hgp

Harvard does their rejections by snail mail, so it takes longer.

Does anyone at Penn have advice for which parking pass I should get? I will be living on campus so I will only be using my car to go to the grocery, IKEA etc.

Yes, but I just did this weekend! I stayed at Center City over my visit, and I took the subway to campus - it was more of a walk than I had anticipated, but it could have been because I didn't know the area.

Just said yes to Penn! So many feels.

As the famed sociologist T. Swift would say, haters gonna hate, shake it off shake it off

How much does making a decision 3/20 impact students on the waitlist vs 4/10 or even the 15th. I see people on the forum asking those who are going to decline to decline early, but I've mostly heard people say to focus on your own decision. I've also heard of people getting accepted post April 15th because a cohort wasn't the size the school wanted so I don't know how much to take the waitlist into consideration.

Thank you all so much for the feedback! It has been very helpful.

I agree! I'm getting a part-time job on a golf course and will be doing some theory readings, maybe brushing up on statistics if I'm feeling really adventurous/insecure.

Do you think they are looked at differently though? In terms of prestige?

Thank you for your response!

Does living in another town make it difficult to socialize with your cohort for a first year? I am looking at condos in Bala Cynwyd but I am worried about not being in the city. Does anyone have experience with this? I'm not really a city girl but I definitely want to be easily able to participate in activities/outings.

Yes and it is so exhausting! I haven't committed yet, but if I do, I'm just going to get a Realtor. I was looking for a house in the suburbs but parking on campus is so expensive, I think I'm going to opt for a condo in center city. I found this post to be helpful for popular neighborhoods: http://mba.wharton.upenn.edu/student-experience/living-philadelphia/housing/

I've heard that top 5 only hires within top 5 (for my field - sociology) and that the next tier is 6-20. Other people have said that as long as the school is top 20 it's top tier. One of my schools is #10 (ivy) and the other is #20 (state school). Should I consider them in the same tier? I'd sincerely appreciate any opinions on this matter!

I'm in sociology so I'm not sure if what political science looks for is different - but it does seem like you have an impressive application package. If the #60 program is funded, I say take the first step and see what other doors open. Particularly for your professional goals, I think the PhD will be worth it. You're in control of the quality and quantity of work you do and the connections you make no matter what tier school you go to. I think 8 years from now when you're at your government position you're gonna look back on this time of anxiety, smile and say, hey it all really does work out.

I'm all for positive mental health so I think the biggest question is if you feel as though you need a break. If you are burnt out from four years of undergrad and the summer program is supposed to be challenging, resting your brain and establishing healthy habits might be of better service to you. A month and a half seems like a solid amount of time to recharge - although you may be surprised how quickly it goes. However, I don't know how big an advantage it would be to do the fellowship in terms of preparation for grad school - I mean, you were accepted because they thought you were prepared enough already. You could always take the summer off and do prep on your own. Everyone is different, but I know after I graduated, I didn't use my brain for a solid two months after and then slowly started back into productive, academic work thru a part time research assistant position - and now (after 7 months) I feel so ready to jump back in academia for the next six years.