Dwar

Figured I would get things started as my season is essentially over.
PROFILE
Type of Undergrad Institution: R2 State Institution
Major(s)/Minor(s): Major - Political Science, Minor - Japanese, Statistics
Undergrad GPA: 3.83
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 159V/157Q/4.0W
Any Special Courses: Graduate-Level Political Methods Course, CS Class in Python, Classes in R, Advanced Statistics Courses
Letters of Recommendation: 1 Professor, 2 Associate Professors, all tenured, I'm close with two of them.
Teaching Experience: Taught one lecture on using functions in R
Other: Summer Fellowship, Applied for NSF GRFP
RESULTS
Acceptances: WashU ($$), Texas A&M ($$), MSU ($$), IU ($$), Iowa ($$)
Waitlists: UIUC
Rejections: Princeton, Michigan, UCSD, Emory, Northwestern, UW-Madison (With Interview), UT Austin
Pending: UMCP
Going to: I'll never tell
 
LESSONS LEARNED:
1. I feel like this sums up this application season for a lot of people:
  
   (If y'all ever need something to laugh about I would recommend the podcast that comes from this GIF, My Brother, My Brother, and Me. It's the best.)
2. Well, if there's anything I can say about this year is that I am glad there was a wide amount of schools I applied to. Most of this came from the advice of my adviser, who I am glad I discussed possible schools in-depth with. Your professors will know places that would fit well, so ask them what they think.
3. One thing I haven't mentioned much is that I applied for the NSF GRFP in October, and I ended up reusing most of my materials from that application with small tweaks. Applying for that grant was the single best thing I was able to do myself. I spent weeks on my statements and sent them to quite a few people to get revisions. The input I got from the many people who read my SoP helped me out so much. Send your SoP to professors, relatives, anybody who is willing to look over it. That input is important.
4. One part of my application I thought was going to be especially weak was my writing sample, since it was a grant proposal. The proposal was mostly a literature review with a proposal of general methods I could use, but was pretty broad and I could have done better to make use of political science literature. I think my proficiency in technical skills (R, LaTeX, Python) made up for  the weak spot of my writing sample.
5. I want to echo something that was mentioned in last year's lessons thread by @sloth_girl, who was EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL last year, and that is "Success in grad school applications requires both a great profile and luck. Both are necessary, but neither alone is sufficient." I feel especially lucky that I got accepted to so many places. In a normal year, I would not have made the cut at most of these places.
6. Fit. If you are struggling to find professors whose research you are interested in, why are you applying there? I would have cut out maybe 3 schools if I had followed this.
 
If I think of anything else I'll add it later.

Waitlisted at the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor!  Dear god, this is so nerve-wracking.  Never thought I'd even be wait listed at such an amazing program.  In shock.   

Received a personalized Cornell acceptance (IR) and emails from two professors to talk about the opportunity and shared research interests. My research "fit" is good and one of my LoR is from a well-known Cornell International Relations Alumni, but I'm still really surprised. Wow, just wow.

Maryland interview is an offer, claimed.

Waitlisted at CU Boulder. I already have an acceptance at another school so I've declined my spot on the waitlist. Good luck y'all!

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.

Just got a funding offer from UAlbany! I am thrilled, however, does anyone know a good site where I can check the living expenses in Albany, NY?. Just want to make sure I can live with the stipend

Claiming a Michigan rejection.
 
Admittedly it stings a bit less in hindsight but still, was in competition for my top spot - I thought it was a great fit. Either way, I couldn’t be happier with my cycle and will be going to Princeton now that my admissions season has effectively come to a close (still waiting on a few but was predominantly waiting on Michigan or Princeton). I’ll be declining other school’s offers over the next few weeks, so hopefully this helps open up the waitlist!

Yes, I'd go to the PHD program. There has been a lot of talk about this already and I'm sure others will chime in, but in most cases even a prestigious MA degree will not help your future PHD application much (assuming that's your goal). Of course if you spend the time in your MA to publish papers in competitive journals then that's a different story. But most people do not even if that's the intention. And even with a good MA degree in two years, the admission process is always super random and you could end up in a situation where you received no PHD offer even if you technically were better prepared than now. If your long-term ambition is to do a PHD I'd take the offer you have in hand and not feed the cash cow that most MA programs are (thinking Chicago, Columbia, and others...).

you should at the very least ask for your application fee to be reimbursed, in my opinion! what the hell!

