Pancho Villa

Oops, I misinterpreted your initial post. Congratulations! Whichever school snatches you up is going to feel mighty proud! Maybe it's something like they've only sent out notifications for those in American, then it would make sense that there could be very few (and maybe just you active here). I suppose the rest of us will hear back before long. I have to admit, I agree with departments that don't send rejections on Valentine's Day?

This does seem sort of odd, despite it being a small program. I figured the admit was you or trinityshot, since it lists a profile (American/Methods/3.9/164/170/5.5) that is an exact match with an admit to many of the other highest ranked programs. Clearly it is someone who is pretty active here, so seems unusual they wouldn't claim it. At any rate, I imagine we'll hear pretty soon.

A generous message, and very well put. I’m so glad you got in. You sound like a dynamite (and unlucky) applicant. Congratulations, I hope today marks the tide changing for you.

I meant to address the gradcafe community at large. To you, congratulations, what an accomplishment!

Exactly. And congratulations!

If you look at hundreds of (accepted) applications each year, over time you learn that (in poli sci and most programs) almost nothing is disqualifying. Truly. At least a handful of your classmates (non theory included) will not have completed a calculus class. Ever. So the one who fails, then gets a B-, often won’t be considered any worse off. Also, right, a B- can mean many things. In my story, for the student who eventually scored ok on the GRE and has a head for methods, it can even signal persistence.

Sorry, I must have given the wrong impression. Plenty of applicants have linear algebra. I meant to say that I have not seen a situation in which it seemed like linear algebra had a strong impact on admission whereas a great letter from a professor who taught a grad quant methods course can be a different story. At any rate great for anyone who has an exceptionally strong math preparation. You will see, when you start your program, this is not the case for all of your classmates, even at top programs.

absolutely agree!

As someone who has worked in graduate school admissions, and with undergraduate programs aimed at sending students to graduate school, at two tippy top schools (for all fields falling within arts and science), I can confidently say you are both overestimating the impact of math classes (for all but physical sciences, math, and economics), at least as it relates to admission to the Ph.D. You are probably also overestimating the importance of quant GRE, which is often overlooked if it meets some threshold - often around 155 - as long as some other evidence of quant skill is presented (I discuss forms this can take further down). Having a bunch of math will always look good. Still, if you have math but have difficulty forming an interesting research question, or if you're not able to elaborate at all on how that question might be answered, you will not be competitive. On the other hand, if you have almost no math (and I mean no math whatsoever in college, aside from maybe a semester of intro to stats), but you have a strong handle on how to develop and answer an interesting research question, and this comes across convincingly in your application, all things equal (GRE, GPA, letters, and sample), MOST departments, and MOST subdisciplines, will rather have you than the former. I have seen this over, and over (and over) - students accepted to all subfields of political science (and most disciplines in arts and science) at top 1-5 schools, and also at places like Caltec, MIT, NYU, WashU, etc. Still, it's important to note that it's somewhat uncommon to find someone with little math preparation (or interest) who can confidently put it all together. It's easier, probably, if you have at least a semester of calculus, and definitely you must be enthusiastic and thoughtful about methods either way. [Note: having two semesters of calc 1, earning an F the first time around and a B- the second, is not necessarily bad for your application (except for the ding to your GPA, though nobody cares much about GPA either). Tenacity is undervalued throughout most of the entries here. Like movie-goers, schools love a story about sticktoitiveness!] Doing well in a graduate methods class at a decent school, and securing from that professor a strong recommendation that compares you favorably to matriculated grad students? Now that is likely to provide you with a nice advantage, but calc 3 or even linear algebra? I haven't seen it. With regard to the GRE, it's not at all unusual to find someone scoring at or near 170 who has only had geometry. Surely those who get top scores often have more math, and that familiarity makes the test easier for them in general, but the test only actually calls upon your math knowledge up to geometry. If you're comfortable with algebra and basic geometry, studying the little idiotic tricks that the test for some reason includes could get you a long way. Finally, I do think, all else equal, great if you have a lot of math. You will be admired and dreaded all at once when you sail through math camp, and you might well be sought after as a coauthor for those of us who have pretty good questions but limited intuition when it comes to readily identifying techniques for answering them.

