iamlia

Hey, I guess no one here probably is a 100% sure of the answer to this question, but I applied to one program and people have received both admissions and rejections, I still haven't heard anything from them. I've emailed the GSAS and the Department, and nothing. There are two issues that make me cling on to hope, 1) is that I didn't submit proof of English tests (I submitted TOEFL and IELTS scores but I took the tests three years ago, so they told me if accepted I'd have to retake them), 2) is that I got an email from the school's scholarships committee about a month ago informing me that I could apply to a specific scholarship for people from my home country, they said it was independent from admissions, and I had to send a separate application for the scholarship.
I wonder whether that could be a reason I haven't heard back with positive nor negative news, but at the same time I guess if they were considering to accept me they would have told me already. But as people here have claimed rejections as well, I don't understand why I'm in limbo, so if anyone has any ideas or suggestions as to what to do, my desperate soul would really appreciate it  Thanks!!

Thank you! I applied to the joint program actually, but someone in here claimed an acceptance last week so I'm sure it's a rejection, I just need to see it! I emailed them asking, because I was missing the English proficiency scores but they said they'd consider my application anyway... I just want the closure lol
Congrats on your acceptances indeed!! Crazy year and to get in is a huge achievement! 

Congrats!! Did you apply to the Master's or to the Ph.D. as well? Did you have an interview?
CUNY is such a great school! I don't know where you're located, but if you're outside of NYC, welcome to the city!!! 

Hey! Sorry to hear that. Was that for the Government program, or which one? And sorry for asking, but did you get the email because you asked, or you just received a notification? My portal hasn't updated and I'm not getting any emails whatsoever, so I'm really nervous.
The numbers are really crazy. Hope you got into a program you liked!

Claiming a CUNY Graduate Center admission (Masters). Theory subfield. 
SO EXCITED! My top choice school. 
Good luck to everyone waiting, and while I don't post often here this community has been a huge help to me. 

Thank you all so much for your kind words yesterday after I got my first, and likely only acceptance! It was quite an overwhelming day so I was logged off the forum for most of the day after I got the call.
Congrats to everyone who has gotten good news in the meantime, and good luck to everyone still waiting it out! I have gotten literally only rejections until getting into my dream program, so don't lose hope!

I just got a call from the program director for Government & Social Policy at Harvard letting me know I've been accepted!
Really can't believe it, I had completely given up hope for this cycle.

That is also very true! I met up with some current CUNY students a couple of months ago and they were taking classes from Princeton and Columbia

Hi everyone! I had an interview with a professor from CUNY, as ''one of the top ranked candidate''. Although I am still waiting results from several others schools, I wonder what is your opinion on the the CUNY PhD program in Political Science (IR)? As an international candidate, I guess I still lack proper insight on some schools, although I know it cannot compete with any Ivy League. I appreciate CUNY Graduate School for its open and critically oriented environment, but not sure what one can expect in terms of funding which is crucial for an international in NYC.  Besides, has anyone heard anything from Georgetown? 
I appreciate very much any feedback and wish you all success in the upcoming academic endeavour!

@acimova I don't know much about CUNY's program or reputation (also an int'l), but 1 thing I can say that I'm not sure whether you know is that CUNY is part of the 'interuniversity doctoral consortium' which includes NYU, Columbia, New School, Fordham, Rutgers, Princeton, and SUNY, so theoretically you could at some point take classes at any of these campuses

I just received an email from NYU....
Completely unrelated to my application! A spam-y (GRE-generated, I imagine) invitation to a "Summer Publishing Institute"! 
Verrryyyy poor timing -- I thought that I was finally going to be out of one of my two remaining purgatories! 
Good luck everyone. 

Hey! Hope everyone gets good news this week!
Someone asked on here a some time ago about the joint social policy program at Harvard but I can't find the message. Did anyone hear from them? 
 
 

I plan to be back next year! I'm looking into one year Master's programs and I'm contacting the professor I'm doing research for to see if I can stay on full time after I graduate with this first Master's degree. I'm glad a number of people felt my presence was a positive one; if I was able to bolster the morale of even a few of you than I'm happy to have helped. 

Thank you! It's IR. Wishing you the best of luck!

Thank you! Nothing my portal yet (NYU or anywhere else!). 
Hang in there! 

I am also waiting on NYU. I emailed about a week ago and they said decisions could be announced "as late as mid-February." Honestly, NYU is a reach for me, and probably also not the best fit. Best of luck to you!

What an absolute cracker of a day! I am ecstatic! I have been accepted into Syracuse and Maryland. I am over the moon! To all those who have interviews with Maryland - spoiler alert - you have been accepted! The DGSs are delightful! Come prepared to ask questions about the program. I cannot begin to describe the joy of being accepted in such a tough year to such amazing schools. 
To those still waiting - we are still early in this process. You are all so brilliant and supportive. This is a tough year and I wish you the absolute best of luck. 
Now to the stats: I am IR. 2a/1w.

Hi everyone! It's my first time posting on this thread and I share everyone's anxieties. I've been checking the messages about acceptances, interviews, etc. and was wondering if anyone knows about NYU and whether they do interviews. I saw on the results page someone posted about an interview (although it was for NYU Shanghai) this weekend and it's stressing me out.
Good luck to everyone!!! 

Hi guys, a lurker here,
I know this has been a rough year for all of us, and a really disheartening admission season. I dared to write today because UMass Amherst waitlisted me, and I have been rejected from every other school (I applied to MANY). Just like others before, I'm only here to ask you that if you have been waitlisted or offered admission by UMass, and you believe to have a better option, please decline as soon as possible so others and I can have a shot in here.
I apologize in advance for the inconvenience of this post, because I understand the stress and anxiety.
 
