IRTheoryNerd

Congrats to everyone who has heard good news. Keep your head up high if you haven't. You're all awesome regardless of the outcome. It took me two application cycles. It's hard, it's annoying, it's stressful. But don't let the process wear you down. Also, any Northwestern admits have any questions? Private message me. :-)

I think your credentials read really well. The GRE quant might affect you slightly, but if the rest of your application is on point, I wouldn't think it terribly likely that those scores would be the sole disqualifier. I will say this: what matters more than any of the stats listed above is the coherence of your SOP and the strength of your letters of recommendation. Stats can disqualify, but it's the SOP and letters that make you really stand out. Fit matters. Coherence matters. Showing that you live for researching in your area of interest matters. The most important thing to keep in mind is this: the whole process is political, capricious, and meritocratic only up until a point. If you're in the top 1/3 of the pile, it becomes less about merit and more about luck. So keep your head held high. I know how frustrating and maddening it can be to wait around for answers (I went through the process twice myself!). I wish you all the luck (and peace of mind)! :-)

As the application season starts to wind down and we enter the waiting period, I want to take a moment to wish you all best of luck! Keep your head up. Should any of you end up considering a Northwestern admission, I'm happy to answer questions as best I can about the program. :-) PS. And remember that when family doesn't understand the struggle of waiting on a letter from a school, send them the following GIF:

Friends: as the season for submitting applications draws near, I want to offer to answer any questions I can about the political science PhD program at Northwestern. If you intend to apply to Northwestern and have any questions, feel free to message me. Best of luck to you all. You all deserve it.

Oh, and don't be overwhelmed by the quantoids---and don't let them convince you to leave Poli Sci. It might be an uphill battle, but a worthy one to be heard in the effort to re-historicize this discipline that has so many problems because of the quantoids' hegemonic hold over it. "IRTheoryNerd, tell us how you really feel." ;-)

Northwestern has a strong American Political Development leaning. Check us out.

Congrats Northeastern folks! I welcome chatting about the program and life in Chicago, and meeting y'all at prospective students weekend. :-)

Keep your heads held high, friends. This is the roughest period of the entire cycle. It will get better. :-*

Keep your heads up everyone! We are all rooting for all of you. :-) http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2hme63OCl1rto2weo1_r1_500.gif

Sections work as long as they can stand alone to some degree. I used 3/4 of my theory chapter and 1/3 of my empirics chapter of my thesis, which was not even done at that point, as my writing sample.

If anyone has any questions about Northwestern University, feel free to send me a personal message. I went through the cycle last year and am happy to help with any advice you might find useful. Warmest regards, IRTheoryNerd

I intend to submit a proposal for ISA-NE, yes. And RLemkin is correct, deadlines are usually in the early summer.

All of us will have to work our butts off, but that's the masochistic career track we're signing up for. We all have a pretty good idea what we're getting ourselves into. (Or do we?: http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2014/mar/06/mental-health-academics-growing-problem-pressure-university)

No problem. :-) Yea, it was definitely a difficult email to write back to U of T. I will be in Toronto for ISA at the end of the month and I would love to actually talk to faculty there despite having told them I won't be attending. Their department has some people with whom I could certainly envision collaboration in the future, insofar as they are willing.

Certainly. I agree that it's a fantastic school. In terms of overall rankings Toronto is slightly better but within the same cohort. In terms of departmental fit, there are people at both schools I could work with but Northwestern is a slightly better fit. It is also more interdisciplinary and has a very strong appreciation for critical theory. At Toronto, Emanuel Adler, with whom I would have been thrilled to work is phasing out his support of graduate students and I was advised by a current grad student there to not invest my application on his guidance. In terms of cynical funding considerations, Northwestern blows U of T out of the park. Toronto offers a stipend of $15,000 CAD and Northwestern offers $24,000 USD. The living costs in Toronto are much higher than in Chicago as well, so that'd be a very significant concern. Lastly, and this is a personal issue, I am slightly worried about the prospects of landing a US job with even a Canadian degree. This pains me as I am a dual Canadian-US citizen, and I know how wonderful U of T actually is. So simply to make life a tad easier later on, that had to be included in my considerations. Do you think you would have made the opposite choice?

Perhaps it would be more practical if people posted specific schools' open houses about which they have questions? What do you think IRToni? --- I'm worried otherwise this thread might get very overwhelming very fast.

Hi everyone. I was able to attend recruitment weekend and so if anyone here was unable to go and would like a bit of intel, I'd be happy to answer questions and chat with you. :-)

Claiming a Toronto PhD acceptance that I will decline. Best of luck to waitlisters.

I actually lucked out and am staying with a friend at his apartment. I'd look at renting via AirBNB since it tends to be a lot more affordable and there are plenty of places available relatively close to (or within public transportation range of) the conference hotels.

I will be declining offers from Toronto and Delaware. And I withdrew from AU's waitlist.

Northwestern

Claiming the Toronto PhD acceptance that I will decline.

I would definitely recommend ISA and ISA-Northeast (the latter of which has some pretty awesome less than mainstream stuff going on that might be nice to get your feet wet with). ISA-Northeast has a $150 travel grant for students whose home universities don't provide funding. I'm applying for funding for ISA's main conference through my home university but if that does not come through, I will pay out of pocket. As for fitting it into the schedule, well I just told myself long ago that I have to make it fit somehow. Often it takes the shape of some very late night writing sessions as deadlines loom. I usually go to conferences with newly formed ideas so that I can get feed back on them and decide which to invest more time to edit and submit to journals eventually. Since papers hardly have to be perfect at conferences, it is easier to pump something out. Geographic proximity matters insofar as funding matters, otherwise, go with your interests. I intend to make ISA-Northeast a part of my annual conference travels even though I'll be in Chicago starting next year, but there is a network of faculty and students who regularly attend relationships with whom I want to cultivate and grow. I also have not yet gone to any conferences to which I have not presented. I plan as far ahead as the submissions deadline requires. for ISA-Northeast that is about 4 or so months. For ISA it is about 9-10 months.

We should have a gradcafe coffee date. Haha.

WOO HOO!!!