TheBunny

For masters, I believe that Harris in Chicago gives you tuition waiver or scholarship according to your merit and your profile. If you have okay to great GREs, relatable work experience, and interested in public policy master, you may think to apply to Harris in Chicago. I do not have a very informed opinion about the other departments. I am singling out Harris among the others because based on my GRE scores, they e-mailed me like five times, and also sent so many snail mail documents and invitations even though I was not thinking to apply to UChicago, at all. My GREs are by no means great, but they were okay. Harris in Chicago created a very positive image in my mind. If the application season were not over, I would have applied to Harris. 

Public policy is considered mostly a professional degree such as medical degree (MD) or law degree (JD). It is more interdisciplinary which I like. Also, there is a high probability that, not all of us will end up in a T5, T10, or T20 schools which will constrain our chances in the academia because inherently academia is a super elite place. I am not trying to be negative, just realistic. I do not think that I can even get into a T50 school in political science because of the excess competition. 
On the other hand, except HKS, nearly all other public policy departments have less competition because the admitted size of people compared to political science is fairly similar, but the application to public policy departments is less than the applications to a political science department. I believe that public policy is more fitting to real life. Political science is more fitting to academia.
However, as public policy is considered a professional degree, they look for a different profile than the classic academic Ph.D. programs. For example, for academia, if you have published or presented in conferences, it has a great effect on your application. In public policy, if you have prestigious internships or better, a full-time, meaningful work experience it is better. 
My experience with public policy is a bit different. I like the public policy subfield a lot, but you can get a public policy subfield in your political science Ph.D. program, as well. For instance, as far as I remember, UMass Amherst has a public policy/law specialization. Northeastern is good at policy-related topics. 

Yeah, an unofficial wailtlist. And Idk. I'm guessing that because a great number of ppl might be notified it would imply they have a greater a chance of getting in. Or they simply don't want to do the extra step of sending out those notifications, making it easier on their end. 
But yeah, it would be nice for your app to be updated along the way. I get more information when I order a pizza from dominos for $11.99 than I do with a $75 grad app.

I got waitlisted by BC 2 weeks ago but I rejected their waitlist as I accepted another offer 

Was Harvard GSAS' acceptance roll-out unusual this year, or is this typical for a program of its size? Only a handful of people posted acceptances...

I had one like that, as well. I was sitting in a classroom at Harvard and listening to a class on Marx, Weber, etc. But, I am 99.9% sure that I got rejected

I had a dream last night I was accepted to Harvard which means my brain is cruel to me

Same ugh, it included like a named fellowship and everything

???  

Does anyone get their rejection letter from Harvard? I had a dream about it last night but my mailbox is empty

They sent out acceptance emails yesterday afternoon (generic email), so other info would hopefully be out soon.

It sounds like I'm getting rejected from Harvard too at this point, which hurts a little but is ok. Literally everyone but Harvard has emailed me today, which has caused a lot of heart racing. 
I hope everyone is seeing this exchange on the results page about the LSE econ student from Bath. It's a little funny. 

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

Don't be discouraged. I only heard back from one school yet and I have a total of 15 pending applications. I did not hear back from any of the others yet. 

Got dinged by UCSD just now, but I got formally accepted to UW-Milwaukee last night - my first acceptance this cycle! Will be attending! Just waiting for info on funding right now, but I believe it would be more than sufficient. 
Thank you, everyone, for all your support out here, really! It meant a lot - and i'm so glad that you guys were here to keep me hanging in there!  

Since it's a telemarketer and they're now officially trolling you I think it's only fair that you should start ringing them up all hours of the day and try to sell them on your prospective dissertation. Gotta fund grad school somehow.

It is a telemarketer... I called it back... Sad

Just got the call from Cambridge. In at Harvard. Good luck to everybody! I'm done for the cycle!!!!!!

Well, I don't think you should give up yet. No one has posted on the survey

I got rejected by my own university, as well. I understand...

Congratulations ❤️ 

LOL IT WAS ONE! Just got admitted to the Yale program! folks check your portal

Geez, this thread went from high anxiety generating to deeply toxic. Feels good that I avoided the forums this time around. My condolences to all the real humans that had to sit through the toxic troll fest.
Good luck with the arduous path of an academic life for those who will be starting the PhD this year, and my best wishes to those who will try again with applications next year around. I applied to 12 programs last year, and got rejected from all. This time around I applied to 10, and got accepted to 2 programs ranked in the 10s and 2 programs ranked in the 30s. I am really excited about this, especially given that I got into one of my dream schools! Amazing things can happen...

I am expecting Harvard only 

I only wait for the Harvard Government Ph.D. currently. When I got my rejection from there, I can accept my other offer which is a great fit.