APGradApplicant

From applying12010's signature: Accepted: Princeton, Duke, Minnesota, Harvard Yeah, I can see that the "when I was a kid" thing will really screw you over

Yes, definitely. Would probably be the only acceptance at this point in time that would cause me to withdraw from the wait list at Rochester... Again, congrats on your news today! Great to hear!

Here are my thoughts: If I don't get a phone call from a 612 area code tomorrow or Thursday, I'll assume rejection from U of M. If I do get a call Friday from the land of 612, it'll be a nice surprise but not expected. If I don't hear anything before the week is over, then I know that this stage of the process will have finally come to an end! In the mean time, I'm just going to have to sit back, wait, and see...

Congrats! What time of day was this? And also, what gave you the impression that they're taking their time? Finally, do you think the phone call as opposed to regular e-mail had anything to do with the fact that you're there as an undergrad already? Anyways, sorry to bombard with these inquiries but those were the things that came to mind...

Well...Interesting day with MIT. I guess the next stop on the admissions train is Minnesota, which I have a feeling we're going to hear from on Thursday based on my phone conversation with Judith. Then we have Cornell and for some the people on here the GWU/Georgetown news, which I think should be next week. Anyhow, good to see it's coming to an end but I must say I'm going to miss the drama a little bit. Sometime next month I'll create a "News from the Road" thread where people can discuss visits, and maybe sometime early April will create a "Fall 2010, I'll be Attending..." thread for everyone to post where they plan to be. I can't believe we're this far along already!

No Fed Ex from MIT with today's mail out in California. Well, that leaves Minnesota and then the stressing can finally end! Also, heads up for anyone who cared, UNC-CH sent me official rejection letter today, postmarked February 19. They're finally being official about it!

Awesome!

Congrats to the MIT admits so far! I grew up in Belmont, MA, one town over from Cambridge and my Dad (who's now one of those dreaded lawyers ) is undergrad class of '77 and was even a poli sci major there. Great school and city to be in.

Thanks for the feedback natofone, and I'm glad you clarified that you think overall they're well-done (at first I was thinking "geeze, is it really THAT bad?!"). The only reason I left it, and this was at the advice of a couple of profs who looked at it, is that they thought the story was one that would be a good "break from what they're going to have been reading all day". But yeah, I do see your point there.

Curious- natofone, in my opinion, is correct. I decided to cast a very wide net to account for the "randomness factor" as he so correctly identifies, that is rampant throughout this process. Applying to six schools that are all "really great fits" isn't necessarily the wrong way to do it, but I myself wouldn't have wanted to put myself through all that stress. What if I didn't get into any of those six? I know that some people here are really struggling with themselves becuase they didn't get in anywhere so far this season. Trust me when I say I very much feel for you and continue to keep all of you in my prayers that you will find what you're looking for. At the same time, however, it is never a wise decision to apply without a safety program (and no, Brown is NOT a safety program, despite its lower ranking) unless you'd truly only want to get a PhD from a top 15 or 20 program and would otherwise prefer to persue another career (which if someone honestly felt that way, I'd almost rather see them not get in anywhere because they'd be going into academia for all the wrong reasons in the first place!). I feel very blessed to have gotten in at UT-Austin and UC-Davis (along with schools like Rice and FSU, which aren't as high up on the USN rankings but nonetheless hold strong positions in some of the other rankings that Bobb-Cobb was nice enough to post earlier). I also feel fortunate to even be on the wait list at a power house like University of Rochester, which I never expected possible. That said, I applied to schools like Georgia and U of Florida because I didn't know what was going to happen most everywhere else, as it really can be a game of complete randomness. Both these aforementioned programs are great fits for me, have some great professors, and are no doubt on the rise. Will I go there now that I have all the options that I do? Most likely, no. However, would I have been more to happy to go to one of those places were those my only options. Absolutely! Would I have had to humble myself in some ways going from a Vandy undergrad to Georgia, U of Florida, Oklahoma or SUNY-Albany? Of course! And it would have been tough at first, believe you me. But I feel that my calling in life is to teach political science, and I sensed that 2010 was the year for me to begin graduate school. Anyhow, that's my two cents, and I'm sure it's not worth much more than that, but yeah, there's where I'm coming from in all of this.

