nietzsche's moustache

Sorry to say the thinking seems to be both have sent out all acceptances. Poor form from both to keep people waiting on official news, particularly as Chicago released acceptances a month ago.

Just wanted to point out that this is the Political Science PhD thread and so you may want to go over to the Ed.D forums to get better information.

Really silly question but what does POI stand for? 

I guess someone asked about NYU at the results section. I e-mailed them and they told that not all the admission offers are gone out yet, and there will be some more coming out next week. So I guess there is still hope, but not sure if there is hope for us, as Kafka once said. 

I guess someone asked about NYU at the results section. I e-mailed them and they told that not all the admission offers are gone out yet, and there will be some more coming out next week. So I guess there is still hope, but not sure if there is hope for us, as Kafka once said. 

I guess someone asked about NYU at the results section. I e-mailed them and they told that not all the admission offers are gone out yet, and there will be some more coming out next week. So I guess there is still hope, but not sure if there is hope for us, as Kafka once said. 

if it were me, instead of spending 50k to go through the weird cycle again, i'd do ND since it's a good fit then aim for a nice postdoc after.

No offense to those who noted their country of origin on the results page, I just wanted to point out that at most of the top programs, at least half (?) of the students got their bachelor's degrees from non-US institutions, many from non-English-speaking places. Definitely possible to get into a top US program from foreign universities.

Sorry, long time lurker here who just made an account, because I am one of those people who wrote 'uk grads'... 
It wasn't a long-pondered decision, I did so because I:
1.) saw many people wrote something along the lines of 'Canadian MA / LSE master's / Hong Kong top 3'
2.) genuinely thought this would be more helpful for future applicants to get an idea of the program make-up, however biased the sample may be, as we can then have more granular data than just 'A/U/I'
3.) thought it may encourage future undergraduates from the UK and beyond to directly apply for US programs. The level of information over here is even lower. Most faculty members and students here thought a master's is a necessary condition for entry.  I definitely wouldn't have even tried without some strong encouragement and reading this forum, which helped me to understand the American system in countless ways

Is there a way to filter the search so that we don't see the LSE results? I feel like I know way too much the various departments at LSE than any other school on the planet lol.
There was another comment about how "uk grads" like to put that in the comment section. I thought that was funny too.

Got an email from a POI at Penn. I was told decisions would be released "very soon."

I am hoping to use this thread to bring aspiring political theorists together to discuss admissions results from 2019.

I'm not particularly an Americans guy, even though I've done a little work with them. More like Ancients/Early moderns. I will add, though, that while I am not much into Germans, Gillespie is nobody to sneeze at.

I agree with you. As far as I know, Ruth Grant is about to retire and the rest of the faculty is simply not that impressive, especially if you are doing American political theory. 

Is Tarcov still particularly active? I got the impression he's old and on the way out. CST is awesome for great books, no doubt. As for Duke, I am not fully decided. They've offered me the GAANN fellowship, which is a really great funding opportunity, but the program just isn't really the best fit for me, I think. I'm not interested in Germans a la Gillespie, and Grant seems to be less interested in theory these days (though she does still advise). Roussiliere is really close to my interests, but she is very junior, and going there for one person seems risky. Certainly not saying no yet. It's a great school and they're offering me enough to live very comfortably in Durham, but at the moment I'm leaning away.

There are people who do ancient political thought and early modern thought (McCormick, Tarcov, etc.), and also no need to mention the Committee on Social Thought. Congratulations on your Duke acceptance! Do you plan to attend Duke, if I may ask? 

Actually not. It is more history of political thought. 

Also, for the friends in theory subfield, I was accepted to UC San Diego's political theory program and declined their offer. So chances are high that they will offer a place to another theorist.

And I had thought today would be a busy day in terms of applications... Yet, the results page is like the Sahara. Nothing alive in sight.

I'm settling into the unpleasant realization that we have a long, *long* weekend of waiting ahead of us....

I beg to differ. I agree that treading carefully, being polite, and understanding that the person you are talking to may not be in a position to make such decision is important. But let's be real. This is a market place. And while it sucks, money is important--for EVERYONE. The faculty member you talk to is not paid by candies and nuts. Chances are that he also negotiated his current position. That doesn't mean they will be ready to negotiate and improve their offers, but even if they can't do anything, they'll understand, and won't look down on you for trying to get a better offer. Everyone wants better salaries, better conditions. There's no shame in it. PhD students are human beings too.     

Congrats to the admits! Do you think it's safe to assume that I would get rejections from NYU and UChicago if I didn't hear/see anything yet? All the decisions seem to be out, I guess.. Also, anyone heard back from Cornell at all? It's so hard to keep it cool when I have this weird feeling of imminent doom of rejections  Well, good luck to myself and everybody here! Fingers crossed so hard they might just snap 

I was rejected by Princeton, Berkeley, Duke, and Wisconsin-Madison. My first acceptance came today, and all I can say is that the process is extremely arbitrary provided that you meet the minimum requirements.
People on this forum have talked about math, SOP, research experience, GPA, etc being important factors in the admissions process. But my experience tells me that even if you excel in all these areas, it's still not sufficient. (N=1, so take my words with a grain of salt.)
I took advanced math and programming classes and graduated with a minor in computer science. I worked as a research assistant for two CHYMPS political science professors and got recommendation letters from both of them. My GRE scores are in the 95% percentile for all three subsections, and my GPA is in the top 20% of my class at a top 20 university. I wrote my undergraduate thesis on political economy, and the project involved a lot of heavy programming. The two CHYMPS political science professors read my SOP and said it was good. I wrote two paragraphs for each school emphasizing research fit.
All that is to say that I still got rejected almost everywhere despite these credentials. I honestly do not know what I would do differently to improve my chances. I would think it's the same for a lot of great applicants, like @acmnny and @Chronicoverthinker.
Also, I think research fit is too subjective to be a useful topic of discussion. I met with another CHYMPS professor recently, and he said my research idea was "uninteresting" and "did not speak to any larger issue in political science." But the two professors I worked with both liked my proposal and one said he hired me because I wrote it in my job application.
I think a more productive approach to rejections is simply accepting the arbitrariness of life. If you meet the minimum standards (90% GRE, okay GPA at a known university, good letters from people who do research, some research experience), there's no use faulting yourself for rejections or thinking you could've done things differently to improve your chances. The process is simply just random, like job searches and the search for a romantic partner or a true friend.
Finally, there's a lot of reporting bias on this forum. I wouldn't have created an account to share my experience had I not received an acceptance today. So when you see people getting multiple acceptances, know that they are hundreds of others who have been rejected everywhere or who have only gotten into one school. Please don't think less of yourself as a person or as a political scientist just because there are two or three people getting accepted everywhere.
TLDR: The process is random. Pedigree definitely matters, especially when it comes down to picking two people out of the final ten. Research fit is super subjective, so don't worry about it if you've said what you wanted to study in your SOP. And if you don't think there's anything you can change, either apply again next year or find a job! The application process says nothing about you as a scholar let alone a person.

Wish you all the best! Good luck!

I was interviewed by UPenn and it was strictly about the content of my research interests and my writing sample. I would describe it as "intense," as they asked a lot of questions and follow ups on my research project, apparently testing my command of the subject matter. Also, they brought up some topics that I did not mention in my SOP, nor was included in my writing sample. I guess they were trying to understand if I have a robust understanding of the field. 

Also, I would suggest to be prepared for the few last minutes in which they would let you ask your own questions. So preparing some questions beforehand would make you look interested. Please write more if you have other questions.