StormingTheCastle

My opinion is definitely influenced by the type of research I do, but Notre Dame has fantastic IR scholars. Gary Goertz' work in international rivalry in particular has been a major contribution to the field, and the ND-hosted Peace Accords Matrix is one of the best resources I have found on international peacekeeping operations.

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad Institution:  R2, Ranked just inside the top 200
Major(s)/Minor(s):  BS Political Science/BA History
Undergrad GPA: 3.41 Overall, 3.85 at Baccalaureate granting institution
Type of Grad: Same institution
Grad GPA: 3.85
GRE (V/Q/AW): 164/158/4.0
Any Special Courses:   Graduate Seminars in history.
Letters of Recommendation: 3 letters from professors at my institution (1 IR, 2 Americanists) 
Research Experience:  Honors Thesis in Political Science as an undergraduate. Coauthored a paper in my first semester of my MS program, which was presented at ISA South. Currently serving as an RA on multiple projects, including one paper where I will be included as a co-author. 
Teaching Experience: None
Subfield/Research Interests: International Relations (my current work examines political economy, conflict, and IOs, but I am looking to go more in the IPE/CPE direction)
Other:

RESULTS:
Acceptances($$ or no $$):  Colorado-Boulder($$), University of Florida (4 year funding)
Waitlists: Northwestern (unofficial)
Rejections: WUSTL, UNC, Penn, Ohio St., Pittsburgh, Virginia, Emory,
Pending:
Going to: Almost certainly CU-Boulder
 
LESSONS LEARNED:
If I had to do this all over again, I would definitely have been prepping and taking the GRE in the three years between my application cycles. This year, my spouse and I didn't decide I should apply until October, and I hadn't been prepping because I thought I wouldn't be going back until about 2021. As such, I just went with my Dec. 2015 GRE scores, which were okay, but not stellar. That said, I generally don't think my GRE scores were disqualifying in most cases, although the Q would have been concerning for WUSTL, UNC, OSU and Emory, imo. If I had worked on the GRE right along, I could definitely have gotten the Q into the mid-160s, which may have gotten me one or two more acceptances. Similarly, my late start meant my SoP was not nearly as polished as I would have liked. Frankly, with my SoP, I count myself lucky to have gotten into CU-Boulder, which has a pretty strong placement record relative program ranking. It could have been worse.
Also, FIT MATTERS! CU had, by far, the greatest number of professors for me to work with (at least 7 faculty members that had research that overlapped with mine in some form or fashion). I think this was a major factor in getting in. It also may have helped that they had a graduate student from my institution in residence, which I didn't realize at the time. For those in political science programs, it might be beneficial to get contact info for recent PhD admits out of your department to both get info about grad programs from a student perspective and get a handle on what your department's academic network looks like. Having knowledge of where current PhD candidates are from your institution can give you an idea of which PhD programs are familiar with the quality of students from your current institution. This honestly had not even occurred to me until I mentioned my CU admit to my faculty mentor, and she mentioned that another student from our department had gone there. If you start the process in April or May, it should give enough time to follow these leads. If I had known I would be applying, I would have been laying the groundwork that early.
 
 

I'm still waiting to hear from both Pitt and Northwestern. It's very nerve-wracking to be at the end of the queue.

I'm still waiting to hear from both Pitt and Northwestern. It's very nerve-wracking to be at the end of the queue.

I'm also a Boulder admit for IR! What subfield?
I assume, like the others, that the dress expectation is business casual, but I am going to touch base with the graduate admissions coordinator today to confirm.

Nothing to add on clothes, but another Boulder (theory) admit here going to the recruitment event! 

I have to say, I was completely unprepared for how painful this process would be. When I was applying to Masters programs I just submitted the applications and forgot all about it until I got the decision emails. This has been something I worry about constantly. If I go for a jog and am able to forget about it for an hour, when I get home and remember my worries, my first thought is "oh that was so nice to forget for an hour."

in case anybody is interested: i just called up northwestern and the graduate program coordinator told me that they were still waiting to send out an entire second wave of decisions over the next two weeks so i guess the wait may still be a little while longer 

Thank you so much. I have some contacts within the department and they didn't seem to think that all the decisions had been made yet either. I am holding out hope - I networked there pretty hard and feel really confident about my fit.  I am not assuming a rejection at this point at all...

I'm assuming a rejection, but still hold out some hope. Intuitively, one would assume that if they only had rejections, they would just send them out in a form letter in a relatively short window, no? I can't imagine why they would stagger them for weeks if they were all firm rejections.

Still waiting for Upenn...

what is with northwestern slowly releasing like 2 rejections a week but only on Saturdays lol

And so it seems that another week passes with no news from Northwestern or Pittsburgh. ?

Oh I feel that in my soul, even if the last one is a rejection. I just can't wait until I no longer keep grad cafe open on my browser. 

I was told they were still making decisions, but I'm not 100% sure. 

Hey, I like to have two chrome windows open at once - one for pleasure (great British bake off) and one for business (being really anxious about upcoming schools) 

That's crazy. But at least they don't drag things out like Northwestern. I didn't apply to Northwestern but I absolutely hate how this school handles admissions.

Northwestern Rejects sounds like the name of a cover band from Portland

As a general statement Re: withdrawing from schools, I don't think it's fair to be pressuring others into doing so because of "others on the waitlist." People don't have a responsibility to those on the waitlist. Applications cost a lot of money, and people are entitled to a decision from the schools to which they applied. There are people on the waitlist every year, and others get accepted, and that's just how it is. Trying to guilt others into withdrawing applications on behalf of people they don't know is, well, selfish in my opinion.
Also, rushing into a decision is almost always the wrong way to go. Patience, as they say, is a virtue - it can't hurt to wait to see all your options laid out.
This process isn't easy, especially if you've been allowed the privilege to agonize on the waitlist for the next couple months. But people should be able to make their decisions without feeling guilty for not withdrawing.

I still haven't heard from Northwestern, Virginia, Pittsburgh, and CU Boulder. It isn't anxiety-inducing at all. ?