sherlock holmes/M

Congratulation on your acceptance!  

I got ACCEPTED into Ole Miss!! I am fully funded with a departmental assistantship!! I am still in shock that I got into my top choice school!! ?

Good luck to everyone expecting to hear news this week! We're almost, sort of, kind of nearly there
 

A likely tough week ahead friends, good luck to everyone!
Life and the present is always more important  

I emailed the DGS at Kentucky, was told they hope to have decisions out by this coming week, the week of the 15th. 

This cycle isn't over for me yet, but I just want to say how thankful I am for this little corner of gradcafe. You have been so positive and supportive, providing advice to others on how to strengthen applications, gain more theoretical/methods knowledge, and helping some nurse their rejection(s). I know gradcafe can sometimes be a bitter and anxiety-inducing space, but you've made it a wonderful part of my application journey this year -- thank you! ☺️

牛年快乐 ? Happy Lunar New Year everyone! As the Ox symbolizes fortitude, I wish you good health, happiness, and strength of spirit as we come to the end of this cycle.

No interviews for Kentucky from my understanding. 

Hey! A fellow Kentucky applicant! I'll double check with my advisor from there but I think he said expect something by the middle of this month. 

Can't believe we're soon to be in February...this year is going by fast!

Just thought a separate forum area should be made for when the cycle is over for us each individually. Just like in previous years, we can post about our profiles, the various decisions we received, and any advice or insight we have regarding the application process! My cycle won’t be over until April likely, so I have quite a wait  
The following format is what has been used before regarding the profile:
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad Institution: 
Major(s)/Minor(s):
Undergrad GPA: 
Type of Grad: 
Grad GPA: 
GRE: 
Any Special Courses:
Letters of Recommendation:
Teaching Experience:
Other: 
 

I have a feeling next week is going to be a mixture of a lot of excitement and anxiety for a lot of us, huh? 

Actually, I have no idea, sorry

Hey all, I am a current grad student, I've been active on this forum in the past, not so much this year. I just wanted to quickly jump in and say that every year there are trolls who post random schools (Princeton, Harvard, Yale, NW, Columbia). It never makes any sense and is unfortunately just something we all have to live with. 
The internet is full of bored, lonely, and mean people who have way too much time on their hands. Unfortunately, one of them picked this specific community to troll. They do it every year. 
On another note, I wish you all the best of luck during this process! It is stressful as hell, I can't imagine what its like doing this during a pandemic. You all are amazingly smart and talented. 

Last year I was interviewed before I got accepted to my current Ph.D. program:
It was a serious discussion for about 40 minutes with two faculty members, including the Admission Committee Chair and the Professor whom I had mentioned in my Statement. They asked me about my previous academic and professional background, motivation for Ph.D. studies, and why I had chosen their particular program. A significant part involved discussing the research puzzle that I had posited and how (in terms of methods and regional focus) I would tackle it. In the end, I had a chance to ask questions and was told they would recommend to Grad Studies to accept me to the program. Everything went in an amicable but professional atmosphere. 
Do not stress too much, and good luck to all of you!

I would imagine that they wanna talk about your research interests so maybe research their department faculty (again) and think about how to fit your interests and experiences into that? Disclaimer: I haven’t done an interview so this is just my guess. Good luck!

My suggestion is to not try to prepare for interview questions. I understand it can be nerve-wracking and that you want to do well, but the best thing you can do it to represent yourself as honestly as possible to whomever you speak to. Besides, interviews are not only about whether or not you can answer academic questions but if you seem like a decent person someone could work with. And if you're getting an interview it probably means that your academic credentials are good enough but that they are trying to figure out if you're a good fit overall.

Hey,
I applied to four!

Hi there, sorry if this has already been asked but I couldn't see any relatively recent threads on this. Is it common for programs to interview for PhDs? Which programs have people applied to that do interview? And has anyone received an invite to interview yet this cycle?

One of my LORs (who regularly serves on admissions committees at a CHYMPS school) says it's usually not an issue if letters are late - they won't look at application packets until January and the department administrative staff will still be sorting through the applications and preparing them for faculty review in early January. I also think they will be more lenient due to COVID as well - this has been a hellish semester for professors and a lot of things have fallen by the wayside, particularly if they're not bound by urgent deadlines like grades or R&R submission deadlines.

I would not worry about this (mixed methods v. quants v. qual. work). I think what admission committees look for is a signal that you are intellectually curious, ready to engage in depth with the material you study, and rigorous in the way you do. While it might be appreciated if you make strong claims about wanting to use them in your SoP, I think it's certainly not expected for applicants to have a strong command of quantitative methods prior to the start of their PhD.

Depends on the program, but as long as it's political science related, you should be fine (some programs do not even require a political science sample). Check the requirements of the places you're applying to! But my understanding is that the topic of the writing sample is less important than its overall quality

Welcome everyone to the 2020-2021 application thread for political science!
Discuss the application process, ask questions, post results when they come out, and anything else related to admissions this year. Good luck to you all!

Your undergrad GPA is nowhere near as important as your graduate work. It probably isn't even looked at if you have a Master's

"departments" are in the end people. It's really up to the individuals and how important they think the GRE is. Nobody will be able to give you a definitive answer. I think @munch22 has a correct take - if you have taken GRE and your score is great, send it.