schuaust

Congrats! You've got a fantastic problem to have choosing between such elite programs! : )

In at Delaware for IR/Theory, so the anxiety of not being in anywhere is alleviated. Still waiting on Washington-Seattle, Hopkins, and Northwestern.

I've only heard back from three schools so far, all rejections, and *still* waiting on Northwestern. So far this has been a defeating process. Still waiting on a few others.

My application at Minnesota says "submitted-decided" but no result shows. I'm assuming they have emails coming out shortly. Anyone else seeing the same thing? EDIT: never mind, rejected. Disappointing, but that's OK. Wish I would have gotten an email to check the portal.

Northwestern is killing me. Still have only heard definitively from one school (rejection - Berkeley - pretty expected). Waiting on Northwestern, and it looks like Washington might be doing decisions this week. Otherwise, everything else is still out there.

I just want something from Northwestern, lol. There and Berkeley are the only schools I've applied to that have released any decisions. Congrats to everyone who has been accepted thus far!

I just got my rejection from Berkeley (arrived at 6:15pm their time, so I'll boost my confidence and say that means they were considering me for one of the last spots, lol). Sounds like from the email they made all their decisions. Slightly dissapointed, but it's a long season and I applied to many more places. Congrats to everyone who got in!

As does mine.

Haven't gotten accepted or rejected at Northwestern so we will see what that means, likely I'll find out about nine months from now, lol

Decisions come out mostly in February, some in late January, some in March. Chances are context specific and your MA should help. At elite Universities getting in really is in part luck of the draw, so hopefully you'll find out you are on the good end of that equation. If not, apply more widely in another cycle and check average GPAs and GRE scores of applicants (but remember there are always people who fall outside the typical range). Good luck!

PSR is awful.

Thank you so much, this is very reassuring.

Cal Merced could be an option, too. It's a new program, so difficult to gauge how the job market will be graduating from there...but, their second cohort had someone get a job at Pitt.

Hopefully this thread still has some viewership among faculty. I am wondering how common transfers from other PhD programs are, and what concerns faculty have when viewing these applications (and perhaps how to preempt them)? My circumstances are - perhaps - a bit unique. I'm at a University that isn't particularly LGBT friendly (but have had great mentorship) and it's not conducive to being able to focus on my studies (although my GPA is over 3.9 while in a dual MA/PhD program). My primary advisor mentions in his recommendation why I am transferring, so I have not addressed it in my SOP (although any school requiring a personal history or diversity statement is likely to pick up on why fairly quickly). Would it be advisable to include it and/or contact departments to ask about LGBT resources and mention that this is the reason I have applied elsewhere? Also as a caveat, I would ask that people not go through my posting history to determine what school I am transferring from, but if you are LGBT+ I am more than happy to discuss what your experience in graduate school might be like, and to share my institution and resources available there (many of which I and a small group have created). Best!

For living options, Palisades is probably the best place in the city. Reasonable rent (especially with roommates) and it's clean. I can't wait for my time to be over here.

I can't speak to Manoa, but I attended Idaho State as an undergrad. I would suggest contacting them about placement. All of the people I knew in the DA program got placed either in good government jobs or teaching at community colleges/private 4 year colleges in the US. They do a good job placing people just based on anecdotal evidence, but without a GRE you might have a hard time getting into the program (they have a scoring system in their application materials that shows under what criteria they accept people). Hopefully this is helpful. You can PM me if you like, I log on about once a week.

I'd love to hear more about Tuscaloosa. I've switched my Tinder over and that has honestly been a great source of information...but...do any graduate students have recommendations on places to live? Currently considering Bent Tree and the French Quarter Apartments. Would like to be within walking distance, but I'm curious about public transit options from Northport.

