worryandhope
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Posts posted by worryandhope
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I was in a similar situation a few years ago. Feel free to private message me for more thoughtful advice, but my initial recommendation is to realize that no one here really knows anything more about application success or what committees are interested in than you do. Not to mention, depending on the program, masters programs care about different things. Perhaps you know a professor (not necessarily in political science, but a social science would be good) you could talk to about this? If not, I have found that professors at PhD programs you may be interested in will respond to relatively short, specific questions about half the time. They will have much better information than we can provide.
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Am I the only one who is annoyed by the editorializing on the results page? I really don't care that your "parent's pressured you into applying for PhD programs". Side note, are you twelve? Being funny is one thing - but the results page doesn't seem like the place to complain/ make excuses/ jabber. You've got a whole forum here for that.
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@abed @mwcain Chicago notifying some, not notifying others is in line with their past process. It means, with great likelihood, that those who have not heard have been rejected from the phd program. Sorry to the bearer of bad news. Do what you want with the information, but I'm counting it as a rejection and moving on.
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2 minutes ago, s1994 said:
Do you know the rough percentage of the rejects who eventually got admitted to MAPSS?
Not to be a jerk, but how would I know that?
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All I know is that I was rejected from UChicago's phd program last year (this year, too, it seems) and I was accepted in CIR. They key there, though, is money. I know some applicants get full (very rare) or partial tuition scholarships. Key when the cost of their 1 year MA is like 50k.
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32 minutes ago, flatwhite said:
I also applied for an MA through the CIR at Chicago...will that come out at the same time as regular Chicago decisions?
@flatwhite No, I don't think so. In the past, rejected applicants to the Phd program at Chicago get dropped into the application process for the MAPSS or the CIR (depending on the applicant's interest), so I would think those programs make decisions later.
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32 minutes ago, Khaari said:
Regarding the post on the survey page that says UChicago acceptances might be a scam: I just spoke to my POI at Chicago, and he says the decisions were made a couple of days ago, so definitely this is all legit. Also he says they had over 500 applicants and offered only 21 admissions, so seems like ad comm also had a lot of tough choices to make this year...
Thanks. This is great information.
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12 minutes ago, panama said:
I expected to get it at least one, and I need to wait for 5 more apps, but they are HYPS and UCs.
I think I am fcked this year.
Believe me, I've been there and my stats aren't NEARLY as good as yours. With that application, I would think you stand a very good chance at HYPS (but the giant elephant in the room is that no one here knows. We're all just speculating. About everything.) Bottom line, contingency plans are good, but I'm not sure it's time to panic yet.
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Although, it does occur to me now that a major reason the rankings are useful to applicants is not because they indicate educational quality or outcome, but because they serve as a sorting mechanism. I know my stats and combined with the rough information about other applicants I have (including from GradCafe), they gave me a rough (and very likely faulty) guide for where I should apply to be competitive. Though that's a little circular isn't it; why is (part of) my goal to maximize the ranking of the school I can attend if I doubt the value of the rankings?
Another random digression: the importance of law school rankings is less disputed (and USNWR's law school ranking methodology is significantly different) and there is certainly a "top tier", but the top tier is the top 14 ranked schools. Is there some historical reason for T14 instead of T10 (which seems to be the focus here in the political science forum)? The emphasis on a top 10 program is certainly arbitrary, and presumably T14 is too, but why the difference?
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I understand the value of rankings (and of course I considered them when deciding where to apply), but as Professor Braumoeller recently mentioned in the Faculty Perspectives forum, applicants probably place way too much emphasis on the rankings. I suspect most of the people on this forum have read the methodological description for USNWR, but if not, here's the link: social sciences methodology.
There are a couple things that are really concerning to me about their ranking system (though admittedly I don't have a solution):
- "The questionnaires asked respondents to rate the academic quality of the programs at other institutions on a 5-point scale: outstanding (5), strong (4), good (3), adequate (2) or marginal (1). Individuals who were unfamiliar with a particular school's programs were asked to select "don't know." This subjective scale is the only basis for their rankings. I'm also not sure what "adequate" academic quality means in terms of an applicant, hiring committee, or prospective employer.
-The sample size is small and it's not clear to me on how many surveys the rankings are based. 119 political science programs (or, more accurately, program directors, department heads, or professors) were surveyed with a response rate of 30%. I read this as: ~36 programs responded, with potentially 72 completed surveys (maybe two respondents per school based on the wording of the methodological description). If I'm misunderstanding their description, please correct me. The difference between most programs and the closely ranked programs is vanishingly small given the sample size, and even if there is a statistically significant difference between two programs, the practical significance of the difference is questionable at best given the actual question asked and responses available.
-USNWR used a reputable surveyor (Ipsos public affairs), and I'm certainly not more qualified than their statisticians, but I question the justification for the trimming process used to calculate program means: dropping the top and bottom two scores.
Given the methodology, I understand Professor Braumoeller's point on the limited value of the USNWR rankings for hiring committees and applicants' overemphasis. Nevertheless, they were certainly a significant component in my decisions.
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One of those Northwestern rejections was mine. Not that I was surprised given the info here, but I'm more than a little crushed that it wasn't even a wait list. I can't imagine a better "fit". *expletive* I just don't know what else I could do.
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4 minutes ago, Straightoutta said:
If I have to go through another weekend without a decision......
Agreed. Although I have decisions, just not good ones. A yes from any of my remaining possibilities would put me over the moon.
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The only positive for me right now is that my two rejections were my bottom choices. The one probable reject (Northwestern) really, really hurts though. I emailed a POI (not on the committee) and he said he wasn't sure about my status and directed me to the program director. I emailed her and haven't heard back. Neither of those are good signs. I also realize that I'm a little bit insane.
9 applications: 2 rejects, 1 probable reject, 6 more chances to be crushed. I'm just tired already.
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I have a bad feeling about this season. Seems a bit early to have 2 rejects and 1 likely reject. May be opening a bakery.
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10 minutes ago, orb_cz said:
I also heard about my acceptance directly from my POI, who reached out to me. So I agree with ultraultra: don't worry about it too much just yet.
Well thanks for the reassurance, guys. I still think I'll be stopping for a bottle of wine on the way home. Ultratultra, you're exactly right about more information. I only allow myself to check this site while I'm at work, so maybe I'll feel better in a bit.
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abed,
Do you know if your POI was on the admissions committee?
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Any thoughts on drawing conclusions from the Northwestern admissions? I applied and it's my top choice as far as fit, but I didn't hear anything. Anyone else marking it down as a rejection?
Welcome to the 2015-2016 Cycle!
in Political Science Forum
Posted
@ultraultra That was such a classy way to handle that. I don't know why, but that kind of made my day. Way to be!