resDQ

@BigTenPoliSci is telling the truth. My undergrad advisor showed me the statistics for the grad program here that are not posted on the online. It ain't pretty. That said, I'm still applying because I am flexible in where I end up and open to going into the private sector.

Info I will never know: Whether I even make it to a shortlist. Thanks for the information!

I have no horse in this race. I think everyone has different goals/reasons to attend graduate school. The market is terrible though and placement info on almost every department website is misleading. I'm sure every DGS is going to highlight the few people they placed in an R1, but what about the others?

I wish my supervisor was like this. He was all like "this is part of the discipline. Get used to it."

social butterfly

For me, a great fit is having multiple (over 3 faculty) that I could make a committee out of. Anything that is 3 or less is just an "ok" fit. I did not apply to any programs where there is only 1 person I can work with (afraid they would leave once I got there). However, I have a preference of going to grad school with two potential advisors rather than not going at all. I made some allowances for programs that are traditionally small, but have great training. Applicants have program preferences just as those on committee have preferences and most likely ranked us (formally or informally).

either the trolls read this and responded or you are on to something.

I agree with you. I do not believe that OLS is the answer to everything and I wish some more recent articles I've read would treat it as such.

I think everyone has their own personal goals. After grad school, some people have time to keep up with the latest methods and others do not (heavy teaching load + family). You still need to publish to get tenure. I think math is easy to learn if you put effort into it. The ability to come up with good research questions is not obtained as easily, however.

I have a BA in statistics. I guess that answers your question. Methods training is important for me and I've looked into it extensively when I was selecting schools. A lot of your experience in grad school (from my understanding) will depend on who is teaching the methods course and how much effort you choose to put into it. If I get into schools that don't have great training, I'm going to ask during visitation days whether it would be possible to do an MA in Stats or Econ.

Maybe...but I think they get them out earlier to compete with similarly ranked schools. A friend that graduated a year before me and is in grad school now told me (based on his visitation experience) that PSU typically competes with UMD, OSU, and UC Davis for applicants. All schools compete with the T5 and lose (excluding outliers). Wisconsin seems to deal with UT Austin, UC Davis, OSU, Rochester, and NYU, or their prospective students tend to have UW as their only option (excluding those with T5 offers). *this info is based on a successful applicant from last year focusing on Security/Conflict.

Yes. Fit isn't the best, but I like the methods training they offer.

It varies from year to year. There was a thread somewhere either in this forum or a different one that listed actual numbers of applicants from last cycle. Most of the Big 10 schools (Wisconsin, PSU, etc) on average have 100-150 applicants each year (some years are higher). I think OSU had more applicants than the other Big 10 schools. I could be wrong. If I find the info, I'll post it here.

It is a good program, but I can't imagine them having the same number of applicants as say Harvard or Stanford. We also don't know how they handle admissions (several meetings throughout a week, one long meeting, etc.).

completely normal. Should be hearing from Penn State soon, I think.

rotten person

stressful job

summer camp

white dog

crazy boy

The timing isn't off, but there are trolls. It takes less than a minute to post multiple results. Congrats to those who received good news if they are true, but until rejections are out or someone confirms here...

Can anyone confirm UT Austin?

top student

disaster control

...should have used wikipedia before posting.