Megan

Also rejected from Berkeley, presumably rejected from Princeton...I knew I was taking a risk with how I did my applications, and I still had my reasons and think that it was the right decision, but it doesn't make the rejections feel nicer.

No kidding. There's really no cause for this. In the off chance that somebody missed the email, they could call the department.

I actually did call yesterday. Was told the same as others by Berkeley (decisions by the end of the week) and didn't get anybody at Princeton. Sigh. I think this process is the universe's way of teaching me patience.

I know that they are probably rejections, and there are other priorities, but it would be great if these schools could go ahead and tell me so I can quit freaking. I mean, don't get me wrong, I hope I have a miracle acceptance from Princeton coming, but it's not highly likely given the history of acceptance/rejection from that program, and I would like to be able to officially shift my focus if I didn't get in.

Woah. I wasn't even remotely trying to imply that my life sucked worse than anybody's...or that it sucked at all actually. My life didn't (and doesn't) suck. I was trying to point out that people from all backgrounds with all kinds of challenges aim high and some, even many, of them succeed. Hence my comparison of people's experiences besides mine. Moving on however, as requested, a member of my family went to a not even remotely top 50 program in his field and has gone on to have a very successful career. He did his post-doc at one of the best programs, possibly the best, in his field, and though he chose to move to a smaller, less prestigious place to teach, he had other offers and based his decision on his desire to focus on teaching and to raise a family in a particular place. He could have chosen to be at a top 25 program to teach if that had been his goal. So, I think that if you work hard and are impressive, you can most definitely become highly successful. Also, I think that where you end up shapes you, and if you picked good fits, regardless of rankings, you will find a path that makes you happy.

So, while I appreciate the concept of this thread, and I recognize that you said "the vast majority", I just feel the need to put something out there. You don't know anything about the backgrounds of the vast majority of us, nor what we are like in person. We are all under incredible strain and I'm 100% sure we don't always censor what we post as well as we could. That being said, in most cases, being able to get into a good grad school is not about the cards you are dealt, it's about what you do with them. I went to public school from K-12, my parents are divorced, my family was solidly lower middle class. I went to a school with no AP, no IB, etc. I worked my butt off in high school to get good grades and on top of that loaded up my extra curriculars and volunteered while still holding down a part time job. I went to one of those "elite private" colleges that nobody seems to think they can afford and I paid less than in state tuition at the state school in my town. Some of it was loans, most of it was scholarships. That wasn't handed to me. I worked for it, plain and simple, and I didn't do it with tons of money from my parents. I also worked 30+ hours at an outside job during all four years of college in order to pay my own living expenses. I am in serious debt. I will be paying it off for a while at what, given my career goals, is not likely to be a particularly generous salary. It was worth it in my opinion, and it was worth all the hard work to get here. I know lots of folks applying to grad school this year who are in at top programs. Yes, some of them have the background you seem to assume. Wealthy families, private schools, etc. Many, in fact the majority, do not. Most of these people are folks I went to undegrad with which means they also went to an "expensive private school". Many of them were on scholarship, all of them are in debt, all of them worked hard to get where they are, and very very few were dealth a royal flush. Even those that were, you have no idea what their lives were like. A friend I know who is going to be at a great program in the fall probably meets your definition of being dealt a "royal flush", but what you wouldn't know till you got to know him is that he has had to overcome a serious learning disability to get where he is. My only point is this. You don't really know the people on this board, or the people who got into top programs. Looking at their numbers and their few posts here is not indicative of who they are and, in general, tells you -nothing- about their background. When you make assumptions about them based on extremely limited information, you are as predjudiced against them as you have said you feel like they are against you, and that's not any more fair to them than some of them may have been to you.

Congratulations to all the Princeton folks. I'm assuming that no news is bad news. :-( But for those of you who made it, I am extremely happy for you and hope you have a great time there if you decide to accept.

Magic Eraser

Anybody who is way braver than me and/or not actually applying to Princeton want to give them a call to see whether they are going to send something out this week? I'm admittedly too wimpy, but I have noticed that not everybody on this board is...just thought I'd ask.

I bet we get the remainder of the Berkeley notifications tomorrow or the next day. Unfortunately, I have a sinking feeling that they are all rejections... My money is on Princeton for the end of the week (Thursday would be in line with last year), though I wonder if weather from last week has them behind...

Just adding my good luck wishes for everybody! It's a big week for lots of us (including me), but I'm sure we'll all wind up somewhere we'll be happy. Good luck!!!

OK, so, a little off topic, but did you guys hear about that professor at Alabama Huntsville who killed three people at a faculty meeting after she found out she didn't get tenure? Yikes. I have never heard of anything like that happening before...what a terrible tragedy.

