Dwar

Hey y'all, anyone feel like they won't get accepted anywhere this cycle? For me this cycle has been 3 rejections, one unfunded offer (which I can't take, am broke AF), and two waitlists. A very small part of me is still holding out hope that those waitlists will turn into something, but I am moving forward and have an interview with a great job next week and have already began preparing for next cycle.

So are there any other schools still waiting to release decisions? Or at this point is it just us folks on the official or unofficial waitlists?

Hey does anyone have any experience or additional info on the PhD program at Sanford? Has anyone applied to it?

For sure! Honestly I was emailing a day after acceptances went out, I commend you on your patience with waiting a month. Aw, i'm sorry about that. Honestly even thought this program is awesome, i'm not sure I'd apply again. I already have a great list of 10+ schools i'm planning on applying to next cycle. Honestly I just want closure at this point, I am using all of my willpower to not email the DGS again and ask for an update (I spoke to him last Tuesday). My plan is to shoot him an email next week.

For sure. and I plan on applying again next cycle if the waitlists fall through, so it won't be like im giving on grad school all together

thank you so much for your insight! If offered the job (I would be thrilled) I would probably ask them for as long as possible to decide. Then I guess I would email the programs and ask if they can provide an update sooner due to new circumstances. I am hoping that by that point the visit days will have finished and they can provide a better answer. TBH if the job does put its foot down, I guess I'd have to accept it and remove myself from the waitlists. As much as it pains me to say this, I think that the guarantee of a job next year is better then the uncertainty of staying on the waitlists. its a shame too because one of the programs I am waitlisted at is like my dream program. I've told the DGS that if offered I would accept immediately, one of my LOR writers actually reached out to her contact (my POI and like her bff) at the school without my prompting to talk about my position on the waitlist. Honestly at this point I'm not sure if there is anything else I can do besides wait and come up with alternative plans.

hey all I have a question. So seeing as my chances for grad school next year kinda shrunk with 3 rejections and 2 waitlists, I started applying to jobs. Thankfully I found a job that I really like and I interviewed with them on Monday. Yesterday I found out that I was moved to the second round of interviews, to say I was ecstatic for some good news would be an understatement. However the wording of the email made it seem like, should everything go well next week at the second interview, I could be receiving an offer either late next week or early the following one. Obviously this would be amazing and I would be so thankful, but my dream is to attend grad school and if offered admissions at either of the two waitlisted schools (provided the funding is offered and enough to live on) I would accept. So here is my question, if offered the job next week or the week after, should I reach out to the DGS's of the schools and tell them that I have a wonderful job offer available, and ask for any updates? I know that this type of thing is normally done if an academic offer is made, but what about an actual job offer? I may be able to put the job off for a few days, I believe I read somewhere that they would need an answer within like 5 or 10 days after the offer, but thats before April 15th by a long time. Some clarification, the job would be for a 1 year AmeriCorps position with an organization that I am pretty passionate about, the plan would be to then reapply next cycle.

hey all, I have a question about qualifications for admissions. So it seems like for non-American PhD programs they mostly expect an MA degree or graduate work prior to applying to the PhD programs. I have emailed some of the Canadian programs and have seen in FAQ's in other ones that while it often isn't a requirement, an MA degree is sort of an expectation. So my question to all of you wonderful Canadians is this, have any of you gotten accepted to a PhD program in one of the big three (UBC, UofT, McGill) without prior grad work? if so, would you mind sharing any sort of research experience you have? I am really really interested in programs at both UBC and McGill but they seem insanely competitive and I am assuming that applying without an MA degree would put me at a disadvantage, but I want to see if its even possible. For context by the time I graduate I will have completed one and a half years of independent research (3 semesters) and will have presented at three undergrad research conferences. I am wondering if this is enough experience to compensate for a lack of an MA degree.

From my experience you can contact either the DGS or the Grad Coordinator. Sometimes the Grad Coordinator will simply put you in touch with the DGS or may even forward along your message. But other times they are able to answer the question themselves. So really whoever you feel more comfortable contacting, I don't really think it matters as long as your email is respectful and all.

Sometimes schools have unofficial waitlists that they use incase their first round acceptances reject them. I suggest you reach out to the admissions team and ask if there is any update on your application. They may be able to tell you more.

lol thanks right back at ya! and lord knows I am trying the same. but let me tell you it isn't easy

One way to check would be to look at the results page and see if people get in off the waitlist there. But remember, the results page may either under or over represent so don’t fret if you don’t see any. To be honest, I think that waitlists are just as much of a crapshoot as the normal application process. So the DGS very well could just be polite and stringing you along, or they could actually use the waitlist rather frequently. It seems like waitlists all have their own rules depending on the school they are in.

I'd agree with what has already been said, it depends on the type of career you want. With that being said though, a full scholarship at MAPSS definitely will lead to great things. it'll allow you to better develop your skills for an eventual PhD program, and it'll make your application stronger as you will be able to develop relationships with new professors for LOR and possibly even write a new writing sample.

