Richelieu

I would also suggest you look into programs such as International Education (NYU) or Comparative and International Development Education (U Minnesota). They do have faculty working in refugee education as far as I know.

I got admitted to MSU without an interview last year. I am not sure if they changed the procedure this year but not hearing about an interview might still be a good sign for MSU.

For those of you waiting for the results, last year, I used this website to have an idea on when to expect results from some of the more popular schools. https://martindevaux.com/2020/11/political-science-phd-admission-decisions/ (I don't think they have added 2021 results yet, though.) Also, generally, it's almost always Ohio State that announces the results first among top 20 (3rd week of Jan), then Rice, Wisconsin and WUSTL follow. Most of the schools do not release decisions until the second half of February so you might want to find/visit hobbies during this time. Good luck to you all!

It is already on your list of schools but this program specifically seems like a great fit in your area of research. https://schar.gmu.edu/programs/phd-programs/phd-biodefense

Most of the programs in the US accepts the submission of the degrees until the end of the 1st year of your PhD. That was told to me by the admission officer at the PhD program I was accepted to.

PROFILE:Type of Undergrad Institution: International - Top School in TurkeyMajor(s)/Minor(s): Totally irrelevant major (TEFL) Undergrad GPA: 3.4Type of Grad: UK - Political ScienceGrad GPA: DistinctionGRE: Not takenAny Special Courses: Basic stats courses and 1 year of relevant language. Letters of Recommendation: 3 tenured faculty. Two in my subject area, other one is from my undergrad major.Teaching Experience: Teaching languages in 4 different countries. Other: Field research that led to a publication. Published an article at an International Law journal, other one is also accepted to be published in the next few months. RESULTS Acceptances: Ohio State ($), Michigan State ($), Indiana ($), Florida ($), UC Santa Barbara ($). Rejections: Princeton, Yale, UMichigan, UCSD, Cornell, UCLA, Northwestern, Rice, Georgetown, Notre Dame. Going to: Ohio State. I won't be adding to all those great suggestions that other candidates mentioned above. One note is that if you're coming from an irrelevant major into political science, you need to be able to show you can do research in political science. In my case, it was the field research and publications.

Also some important notes before putting too much attention into rankings... Taken from the "Read our Methodology" section of the rankings: "THE RANKINGS OF doctoral programs in the social sciences and humanities are based solely on the results of peer assessment surveys sent to academics in each discipline. U.S. News conducted the survey of doctoral programs in economics, English, history, political science, sociology, and criminology and criminal justice in fall 2020 and early 2021. The questionnaires asked respondents to rate the academic quality of the programs at other institutions on a 5-point scale: outstanding (5), strong (4), good (3), adequate (2) or marginal (1). Individuals who were unfamiliar with a particular school's programs were asked to select "don't know." Here is the number of schools surveyed in each discipline: 42 in criminology and criminal justice; 125 in economics; 157 in English; 146 in history; 120 in political science; and 117 in sociology. Response rates were: criminology and criminal justice, 96%; economics, 41%; English, 34%; history, 32%; political science, 46%; and sociology, 46%." So with less than 50% response rate, I don't really know how seriously one should take these rankings. Just my two cents.

Firstly, congratulations to everyone who managed to get admissions during this brutal application cycle. As said before numerous times, not getting an admission is not an indicator of one's abilities since there are so many variables included in this selection process. As we're approaching to the end of this year's decision timeline, I wanted to ask to those of you who got multiple offers, how do you plan to decline the other offers you managed to get? What kind of email structure do you plan to use? Luckily, I was offered a spot at multiple institutions and I have been in contact with POIs in many of these places, I am not sure how to approach to the POIs with an intention of rejecting their offers. Open to all suggestions.

I was just talking to the DGS there, he said that they submitted their decisions to Office of Admissions and the office will release them until the end of next week. I got admitted there as well but most likely will reject the offer. Good luck!

a: admitted r: rejected w: waitlisted p: pending

I would suggest you to take a look at this forum created by @icemanyeo.

I remember there was a candidate last year with a law degree who got admitted to pretty prestigious institutions. You can reach his profile, results and suggestions here:

I got waitlisted there couple of days ago. (Wed - Feb 3)

I think they said it above that they got admitted to NYU! Something to celebrate!

Just got an email from Indiana - waitlisted there. I have two admissions from higher ranked schools so I will most likely ask them to replace my place with another candidate. Good luck to those who are waiting to hear from Indiana.

The OG post was intended for admitted students. I was admitted but haven't got an email from the department yet so I emailed the Academic Program Coordinator, they said that they would send an email by Monday. I still haven't received it, though.

Also, you have to consider the specific faculty member you mentioned to work with. They might not be accepting new students (due to having too many PhD students or the ones that deferred from last year due to Covid (this was the case for me for Wisconsin)), they may be retiring soon or they may be changing the research area that they have focused for a while. Good luck with your applications! Fingers crossed for all of us!

Claiming another admit from MSU. Comparative politics. I think having a strong departmental fit worked for me specifically in this case. Good luck to all those who are waiting to hear from other schools!

For those who are waiting to hear from the OSU, Academic Program Coordinator just replied my email saying that "they will be transmitting admissions letters to admits by Monday."

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 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.

This year the OSU updated the decisions (for admits I believe) on the portal and have not sent an email yet. And as far as the Gradcafe results show, it was the case last year, too.

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

For PhD applicants at HGSE for Fall 2021, HGSE just announced this: Given the fiscal constraints on our institution presented by the continuously evolving COVID-19 pandemic, HGSE has made the difficult decision not to accept doctoral applications for fall 2021 enrollment. We are pausing admissions for our fully-funded doctoral programs in order to uphold our commitment to maintaining program quality and strong support for our current students. At this time, the next application cycle is expected to have a December 2021 application deadline for fall 2022 enrollment. Complete the Introduce Yourself form to stay informed about future enrollment in our doctoral programs.