jeudepaume

Yeah, that troubles me. It sounds as if it is decided based on the recruitment weekend (as it says that if you can't come you can Skype with them). So the relief is not complete: there is a possibility that there gonna be no funding (?).

I sincerely hope so! Indeed, fingers-crossed. )

One of the Boulder ones is me. I am super happy, especially given that the last year I got rejected everywhere (and oh boy did they take their time with my rejections!) Sylark, I wouldn't despair quite yet. I got a very late email (it should have been 10 pm in the US), and my MyCUBoulder account still says "Application complete". So obviously, these things are being processed within that hamster powered system you guys keep referring to (which I don't know).

I am out of "positive" points again, so I have to use human words: good job, The Gnome! It sure is a nice feeling, and I hope you'll get even more taste of it as other schools will start sending out their acceptances.

It feels like it's still too early. I checked IR Toni's list and oh cruel gods—all my schools send their acceptances/rejections in mid February, which is not even close. Boulder is our biggest hope.

thegradcafe prohibits me from giving out any more "positive reputation" points today.) I didn't know I'm so promiscuous with those...

Congratulations to the OSU admits! And good luck to the rest of us.) And so it began...

Not to waste time, first of all check out Central European University. Their deadline is January 23, so if you have everything ready, you might be able to submit the application in time. I don't know all the specifics, but last year when I checked both Political Science Department and Philosophy Department had enough people, working in your area of interest. They also have scholarships, both MA and PhD. http://www.ceu.hu/academics/schools-departments I'll think about something else.

Thank you I sure hope that it's a good sign.

Wow. This thread is moving so fast I always feel like I left the room with people talking about kittens, and returned in a minute to a conversation about nuclear weapons. Or something like that. I got an email from my POI! He says (among other things) that my application is strong. I know it's no acceptance (yet?), but I'm dancing wild dances of my motherland around my laptop—it's so nice to receive some reassurance after months of silence.

Thank you, and good luck to you too!

I have this problem too. Although, in my case, any change in my situation will actually be an improvement. I met my boyfriend at another grad program: I was going for master's, he was receiving his doctorate. Now, I got my master's and moved all the way back to the Old World, whereas he got a job and stayed in the US. Now, there is about 6,000 miles and 12 hours of time difference in between us. In this light, I'm optimistic: wherever I get accepted - at least we'll end up on the same continent. If I get accepted somewhere... *fingers crossed*

In any case, good luck! I'm sure something will work out.

Aaaand I was composing my post too long ))

I would agree. The general advice that I have received is that—as a rule of thumb—you should email professors before you have applied. This way it is generally perceived as an attempt to get more information about the program and the professor's plans (accepts/doesn't accept students; interested in your project or not), so that you could make an informed choice to apply/not to apply. If you have already applied, i.e. stated your interest, it is of no need to restate it in a personal email. As o.j. mentioned, the biggest danger here is to create an impression that you're trying to increase your chances, going behind the official process of admission. You don't want that impression. Of course, there are exceptions to this "rule of thumb."

That's how I interpreted it too, but $10,000 for 12 months still is not a lot. As a Master student I had around $11,000/10 months, and I remember feeling quite restricted in my expenditures.

Congrats to A&M acceptances! Harvard is indeed highly dubious—especially looking at the reported GRE score. It looks like an attempt to make everybody feel (even) a (bigger) failure. On the other hand, if it's a legit one, then I take my hat off. Also, in regard to A&M reports: is the scholarship really so small?? - 10,000 per year? Are you expected to survive on this for 5 years? I optimistically thought that Ph.D. scholarships are at least somewhat bigger.

True, at least I will be cute.

In 6-7 years...

A lot has changed from that time, I imagine. Or not.

Yes! It's that one.

P.S. and yes, at this point I am desperate enough to look for any sources of information in regard to the admission process in PolSci departments.

Here is for your amusement. An article about "kisses of death" in the graduate application process (in psychology, but still). http://psychology.unl.edu/psichi/Graduate_School_Application_Kisses_of_Death.pdf "...an applicant included a letter of recommendation from a state senator who was a friend of the family and only knew the applicant as a child and adolescent. The letter said little about the applicant and described the senator’s powerful role in overseeing the funding of higher education in the state." - Thanks a lot, senator. Also, if anybody is interested, I found an article (don't know what year) describing an admission process for Political Science Graduate Program at Harvard. The authors analyzed it from the position of possible improvements in the process, but I have no idea if it was implemented or not. (I'll look for a link, if anybody wants to read it)

You mean January 19th? So soon? I thought it's not until at least 30th-31st.

A very useful resource in my experience. Many of the people I am highly interested in are there, + you can share your research there. So I mainly use it to download interesting papers and track the progress of certain scholars. As far as I know it is a Google project.