s1994

Cornell, Yale, Brown -- all of them should release their decisions either this or next week

If anyone here is planning to go to UCSD or Michigan open house events, please PM me!

Congrats to all MIT admits!

I know of people getting into Yale with a GPS (formerly IR/PS) degree from UCSD. It's fairly prestigious with good training and helpful faculty. If you are prepared and taking the most out of the program, you should land at a T-10 next season. However, it's a bet on yourself -- If you do mediocrely in the program, then getting another Master degree probably won't help you too much. If you have confidence in yourself and work hard, you should be able to hear great news next year!

I would say email the staff to see if there is any missing material in your application. Otherwise, there is a chance that you are waitlisted? But anyway, it won't hurt if you ask at this juncture!

Check your emails including the spams. Rejects were sent out yesterday. Offers and WLs were sent out on Wednesday. If you haven't received anything, then you probably should contact the staff there...

Congrats! Are you planning to go to the open house event? Too bad it's in conflict with the Michigan event...

I got in WUSTL!!!

It's pretty late. That person probably heard from his/her POI. Don't worry too much, but if the person is not trolling -- then MIT will release their results tomorrow. Good luck!

1) It's weird that we still have no news from WUSTL this year. But I would say this or next week will be the time 2) Cornell and Yale will probably release their decisions either next or the following week 3) Then Harvard in March ... Good luck to everyone!

I'm assuming, which should be really accurate

If Stanford is sending out rejections by alphabets -- then I would say all rejections are out since my last name starts with X. Congrats to those who got accepted and waitlisted!

To ask about RA work so that you can do it at your home country and communicate with him/her via Skype/email. Actually, it might be hard to do so as most professors would probably say no because they worry about your undergrad training if you do not get your degree in the US. Have you thought about getting a Master degree either in US or Canada? It might boost your chance a lot. Have you applied to Chicago? If you GRE and GPA are good -- then they will probably offer you a Master offer with reduced tuition. Not the best deal, but it can work out if you are prepared and seize the opportunity. Did you apply to Columbia? Though it might be sort of late -- ask to see if you can add a second option program. I chose QMSS when I applied to Columbia, and the application is free. You might also be able to explore some area study master degrees.

If you think that you have no luck this season, believe that you really want to go with a Poli Sci Ph.D. path, and are confident that you can get admitted by a good program as an international student (otherwise, you will face a much harder time when you are on the market because of H1B and stuff like that), then I would say instead of emailing POIs and introducing yourself at this juncture, actually emailing them to ask about opportunities of RA positions. Most likely they won't pay you to do the work because it costs their money and the process of paying a foreigner can be painful. So it would be great if your undergrad institute can pay you for your work, or if you could get a fellowship to pay you. Ask around about RA opportunities and see how it goes from there. If you are great, and the professor you are working with is at a top-30 department, s/he should have the network to introduce you to many departments when you apply next year.

With regards to the Stanford acceptance, it might not be a troll (or it might be) 1) On "that" website (I'm not going to name it, but if you know, you know it), someone is asking to compare Princeton and Stanford. So the person might actually get the unofficial offer from his POI 2) It can also just be a grad student trolling, which is not uncommon on "that" website

I think the people who posted about P-town rejects are either trolling or because they think they are rejected because they did not hear anything. I hope not. Btw, who sends out offers at 8pm ...?

To elaborate more, I want to say that schools usually release their results in two different ways 1) First, and the most common one, is to send out offers (and WL decisions almost simultaneously) at first. These emails tend to be formulaic, simply letting an applicant know that he is accepted. However, funding details are usually not sent until future emails. These schools will accept people from the WL only if 1) there are people turning down the offer, 2) the # of people declining the offers has been so high that they have to take people from WL to meet the incoming class size. In this sense, to get off from the WL is already hard, not to mention if the school will "save" people from the rejection pile. However, it is still possible for you to be "re-admitted" even though you were in the rejection pile in the first place if (1) none of the people on the WL end up with a good fit in the department's eyes, and (2) the department desperately needs people to meet the incoming class size for a variety of reasons. That's why they do not send out the rejections right away with all the offers and WL decisions. Thus, people can definitely treat silence as hope, but we have to be admonished that the chance of acceptance is really, really low. Schools that fit this model are Duke, Chicago... (Top 20 prestigious departments). Some schools sent out the rejections only a few days later than the acceptances and WL decisions, because they know that even people turn down the offers, the department will still do fine with the incoming class size. Top-10s like Berkeley and Princeton fit this sub-model. 2) Second way is to send out formulaic rejections at first, so that they can spend time to individualize the offers and include detailed funding info in the letter. UCSD, Michigan (at least this year) fit this model. Either way, we tend not to see a case when a school sends out a lot of offers on the same day, waits for a month, and sends out another batch of offers. None of the top departments has done notifications in this way, and nor will they. Something that people have done in the past might not necessarily lead to what they will do this year. But even though they change the chair, the expectations of how admissions process is done are still flowing around in the department -- culture and process are not changed that easily. Observing a pattern and using this pattern strategically, although might let you feel sad at first when you think "oh I got rejected by Princeton because I hear nothing from them", is actually doing you good by helping you treat "failure" (in a positive way) in a calm manner. This is the rule of the game that is called grad school admissions; this will also be the rule of the game when we are on the job market. That's what I want to say. And to certain fellows -- feel free to downvote me as always. But this is what I truly think, and my thoughts will probably not be changed easily with more downvotes. To the people who agree with me -- Thank you. From the pattern you have observed re: past admissions, you can understand your situation more keenly, and if, I'm saying if, the current cycle does not work for you, you will be at a much better place when you apply next year. I am lucky as I got into a good department in my first cycle, but the waiting period is really difficult. Hope that everyone can succeed this year.

My understanding is that if you don't hear anything from Chicago, Duke, Columbia, or Princeton on the same day when other people do, then that means you are rejected. Even the people on the waitlists are also informed with the people who got the offers. Many people on this forum might disagree with me a lot on this point, but not hoping too much from a "silent" decision is probably the best thing that people can do (so goes for the job market in five years -- silence means rejection, with really few exceptions), because you won't be too disappointed when you receive the rejection in a month, and if there is a miracle that they get you accepted instead of those on the waitlist -- you will be surprised and happy. You have nothing to lose by treating dead silence as a rejection.

If you can make it to Princeton WL, I am sure that your application has some strength that is eye-catching and really competitive. As long as your school list is long enough (and the fit is strong), I think you have a really good chance of getting an offer from a top-5. Good luck!

It was really early last year, but also pretty late 2 years ago. The date is really unpredictable for top departments like Stanford because we do not know how many applicants applied to them (and the # tends to vary a lot year by year). But I would say they will definitely release the result by the end of next week (probably similar time with Yale)!

Thank you! Now I can deal with my Princeton and Columbia rejects in a calmer manner

I got in Michigan!

Yes. University Of Michigan, Ann Arbor Political Science, PhD (F15) Accepted via E-mail on 28 Feb 2015 ♦ A 28 Feb 2015 report spam Accepted off the waitlist for Methods subfield. So excited!

Can someone claim the Michigan acceptance? I hope that they are individualizing and sending out offers in batches right now ...

He just didn't post it when he got the offer. The email was sent out on the day when other people received it.