PizzaCat93

Different field, but is it a good idea to let the DGS and others know that I am still very interested in the school I'm waitlisted at? Would it help/hurt any? I got the notification about a month ago, and they said they'd likely not be making decisions until early April. I have other offers, and the deadline for all of them is April 15, so it's a different situation than the OP.

Can anyone admitted to UNC tell me what the funding package is like? Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post it publicly. I am on the waitlist there and am curious if the funding is competitive compared to similar schools.

The open house is April 1.

I'm comparative.

My funding package was $26k for five years. I don't know if that is the case for everyone though. DC's cost of living is fairly high, but I know that another DC school provides stipends of only $22k, and the students there seem to be getting by alright. You just may not be able to live very close to the school.

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: Southern LAC Major(s)/Minor(s): major - political science; minor - Middle East studies Undergrad GPA: 3.8 Type of Grad: none Grad GPA: n/a GRE: V166/Q159/AW5 Any Special Courses: Political Analysis (quant methods) Letters of Recommendation: One from research mentor (PS assistant prof); one from academic advisor and methods prof (PS associate prof); one from chair of minor (religion associate prof) Research Experience: Summer research assistantship, undergraduate thesis Teaching Experience: Teaching assistant for upper level PS course Subfield/Research Interests: comparative politics, specifically parties (extremist and right-wing) and religion/secularism and politics Other: Two peer-reviewed publications, one solo-authored, one co-authored with research mentor; award for best undergraduate paper at state's annual PS conference; 5 conference presentations; graduated in 3.5 years RESULTS: Acceptances($$ or no $$): Ohio State ($$), Northwestern ($$), Georgetown ($$), George Washington ($$), Colorado-Boulder ($$) Waitlists: UNC-Chapel Hill Rejections: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Michigan, Stanford Going to: Most likely Northwestern LESSONS LEARNED: I think my unimpressive GRE quant score, coupled with my poor/nonexistent math background was what kept me out of the top programs, especially considering I am fresh out of undergrad. It was a stressful and largely stochastic process, but I'm fairly satisfied with the outcome.

Hopefully we will hear very soon!

Any updates about OSU's funding? They said end of February, so it should be about time.

Don't take this the wrong way, but after a Princeton acceptance, why Georgetown? Fit? Is there something I'm missing about Georgetown? I have an offer there, but am planning to decline.

I've declined my offer, but the deadline to do so is not until April 15. Also, my subfield is CP, so I don't know if that helps you at all.

What's your subfield? I'm in CP, and I'll be declining my acceptance.

I will be there!!

Same. Really hoping for some decisions today, or else it's going to be another long weekend.

Thanks for the update!! Yale is the last school I'm waiting to hear from (and I'd really love to go there), so I'm almost dying waiting to hear something.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm very ready for this application season to be over. So tired of waiting!!

They worked, thanks!!

Anyone have any info on Yale? I am expecting decisions next week, but just wondering if anyone knew any specifics.

Thanks again! I cannot access that article, says I don't have permission. Could you give me the citation or otherwise make it accessible?

Sorry, I forgot to say, I'm CP, interested in religion/secularism and politics. This is a relatively rare interest, and Ohio State has no one working on this (although a few POIs I could work with, if I take a broader view). There are 2-3 at Northwestern with very close interests, and I have already been contacted by one POI who is interested in working with me. I am leaning towards Northwestern, so thanks for the input. I was just uncertain, as I have had a couple professors tell me that ranking is the utmost importance. However, I think the difference between 15 and 20 is fairly minimal.

I'm in the same boat but with Northwestern and Ohio State (still waiting on one top-5, but not very hopeful). Northwestern is an extremely good fit for me, and the funding package is very good. However, it is not as highly ranked as Ohio State, and from what I can tell, it has a sort of niche-yness as well. I've heard it described as the qualitative version of Rochester (which I love, but am cognizant of the job market as well as the quant bias of the discipline). Any input?

Does anyone know whether it is possible to decline a waitlist offer?

No worries, I'd say that's a fair projection.

And, to further justify my previous post, abed says, "official acceptance letters will be sent out in the next couple of days". Please don't get yourselves worked up, people. Our sanities will have a hard enough time in grad school... And, congratulations, abed!!

imho, this sort of speculation is completely unwarranted. It does no one any favors; in fact, it makes people needlessly upset because they think "Oh, I haven't heard a decision yet, I'm surely rejected!" and that may not be the case. I had this exact experience with an earlier acceptance, so I know not to get worked up about this sort of thing anymore, but I know many people still do get worried when a few acceptances pop up, and that's understandable. Neither you nor any others of us, for that matter, have any insider knowledge about the admissions processes of any given school (unless they've been personally contacted by someone from the department in question). Further, just because a school has done admissions decisions in certain, generalizable ways in past years doesn't necessarily mean they will do it the same this year. Specifically in regards to Princeton, there have been three acceptances reported; two out of three certainly are international students, and the other perhaps is as well (s/he did not indicate that). So, we have an N of 3. That is a very small sample size to make such lofty generalizations, especially considering that the data are self-reported and anonymous (therefore, relatively low-quality). I'd say it takes a much greater number of acceptances for us to be able to claim that "all offers are already out". I personally am not going to draw any conclusions about my Princeton status until receiving the official decision. And, I'll be sleeping soundly tonight; I don't know about the rest of you all...

Thanks for the replies! I just got back today, and the trip went really well; much less stressful than I'd expected. Dare I say I even enjoyed it.