VMcJ

And here I am, hoping against hope. Tomorrow I am beginning my work to try again and fail better next cycle. I'd love to be interrupted by Yale!

Did they set a date for you to answer? If they did, I think you should say you are not certain yet and need to hear from several other schools. If not, I recommend you to carefully evaluate Vanderbilt against the others that accepted you until you are 100% sure. Try to talk to Vanderbilt former and current students in your field, perhaps they can help you decide more quickly.

Same here. 4cr-2pr-2ny *CR - confirmed rejection PR - probable rejection NY - nothing yet

I would love to receive this letter: "Hey, twerp. We are somewhat sadistic and every ten years we accept the utmost loser. Congratulations, you are the loser of this decade. We will fund you only if you keep scoring A's in every discipline -- one B and you are out. You are the worst piece of junk we ever admitted, so consider yourself lucky. We plan to keep insulting you like that -- and worse, until the end of your Ph.D. That is, if a dumb person as you can complete it. Yours sincerely, Ivy League School" Seriously now, it appears that only a minority of schools do not place great care in how they address their admitted students. That is nice, but I wonder how much it really increases likelihood of attracting students -- I'd take a better financial offer or a better school over kindness almost always.

I'd be extremely happy with Georgetown and wouldn't try again next cycle to get into another school. But I need funding before accepting an offer, and I don't know any source available to me. But they're probably going to reject me, so whatever.

Thanks a lot. You're right, it's not truly over, but I'd rather receive an unexpected admission than wait two or three weeks to simply confirm what is highly probable at this point. And you do have a point about Georgetown, which I had applied to also. I fear they might admit me but without funding (they do not offer funding for all their accepted applicants). I don't know if that would do me any good at all.

That's sensational. I wish you an excellent ride in New Jersey. Unless, well, unless you get to be accepted by another one that you might prefer over Princeton. I see you applied to Harvard, like myself.

Thanks! After the frustration comes the realization that you always have room to improve. Better get back to work than cry over spilled milk.

I am in the opposite side of it. Can't wait to finally receive all my rejections, so I can work right away in my second attempt. I don't know if I praised you for getting into Princeton yet, so congratulations! In what field are you?

Nothing yet, but probably positive decisions will be issued next week, compared to previous years.

MIT is probably my worst fit, so it would not be surprising. And then I'd have to wait for those final nails in this cycle's coffin: Yale and Harvard.

Somebody claiming that MIT admission on the results page?

Did you go to their application website? I did not receive any email from them, but my rejection letter is there since last week. Most decisions were not directly communicated to us.

And then came that Princeton email.

I would not say lottery, but "betting on horses" seems to fit better. You can make educated guesses, you can even know a lot about horses and win most of the time, and you can have bad luck with your picks even if they were carefully researched. But I think that was a troll. Too strange.

You see, grad school sometimes is not that different from a monastery.

I am practically living in EST right now. And that makes no sense at all, but we cannot stop, am I right? Rationally one hour, one day, even one month until we see an email from them, it makes no difference whatsoever. I checked my email while typing this message, lol

Thanks, @IndEnth! Your story is really inspiring for me. I will think carefully about all of this, especially about trying again some schools that already rejected me or probably will.

Ah, now I understand. Well, there are not many RAs for Political Theory. And if I did it in another field, I don't know if my chances would actually increase for theoretical work (unless it's quantitative, of course, but I am more of a political thought and philosophy type). About doing a Master, it would be a good idea, but I already have a MA (again, not PoliSci, although it is closer to the area than not) and I have a wife. Only complete funding can provide the means to live overseas when studying, since I am pretty far from being wealthy, to say the least. Anyway, thanks a lot. I will consider your advice thoroughly if I am indeed rejected by all schools.

And to think I was afraid of the GRE!... It was the best part now in hindsight. The only thing I know for sure was not the issue (if there was indeed one issue other than fierce competition). You are both right, I need to wait first and then try to understand how it could have been better. Maybe, just maybe, I still have a chance for celebration. If not, life goes on.

I don't know if I understand. The suggestion is to ask about RA in order to reach out or to actually pursue it? If it's the latter, this would not be possible for me. I am not a US resident. Sorry if I misunderstood.

Well, in the case of introduction by the recommender, I could have made something, but probably nothing very much decisive. My point is that it appeared to me that several accepted in this forum had this kind of communication with their POIs. If this was not detrimental to me, then Occam's razor. I wasn't lucky and didn't help myself by not applying to "safe schools".

I know, I know. Grasping at straws. Sorry for making you state the obvious. But in the future, if I try again, I should contact them beforehand, right? I didn't want to appear that I was trying to impose myself.

I thought this through. I made my best. I made only two mistakes: didn't talk to POIs and practically only applied to ultracompetitive schools. Other problems are impossible to correct (not-PoliSci undergrad, basically). I will be 28 when classes begin this year; my age will be more of a problem next cycle. I don't even know how I would afford another cycle, both economically and emotionally. No need to say that my frustration is devastating right now. Well, my question is: should I talk to my remaining POIs while I might still have some shred of chance or that would only hurt those hypothetical chances?

And then that expected email from NYU finally came... Two confirmed rejections, three probable rejections, and three probably without hope (HYM). Only a miracle. And I don't believe in miracles.