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Anyone else in at Duke have any further details on the funding? Let's talk funding - anyone get multiyear fellowships? I think someone suggested it earlier - sometimes the acceptances go out and someone rejects the program a few days later. Rather than cause applicants to think they are coming off of the waitlist or reject candidates that would be needed to meet class size, they delay the rejections. Of course, very few of these individuals will be accepted, but there is little downside for the department - other than the possibility that someone thinks they are rejected when they are just on this informal, pseudo-waitlist.

I am not including any of the places I will likely get into in these E.g., studying under Gary King at Harvard offers an edge in training I probably would not get under anyone at Minnesota.

Hesitant to attend but would probably attend. Looking forward to visiting day. Note that it's not just name that provides an edge to top programs. Methods training is better usually, faculty to collaborate with on average are more likely to publish in top journals (note: they also may be less accessible), and your peers will offer more smart people with which to coauthor and share ideas (although maybe they are more backstavbing, who knows?). Even if you are a smart cookie, it's hard to be very successful surrounded by other dumb cookies and when you aren't given the tools to succeed.

It is below mediocre. I would be very hesitant to attend UConn (read: I would not attend UConn) if I had any aspiration toward obtaining a job in academia. If you do not want a job in academia, I would hesitate to recommend you to pursue a PhD in political science - instead I'd direct you to a PhD in social research methods or some sort of MPP or MA. Of those places you are applying, I would strongly discourage spending 5-7 years of your life at UConn or Cincinnati if you want to go into academia, or even if you don't. The other schools in your list are terrific. Note that currently I am only in at Wisconsin and even for Wisconsin I am hesitant to attend - academia is just THAT competitive.

I am saying you have the same information as everyone else and anyone else's claim would be equally speculative as to whether all acceptances have been sent. Therefore, take a look here and try to make inferences from the data: http://thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php?q=politic*+davisTo me, that looks like most acceptances were already sent. Given that everyone is posting the results of communication with DGSs for the benefit of this board and there have been no follow-ups posted here, you should trust your own understanding over those of others' if you trust your deductive capacity.

Please take a quick gander at the results page on these questions. The parameters of your search should be "politic* davis" and you can make the decision for yourself. With few exceptions which you can find by searching this thread for "davis", we all are basing our predictions on historic admission data in the the gradcafe results section. Where others have insider info by talking to DGS and POIs, they have typically posted here. That being said, some universities have erratic behavior in decision making (e.g. UNC) and others do not meet the same relative point in the year year-over-year, e.g. Duke.

Anyone else hear UNC?

Texas Austin is now online

Feels like 10th of December, however.

Texas Austin has not released a single decision yet. Have patience.

Has anyone read any good pieces on achieving success in the first year of a PhD program? I have read quite a few "guides" to a PhD but few specifically address the first year, many address the second year.

If you do not qualify, end of story. If you might qualify, discuss it with the program over the phone.

Monday is going to be a day of reckoning. I anticipate NYU, WUSTL, and Duke will make announcements then. Giving up hope on Columbia+CHYMPS.

And as predicted, Stanford rejection.

Berkeley rejection. Planning on the trifecta of California rejection from Berkeley, UCLA, Stanford.

I have checked the Duke application status page approximately 40 times today, roughly every 15 minutes... Also, I'm assuming by tomorrow all Stanford acceptances will be out. I'm marking tentative rejection on here.

WashU is quite incredible, given their deadline is Jan 15th and they turn it around in 2 weeks historically...

Anyone else's academia.edu pages getting hit? I.e. I've see hits concentrated in certain cities where I have applied and not otherwise received hits. I will presume that in this process any news is good news short of rejection, so perhaps this is an indicator your file wasn't auto-rejected. Notably Stanford (where I never really had a shot anyway) has not looked! So, let's talk funding: I'm unfamiliar with the details of funding. At programs that guarantee funding, does this mean you have a TA, no strings attached, or you're an RA? What are the pros/cons to each and how well do students taking on RAships or TAships perform? Is it desirable to have those?

If you're looking for a career in public policy, double-down on economics and applied statistics courses. The political science coursework won't be of much use. For research: I've found the econ isn't that helpful but employers are attracted to it while the stats is useful and attractive to employers. If you need some substantive training in the topics, a development/health/social policy course (or take these within the econ department) is useful. Meanwhile, if you don't want to do research but are more interested in government affairs or consulting, take some accounting or stats courses.

Not sure if result for Stanford is trolling or real. Someone want to claim it? "Email from someone on AdCom. Funding detail etc to follow later. Invited to visit weekend 5-7 April. Completely freaking out, cannot believe it."

If you are serious about academia, find a job as close to academia as possible. Alternativrly, find something that is research heavy. You should use your time outside of academia to build valuable research skills. If you are serious about planning for that, cold call professors, use your academic network to find research assistant roles, whatever. Picking up a new language is only helpful if you're proposing research that would require it. Teaching English somewhere is not much better than taking math classes while bartending, and is perhaps less preferable. Focus on the question of whether your CV and history scream "researcher" or not. Also note that working in politics has very little to do with a PhD, unless you are doing intense research (not just serving as a Legislative correspondent on the hill, for example). Having worked in think tank, grassroots, legislative offices, lobbying orgs, regulatory agencies, etc. I can say that almost none of that went into my applications because the marginal amount of perspective it offers is not worth distracting from the fact that you are pursuing an academic career and not a policy or diplomat career. If you're not pursuing such a career, it's recommended to go for an applied econ, stats, public policy master's...even a 1 year MSc is enough to open the door!

Methods != game theory, alas.

I received my e-mail and a letter in the mail. There will be funding package e-mails sent out in a couple of weeks (although everyone is fully-funded in the program). I sent an e-mail telling my letter writers that I was accepted into a program I would attend. I thanked them for their assistance and informed them that I have another dozen or so places to hear from, at which point if I have the privilege of choosing between multiple programs I might ask them for their insight into different programs I would choose from. I actually received a response from one of my letter writers telling me that several POIs had contacted him regarding my application and that this was the case for the program I was accepted into - therefore the application is at least under consideration. So, perhaps a faculty member might offer insight. FYI, I wouldn't contact them until you've been accepted somewhere or unit you've been rejected from almost everywhere and the remaining universities are places where you have a shot (albeit at that point letter-writer phone call or email to POIs would be too late perhaps)

The terrible thing is if a department does not make a decision on the same day they historically have done so, we will all think we were rejected.

Saddened to realize that Duke decisions will not come out today probably. Last year they would have arrived today but the year before took a week longer. On an unrelated note, anyone know of any good funding to study a language AT THE BEGINNER LEVEL? I'm going to need to learn Russian for my research I suspect and getting $ for those courses is ideal. It appears the area and regional study government grants are for advanced study