Thanks. Congrats to those admitted everywhere, and good luck to everyone.?
P.S. Subfield: IR/CP

I agree with this so much! Someone at one of the schools I applied to told me that if I'm admitted I'll have to retake the TOEFL because it's been three years since I last took it... but in those three years I've been getting my Master's in the US... And also before TOEFL I did a Master's in the UK, and took IELTS and all the Cambridge University tests, I've been basically taking these tests since I was 10. I just don't understand these weird test date policies.
Anyway, I hope that is not the reason you're not hearing back. Good luck with that application!! 

I am the happiest I've ever been! I got admitted to my dream school. 
But I understand why you might be grumpy. It should not be easy to only get admitted to the lowest ranked school you've applied to. Instead of trying to teach people how to act, try to find peace somewhere else.

I feel like you need a break from this forum after so many rejections. 
I will not learn how to treat people from you. 

I am genuinely hoping that everyone on here get's an offer this year, but if any of you don't just know you are not alone. A lot of us on here have been through more than one cycle. I applied for only 5 programs (all top ten) back in 2017, and while I knew it was a risk I thought I had a baller CV, great score, and a master's from a top school - so I was genuinely crushed when I didn't get in anywhere. But I took the opportunity to work on my academic/researcher creds and to REALLY think about what I wanted out of a PhD. This time around I focused on fit above rankings and had a much clearer vision of my research questions and goals. I don't know if I'll get into my top choices this year, but I have succeeded in getting more than one offer! So I just want to stay, hang in there. Don't lose hope. I hope it works out for everyone this cycle, but if it doesn't, know a lot of us have been through it before and you can come out the other side a better academic and more well-rounded candidate. Sending feels to you all!

I don't mean to contribute negativity and fatalism, but I just wanted to briefly bid farewell to the thread. Although I haven't received any decisions yet, the consistent reports of Ph.D programs receiving twice (sometimes more) the number of applicants they ordinarily do has me feeling quite down and resigned to striking out this year, especially considering that some departments have also cut their intake. My profile is good but by no means the crème de la crème or anything close to that. If I'm going to do this again, I will need to apply to many more programs than I did this time.
In the meantime, I need put myself in the proper head space to really think about alternative options for next year. If I get a surprise admit, I will be sure to pop back in. But I suspect I won't!
Best of luck to everyone! 

It seems that a lot of programs who didn't do interviews in the past are opting to do so this cycle. It is probably because of the high number of applicants and the need to find an additional way to filter down the candidates.
 
I've had three interviews so far and supposed to have a fourth this week, so I'll mention some of the common questions that came up:
1) In a 20 minute interview with four faculty members, I was asked the following:
- Why do you want to do a PhD in Sociology?
- Why do you want to do a PhD in Sociology at this department?
- What characteristics should a graduate student have?
- There was also a fourth question but I can't remember it...
I answered the above in 7-10 minutes so we had about ten minutes left for me to ask any questions. As I'm switching from another social science discipline, I had to also justify that switch and how my previous education would complement my upcoming training as a sociologist. I familiarized myself with the department faculty, the graduate student handbook, the facilities on campus and gave a specific answer about why I wanted that particular department.
I do suggest having questions prepared from your side so it isn't an awkward ten minutes and so they don't end the conversation early because you don't have any questions. Do your homework, study their website, their graduate student handbook, their faculty profiles - come with specific questions so they know you're keen and committed. I asked about resources (facilities, workshops, centre affiliations etc), and the general stages of progression through the PhD.
2) In another interview that was more casual (lasted about 45 mins), the faculty member referred to my CV and SOP to ask for more details about my past research and work experience and how it can tie into my work as a doctoral student. We found that there was a lot of overlap in our interests so the conversation kind of carried itself. For this call I also came prepared with questions, so it was a back and forth type of conversation rather than a formal interview.
3) In a fifteen minute interview with four faculty members, the committee had emailed me the questions prior to the interview and asked me to come prepared and to be concise in my responses.
- What is your anticipated dissertation project?
- What is the importance of your project for the field?
- Why would this university be a good fit for you?
- Talk about something you are most proud of accomplishing, or an academic or personal challenge you faced, how you handled the situation, and what you learned from it. 
 
Key tips from my experience so far:
Be confident and friendly. Smile, sound enthusiastic. They are judging your character as well as your intellect.
If it's a video call, choose a place that is presentable, and look presentable. Your space should be tidy and you should dress formally (blazer, nice blouse, etc)
Log in to the call at least one minute before. They are often doing back to back interviews so it's your time that is lost if you are late. Check your Internet connection and so on beforehand so you don't have any glitches.
Know your proposed dissertation project well. Practice if you need to, so you know how to intend to speak about it briefly. What is it, what's its importance, what methodology do you have in mind, and whose expertise will you draw on to conduct it?
If they share names of the committee members with you prior, get to know their profiles and their areas of research so you can find relevant topics of conversation and so you have an idea of what pikes their interest.
If they ask you any questions similar to the one above about personal challenges, don't make them too personal. I still think this is kind of a trick question, so you have to find a balance between sharing a personal challenge that is 'admirable' and 'inspiring' but at the same time not something you should only be sharing with your therapist - respectfully. I think it's also useful to try and tie in whatever personal challenge you faced to your current desire to become a sociologist/study the area that you want to study, and how that challenge motivated you to pursue it.
 
If anyone has any other advice to share/questions they were asked, please do post.
Good luck to everyone!!