A Dalek

It's hard to say. What I can say is that there tends to be a lot of movement the last week, as people confirm/turn down programs and a few last spots open up. So there is some chance for those of you hoping for a last minute admit... But if you already have another OK admit, I think I'd recommend accepting it unless it's a big difference in ranking.

About half. Not many departments are going to the waiting list this year though.

Chicago MAPSS is a cash cow for the university. TBH I can't recommend any of the fancy MAs out there. If your undergrad has a 4+1 MA, that's fine if you want to take some grad courses before applying to PhDs but otherwise just apply directly to PhDs in the US.

The Internet is anonymous but academia is not. We spend a lot of time reading each other's work and it isn't hard to identify people based on writing style. The current crisis is unprecedented in nature. I did not think current admissions would be impacted at first since those items are budgeted in advance. I had thought the impact would be on future admits based on how covid was dealt with. Based on recent meetings I've been in though, the budget situation is much worse than initially expected. It's not clear which programs will weather the storm best and I would not try to forecast. We simply don't know. Regardless good luck to you all.

Last time during covid we tried to defer admissions (some programs did) or 'make up' for it by reducing admissions the year after. Many current students were encouraged to finish even if they didn't have a job in hand. It used to not be strange to have people stay in a PhD program for 7-10 years. That just isn't possible anymore. There is a big push to get people out in 5 years. Many programs have also begun to be more proactive in mastering people out if they don't show promise during coursework. I don't know what we can do this time around. We haven't recovered from covid yet. We never really recovered from the great recession. I am sorry for not being able to share good news. For what it is worth, I think academia is a noble profession. I love my job, but you need to make a lot of sacrifices for it. So only choose it if you really really want it.

More so than usual but not entirely. This is something that varies by program and how their specific funding is organized. I would be proactive if you plan to go this route.

I am limited in what I can say, but I can say this much - I would not count on getting picked off waitlists. I have been in meetings where it was made clear that, even if we weren't going to rescind offers, we should avoid sending out any new offers. There will be exceptions. Some programs are in better financial situations, but in general there is a recognition that our priority is to secure funding for our current students.

I am sad to say that 'oh my read this' is unfortunately very correct on this point. If you have a funded offer you are likely to accept, I would sign it ASAP. There are things we faculty cannot say during the recruitment stage and (some of us) feel pressured to sweep under the rug. Let me say the quiet part out loud though: the funding situation is very bad. There were already pressures to reduce grad admissions before the recent change in federal leadership, and things are much worse now. Some universities have been more proactive than others in announcing hiring freezes/admissions reductions, but the underlying problem is systematic and (if we're lucky) won't be addressed until the current federal leadership leaves. My own program isn't reducing admissions but I think we all privately know this will be the largest cohort we will get to admit for 4-5 years.

It's impacting everyone. Ivies have big endowments, but they also rely heavily on federal funding. Treat offers like legal contracts, because they are. Until it's signed and processed by both parties it can still be changed. Make sure to read the language in your offer letters carefully to see if it has a clause clarifying when/if they can change the stipend amount. For those of you who have multiple offers, you can use that to counter offer the stipend amount. Note that this is usually limited to bargaining how much you make the first year or trying to get non-departmental fellowships. Fair warning to everyone. The job market has always been awful but given current conditions it's going to get a lot worse. I expect hiring freezes nationwide, and even when they lift you'll be competing with several postdocs/Assistant Professors who were under placed because of all this. The market is still recovering from the impact of covid and never really recovered from the great recession. Given the high opportunity cost of spending 5+ years in your 20s/30s getting a PhD, make sure this is what you REALLY want to do.

Not an unusual profile at all. Several schools have a policy subfield. Don't hesitate to apply to policy schools either. They make more $$$ anyway.

Graduate admissions this year should not be influenced by current developments on federal grant making. Regular admissions in polisci don't rely on grants to pay for grad admissions. Some STEM fields might be influenced but that's because they're more likely to use grants to hire grads to work in specific labs. Different model from polisci.

No.

A word on interviews from a faculty member. While part of the reason interviews are done is to ask more details about research interests, part of it is to evaluate English fluency (for international students) and to verify the candidate is capable of basic manners (for all). Some people look great on paper, but are hard to work with for a variety of reasons.

Regarding future trends, I think we're moving towards smaller cohorts. There are exceptions of course. The high ranking rich privates (e.g., Harvard, Yale, Princeton) may be able to keep up large cohorts, but many places are moving towards smaller cohorts due to budget constraints and the worsening job market. My big recommendation to applicants is to ask yourself if you're okay going into industry or working in a teaching focused institution. There are just fewer tenure track jobs in research universities. There is nothing wrong with going industry or taking up a teaching focused job. There are worse futures than spending a few years reading political science research and making six figures in an industry job. Just know what you are signing up for and adjust expectations accordingly.

Might be too late but my two cents is to avoid MAs unless they address a specific deficiency. If you want to do a US PhD long term, doing a US MA makes sense to build relationships with US professors. Non-US degrees are heavily discounted in the US. We just don't interact with European universities enough to evaluate. There are a few exceptions like Oxford/Cambridge but CEU isn't one of them.