Shere Khan

Hmm. As it is not that difficult to change subfield after you've been accepted, would systematically targeting the "weaker" subfields of a program make sense as an application strategy?

I tried to fight the strain simply by applying for jobs in the meantime - with the result that I'll now have to turn down an internship with our secret service . Given the reputation of that organization, not a big loss, I guess. I'm getting too old for internships anyway.

The father of a colleague of mine just passed away. Puts this "if I don't get into this or that university I'll be so devasted" thing into perspective...

Here in Central Asia is perfect: I go to bed when the big excitement starts and when I show up at work in the morning I can do the read-up of what happened during the (US) day...

Sounds good! But apart from that, a rather slow day... .

Huh? Is that latest Stanford acceptance by snail mail real or just someone's wishful thinking? If they are actually sending out acceptance letters by mail, I might have to e-mail Chandelle and ask her to confirm my rejection - it will be months until any letter from the US arrives in Central Asia... Thanks - unfortunately, Yale and Emory respectfully disagree with you on the last point . But I got in somwhere nice, so I won't complain. Congratulations to all those who haven't been rejected by Yale, I hope you receive good news soon!

I am not sure if this will help, because my background is a bit unconventional: Graduated recently from a European University with a combined BA-MA degree, major: Political Science, minor: Islamic Studies. GPA: not really convertible to US system, but not super good... My biggest drawback is that it took me almost 10 years to finish what should be a 5-years degree - I have good excuses, but still... (2 years of exchange studies in China; spent 1 1/2 years doing internships in Switzerland, Syria, Kyrgyzstan and New York with various international organizations, and more than 1/2 year working almost full-time to be able to afford those unpaid internships; and in the final year I again worked almost full-time in Dubai and Kyrgyzstan). Dedicated a lot of time to learning the respective languages, so my language portfolio looks quite impressive (at least on paper ). GRE: 760Q, 730V, 5 AWA. I basically applied to as many universities as possible, in the hope that someone might decide that my CV looks "interesting" instead of "unfocused and probably unable to finish a PhD in less than 10 years". Why NYU picked it up I really don't know - I was under the impression that they are heavy on the quantitative side, and nothing in my application points to such a focus: my writing sample was purely qualitative, and I attended only 3-4 statistic-related classes (admittedly with quite good marks). Mentioned in my sop that I would like to do apply network analysis to authoritarian regimes and therefore would like to work with Adam Przeworski, Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith (and mentioned some of their papers related to authoritarianism). Hope that helps - as for me, I am still a bit confused about NYU's choice, but far be it from me to complain...

Well, I know for sure that the NYU result I posted is not fake . Except of course, if the three e-mails they sent me so far were hoaxes (now I am getting paranoid as well...). I sent them an e-mail (10 February) to ask if they had decided on all applications already, the answer was: "I cannot comment on the admission status of any other application except to say that our process is ongoing and all applicants will be notified when it is complete." Don't really know how to interpret that - there still might be hope? Anyway, I keep my fingers crossed for you.

You mean when we will hear from them? I thought their university deadline (not their prefered department deadline) was the first of February, so I would guess they are not ready yet...

I find it odd that they would reject someone over the phone - I mean, how many phone calls are they going to make? (Or maybe he called and was told he was rejected?) Anyway, I hope they don't call me to tell me that I am rejected - it is midnight here now and I have to get up early tomorrow morning...

Got a reply to the e-mail I sent to NYU. I asked: "An acquaintance of mine has also applied to NYU and wanted to know if the fact that he hasn't received an acceptance e-mail means that he has been rejected (he is also an international applicant)?" Answer was: "I cannot comment on the admission status of any other application except to say that our process is ongoing and all applicants will be notified when it is complete." So I think there might still be hope. I keep my fingers crossed for you and everyone else who has applied to NYU.

That would be me, I think. Still not really believing it, though... Maybe I should answer to their e-mail to check if they didn't send it to the wrong person, especially as I felt that I was not a very good fit. I have no idea if they have sent out all the admissions. But I will have to reply to their e-mail soon anyway, so I can ask, if that would help you in any way.