UC-Davis forced applicants to provide an SOP of a much shorter length, as the box into which you typed the statement only allowed for so many characters. The online app also made clear that mailed statements or e-mailed statements exceeding the length would not be accepted. Thus, here is the much-edited version I used for them. I added the part about diversity into a seperate essay that they had on that subject. Ever since high school, I have had a near-obsessive interest in American politics. As an example, just last Saturday, when most people were watching NCAA football, I was watching the House debate its historic healthcare bill on CSPAN. As a result of my long-time interest in politics, I graduated college strongly set on pursuing a career in applied politics. When people asked me where I saw myself in five years, my usual answer was that I would love to be managing a U.S. Senate campaign or serving as chief of staff to a member of Congress. More recently, however, I have decided to chart a new career course. While working on a campaign can be an exciting and invigorating experience, and serving as a top aide in Congress would certainly have some benefits, I have come to realize this type of work conflicts with a long-held goal of mine: to pursue a career I love that also allows me to be of service to people other than myself and those above me. Today, I can say with confidence that completing a doctoral degree in political science and working subsequently as a professor in that field at a research university is my long-term career objective. I look forward to sharing my enthusiasm for American politics with college students and at the same time channeling my fascination with the subject into working outside the classroom to confront so many of the research questions that will undoubtedly continue to emerge in this discipline throughout my lifetime. If I am fortunate enough to be admitted to your program, I plan to focus my area of study on two major themes: the constant evolution of Congress as an institution and the dynamics surrounding congressional elections. I have several specific interests regarding Congress. Because I served as an intern in the offices of three female House Republicans, I am very interested in exploring the unique perspective, if any, that women bring to Congress. Further, I would like to confront the cause of the growing chasm between the percentages of women serving among Congressional Democrats as opposed to Congressional Republicans. In addition, after taking Legislative Process as an undergraduate student, I became interested in the increased use of unconventional procedures to pass major legislation in Congress as well as the continuing centralization of power towards party leaders and away from committee chairmen. All of these are areas that I would like to explore further as a graduate student. Regarding congressional elections, I hope to utilize the strong statistical methods training I know I will receive from your graduate program to examine the effects that congressional redistricting has had on both primary and general elections and on party polarization in the House of Representatives. More importantly, I want to be able to use this training to forecast what effect the redistricting that will occur after next year’s census might have on future elections as well as the House as an institution. I am also interested in investigating whether the recent increase in voter turnout among younger and minority voters will become a long-term trend that will have a politically realigning effect on the American political landscape, or only a short-term phenomenon that is unlikely to be sustained. What attracts me to University of California at Davis’ graduate program is its strong academic reputation and excellent faculty in American politics. In particular, I hope to have the opportunity to study under Professors Erik Engstrom, Benjamin Highton, Robert Huckfeldt, and Walter Stone, all of whom have research interests that fit with mine. American politics is a discipline towards which I am truly passionate and fervently dedicated. I would be honored to have the opportunity to bring this passion and dedication to your graduate program at UC-Davis.