Thanks for doing this! Maybe add something like "Placement: do you see yourself in the type of jobs that their grads are in" either in its own category or under ranking?

Double Oof

Oof

I'm convinced it's because some of them are in league with the devil.

Hey! Just wanted to thank you for sharing your story. Mine is almost identical, I have also received an unfunded offer, and as you know two waitlists. I am also trying to look at it positively, i'm not saying that its easy or that i'm successful, but i'm trying! it is very heartening to know that I'm not the only one in this scenario, it makes me feel less alone. Also, I hope you get in off the waitlists! and if not, I hope next year is far more successful for you!

I'm sorry it didn't work out for you, I am looking down the same dark hole of rejection this cycle. I am also a graduating college senior so I understand the flurry of trying to find something to do after you graduate and while you wait to reapply. I don't have info about research, but I did apply for a handful of jobs at policy think tanks as research assistant or similar positions. So far those have been unsuccessful. But, if you are looking for something to do between undergrad and grad school, maybe check out AmeriCorps? I am in a similar situation and it looks like that is what I'll (hopefully) be doing next year, it seems like a great opportunity to give back and serve the community and they do give about 6k to pay off student loans, it also looks good on any resume.

Oh for sure, and I figure I may as well do it now when I have energy and motivation as opposed to later when im busy. Honestly I am hoping that soon I'll get off the waitlist and be able to throw them all away, but at least I'm prepared if that doesn't happen.

that's great! I'm kinda in the same boat and have started to heavily prepare for the next cycle. I've already identified at least 11 schools that I want to apply to, and have already written 4/11 statements. I'm finishing up my last year in college so I have loads of free time and also am in the academic mindset, so im trying to get all of that stuff out of the way now, while I can and still have access to professors and whatnot. I also don't think I'll really want to work on paper once I start working next year.

I'll most likely be reapplying next cycle as well. I've gotten all of my decisions back and so far its 3 rejections, 1 acceptance without funding, and two waitlists. Due to the fickle nature of waitlists I am not putting much stock into getting in off them. I am trying to look at this more as an opportunity then a failure. I am looking at all the possibilities of next cycle, and trying to use that as motivation to both finish my senior year of college, and not go down the deep dark hole of depression. I believe that I've identified the key aspects of my application that kinda fell flat. For me those were really most parts. My SOP did not ask a clear enough question or spend nearly enough time on my actual research interest, It also eluded to a non-academic career path, something that I've been told is a bad idea. My GRE scores (162 V, 148 Q) while not horrible, definitely did not do me any favors. I am planning on retaking it over the summer and using one of those fancy test prep services to get my grades up. My writing sample was not really on topic, it was more history while I was applying to political science programs. Thankfully I have since written a much better political science focused paper and will be using that for my writing sample. Finally I think that changing up my LOR writers will also help. This past cycle I only used two professors, and one former boss. This next time I'll just use three professors. I am hoping that all of these things will work to make me a much more competitive applicant. I have been able to do some proactive stuff while I've been dealing with the rejections. I've compiled a list of 11 schools that have at least two professors that I would want to work with, and I've began writing my SOP for each school. I am about 4 schools in an expect to have another two completed by the end of the week. A huge part of me hopes that the waitlists will prove fruitful and I won't have to repeat this awful process all over again, but then another small part is kinda excited for the possibilities of all of these other schools.

Thats great! I hope it all works out for you! That seems like a similar case with the school that I am unofficially waitlisted at, I am probably going to email closer to March 15th and see If there is an update.

Thanks for that info! Both of the DGS's seem super nice and don't seem bothered at all by my reaching out. I think I'll still wait a bit to contact the first one though, I heard through the grape vine that they are going to be looking at round to admits before the 15th of march. So hopefully I'll hear something back from them soon!

I've heard back from everywhere that I applied to. So far it's all been rejections or unfunded offers, except for two waitlists. One of them is like the official waitlist where they contacted me and told me that I was on it, the other one is an unofficial waitlist where I had to reach out them after others had received their decisions. The DGS for the unofficial one told me that they had gone through the first round of decisions and are waiting to hear back from them before looking at other applicants. My question is how often should I keep in contact with them? For the 1st school, the unofficial one, I emailed about 10 days after the DGS told me my status and asked for an update, he told me that there wasn't any think new to report. That was on the 13th of Feb. The second school only let me know I was officially waitlisted a week ago, this morning I shot the DGS an email and asked for an update, if there was anything I could do to increase my chanced to get in, and some info about the waitlist itself (if its ranked and that kinda stuff). Do you guys think that is all the contact I should have? I was thinking about reaching out to the first school again around March 15th, so a month after my last email to ask for an update, is that too much? I would be thrilled to go to either of these school and honestly I have no other options this cycle, so I don't want to screw it up by annoying them. But at the same time, the wait is killing me and I honestly hate this version of limbo more then the other one.