oakeshott

DO NOT get drunk and do / say stupid things.
It happens more often than you'd think... 

Don't do it. If you really don't want to attend a low-ranking program just decline the offer and enter the next cycle. 

As far as I can tell, here is what's going on with Harvard Gov: committee members began informally notifying admits / waitlists on Friday, but some committee members have been slower than others. So the overall effect is that good news began trickling down on Friday, stopped over the weekend, and will likely finish trickling down during the first half of this week. Uncharacteristic for Harvard, but there it is. 
Good luck!
(Edit: this applies to Harvard Gov, not necessarily to PEG / other joint programs.)

As far as I can tell, here is what's going on with Harvard Gov: committee members began informally notifying admits / waitlists on Friday, but some committee members have been slower than others. So the overall effect is that good news began trickling down on Friday, stopped over the weekend, and will likely finish trickling down during the first half of this week. Uncharacteristic for Harvard, but there it is. 
Good luck!
(Edit: this applies to Harvard Gov, not necessarily to PEG / other joint programs.)

As far as I can tell, here is what's going on with Harvard Gov: committee members began informally notifying admits / waitlists on Friday, but some committee members have been slower than others. So the overall effect is that good news began trickling down on Friday, stopped over the weekend, and will likely finish trickling down during the first half of this week. Uncharacteristic for Harvard, but there it is. 
Good luck!
(Edit: this applies to Harvard Gov, not necessarily to PEG / other joint programs.)

DO NOT get drunk and do / say stupid things.
It happens more often than you'd think... 

I kind of want a thread now just so I can hear about some of these horror stories.

DO NOT get drunk and do / say stupid things.
It happens more often than you'd think... 

DO NOT get drunk and do / say stupid things.
It happens more often than you'd think... 

DO NOT get drunk and do / say stupid things.
It happens more often than you'd think... 

DO NOT get drunk and do / say stupid things.
It happens more often than you'd think... 

As usual, n=1. So take this with a grain of salt. I committed to School A, only to get off the waitlist at School B on maybe April 16. A couple of weeks later I asked to be let off the hook from School A and committed to School B. Everyone at School A (and at School B, for that matter) was extremely gracious, kind, and understanding. The program administrator at School B liaised with their counterpart at School A so that I wouldn't have to worry about the bureaucracy and could focus instead on making my decision and talking to my POIs at both schools. When I decided to go to School B, I contacted the people I had met with at School A. I didn't go into too much detail, but I did say where I was going, I thanked them profusely, I said I was genuinely sad that I wasn't joining their program, and I noted that personal factors played an important role. I said I hoped we could stay in touch. All of that was sincere.  Every single person wrote back. Like I said, every single person was gracious, kind, and understanding.
So that's my story.* Maybe I got really lucky with the folks I met at School A. Maybe I was also lucky in the sense that, given my profile, the switch made a lot of sense. Maybe. But I still think the things I did right are transferable: Act in good faith. Be honest. Be forthcoming. Get help from administrators. And know that, as I said above, faculty and administrators everywhere know that this is just how the game is played. Try to worry less about pissing someone off and more about making sure that you make the right decision. It's one of the most important you'll ever make.
By the way: if there are other people, not at School A or B, who have been supporting you / following you in this crazy adventure, make sure to keep them in the loop too if you decide to make a last-minute switch. They'll appreciate it. 
*I'm not super comfortable publicly sharing more than what I've already said, but feel free to message me if you want to chat more. 
 

It does not.
 

As usual, n=1. So take this with a grain of salt. I committed to School A, only to get off the waitlist at School B on maybe April 16. A couple of weeks later I asked to be let off the hook from School A and committed to School B. Everyone at School A (and at School B, for that matter) was extremely gracious, kind, and understanding. The program administrator at School B liaised with their counterpart at School A so that I wouldn't have to worry about the bureaucracy and could focus instead on making my decision and talking to my POIs at both schools. When I decided to go to School B, I contacted the people I had met with at School A. I didn't go into too much detail, but I did say where I was going, I thanked them profusely, I said I was genuinely sad that I wasn't joining their program, and I noted that personal factors played an important role. I said I hoped we could stay in touch. All of that was sincere.  Every single person wrote back. Like I said, every single person was gracious, kind, and understanding.
So that's my story.* Maybe I got really lucky with the folks I met at School A. Maybe I was also lucky in the sense that, given my profile, the switch made a lot of sense. Maybe. But I still think the things I did right are transferable: Act in good faith. Be honest. Be forthcoming. Get help from administrators. And know that, as I said above, faculty and administrators everywhere know that this is just how the game is played. Try to worry less about pissing someone off and more about making sure that you make the right decision. It's one of the most important you'll ever make.
By the way: if there are other people, not at School A or B, who have been supporting you / following you in this crazy adventure, make sure to keep them in the loop too if you decide to make a last-minute switch. They'll appreciate it. 
*I'm not super comfortable publicly sharing more than what I've already said, but feel free to message me if you want to chat more. 
 

