modesteffect

Also in at Princeton!! Thrilled and shocked - I did NOT think my fit there was great, but they must know better than me. My decision just got much harder...

Awesome, congrats! what are your other results? maybe consider add your signiture 

Hi, everyone! Sorry about the delay—was freaking out to everyone I know. I've updated my signature (which I didn't want to do to jinx my results; this is the first program I've heard back from!

Yield protection in polisci programs is much less severe than for law schools and undergrads. Law schools have crazy high incentives to keep their yield rate high because ranking is everything in that world, whereas political science rankings aren't based on yield rate (and aren't even updated yearly lol). Anecdotally, I have heard of professors from potential PhD programs asking an applicants' letter writers about where they had gotten in (and waitlisting instead of accepting based on that), but I think that's rare -- your letter writer and someone on the committee would have to be pretty close to get away with that, and it's not rejecting either. ETA: the post upthread is a great example of this too -- they want to know you have better offers before passing you over. 
 
In PhD admissions, things are somewhat random: like sure, some people get into 80%+ of the top schools they apply to, but a lot of other people at top schools also only got into that one program (or maybe more commonly, got into that one top program and then a couple like 20 ranks lower). Like if I saw someone get into like, Yale but rejected from Wisconsin, I wouldn't assume it's because of yield protection, but rather because committees just evaluated the applicants differently and valued different things. Unlike law schools especially, 90% of the admissions criterion isn't the LSAT/GPA, which are observable to us, so unless you get into all #1-10 but rejected at all #20-30, it's really hard to blame yield protection. 

Wait a bit to see if you hear from them. If you do not, it is most likely a waitlist. If the offers went out a while ago I'd contact the department and ask.

Awesome!  and to all of us: plz decline offers you unlikely go asap so more and more of us may benefit!

Last year, I applied as a senior in undergrad and got rejected from all the programs I applied to. It was devastating! What really helped me was deciding that I really want to do a PhD and taking positive steps that will enhance my application for the next cycle. What I did first was secure a research job after graduation. I was able to get in on a project led by an econ professor at my institution and that really helped. The project is a large, research effort that involves fieldwork and a collaboration with big organizations like the World Bank. That really made my CV look better. It is also important to mention that my involvement in the project signals a willingness and a desire to learn research methods I was not familiar with like survey research, RCT, and generally, research that involves fieldwork. That really complemented my relative strengths on data analysis, regressions, text analysis and so on which they could observe from my CV, transcript and writing sample. 
The other thing I did is edit and enhance my SOP substantially. I can't stress enough how important this is and how hard I worked on it to make it better. I removed and added a lot of stuff that the SOP that looked well last cycle became really really good for the current cycle. It had to go through multiple revisions and feedback from my mentors and recommenders really helped. 
But, the biggest improvement I made was on my writing sample. I used a senior thesis I wrote for graduation at my undergrad institution. Last cycle, by the December deadline, the thesis was barely a large research proposal. By the time I graduated, it was very developed and looked entirely different. The data analysis was complete, the plots, graphs and figures were all in a good shape. To make it the best writing sample it could be, I asked for more feedback on it after I graduated (around October, November last year) and that really helped reorganize it better and make the writing more nuanced. Given most of the project was done in 2021, after last cycle's deadlines had already passed, it looked significantly different. In one of my interviews, the POI who interviewed me indicated that he was most impressed by the writing sample. It is the biggest improvement on my application from last year and it really has paid off. 
I would recommend working on your files as much as you could to get them into the best shape they could be in. If you think you would benefit from a more involved research experience, that would also really help and make your CV better for a PhD applicant. Hope this helps! 

I will probably decline most of my other offers very soon, including UCSD. I'll post here when I do so!
Haha that's amazing! Congrats!!

@LatinAmericanFootball@jjiffy@zoooxu I was trying to sleep when I decided to check the forum one last time and saw your posts. I refreshed my email and there was nothing. Berkeley is one of my top schools, probably number one, and I was devastated. Like I felt my heart sink literally. And, because of a reason I really can't explain, I decided to check my spam folder and there it was. I got innn!!! Damn you Gmail! I am sooo happy right now. 

Claiming a University of Cincinnati offer. My first fully funded offer; the stipend is kinda low but I will definitely take it if this is the only offer I get. 

Also got an email from Berkeley! Over the moon!

Also claiming a Berkeley admit!! One of my dream schools! Just received a email from the DGA. Best possible way to end the week!

claiming an UC Berkeley offer!!!!!!! omg I am over the moon. My friend got accepted as well. 

Hi, everyone!
A long lurker to the forum and results page.
I've notified the University of Minnesota that I'll be declining my offer and the University of Virginia that I'd like to be taken off of the waiting list (IR for both).
Hope this helps substantively and intangibly for those in the waiting game. Hang in there!

Claiming one of the UCSD's rejections. Second year applying there, and this automated e-mail at 5am is a pain in our guts! It's awful. I know the program is VERY competitive, and they receive tons of applications, but I wish they could be less cold/whatever about rejections. Even the letter is the same. It makes you feel that nothing has changed in a year!
That's to say, I have been doing great in all the other schools I have applied this year, which gave me some hope that maybe UCSD could work this time. Now I see that it seems they really don't want me ? However, many other great programs do! So to everyone disappointed with rejections: yes, there's a lot you can do to improve your file in a year! Make sure to do everything you can. But at the same time, consider other programs, try to participate in conferences, Open Houses. Sometimes we fall in love with a program we didn't even know/consider in the first place...
So lots more to come! And for everyone disappointed today, or that woke up to this standard UCSD rejection: I feel you!!!

Got rejected by Virginia and Brown this morning.
I don't even feel sad or disappointed anymore. So far I have collected 7 rejections and 0 acceptance.
Now I realize that I apparently overestimated myself and employed a pretty clumsy strategy for the application. Maybe my time just hasn't come yet. Guess I will have to think about what I should do to give myself a better chance for the next cycle.
Many congratulations to those who already claimed acceptance and hope more fellow political science applicants can hear good news soon!~

yeah everything remains the same as 30 days ago

No, just polisci... it seems they use a waitlist rather than directly send and collect offers, which means they want to control the cohort size cautiously.
I am also puzzled why there is no one claiming accept before I got waitlist

Claim a UCSD waitlist. email.

Yeah - I wanted to share in case any trolls posted on the survey and also to bring hope to those of us who are feeling a little discouraged at the moment (like me).

Hi folks! 
Long time lurker, first time poster. Got rejected from UW-Madison this morning which was a bummer because I interviewed with them two weeks ago (+was very interactive with their fall research seminars, met with faculty in the department). I was one of the waitlists for UMinnesota last week, and I got an acceptance to UAlbany with full funding last Friday, so overall it doesn't sting as much as I thought it would. 
Still waiting to hear back from 8 other programs. Good luck to everyone and fingers crossed for good news coming your way!

Congrats! I still haven't heard about anything other than one rej. Seems things moving toward my epectation: all rejs lol

Claiming another University of Virginia acceptance here. Political theory subfield. 
Congrats to all those accepted and don't lose faith if it wasn't your case!

Accepted to UVA! Just received an email that a decision was posted to the portal. 

This week started off with an early morning rejection from the University of Florida and it's hard not to feel a little depressed, discouraged, and more anxious. 
Still rooting for every single one of you - just wanted to share where I'm at right now.