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I'm much more inclined to like the massive wave rather than the trickle...at least you know where you stand in a relatively short period of time.

I will accept a waitlist at this point. I just want something!

I freaked out about not getting anywhere and actually applied to one more school (UIC). I know that the returns for this program would be much lower compared to the others, but I believe that it would still get me a decent job back home (Turkey), and I have to go back due to MA Fulbright anyways. 

Definitely obnoxious - it just draws out the stress for everyone involved. Thanks!

Thanks. I think they're a school that trickles out acceptances and rejections, which is obnoxious in my opinion. 

If we consider Berkeley and Princeton as rejects, I am three rejections and await on 6 more humbly (and why not count princeton and berkeley? In Russia, if something goes away and you don't hear more, you assume is gone). If doctor of science of politics don't work out, I will pursue career in husbandry of animals. I feel especially drawn to moose and fish. 

I kind of wish Princeton and Berkeley would just send the rejection letters already.

I will accept a waitlist at this point. I just want something!

I will accept a waitlist at this point. I just want something!

Honestly, no point in speculating at this point. The number of acceptances on the results page/here is low but there could be a number of reasons for this: 1) lower numbers of users this cycle on this forum, 2) people haven't posted yet or realized they were accepted.
There could be more acceptances to come today. That might be it as well. Last year all acceptances went out in a day. Past cycles they were scattered.
Who knows at this point, but I would wager if no one else hears by the end of today...there will be rejections over the next couple of days.

No idea where you got those numbers from, but they are wrong. I'm sure the smaller programs are around that number. Princeton does not have a small program. I would say that 5-7 per subfield is about normal. This varies year to year. 

Quite realistic. I saw the DGS in the coffee room today (current Princeton student here). Cohorts are usually between 20-25 people here, with admits around 30-35 (could be higher? not sure). 

Just got a UCLA acceptance email as well!!! I'm going to grad school!

Mostly this.

Mostly this.

UCSD sent out a couple of rejections, what does it mean if you haven't received any kind of status update? As far as I know IR people have gotten cut, but theres no indication of other sub-fields. I am an Americanist, so I am trying to figure out what this all means. Did the IR pile get sorted through first, or are they down to a smaller cut of people? I thought these schools send their decisions together...

I will accept a waitlist at this point. I just want something!

One of the Pittsburgh acceptances at the results page is mine!

I will accept a waitlist at this point. I just want something!

Knowing yourself is important.

As Sun Tzu said:
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

Good luck everyone this week! Hopefully it's all good and positive news. 

Stanford said official. However, they would accept unofficial transcripts for review purposes. If you are accepted, then you really must send in official ones. If you did not get an email from the grad secretary, do not worry about it.

Mine says the same, and it mentions my undergrad university

There is a lot of noise in the US News rankings (which, as Comparativist pointed out, are the authoritative ones for PS), but they can generally be used to understand where a school falls on the scale of Harvard to Kent State. The rule that you should generally attend the highest-ranked program to which you are accepted typically only applies when you are deciding between tiers - for example, it's best to choose Stanford over UNC, Columbia over OSU, NYU over UC-Davis, et cetera. I really don't think the ratings are too useful when comparing closely-ranked programs, and if you are deciding between (to use your example) Riverside and Merced then you should focus on their placement in your subfield. Most schools have this information available on their website, and it's really not a good sign if they don't. After all, most people pursue a PhD with the intention to use it, so it's very important to know how graduates of each prospective program are using theirs.

Placement and support are huge factors for me. You can have the biggest names in the field in a department, but if they do not place what good are they to you? And by placement, I do not mean that one random student they placed at an R1. Not everyone wants to work at an R1, so that may skew placements a bit. However, if you can't place the students who want LACs in LACs, that is a problem. IMO. Consistency in placement is key.