After getting the rejection from Columbia just now, my application cycle was finalized. I applied to 13 out of the top 20 programs and got rejected from most of them (admitted by 2). Applying to PhD in political science has been more stressful than I have ever imagined. I made a lot of efforts for this dream and I was switching between sadness, frustration, disappointment, ecstasy (very rare tho) during the past two months. This could indeed be the least productive period of time since college. That being said, I still learnt a lot from the process and got one admission that was really satisfying.
I have two suggestions for future applicants that mainly target schools in the top 20. First, even though a lot of great ppl on this forum emphasized great fit, personally I think the 'great fit' is defined by the committee rather than you. Applications are really arbitrary and there are a lot of factors that are unpredictable. So I would still recommend future applicants to apply to all the top 10 schools. But for sure, conduct careful research of the school before you start! Second, as MA programs in UCSD, Stanford, Chicago, Columbia have been flourishing, it's not difficult to find big names to be your letter writers. MAKE SURE THEY ARE WRITING YOU STRONG ONES RATHER THAN JUST GENERIC LETTERS.....
I guess that's it..... I am gonna have some cup noodles and get back to my miserable and poor academic life...