I also received the "waitlist" email from WashU. I will take my name out of consideration though as I would prefer Rochester over WashU. 

Claiming Georgetown (IR sub) acceptance. POI called me this noon, indicating there are two admits in IR this cycle. Total applicants are over 500. Decisions likely to be released next week. Fingers crossed for everyone else then!

In addition to what was previously stated, you may want to check out this Tax Website as it has a nifty tax calculator.
In my experience it’s generally been pretty accurate, give or take a few hundred dollars. 

(Can't believe I'm saying this)
Claiming a Northwestern acceptance!!! Political theory. I was sooo skeptical due to the 1% acceptance rate this year. Elated is an understatement 

Claiming an admit from University of Oregon! 

I GOT INTO WUSTL OH MY GOSH

Hi all--just a friendly reminder that this is a public site, frequently read by current graduate students and faculty. Admitted cohorts, even in regular years, are small, and people's identities are obvious. Please remember that if you're coming on here talking about how disinterested you are in a program that admitted you, you may have saved yourself the trouble of being enthusiastically recruited by that program!
I'd also recommend everyone wait to form final impressions about departmental culture and placement records until speaking to current graduate students. A former undergraduate or fellow applicant cannot tell you what it's like to work with a specific advisor, what the pressure to teach or publish looks like, or how it is to work under a specific funding model. There are plenty of informal, off-the-record ways to get genuine impressions of a program from current graduate students. I'd encourage you to take advantage of those. 

Thank you for throwing in your two cents. The point you made about people who prefer a better quality of life certainly applies to me, and whenever I mention fit I am including the environment and atmosphere into it as I see it as something all-encompassing. It seems others don’t for whatever reason. And, for whatever reason, I haven’t really been drawn to Chicago. For instance if the conversation was Cornell v USC, I’d have a tougher time even though Chicago is better ranked. I almost didn’t apply to Chicago actually but I got the fee waiver for all the schools so I decided to anyway. I think, though, we all agree the decision, like any other, depends on my goals, which as I mentioned in another post aren’t set (e.g. don’t plan to live in the US etc.) so I think that is also what is making me lean more towards USC in this moment. I feel no intrinsic pressure to go there just because it’s more recognized or has a stronger reputation. 
I really appreciate you guys taking the time to help me  

Wishing you luck with the rest of your decisions!! 

I understand what you mean and I appreciate that perspective, but unfortunately, academia has changed since many of our advisors went on and got their PhDs. During my very short time in college, I got to see how contigent faculty can be treated -- as much as we love academia and so many in this career love teaching students, doing research, and the whole nine yards, you still need to put food on the table. The most disheartening thing I've ever witnessed, although from afar, was faculty on "revitalization" committees having to decide which of their peers' faculty line(s) to cut. Seeing the light go out from the eyes of faculty whom many have dedicated years of their life to a university/faculty once they learn their tenure line was cut is another world of hurt. I cannot imagine how painful that process was for them. I do not want to be a Debbie Downer but unfortunately, academia is extremely sucky beyond the PhD these days, and as eventual/current wage workers in this higher-ed business model, we have to survive, and being a good scholar or teacher =/ good pay or even job security.

It is for the PhD. I read the email early this morning but it came in sometime last night  

Congrats!  I am sure our friend of 'high caliber' would be interested to hear you got into one of the top schools.  ? 

Claiming an acceptance to University of Cincinnati, Political Theory! So thrilled 

For those who want to learn how to use LateX, I strongly suggest looking into Overleaf. It was how I learned how to use it and it's a great way to use LateX, while still having some semblance of an UI. 

For those who want to learn how to use LateX, I strongly suggest looking into Overleaf. It was how I learned how to use it and it's a great way to use LateX, while still having some semblance of an UI. 

For those who want to learn how to use LateX, I strongly suggest looking into Overleaf. It was how I learned how to use it and it's a great way to use LateX, while still having some semblance of an UI.