Richelieu

Guys, I just spoke to the NW Political Science. No results have been released. I repeat no results have been released by that department. They are hoping to have admission decisions the week of Feb 15th because they are dealing with increased applications this cycle. 
All the decisions posted on the results page for NW and that one person who claimed one here are all trolling. SMH.

Hey everyone! I've been tracking this page for the last couple weeks and wanted to report that I just got an email to interview with the Kroc Institute at Notre Dame for the PhD in Peace Studies and Political Science. 
I also wanted to say thank you to all of the folks posting positive notes and support for one another. This is a really hard year for everyone, and I know all of our anxiety levels are at an all-time high with so much uncertainty in the world 
Fingers crossed for everyone out there, and thanks to others who posted their previous interview questions!

Super true. However, I mean, you can tell...

I'll quote something that a wise guy told me once "Guessing people's gender from their way of writing is not only unreliable but maybe a bit in bad taste... "

I'll quote something that a wise guy told me once "Guessing people's gender from their way of writing is not only unreliable but maybe a bit in bad taste... "

I'm also claiming UW-Madison. Very relieved to get in somewhere atleast
Had an interview as well

Claiming UW Madison acceptance (theory subfield). 
I can't believe it happened lol. I'm an econ major so I thought I was disadvantaged. 
 

Also claiming an acceptance at Madison! Interviewed last week as well. I am nicely surprised and super stoked. 

Just got my official acceptance from Madison! Very excited and hoping the best for all of you!

Hey all, I am a current grad student, I've been active on this forum in the past, not so much this year. I just wanted to quickly jump in and say that every year there are trolls who post random schools (Princeton, Harvard, Yale, NW, Columbia). It never makes any sense and is unfortunately just something we all have to live with. 
The internet is full of bored, lonely, and mean people who have way too much time on their hands. Unfortunately, one of them picked this specific community to troll. They do it every year. 
On another note, I wish you all the best of luck during this process! It is stressful as hell, I can't imagine what its like doing this during a pandemic. You all are amazingly smart and talented. 

To summarise, I personally think that these result releases from Princeton not only have a history with severe trolling on this site but are also being sent out (if real) sort of earlier than expected in this bloodbath of a year. We cannot really be sure of a rejection until we get one. Basically we're all like this and condemned to stay like this:

It seems that a lot of programs who didn't do interviews in the past are opting to do so this cycle. It is probably because of the high number of applicants and the need to find an additional way to filter down the candidates.
 
I've had three interviews so far and supposed to have a fourth this week, so I'll mention some of the common questions that came up:
1) In a 20 minute interview with four faculty members, I was asked the following:
- Why do you want to do a PhD in Sociology?
- Why do you want to do a PhD in Sociology at this department?
- What characteristics should a graduate student have?
- There was also a fourth question but I can't remember it...
I answered the above in 7-10 minutes so we had about ten minutes left for me to ask any questions. As I'm switching from another social science discipline, I had to also justify that switch and how my previous education would complement my upcoming training as a sociologist. I familiarized myself with the department faculty, the graduate student handbook, the facilities on campus and gave a specific answer about why I wanted that particular department.
I do suggest having questions prepared from your side so it isn't an awkward ten minutes and so they don't end the conversation early because you don't have any questions. Do your homework, study their website, their graduate student handbook, their faculty profiles - come with specific questions so they know you're keen and committed. I asked about resources (facilities, workshops, centre affiliations etc), and the general stages of progression through the PhD.
2) In another interview that was more casual (lasted about 45 mins), the faculty member referred to my CV and SOP to ask for more details about my past research and work experience and how it can tie into my work as a doctoral student. We found that there was a lot of overlap in our interests so the conversation kind of carried itself. For this call I also came prepared with questions, so it was a back and forth type of conversation rather than a formal interview.
3) In a fifteen minute interview with four faculty members, the committee had emailed me the questions prior to the interview and asked me to come prepared and to be concise in my responses.
- What is your anticipated dissertation project?
- What is the importance of your project for the field?
- Why would this university be a good fit for you?
- Talk about something you are most proud of accomplishing, or an academic or personal challenge you faced, how you handled the situation, and what you learned from it. 
 