I agree completely, even for those in American.

I, too, thought the Magoosh math videos were very helpful, and I liked the way the curriculum was presented. Magoosh doesn't own most of the prep materials, they direct you to various outside resources according to your customized plan, then they guide you through utilizing these outside resources (official ETS prep, Manhattan Math, etc.). Their internal sample problems (they do have some of their own questions and full length exams) are generally harder than the test, which some people liked, but that wasn't my favorite. I think before you go the Kaplan route (which might be worthwhile), see what you think of Magoosh. I think they have a 1 week free trial? I did find ETS materials (brief prep and books with sample problems and past tests) to be by far the most similar to the real test. Magoosh willl help you navigate these. If you can get comfortable with the format of most of the quant questions in these materials, you should score well. I do think most competitive schools privilege a good GRE score (regardless of what they might say), or at least they punish heavily low scores. If you have the time and the determination, why not impress them (or at least not worry them) in this area? If your scores are already v & q = 167+, with a 5+ on the writing, never mind. It's hard to predictably move scores like those, just bc you never know if you'll get a weird version of the test (with respect to your preparation), etc. Good luck!

I agree nobody should be pressured into withdrawing an application, and certainly it would rarely make sense to withdraw an application to a place that competes with the current preferred acceptance, whether in terms of rank, $, etc. I say "rarely" because there are situations in which withdrawing an application could have highly tangible benefits, and these might be comparable, or greater, in value to a candidate than either leveraging a new offer or gaining the satisfaction of seeing the application play out with a decision. The problem is that these possible benefits are often not known in advance. This was true for me, but my risk was very low. In my case (which I discuss in the post that someone linked earlier), I knew I wasn't going to prefer the schools from which I withdrew (one where I had already been admitted, one where my app was still pending). I also knew that the potential stipend from the pending school was very unlikely to be competitive with two offers I already had. My advisor suggested withdrawing my applications was thus reasonable (in his mind also advisable), and I agreed. But I place little value on learning the decision of a non-preferred school, whereas someone else might place a high value on this (despite the risk that the decision will be a rejection, while the prevailing assumption would be that the withdrawn application would surely be an admit). As an unexpected bonus, many benefits have accrued from my decision to do what some people are viewing as altruistic (i.e., I have received very positive attention from the DGS at each school - including an offer of coffee at MPSA with one - and other applicants and wait-listers appear to be grateful). My post was meant not to shame anyone but to call attention to an alternative accounting that some people might overlook when deciding whether to withdraw an application (or to decline a visit). As a side note, it seems like those with many early high-ranking admits and strong prospects are most bothered by the suggestion that withdrawing an application COULD BE beneficial for all, while those who are feeling more anxious about their prospects seem to appreciate the sentiment. This makes absolute sense, but I would argue that those with existing strong acceptances should be cautious about rejecting the idea outright and might instead consider altering their calculus ever so slightly. In essence, I am submitting that $75 dollars "wasted" on an application might not compare to the possible (tangible) benefits that could emerge from withdrawing an application. I should have been more clear in my original post. I had no idea this would become such a heated topic. Best of luck to all!

thanks!

Thanks! Any idea about UChicago?

What kind of psychopath spends Friday night reading through the February 1st and 2nd entries in the applicant thread from last year's cycle? This one! It's actually strangely gratifying. If you have the time, it's maybe even more fun to look back several years at the late February posts, because back then many/most applicants would list the schools where they were, and were not, admitted (some still do this, but the practice seems to have died down). There's something strangely encouraging about seeing the whacky mix of acceptances and rejections that many people received. Enjoy!