milka49

Attrition

I'm currently at the University for another PhD program but am switching. I've taken four courses with the political science department here and I can tell you the professors seem very supportive. The students, likewise, support one another and seem generally more tight-knit and happy than I would expect from most PhD cohorts. I'm by no means going to claim I'm an expert on political science programs generally. In fact, I applied only to Minnesota. But I can tell you that your good feeling is probably real.

I'm not expert but I applied to them three years ago and didn't hear for the longest time. I finally reached out to them in, perhaps, the beginning of March and they told me I was wait listed. I heard by early April that they had gotten enough acceptances from those they made offers to that I would not be accepted. From personal experience, then, I'd guess that you are likewise wait listed.

Check yo email if you applied to UMN.

Sorry to imply it absolutely wasn't possible. I was more trying to say that a vast majority go out sometime only a bit before mid-February, so that if people haven't heard back yet, it's not because they're not in or this is a fluke year, and instead it's probably some special circumstance that someone has heard back. It's good they're admitting with an eye for a diversity fellowship. I know they're, to some extent, trying to build up their diversity, so that's exciting. Congrats!

Minnesota typically releases in early to mid February. The acceptance may be a Masters student here who got into the PhD program or may be a troll. I'd be shocked if it was a standard applicant.

I am hoping to take at least three graduate level courses next semester. Hopefully that signals that I am serious, gets me good recommendations, and allows me to naturally produce a writing sample worthy of the admissions committees' time. Here's to hoping that they aren't too put off by my theory grades. Thanks for your input!

Hello! I am toward the middle of my PhD career in Statistics and am considering walking out the door. My program has had a horribly high attrition rate with older students who are similar to me due to one qualifying exam, and I fear I am next. The constant anxiety has led to some mediocre grades in a select few classes (mostly those related to the material this qualifying exam would cover). However, I have gotten As or A-s in all classes not related to that exam. I find the attrition rate to, perhaps, be a blessing in disguise. It seems pretty indicative of the program's overall culture, and perhaps I just want to get out sooner rather than later. It's unfortunate because this shift is new; I've talked with older students who have seen the department change over the past few years. Anyways, I'm starting to think about next moves, and I've found many of the tools I've learned in my program very useful to a particular interest of mine: political science. I also think the classes I've excelled in lend themselves well to a political science graduate program. I've looked at political methodology curricula and think I could thrive in this sort of environment. Has anyone out there gone from a quantitative background to political science like this? I've taken exactly one political science class, and that was in graduate school and was still a statistics course primarily. I wonder whether I would even be remotely competitive given this lack of background. I may have the opportunity to stick around in my program next semester and take some courses in political science. If so, what types of courses would make me more prepared/ help me make sure this would be a good move? Any advice is appreciated as I watch my life plans essentially crumble before me :) Here's to hoping they rise from the ashes, better and stronger.

https://www.research.gov/grfp/AwardeeList.do That should hopefully work for everyone who is struggle busing.

It's definitely 1500 unless there is some miracle.

Just three nightmares in the past week. I guess either I'm more pessimistic than you or dreams have predictive power and I'm getting straight P's and F's. Maybe this means you get HM?

This site should add more options than just heart, up, and down. Where's the laughing crying emoji when I need it?

This is new for me. Yes I pressed the search button. No, nothing for 2018 comes up, as is the case with 2019 as well. It's been a while since I was able to access the, like, press releasey version of the 2018 results found at https://www.nsfgrfp.org/, but up until yesterday I was able to get the list via the process above. Not now. Sign?

Do any of the people who know reviewers know if they have submitted their work yet or where they are in the process? I'm hoping "after April 9" means next week, but theoretically it could mean anything, so I'm curious if we should be hoping for next week at all.

As much torture as this is, I'm glad they are taking the extra time. I've heard people say that the panels were canceled, and other say they weren't. I hope they weren't and I hope the delay in results means that, despite the shutdown, they are taking the reviewing as seriously as they do every other year. I know this might be coming from a place of already-in-school privilege, and I can't imagine what that added stress must be, but as someone who probably put triple digit hours of work into their application, I'm in a way glad they aren't rushing this.

They mostly try to keep you within larger discipline, but you aren't guaranteed smaller discipline. An applied mathematician might have pure mathematicians reading their proposal, but they shouldn't have, say, biologists reading it.

Nope, just letters associated with reviewers.

Supposedly this happened to someone who got their degree from my department the year before I got here. She got the great news and INVITED THE WHOLE DEPARTMENT FOR DRINKS ON HER. Then got the correction and, along with all the sadness that comes with that, was out probably a hundo. I think people heard and gave her money back, but can you imagine? "Yeah, so I heard you actually didn't get that thing, but maybe this five bucks back will make it better?"

Congrats! It's awesome to hear any evidence that these fellowship people are looking at what we submitted! I don't know the answer to your question, but I'm curious which branch you applied to.

None. Someone on Reddit claims that in mid March last year, people were notified that they were either being rejected or continuing to be reviewed. I have gotten no sort of email.

Yeah, so in case this happens to anyone in the future, this was decidedly a case of user error. I apparently have two very similar fastlane accounts, despite never remembering creating one of them. I logged into the wrong one. If you're reading this in the future and have this happen, perhaps this is a lead to check. I'm pretty sure I'm slowly going mad with the wait. However, I thank you both for your help!

Thank you for your help! So apparently my application just disappeared from the face of the planet.

What year is associated with your application? If you click the "check application package status" link and click "view your application package status" at the top, does it say 2018 or 2019?

Question: have others' applications disappeared from their fastlane accounts? Despite submitting my application in October and getting an email confirmation, all evidence that I ever applied is completely purged from my account. I ask because either: 1) Perhaps this is another sign that they plan to upload results tonight. Maybe they purge old information to add new information. Or 2) My account just got majorly effed up and I'm doomed/need to send a serious email. Hopefully it is 1 and not 2, and I would love to not bother them with an email if any of the rest of you are in the same boat. If you, dear reader, can let me know if your application still appears there or not, I would quite appreciate it.

You may be right, but you still may not be. This evidence does not contradict the advice I was given, claiming that the subject test is "only worth taking" if you get the 90th percentile. It does, a bit admittedly, in combination with the fact that some programs require the test. Certainly a 70th on the test for those schools give you better odds than no score at all, since it's a requirement. However, just because a 90th percentile is higher than even the best school's (or one of, Harvard may disagree) average, this does not mean the test is "worth taking." The test is worth taking only if it can increase my chances of getting into a school moreso than some other activity I could be doing with that time. Given the amount of time it would have taken me to study for the test, it wouldn't have been worth it for me, I can almost guarantee it. Instead, I self-taught some classes and got involved with statsy things at work. These are things I wouldn't have been able to do to the extent I did had I been studying. I suppose I should have been clearer when portraying my letter writer's advice. Certainly, if all things are equal and one person has an 80th percentile on the test and another has no score, committees will probably go for the former person. However, when does that break down? If all things are the same except the latter person now has an A in a key class whereas the former has a B, who do they take? Certainly, doing every ounce of preparation is ideal, but with limited hours, what do we prioritize? What score will make your chances of acceptance noticeably better, given the time and money costs of taking the test? I think the driving force of my advice giver's logic was aiming to answer these questions, and this is likely what inspired the "90." This is likely what makes you "stick out." If you have an 80, you may be lost in a sea of other 80s. But yes, I did mention that I questioned that advice when I got it, in a general sense. I fail to see her reasoning or your numbers as wholly convincing. Certainly, if someone has exhausted all other preparation steps, or if someone can guarantee a 95th percentile, then that person should sign right up. What about the rest of us, though?