Key tips from my experience so far:
Be confident and friendly. Smile, sound enthusiastic. They are judging your character as well as your intellect.
If it's a video call, choose a place that is presentable, and look presentable. Your space should be tidy and you should dress formally (blazer, nice blouse, etc)
Log in to the call at least one minute before. They are often doing back to back interviews so it's your time that is lost if you are late. Check your Internet connection and so on beforehand so you don't have any glitches.
Know your proposed dissertation project well. Practice if you need to, so you know how to intend to speak about it briefly. What is it, what's its importance, what methodology do you have in mind, and whose expertise will you draw on to conduct it?
If they share names of the committee members with you prior, get to know their profiles and their areas of research so you can find relevant topics of conversation and so you have an idea of what pikes their interest.
If they ask you any questions similar to the one above about personal challenges, don't make them too personal. I still think this is kind of a trick question, so you have to find a balance between sharing a personal challenge that is 'admirable' and 'inspiring' but at the same time not something you should only be sharing with your therapist - respectfully. I think it's also useful to try and tie in whatever personal challenge you faced to your current desire to become a sociologist/study the area that you want to study, and how that challenge motivated you to pursue it.
 
If anyone has any other advice to share/questions they were asked, please do post.
Good luck to everyone!!

I have just got a long email from Graduate and Professional Admissions (I think it's mostly meant for international students) that explains that next steps. It starts like this:
"Dear Richelieu20:
Congratulations! We are pleased to offer you admission to the Political Science, Doctor of Philosophy program at The Ohio State University for the autumn 2021 semester on the Columbus campus. ..."

I have just got a long email from Graduate and Professional Admissions (I think it's mostly meant for international students) that explains that next steps. It starts like this:
"Dear Richelieu20:
Congratulations! We are pleased to offer you admission to the Political Science, Doctor of Philosophy program at The Ohio State University for the autumn 2021 semester on the Columbus campus. ..."

I have just got a long email from Graduate and Professional Admissions (I think it's mostly meant for international students) that explains that next steps. It starts like this:
"Dear Richelieu20:
Congratulations! We are pleased to offer you admission to the Political Science, Doctor of Philosophy program at The Ohio State University for the autumn 2021 semester on the Columbus campus. ..."

I was told by a very experienced faculty member at Cornell that being an Americanist is the luckiest thing when it comes to PhD admissions. He said that the number of candidates who want to work on American Politics is way lower than IR or CP. In that sense, I believe the adcoms are reviewing applications by subfields so maybe in the next couple of weeks, we'll see more AP admissions.

I was told by a very experienced faculty member at Cornell that being an Americanist is the luckiest thing when it comes to PhD admissions. He said that the number of candidates who want to work on American Politics is way lower than IR or CP. In that sense, I believe the adcoms are reviewing applications by subfields so maybe in the next couple of weeks, we'll see more AP admissions.

Claiming one of the Ohio State (OSU) acceptances. 
Comparative politics subfield. 

One last warning I would provide for OSU is that they seem to be the only program who accepts more people than they can fund. The seemingly general rule of grad school admissions, from my experience, is that programs only accept the amount of applicants for which they are certain that they can supply a full funding package. While they do not expect every applicant to accept their offer, they are prepared if such an event were to occur. Duke, for example, did not take applicants last year supposedly because they had a massive yield rate among their applicants the prior year. The reason why cohorts, and thereby accepted applicant pools, are likely to be so small this year is that, with the pandemic, they can only provide funding for a small group of applicants.

Sending positive energies to everyone as we go through this final stretch of the cycle! ?
Thank you to all those who have shared their experience with interviews, past cycles, admissions, and more!

Claiming one of the Ohio State (OSU) acceptances. 
Comparative politics subfield. 

Hi! Thank you so much for sharing your insight as a past applicant. I had read this on some of the old forums, so I'm trying not to be overly optimistic about my admission.
Would you be willing to share approximately the time of year that you did hear about your funding package (or lack thereof)? I've been trying to dig into the old forums for a better picture of the timeline but haven't found anything extremely helpful.
Thanks again for your help! Always grateful for the help of those who have already gone through all of this

I know emotions run high when important stuff is on the line, but I would advise everyone to take it down a notch with the mutual accusations.
I (and I bet many others) would really appreciate a space to just wait it out and comment things as they happen, rather than to read through unpleasant comments (I do not wish to name anyone in particular).

Claiming one of the Ohio State (OSU) acceptances. 
Comparative politics subfield. 

Claiming one of the Ohio State (OSU) acceptances. 
Comparative politics subfield.