Oh, well that's a day brightener! My dad's university is closed so I guess I just assumed everybody was.

Anybody else pissed it's a long weekend? I might be feeling it more since I actually have to work, but I am not glad that we won't hear anything on Monday. :-(

OK. This is why I think the Princeton posts are fake (Besides just a need to maintain my sanity while I sit at work all day). Last year, Princeton admitted on what will be next Thursday. This year, there has been insane weather which has resulted in (among other things) Princeton being closed...2 days I think? I find it hard to believe that they came back from a snow day and immediately sent out admits/rejects (not impossible, and even if they did, I can't believe that with the weather they are not somewhat behind. My uncle works at Penn (not in PoliSci) and I know stuff is running slow there, I can't imagine Princeton is unaffected. Also, last year they did not admit and reject on the same day. Finally, not ONE person who is on the forum has been either rejected or accepted which is just totally suspect. So. I think they are fake. Now the real question, was writing this more for the board or more for me? (Answer: Entirely for me and my tenuous mental stability). Here's hoping we all hear something soon.

I am actually also hoping to hike a chunk of the AT (actually, right around where you will be polecon...maybe we'll run into each other!!!) at the beginning of the summer, and then I am planning to do a summer intensive language program to improve my weakest regional language. For somebody who asked whether you have to know the language, I mean, I guess it depends on how you do your research. However, I have to say, reading media written about a place in English or even translated media is often vastly different from reading it in the original. Besides the fact that unless it's a really common language the translation is often bad (in my experience occassionally so bad as to impede understanding), you lose the local perspective, and what is considered important for the English speaking media isn't always what people in the country find to be important, so if you are talking about shifting public sentiment or grass roots support issues, or how a political phenomenon is viewed in the country I think knowing the language is immensely helpful if not essential. I mean, I speak completely from my own experiences and from what my profs in undergrad did (they had all studied the language of the places they studied), but I have found it totally changes my experience when I can speak to people and read media and such without translation. Also, in my particular region, all the people I have met at conferences have known the language. So, it may also vary by regional area, and it certainly will vary based on what particular issues you are studying and how you are studying them. Oooh, reading lists are nice...that's a great idea...

I was fairly specific. While I am open to the fact that everybody's research interests tend to change, my research interests have been pretty focussed for the last 7 years, and at this point I will be surprised if I do my dissertation on a wildly different set of issues than those. I have been focussed on a specific geographic area as well. I'm sure there will be some shifts, but I don't necessarily forsee a radical shift. The way I see it, there are ups and downs. The positive of doing it my way is that because my interests are focussed, I need a department that, knowing that focus, still thinks I'm a good fit. The negative is, it limited the schools where I felt comfortable applying, and I think it could hurt my admissions chances. Lots of people may be able to support you on your issue if you are general. If I had stated broadly "I am interested in looking at transitional democracies from a comparative perspective" without expanding I think I would have had more chance of getting accepted, but because I know that I am interested in those issues in a specific historical and cultural context, I felt that I needed to expand on those interests in my SOP. I don't really know what's better...I didn't even actually consider doing it the other way, but now that i think about it maybe it would have been better...who knows.

Me too...though I suspect with the late deadline and then the fact that they extended it by a week that we will be waiting quite some time on that one. I expect that to be the last school I hear from.

This is like torture. Literally. I'm in agony. this is most decidedly not awesome.

<br /><br /><br /> I'm Comparative/Area Studies

I would really like for Berkeley to have another round of acceptance emails...any chance they did it by subfield?

Sorry to double post, but it does seem strange that if you were applying to the department and had the chair as a reference they wouldn't have told you, "Sure, I'll write it, but you should know we typically don't accept our own undergrads for PhDs" so maybe it isn't true at LSE. I'd think your department would tell you if they felt this way.

With regards to schools not accepting their own graduates, this is not just an urban legend. There are many schools that actively prefer not to take people who did their undergraduate degree for a PhD. It's different for masters students and it isn't ALL schools, but it's a lot of schools. It's about diversifying both the department and the students' intellectual influences. I don't know whether British schools are like this though...I know in some European countries this is decidedly -not- true, but I don't know about the UK.

Believe me. I feel you. I think I might have a stress-induced cardiac incident before then if I don't hear anything. Haha.

Yeah, I mean, I don't think that last years dates are certainties, but I do think that they are guidelines. We are unlikely to hear from schools much before those dates. So I was thinking I can start looking out for Berkeley this week and for Princeton next....but it's always possible we won't know Berkeley till March 1st or Princeton till mid-March (the dates the department gives for "we will notify by...")