[PoliSci 2008-2009 Cycle]

Waitlisted at Stanford. Thanks I guess?

In other news, I talked to a prof at Berkeley today and he said that all the top 5 schools basically admit the same 60 students, then fight over them. I'm really curious as to if this is true. Has anyone here ever been accepted to like every top school?

Yes. I know someone last year who got into Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia; another who got into Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Princeton (did not apply to West Coast schools); Stanford, Harvard, Michigan, Yale; Berkeley, Harvard, Yale; etc, etc. There's something of a snowball effect for many applicants, especially those who get into both Harvard and Stanford.

But I also know some who got dinged at several top schools, but then got into only Stanford, or only Harvard. That happens, too.

[Where did you decide to go?]

Harvard, for comparative politics.

Thanks for all the discussion. It's been fun!

[Undergrad Stats...]

There's no doubt that the training and guidance I got from my department helped, not to mention letters of recommendation from prominent faculty, but I think that has more to do with being at a top department than my school's name brand. Just to illustrate this point, on these admit weekends, I've been finding that many non-Ivy admits come from places like WUSTL, Rochester, UCSD, UCLA and Northwestern.

Anyway, I've had classmates with higher GPAs and test scores fail to get into any graduate school when they applied, which is why I think numbers are far less decisive than the focus of this thread implies. I think the strength of your previous research, your statement of purpose, your letters of recommendation, your letters of recommendation and lastly, your letters of recommendation matter a lot.

At least, that's my guess. Who really knows? But maybe that's why this process seems so opaque: letters are the one part of your application over which you have absolutely no control, and which you will never be able to read!

[Undergrad Stats...]

For posterity's sake ;-)

BA from a top ivy

3.4 cumulative, 3.7 major

GRE: 730Q/720V/6.0W

Accepted: Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia

Rejected: Yale

My numbers=it's about a lot more than numbers.

Good luck to all the future poli sci graduate applicants of the world!