I've decided I'll post mine now. As everyone knows, I'm still eagerly awaiting news from MIT and Minnesota (more hopeful about the latter than the former) and am on the wait list at one of my way-top choices, University of Rochester. Anyhow, I personally believe that my SOP was a very important part of my application. While I had a strong GRE score (680V, 720Q, 5.0AW) and came from a solid undergrad school (WashU) with a couple of well-know LOR-writers, I faced a BIG, BIG constraint in that I had an overall undergrad GPA of 3.26 and a poli sci major GPA of just 3.49 (graduated in May 2008, so "getting it up" wasn't an option). Anyhow, I tried to go outside the box a little bit by starting off my SOP by "telling a story" rather than jumping right in to school stuff. So have I had a perfect record in my quest to get into way top of the heap schools? No. But I do believe that this SOP is overall well-done and will hopefully offer people something for next year. The only thing I changed in each one by the way is the profs I hoped to work with and (don't forget this one...it's important) the names of the schools. That might have been one thing I'd have done differently, but yeah...here goes (chose MIT just for the heck of it): November 9, 2009 When my parents asked me if I wanted a small gift for successfully finishing my first year of high school, I gave them a quick and easy answer. “The new edition of the Almanac of American Politics would be nice,” I told them. Most 15-year-olds would probably have asked for something else. However, I had developed a near-obsessive interest in American politics during the previous year’s presidential election. So it wasn’t much of a surprise that when I finished ninth grade in May 2001, that’s exactly what I told my parents to buy for me. By the time I entered the tenth grade that fall, I had memorized the names and faces of all 100 senators and 435 representatives. In short, ever since high school, American politics has been my passion. For me, no day is complete without a thorough reading of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. And if Congress is in session, then I also have to catch up on the latest news about Congress and elections in Roll Call and The Hill. Just last Saturday, when most people were watching NCAA football, I was watching the House debate its historic healthcare bill on C-SPAN. As a result of my long-time interest in politics, I graduated college strongly set on pursuing a career in applied politics. When people asked me where I saw myself in five years, my usual answer was that I would love to be managing a U.S. Senate campaign or serving as chief of staff to a member of Congress. More recently, however, I have decided to chart a new career course. While working on a campaign can be an exciting and invigorating experience, and serving as a top aide in Congress would certainly have some benefits, I have come to realize this type of work conflicts with a long-held goal of mine: to pursue a career I love that also allows me to be of service to people other than myself and those above me. Today, I can say with confidence that completing a doctoral degree in political science and working subsequently as a professor in that field at a research university is my long-term career objective. I look forward to sharing my enthusiasm for American politics with college students and at the same time channeling my fascination with the subject into working outside the classroom to confront so many of the research questions that will undoubtedly continue to emerge in this discipline throughout my lifetime. If I am fortunate enough to be admitted to your program, I plan to focus my area of study on two major themes: the constant evolution of Congress as an institution and the dynamics surrounding congressional elections. I have several specific interests regarding Congress. Because I served as an intern in the offices of three female House Republicans, I am very interested in exploring the unique perspective, if any, that women bring to Congress. Further, I would like to confront the cause of the growing chasm between the percentages of women serving among Congressional Democrats as opposed to Congressional Republicans. My internships in Congress have also piqued my interest in other aspects of the institution such as the effect that member-to-member relationships can have on roll call voting behavior and the introduction of legislation, the factors that party leaders employ to determine members’ committee assignments, and the effect that increasing party polarization might have on the legislative process during this current era of unified government. Finally, after having the opportunity during my undergraduate education to take Legislative Process with Professor Bruce Oppenheimer, to whom I looked as a mentor throughout my undergraduate career, I became interested in the increased use of unconventional procedures to pass major legislation in Congress as well as the continuing centralization of power towards party leaders and away from committee chairmen. These topics were outlined in a few of the assigned books for that course that remain among my favorites and which I have re-read more than once since graduation. These include Oppenheimer and Lawrence Dodd’s Congress Reconsidered and Barbara Sinclair’s Unorthodox Lawmaking. As a result of that course, these are areas in which I would very much like to conduct further study, especially during this new era of Nancy Pelosi’s speakership and whatever might succeed it. Regarding congressional elections, I hope to utilize the strong statistical methods training I know I will receive from your graduate program to examine the effects that congressional redistricting has had on both primary and general elections and on party polarization in the House of Representatives. More importantly, I want to be able to use this training to forecast what effect the redistricting that will occur after next year’s census might have on future elections as well as the House as an institution. I also have an interest in looking at the way in which members of Congress, particularly U.S. Senators and House members who sit in marginal seats, confront the often-conflicting pressures between their party leadership or elite interest groups in Washington and their constituency at home that ultimately decides whether or not to return that member to Congress. This is a question that I had the opportunity to study when I took Professor Oppenheimer’s special topic seminar in the fall of 2006 covering that year’s midterm elections. In that course, I completed a research paper on the excruciatingly close race in Ohio’s 15th Congressional District, where incumbent Deborah Pryce, a member of the House Republican leadership, faced the dual task of convincing voters in her Columbus swing district that she was an independent voice for them but at the same time serving as a point-woman for her party’s agenda in Washington. Also, through reading classics such as Richard Fenno’s Home Style and Senators on the Campaign Trail, as well as Gary Jacobson’s The Politics of Congressional Elections, I developed a solid foundational understanding of the dynamics of congressional campaigns that I look forward to continuing study of as a graduate student. Additionally, I am interested in investigating whether the recent increase in voter turnout among younger and minority voters will become a long-term trend that will have a politically realigning effect on the American political landscape, or only a short-term phenomenon that is unlikely to be sustained. As I apply to enter graduate studies in political science, I do so with a strong appetite for expanding my knowledge of the discipline. One constraint I faced as an undergraduate was that my training in statistical research methods was fairly scant. While I am of course eager to conduct further study of the qualitative and conceptual aspects of American politics, what I look most forward to about my graduate education is being able to learn about the statistical and mathematical aspects of political science. This will no doubt prepare me well for the teaching and research career towards which I aspire. For this reason, I am excited to see that your graduate program has a strong reputation in this area and makes it a required part of the doctoral coursework. What also attracts me to your program is the excellent faculty in American politics. In particular, I hope to have the opportunity to study under Professors Adam Berinsky, Andrea Campbell, Gabriel Lenz, James Snyder, and Charles Stewart, all of whom have research interests that fit with mine. Finally, I want to address the way in which I feel my personal background would bring diversity to Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s graduate program. As a proud libertarian and a card-carrying member of my local Log Cabin Republicans chapter in California, I possess a unique perspective that most in the gay community as well as academia do not share. That being said, intellectual diversity, in my opinion, is an important aspect of a well-rounded education. As an undergraduate, I relished the fact that my viewpoint never went unchallenged. In fact, most of my friends both then and now are liberal Democrats. I certainly don’t think that anybody should be benefitted or penalized for his political views. I do know, however, that I would contribute to a diverse learning environment, which I believe would benefit the university as a whole. American politics is a discipline towards which I am truly passionate and fervently dedicated. I would be honored to have the opportunity to bring this passion and dedication to your graduate program at MIT.

