spcgsw96

Umass Amherst acceptance + 5 yr funding! I do love them for putting what the result is in the title of the email instead of the forebodingly ambiguous "Result"

Umass Amherst acceptance + 5 yr funding! I do love them for putting what the result is in the title of the email instead of the forebodingly ambiguous "Result"

Umass Amherst acceptance + 5 yr funding! I do love them for putting what the result is in the title of the email instead of the forebodingly ambiguous "Result"

Umass Amherst acceptance + 5 yr funding! I do love them for putting what the result is in the title of the email instead of the forebodingly ambiguous "Result"

Umass Amherst acceptance + 5 yr funding! I do love them for putting what the result is in the title of the email instead of the forebodingly ambiguous "Result"

Checked the link just now and same with me.  I doubt I would choose it over Michigan anyway but I hate this feeling of being in limbo--and on that note why the uncharacteristic silence from Berkeley?

https://appstatus.grad.ucla.edu/account/AppStatus.aspx
 
Nothing there for you yet?

So I think UW-Seattle is handling their admissions exactly the wrong way, whereas Michigan handled theirs exactly right. Michigan sent out their rejections and acceptances within 15 minutes of each other, so as soon as the decision was made, you knew. UW-Seattle more than likely has accepted their top choices to the program and are waiting to see how many accept/decline the offer while not rejecting anyone. More than likely 90+ precent of those who have not been offered admissions already will be rejected,  but they are waiting to send out a blanket rejection until they know that they have filled up the cohort, so even though most who have heard nothing have a 0 percent chance of getting into the University of Washington, we probably won't know that we've been rejected until like mid March. If you ask me, that isn't the way to treat people who applied to your program. I'm thankful that I don't care much about the outcome that much and can't imagine how much anxiety I would have if it were my top choice. I really don't think that style of admissions is fair to applicants.

Why on earth are the Berkeley rejections taking so long this year?? 

The email I received from UNC today taught me to take everything on GradCafe with a grain of salt. It really is just a waiting game. I suppose you aren't done until you've officially been rejected.

So uh. I can claim a University of Michigan acceptance? Beyond shocked. Mostly I'm just petting my cat and staring at the letter. Never would have expected this ever.

Claiming a Michigan reject. Props to them for providing a model of how decision notifications should be made!

OMG Michigan acceptance with full scholarship I've been crying with happiness the past half hour lol I was honestly terrified I wouldn't get in anywhere
Edit: Theory subfield!

Accepted to Michigan as well! Email from program coordinator in the department. CP subfield.

Just got into the University of Michigan as well.

I got an email to check my portal and instead of the third link (rescind[?] your application, or some such) there was an option to 'View Decision' and a letter saying I was waitlisted. Good luck! I know the process of waiting is so nerve-wracking...  

Must. Stop...

Must. Stop...

Must. Stop...

Must. Stop...

Must. Stop...

Oh, I definitely agree. I'm just more or less clarifying to Komina and to a great many other anxious posters here not to go and call it quits if they didn't get an interview or haven't heard back at this point. Admissions is a long process, and it's not as clear at the doctoral level as it is for the undergraduate level. A lot of people are pessimistic (for perfectly valid reasons), but I think it's good to have an open mind and not let it weigh themselves down too much. To be honest, part of the reason I lurked for so long was because I felt a lot of people here were really negative and only saw the flaws in their applications rather than the strengths. 
After all, if the Eagles were able to win the Super Bowl, then anyone can get into any program. 

Not a PhD student at LSE, but did my Masters there and very familiar with the process as I was going to apply and gained lots of advice from my advisors there (unfortunately my research was not a suitable fit so decided not to apply there)
The interview is a good sign, it means you've been shortlisted BUT it does not mean you're going to get admitted, it's just the next step of the process. It's pretty much very similar to a job interview in terms of the process itself (they like you but doesn't mean they're hiring you at all). They'll be asking questions about your proposal and research mostly and why you've chosen the specific department and LSE. You'll most probably have POIs in the interview so make sure you do really good research on the department and your POI's areas of research too.
I haven't had a US interview so I'm not sure how similar LSE's interview is to it, but from what I've seen on US interviews they seem to be quite informal and for many, just an informal way of accepting someone. You can very much get rejected from LSE after the interview, it is 100% not a sure sign, but it is a step in the right direction for sure. Just make sure you're prepared to discuss your topic thoroughly and know the university and academics well. As for formality of the interview, from what I've heard it really depends on who's interviewing you. Some faculty like to make it super formal, while others just like to have a chat basically, so there's no certainty with that.
Best of luck though! I hope you nail the interview and LSE is a great school for sure! If it wasn't for lack of POIs in my field, I would've definitely applied

I take your point and agree to a large extent (full disclosure: I did NOT apply to Princeton), but we can reasonably assume the majority of applicants on Princeton's 'top 50' list have what is, on paper, a rock solid application. This includes all the criteria that you list above. 
 
After that, it does really boil down to fit and a host of other particularities relevant only to the current application cycle. So I think we all agree with you, but even after all of the facets above are accounted for, there's quite a lot of chance. 

Hey all. Hope you are braving the wave of admission results. It's been awhile since I commented but the mention of what it takes to get into Princeton caught my attention. There's a bit of a coincidental mass exodus occurring this year that could be affecting how people land -- especially in IR but potentially also in other fields. The Department is losing Davis, Imai, Christensen and Gilens to other schools (Harvard, Columbia and UCLA), along with Keohane's move to full emeritus status. Some of its merit and fit, but occasionally there are things occurring beyond your control. I know I was rejected from a number of schools because the person I intended to work with was leaving, or not actually taking on students (turns out I was admitted where they moved to though, so small plus).