xuejia

If you don't mind my asking, what's your field?

Congratulations Tremblay, and thanks for the info on UNC!

The long wait presents all of us with a golden opportunity for empirical research.

Then you might need to read this: http://io9.com/5931217/science-proves-luke-skywalker-should-have-died-in-the-tauntauns-belly Skimming ought to suffice. (Gosh I love the internet.) I'd be content with partial cost reimbursement, should further visits even become a possibility.

Ok, so I read that and thought 'tauntaun? wtf is a tauntaun?' Natural reaction: query the Oxford online dictionary. No go. Fool-proof step two: query Wikipedia. Result? 'Ahhh, no wonder...'

I'm also fairly ignorant on this topic, so I don't know how unusual this is, but for what it's worth. I was invited to a pre-application fall recruitment weekend and the program covered the full airfare, hotel, and meals.

Thanks for the warm words. Just time to cross my fingers (far more preferable to holding my breath). As for your question, the latter.

I'd probably hop on Amazon and treat myself to one of those over-priced CUP books I'd be needing in grad school. And a six-pack of IPA, definitely.

And best of luck to you as well, with kudos on an acceptance. Following the last admissions cycle, I was gently advised to apply 'more broadly'. I heeded that advice only marginally, reapplying to nine of the ten schools that had rejected me, adding on three more of equivalent rank, and one 'safety' school. The biggest factor in my decision to continue aiming for the 'reach' schools was that I aspire to someday teach at one of them. Then a two step argument along the lines of (like you said) 'if I don't apply, I can't get in', and if I don't get in, the odds are markedly worse that I'll ever end up teaching at one of them. I spent the last four years teaching high school English. Teaching is awesome, and insanely fulfilling. Teaching Huckleberry Finn, however, doesn't quite tickle my pickle, and grading student essays on Huck Finn doesn't even come close. I spend the vast majority of my free time reading about China, authoritarianism, and political science more generally (note: not a polisci undergrad), and I think that no job would be as satisfying - intellectually and otherwise - as the professoriate, where I could not only conduct research, but also teach and train another generation of intellectually curious twenty-somethings. Thus, despite my nagging doubts and insecurities, I decided to shoot for the big leagues again. But the wait is killing me, and every day of silence increases the tendency to second-guess my application strategy and overall prospects. I suppose I'll try to mope less and read more. Sorry, all.

Thanks ZB. I tried last April to divine those weaknesses and inadequacies, and spent the bulk of the past nine months attempting to remedy them. Yet the 'element of randomness' remains, as does the lingering sting of last year's rejections. That said, it helps to talk things out in a platform such as this one. So thanks for the ear, and the thoughtful reply.

So...here's the deal: I already feel the impostor syndrome, and suspect that I would feel it even more acutely were I to reveal my list of schools. (That statement in and of itself already provides a great deal of information regarding my list.) Does anyone else feel like s/he shot for the moon, yet will only wind up shooting hirself in the foot? This is my second cycle, and I spent last year's in a remote village with patchy and tortuously slow internet connectivity; thus I had no real sounding board or informed support. I know others have discussed the impostor syndrome somewhat, but I still feel as if I'm an impossible longshot in the eyes of adcom members, and would be in your eyes as well were I to drop the Big Names to Which I Applied. Is there any solace to be found outside of an admissions notice?

Sort of...I only ran numbers for the schools to which I applied; I don't care to advertise that list on the board, but I would share any potential overlap via PM.

And I should point out that the column labeled 'Semester' indicates the first day of winter/spring classes for a given cycle+school. I used semester start dates to try to standardize across years, and make projections for this year.

I see Duke rejections spanning the month of February, peaking around Valentines. Didn't dig into NYU's past though. Here are 2012 and 2013 results in csv, culled from the board with R and cleaned by hand. I omitted any school with less than a half dozen observations.

Ok, because I'm not expecting any negatives until February on my personal list, but I didn't apply to any of those schools.

Sometimes I forget to tuck it in... No worries though, the real travesty would begin only if I were to reveal my alma mater! Who, pray tell, is scheduled to crush souls?

Anybody watch the UM-MSU game? UM has everything you want: strong polisci, good basketball.

Uhhhh...ten applications, ten rejections?

Exactly. One piece of good news (cum funding!) would alleviate most of the anxiety and make the rest of the cycle more bearable (not sure I'd go as far as enjoyable).

I feel the same way... Speaking for myself, I think it's because last year I was chock full of naivete and unfounded confidence. This year, however, it's more like humility and fear bordering on paranoia. I know that silence early in the cycle translates to depressing notifications later on. That said, it's still too early for any of us to be worried (about most schools, anyway). One or two more weeks, and the silence will start to take on more significance. Because I have wayyyyy too much time on my hands right now, I looked at the notifications over the last two cycles and made a weekly coding system (intentionally skewed to better reflect the schools to which I applied). Anxious anal-retention follows: 1/16 - 1/22: roaring success 1/23 - 1/29: fairly early 1/30 - 2/5: ramping up 2/6 - 2/12: critical mass 2/13 - 2/19: nearing danger 2/20 - 2/26: likely failure 2/27 - 3/5: epic failure So, basically, I'm wigging out this year, and it helps tremendously to talk to other folks in similar straits.

I looked at the last two seasons of gradcafe results and found a decent number of weekend notifications, but essentially none in January. Gear up and go hiking! 2012 2013 mean jan 0 3 1.5 feb 74 76 75 mar 10 15 12.5 apr 5 2 3.5

I'm certainly hoping for Wisconsin news to drop. What about Duke or TAMU? Only scattered postings on the results board thus far, but based upon past results, one could be forgiven for thinking they too will soon notify.

So what schools do we think will be notifying over the course of the next week? Any that haven't already shown up on the results board?

Wow. That pretty much throws us into a zero-sum game here... Not currently a student, several years out of undergrad instead. I'll bet we applied to a lot of similar programs, too.

Comparative, with emphases on China and comparative authoritarianism. Yours?