Sounds like a good plan. Rory and I already took the plunge...who wants to go next? Diana Gallagher Graduate Administrator's Assistant | 617-253-6676 | dsgall@mit.edu Susan Twarog Graduate Administrator | 617-253-8336 | twarog@mit.edu

I talked to the grad secretary on the phone late last week and she told me that applicants would start hearing this week and that everyone will have heard something by end of next week...

Yeah, I can't stand the way some schools just let the rejected students sit around. If it weren't for gradcafe forum, I'd be uber-pissed off! As regulars on here have observed, I'm pretty pushy about rejections anyhow. 3/4 of mine have been the result of my e-mailing the dept after waiting at least a week after the first round of admits have come out. In each case, I confirmed my suspicion (UCSD was the only one so far that had the courtesy to take care of the rejects same day as every1 else). And as far as I can see, UNC-CH is still playing that game with people who've been waiting patiently a month now. (Throws hands up in the air...)

Hey. I'll be out there for the welcome weekend as well. I'm studying American Politics and will probably take my second concentration in comparative. In terms of elections, which is one of my research areas of interest, they've got some very strong faculty members in the American subfield. Institutions-wise, they have some great comparativists who study legislative politics/institutions and political parties from a cross-nation comparative perspective. I would say that as of now, MIT and Minnesota (both of which I am waiting to hear from this week) and Rochester (where I'm waitlisted) are the only three that I might place it ahead of. In terms of the programs at which I am a definite admit, I would say that it holds a significant advantage at this point. Of course, since I am determining the next five years of my life as well as the launching pad for my academic career, I'll no doubt be visiting a few other schools (FSU, UT-Austin, and Rice, all of which have visit weekends as well). That said, I think that assuming things don't work out at these first few programs I mentioned, I could very well end up at UCD. Also, if you PM me I'll facebook you so that I'll know who to look for next week when I'm there!

I mistyped this post. See below.

Yeah I'm pretty sure Harvard did them all at once. If it was a mass e-mail that seems to make sense. In a way I would think that's good so at least you're not left with any confusion (other than the whole wait list thing). MIT, on the other hand, is going to be a huge cluster*#!@ if history is any guide. Some of us will get phone calls, others will get DHL mail, etc. all during a period of at least a few days. That'll be a fun one.

Right. Chances are that I would probably attend UC-Davis, WashU, FSU, or UT-Austin over them, but at the same time I'm trying to keep my options open and would also like to see their funding offer were I to be admitted. That doesn't need to get back to the adcom though!

In an ideal world, Minnesota and MIT could finish up by the end of the week. That would make this coming weekend a hell of a lot more fun (even if I didn't get in to either, although an admission from at least one of the two would be better).

Right. That makes sense. PS- Don't forget to update your signature!

Haha, so I reached Thom Wall and asked him if all decisions had been sent out. He said "nothing has been sent out at all yet", which is obviously BS since we have two credible, regular posters who just got in. My guess is that the fat lady has sung on this one, but I have no clue and thankfully don't have to stress over it as I didn't apply.

Echoing natofone on that one...there is also a user who doesn't come on very often (I believe pablo is his user name) who got in early in the second week of Feb. Did they tell a few people early?

Cycle complete! Congrats on a strong showing this season. You've got a great list of options from which to choose. Best of luck to everyone else waiting to hear from the H-bomb!

HAHAHA, wow, I don't why I find that so hilarious. Maybe because I've been tempted to ask a couple of places on different occasions about posts I saw but of course refrained. Thus, to hear that a grad secy at a top-notch program actually mentioned this ridiculously addictive site unprompted is pretty amusing.