As usual, n=1. So take this with a grain of salt. I committed to School A, only to get off the waitlist at School B on maybe April 16. A couple of weeks later I asked to be let off the hook from School A and committed to School B. Everyone at School A (and at School B, for that matter) was extremely gracious, kind, and understanding. The program administrator at School B liaised with their counterpart at School A so that I wouldn't have to worry about the bureaucracy and could focus instead on making my decision and talking to my POIs at both schools. When I decided to go to School B, I contacted the people I had met with at School A. I didn't go into too much detail, but I did say where I was going, I thanked them profusely, I said I was genuinely sad that I wasn't joining their program, and I noted that personal factors played an important role. I said I hoped we could stay in touch. All of that was sincere.  Every single person wrote back. Like I said, every single person was gracious, kind, and understanding.
So that's my story.* Maybe I got really lucky with the folks I met at School A. Maybe I was also lucky in the sense that, given my profile, the switch made a lot of sense. Maybe. But I still think the things I did right are transferable: Act in good faith. Be honest. Be forthcoming. Get help from administrators. And know that, as I said above, faculty and administrators everywhere know that this is just how the game is played. Try to worry less about pissing someone off and more about making sure that you make the right decision. It's one of the most important you'll ever make.
By the way: if there are other people, not at School A or B, who have been supporting you / following you in this crazy adventure, make sure to keep them in the loop too if you decide to make a last-minute switch. They'll appreciate it. 
*I'm not super comfortable publicly sharing more than what I've already said, but feel free to message me if you want to chat more. 
 

As usual, n=1. So take this with a grain of salt. I committed to School A, only to get off the waitlist at School B on maybe April 16. A couple of weeks later I asked to be let off the hook from School A and committed to School B. Everyone at School A (and at School B, for that matter) was extremely gracious, kind, and understanding. The program administrator at School B liaised with their counterpart at School A so that I wouldn't have to worry about the bureaucracy and could focus instead on making my decision and talking to my POIs at both schools. When I decided to go to School B, I contacted the people I had met with at School A. I didn't go into too much detail, but I did say where I was going, I thanked them profusely, I said I was genuinely sad that I wasn't joining their program, and I noted that personal factors played an important role. I said I hoped we could stay in touch. All of that was sincere.  Every single person wrote back. Like I said, every single person was gracious, kind, and understanding.
So that's my story.* Maybe I got really lucky with the folks I met at School A. Maybe I was also lucky in the sense that, given my profile, the switch made a lot of sense. Maybe. But I still think the things I did right are transferable: Act in good faith. Be honest. Be forthcoming. Get help from administrators. And know that, as I said above, faculty and administrators everywhere know that this is just how the game is played. Try to worry less about pissing someone off and more about making sure that you make the right decision. It's one of the most important you'll ever make.
By the way: if there are other people, not at School A or B, who have been supporting you / following you in this crazy adventure, make sure to keep them in the loop too if you decide to make a last-minute switch. They'll appreciate it. 
*I'm not super comfortable publicly sharing more than what I've already said, but feel free to message me if you want to chat more. 
 

This might help 
Good luck!

As usual, n=1. So take this with a grain of salt. I committed to School A, only to get off the waitlist at School B on maybe April 16. A couple of weeks later I asked to be let off the hook from School A and committed to School B. Everyone at School A (and at School B, for that matter) was extremely gracious, kind, and understanding. The program administrator at School B liaised with their counterpart at School A so that I wouldn't have to worry about the bureaucracy and could focus instead on making my decision and talking to my POIs at both schools. When I decided to go to School B, I contacted the people I had met with at School A. I didn't go into too much detail, but I did say where I was going, I thanked them profusely, I said I was genuinely sad that I wasn't joining their program, and I noted that personal factors played an important role. I said I hoped we could stay in touch. All of that was sincere.  Every single person wrote back. Like I said, every single person was gracious, kind, and understanding.
So that's my story.* Maybe I got really lucky with the folks I met at School A. Maybe I was also lucky in the sense that, given my profile, the switch made a lot of sense. Maybe. But I still think the things I did right are transferable: Act in good faith. Be honest. Be forthcoming. Get help from administrators. And know that, as I said above, faculty and administrators everywhere know that this is just how the game is played. Try to worry less about pissing someone off and more about making sure that you make the right decision. It's one of the most important you'll ever make.
By the way: if there are other people, not at School A or B, who have been supporting you / following you in this crazy adventure, make sure to keep them in the loop too if you decide to make a last-minute switch. They'll appreciate it. 
*I'm not super comfortable publicly sharing more than what I've already said, but feel free to message me if you want to chat more. 
 