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: Low profile undergrad institution in Idaho Major(s)/Minor(s): Political Science major, no minor Undergrad GPA: 3.63 GRE: Q: 154 V: 161 W: 4 Any Special Courses: Audited International Relations Theory graduate seminar. Letters of Recommendation: (3) all from within the department. All know me extremely well, one allowed me to audit a graduate course and another was a very non-traditional instructor and I assume he wrote a very unique LOR. Research Experience: (2) senior theses in IR, including defending and Honors thesis. Survey experience in Psychology, but nothing special or long term. No publications. Teaching Experience: None Subfield/Research Interests: IR - especially the development/emergence of new states, consequences of IR theory in national defense policy and IR theory in general. Other: Student senate campaign and a large amount of student activism, social media director for a local political organization, public speaking at various events involving social justice issues. RESULTS: Acceptances($$ or no $$): Utah, a school in Idaho, Alabama ($$$) Waitlists: None Rejections: SDSU, Minnesota, Cornell, Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio State, Colorado-Boulder Pending: None Going to: Alabama (Tuscaloosa) LESSONS LEARNED: (1) Rejections aren't an indictment of your quality as an academic or a reflection of what school see your potential for success as. Decisions are primarily based on fit, and to be quite honest, I applied to a couple of schools where fit was questionable (especially Iowa and Wisconsin). (2) Contact professors. Every school where I contacted professors early in the process accepted me. Initially I was hesitant to do so, but after reading advice on this forum and receiving rejections from every school that I *wanted* to go to, I took a chance on doing that at Alabama. Applying there was a very spur-of-the-moment decision, but after seeing the research interests of their faculty and communicating with several of them I knew it was a perfect fit, and was extremely relieved when I was accepted with full funding. Which brings us to: (3) Be ready to move on. Your initial plans or dreams may not work out for various reasons. Be ready to change your approach and adapt quickly. New opportunities will arise, you may get an out-of-the-blue email from Alabama letting you know that they still have funding available and would love more students to apply...so take those chances late in the application process and don't be surprised if you don't end up where you expected. (4) Your undergrad record matters, but you can overcome even if it isn't the greatest. The schools that accepted me said that I had a great writing sample, and that it was able to overcome some of the weaknesses in my application. Knowing early that graduate school is a goal is helpful, as is knowing what you want your field to be. Many of us don't make those decisions until later. For a frame of reference, I started in engineering and was...to put it mildly...not particularly inclined to succeed in that field. So I had to overcome failure as an undergrad...and my failure was very measurable (lost scholarships, failed classes, etc.). These might put you out of the reach of top programs - and ultimately I don't know and don't care why schools didn't accept me because I am incredibly excited to be going to Alabama - but it does not mean that you won't get accepted somewhere that wants you and that will offer great opportunities. (5) Be comfortable selling yourself. I am not, and I felt very unnatural writing an SOP. Ultimately I decided mine was problematic and scrapped a majority of it for my Alabama application. My format was to (1) show how I became interested in Political Science and what aspects of the field appealed to me and (2) why I thought I was a good fit at a particular school. I believe that correspondence with departments really helped in offsetting the weakness of my SOP, but being straightforward in my SOP may have been helpful. SOP: PM FINAL ADVICE: I hope that this really helps someone in their applications. Applying to graduate schools is a time consuming, sometimes even soul-sucking endeavor. Be sure to take care of yourself and when you need a break, take it. Go out with friends, watch a movie...whatever it is that helps you relax. I took a year off to apply to graduate programs, and I think for many that this is a good idea. For those of you embarking on this journey in your final year of studies, don't underestimate the time commitment of what you are doing. To be honest, I have no idea how much my volunteer experience helped in my application, but if you take a year off I think it is important to show that you were dedicated to learning while out of school. Good luck!

Nebraska, please just let me know if I'm in, lol: Application Status at the Department: Review complete, decision forwarded to Graduate Studies Application Status in Graduate Studies: Decision received; pending final review.

I think we will be hearing from Nebraska tomorrow. My application says that it has been reviewed and that the decision has been forwarded to the office of graduate studies for approval. Fingers crossed that is an acceptance.

Iowa emailed and said their decisions will be out in the next two to three weeks. Accepted at Utah w/o funding so far, just waiting on Iowa, Nebraska, Cornell, Minnesota and Idaho State (applied for MA and DA). Fingers crossed, this process is nerve-wracking.

Congrats to everyone accepted so far! I've finally been officially rejected by Ohio State, and I also think I've been rejected by Wisconsin and Colorado. Let's hope one of the other 7 schools accept, otherwise I'll be looking for an MA program with a late application (Do those exist?)

I will admit to being very nervous. Reading on this forum has been very helpful in my application process. I have one last school to apply to (my undergrad institution) and am hoping that decisions come soon. I sent both of my test scores to all schools because they were only marginally different. (Test 1 V:161 Q:154 W: 4; Test 2 V:162 Q:152 W:4). Hopefully I have strong writing samples for all schools (wrote 2 senior theses). My GPA is 3.61 at a small school in Idaho, but I was in the Honors Program and have great recommendations. Being in Engineering my first year really drug down my GPA. Applied to: Cornell, UCSD, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio State, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado-Boulder, Utah and Idaho State so I have a pretty wide range of schools. Minnesota and Cornell are my top choices, so fingers crossed, but I know that I am a below-average applicant for both schools. Hopefully my writing sample, letters of recommendation and personal statement push me over the cusp.