me in an MRI machine right now, the machine would probably just spit back a picture of a mushroom cloud.

Hello to everyone still waiting,
 
As we get closer and closer to April 15th, the pressure and anxiety seems to be increasing for many of us. I thought I'd start a thread where we can share our strategies for managing stress and trying to carve out some measure of focus.
 
Personally, I've been trying to stick religiously to my gym schedule. During the workday, I've mostly shifted my background music from rock over to romantic ballet music and have been trying to add in  a few more sets of yoga podcasts into the week. I'm also going to start reengaging with the Pomodoro Technique to try and break up the constant temptation to check email -> phone -> grad cafe. But it is a hard balancing act, and one that I've been increasingly failing at this week.
 
How are the rest of you staying sane?

Have you had a chance to look at the placement records from each program? If you don't know where you want to end up afterwards, it might be profitable to see which of the programs produces graduates who have the most flexible employment paths.

Exercise for me as well! I've become hooked on ballet-style barre workout classes. They are so fun, challenging and take my mind off of work and app stress. And I'm getting closer and closer to my goal of Michelle Obama arms! Yay biceps!

Hello to everyone still waiting,
 
As we get closer and closer to April 15th, the pressure and anxiety seems to be increasing for many of us. I thought I'd start a thread where we can share our strategies for managing stress and trying to carve out some measure of focus.
 
Personally, I've been trying to stick religiously to my gym schedule. During the workday, I've mostly shifted my background music from rock over to romantic ballet music and have been trying to add in  a few more sets of yoga podcasts into the week. I'm also going to start reengaging with the Pomodoro Technique to try and break up the constant temptation to check email -> phone -> grad cafe. But it is a hard balancing act, and one that I've been increasingly failing at this week.
 
How are the rest of you staying sane?

I'm starting to develop OCD, like a lot of you already have.

I'm so tense that my breath catches and my heart starts beating fast every time my phone buzzes (indicating a new email). The problem with this is that, when I'm in my room, I can hear the same type of phone buzz from next door, which means I'm getting double the number of false alarms.
 
Be still my heart.

Email I just got from the senior professor who would be on my committee:
 
"XXX and I were very impressed by your application and enthusiastic about the prospect of working with you.  We were disappointed when you were put on the wait list by the admissions committee.  That was not a qualitative judgment and I will explain more about that in a minute.  It now looks as if we may be going to the wait list, so I wanted to find out if you’ve accepted admission elsewhere and, if not, whether you would be interested in Hopkins.
                Here’s the story behind the wait list.  We probably use it more than most other institutions because we can only enroll a class of 11 to 12 grad students a year.  That is the level at which we can afford to give everyone full stipend and full tuition for 5 of the first 6 years.  Admissions committees also want to have some balance in terms of geographic and topical areas.  That puts a special squeeze on American applicants.
                In any event, I hope you are still interested and, if so, I will tell the Grad Committee and give it my strongest endorsement.  I haven’t caught up with XXXXXX yet, but from our prior conversations am sure he feels the same.
                              
  Best, XXXXX"
 
 
I responded that I was still VERY much interested and would an accept an offer from their school over the offer I currently have. Then,
"XXXX: I’m happy to hear that and have already forwarded it to our wonderful Graduate Administrator."
 
 
BAHHHHHHH! I am dying of anticipation right now!

I hope they serve wine in purgatory, or at least beer.

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...

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.

I'm just that awesome.

I'm just that awesome.

I found some of the advice here to be useful (though it is not written by a political scientist). 

http://www.uni.edu/~gotera/gradapp/results.htm

Professor of Interest. A faculty member with whom you are likely to work.
 
Dudes, remember how those Yale "admits" lingered and there was all this out-freaking and then one day Yale accepted a bunch of people and several regular posters claimed admits and there was a full page of "Congrats!!"?
 
Calm down about Princeton. We'll know.

No it is not safe to assume this. If and when they decide to reject you, they'll send the letter. Admissions is like quantum physics. Until the decision takes a final form that you observe, i.e. a letter in your hand, and not your inference based on the unreliable information of a message board, it's an unknown.