This might help 
Good luck!

I think this is a somewhat wrong approach.
The goal should always be what do I need to do to get into the best program possible. Not, conversely, I didn't get into X programs this cycle, how can I change which schools I apply to so that I receive acceptances?
Yes, we all want acceptances; but we should strive for acceptances from programs that are going to give us the best chance of getting a job.
What I would do in your shoes:
- First all, retake the GRE. Then retake it again, and again, until you have at least high 150s or 160+ in your quant section. You're making it easy for schools to reject you if it's not that high. Everyone is capable of getting at least 75th percentile in the quant section, just takes hardwork and discipline. 
- Critically assess every part of your application, and fix whatever is weak. Rewrite your SOP, get some research experience, get a working paper in order from your master's thesis that you can submit as a writing sample, continue to build relationships with your letter writers, ect. 
I usually trust applicant's assessments of which programs they think are a good fit for them research wise (although, sometimes, people really miss the mark here). I doubt the problem is which programs you applied to, it's that you lost out on the competition battle - which happens for everyone, by the way.
Lastly, don't pigeon hole yourself. There's nothing inherently wrong with being more qualitatively inclined...but there are certain questions that cannot be adequately answered without quant methods. A lot of IR students/scholars are using formal models to build their theories. You may find out that you can measure your variable using text analysis of documents. Don't shy away from this...and do not apply to programs specialized in qualitative methods; it makes getting a job even more of an uphill battle. 
It also may be helpful if you provided a list of the programs you applied to this cycle.

Thanks guys! I'm in Comparative & methods.
Also just got my official rejection letter from Berkeley - the process is unpredictable, so don't let any other decisions you may have received depress your hopes for your dream school. While I'm still waiting to hear back from Michigan (seemingly alone?) and Harvard, the biggest lesson from this cycle for me was that even the seemingly most adverse situations can be overcome: Last year, I returned almost empty-handed. I've worked hard on my own research and the applications, and it looks like it's paid off. I know the feeling of not receiving any offers in a cycle from personal experience, but I can now offer the consoling prospect that anyone can always (successfully) try again next year!

The more math, statistics, R, and LaTeX you know going in, the easier your life will be. Anyone who tells you otherwise is just lying to you.
Of course you can pick this stuff up when you get there—and for the most part I did. But that doesn't make the above statement any less true. There's no question: If I could have my last summer before grad school back, I would take some online math courses and read the Angrist and Pischke books. 
 

The ability to handle rejection and outright hostility without taking it personally is a skill you will need to succeed in this field (and academia more broadly, perhaps life...). As a graduate student I didn't expect everyone to love my work, but I never expected people to outright tell me it was garbage. I didn't have thick enough skin for such comments at first, and it was a struggle to find my confidence pretty early on in my program. It's important to view comments on your work as separate from comments about yourself. It's hard not to take it personally. There is something to be said about coming in with pre-existing skills in combinatorics, probability theory, and programming (be it R and/or Stata, LaTex etc), but the capacity to deal with pretty destructive (as opposed to constructive) criticism is really important. 

I take your point and agree to a large extent (full disclosure: I did NOT apply to Princeton), but we can reasonably assume the majority of applicants on Princeton's 'top 50' list have what is, on paper, a rock solid application. This includes all the criteria that you list above. 
 
After that, it does really boil down to fit and a host of other particularities relevant only to the current application cycle. So I think we all agree with you, but even after all of the facets above are accounted for, there's quite a lot of chance. 

Wow. Long-time lurker. Went through last year's app cycle (with no success in the US) and ended up in a (good) non-US programme instead. Went through the cycle again this year. Almost lost hope and got a Duke offer, a Princeton rejection, and an NYU offer all within the space of two hours this evening. I'll need a few days to let this settle. I may actually move country and start a new programme, with rigorous quantitative training! Currently at 2a/0/1r, 4 pending (with Berkeley another presumptive rejection). I'm just incredibly relieved it worked out on the second try.