Warelin

I believe this is correct. The April 15th resolution only applies to funded offers from universities. From what you've described above as a Policy analyst who focuses on security and conflict, it sounds like Missouri State's Defense & Strategic Studies in the Department of Defense & Strategic Studies in Washington D.C. sounds the most beneficial.

There are too many variable factors if you've been waitlisted. Sometimes, schools have their entire cohort filled before March. Sometimes, the same school is trying to fill the cohort after April 15th as more people make their final decisions. Every day after April 15th makes it that much harder to fill the cohort.

I'd e-mail the graduate coordinator. I don't think they'd penalize you for something like this. As a sidenote, try not to think of schools as "reaches" or "safeties". People have been rejected from schools with higher acceptance rates while being accepted to schools with lower acceptance rates. We never know what causes a school to accept or reject a certain applicant. It really depends on the professor. Some professors might be willing to submit to more schools. Others might not be as willing to write more recommendations. I think it's always important to remember that everyone is balancing out a lot of things during the end of the year. I imagine most would be more than happy too as long as they knew to check their e-mails for additional requests.

I would try to not stress too much over this. There are so many factors that determine an acceptance. It's unlikely one will ever know which factor will result in anything and a lot of these factors are outside of one's control. As for other applications, I'd ensure the following before submitting anywhere else: 1) Did your professor and you agree on a number of applications they'd be willing to write for? Are they open to writing more? 2) Are the additional universities in places you could see yourself living for 5 years or more? 3) Are there additional professors at these universities that you could see yourself working with? 4) Does the school provide enough funding to live without working an additional job?

Schools are curious to see what their peers are and see if they can get a better understanding of why applicants are rejecting their offers to improve their acceptance rate. Are they losing applicants to schools that offer better funding based on the cost of living? Is the applicant only applying to top 10 programs? Is the applicant only applying to schools that have the most name recognition? Is the applicant applying to schools only within a certain demographic region? Are they losing people due to certain placement rates/lack of placement results? It's likely that a lot of reasons might not be something schools can do something about but consistently losing people due to funding might help them build a case to build their base offer in the future. However, most schools are just curious and it's unlikely to have any impact on your application.

Hi @Alyson, While higher grades exist more commonly (partly because the demographics are different) in grad school, it is untrue that everyone in grad school has a 4.0 GPA. Different professors have different styles. Some professors might limit the amount of A's in each class. Others might not have any limits. Grades aren't by any means the most important part in the humanities. The reason you get rejected from a program is highly unlikely to do with someone outscoring you by a 10th of a percentage point. If your GPA was below a B+ average (or littered with C's), there might be more reason to worry but a B in a class (especially in a field/topic outside of your own) isn't going to hurt you. I think there would be more effective ways to spend your time though than trying to get your grade changed. Getting a better understanding of your fit within a program, presenting at conferences (to make connections), submitting to journals, spending additional time on your SOP/Writing Sample, and engaging with your professors in conversations to strengthen your recommendation letter based on your CV are all ways in which might help to strengthen your application. None of these are guaranteed though and one can excel in all of these and still not be admitted. What committees are looking for one year might differ from year to year depending on who's serving on the committee, how they're trying to balance a cohort, and so many other factors. I think it's important to remember that rejection is not personal. You are more than your application to grad school.

GradCafe is usually most active from November-April. This is usually around the time where people are finishing up their applications and waiting for results.

PHD "rankings" do not extend to MA programs. MA programs are essentially all unranked. It sounds like you'll be happier at school B. Having good experiences and accessible instructors will only result in a stronger grad app for future programs.

Congratulations!

Feel free to shoot me a PM if you'd like any help on narrowing your schools/want a look over your SOP.

Best of luck to you next cycle! Traditionally, someone creates the next cycle board between April 16 (the day after funded offers must be responded to) and September. You'll likely find the periods between April and October will be likely less busy than the periods between October and April! What are your research interests?

Congratulations Cassidy! What wonderful news!

Very few schools cover relocation. Most schools require you to pay a certain percentage of health insurance and some require you to pay additional fees. I'd inquire within the university to see if they offer health insurance and to clarify if it's included as part of your package. Are they providing a stipend? If they aren't, there's a higher chance that the above won't be included. I'd also inquire with your current professors to see if they know of any professional organizations who might be able to provide additional funding and what the requirements would be to apply for said funding. Best of luck to you!

@KJC2105- There are so many ways to look into this subject and each discipline might have a different way of looking at it. Have you considered if there's a certain discipline that you might prefer? It's quite possible that a lot of places might not have a PHD specifically in Gender or Sexuality Studies but they might have a graduate certificate which might fulfill what you're looking after and would greatly expand the programs available to you in the Midwest.