niceward

Just got accepted to and summarily declined CU Boulder offer as I've already accepted somewhere else so hopefully someone on the waitlist can still get in!

CUNY has emailed me with a rejection to the PhD program and an acceptance to the MA program. Obviously it's not everything I wanted, but I will be entering this program in hopes of better positioning myself for future PhD applications. Thank you to everyone for the support during this cycle. 

CUNY has emailed me with a rejection to the PhD program and an acceptance to the MA program. Obviously it's not everything I wanted, but I will be entering this program in hopes of better positioning myself for future PhD applications. Thank you to everyone for the support during this cycle. 

Congrats and good luck in your further pursuits!

CUNY has emailed me with a rejection to the PhD program and an acceptance to the MA program. Obviously it's not everything I wanted, but I will be entering this program in hopes of better positioning myself for future PhD applications. Thank you to everyone for the support during this cycle. 

CUNY has emailed me with a rejection to the PhD program and an acceptance to the MA program. Obviously it's not everything I wanted, but I will be entering this program in hopes of better positioning myself for future PhD applications. Thank you to everyone for the support during this cycle. 

CUNY has emailed me with a rejection to the PhD program and an acceptance to the MA program. Obviously it's not everything I wanted, but I will be entering this program in hopes of better positioning myself for future PhD applications. Thank you to everyone for the support during this cycle. 

CUNY has emailed me with a rejection to the PhD program and an acceptance to the MA program. Obviously it's not everything I wanted, but I will be entering this program in hopes of better positioning myself for future PhD applications. Thank you to everyone for the support during this cycle. 

CUNY has emailed me with a rejection to the PhD program and an acceptance to the MA program. Obviously it's not everything I wanted, but I will be entering this program in hopes of better positioning myself for future PhD applications. Thank you to everyone for the support during this cycle. 

First the Boulder decisions and now the Iowa caucuses? What a time for delayed results. 

Good luck publishing in top journals in your MA program. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, but it’s rare. 
Fit doesn’t matter to the extent that it does in a PhD program, but you’ll want to make sure that there are faculty with whom you can work on the research and publication goals you described above. You’ll also want to have a thesis adviser (if a thesis is required at Yale) in your area. 
Also, note that Timothy Snyder is a historian, and his writings have garnered a fair amount of negative criticism among both historians and political scientists. I wouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket; Snyder may leave, and given his reputation, he may not work with graduate students very often, especially at the MA level. 

For undergrad yeah the M is for MIT but Michigan is unanimously (niche subfields aside) stronger in political science PhDs. It's not subjective. 

I just got an email from CUNY saying I've been waitlisted. I have otherwise struck out, so if you got an accept and don't want to go, please reject. This was my number one choice. 

I just got an email from CUNY saying I've been waitlisted. I have otherwise struck out, so if you got an accept and don't want to go, please reject. This was my number one choice. 

I just got an email from CUNY saying I've been waitlisted. I have otherwise struck out, so if you got an accept and don't want to go, please reject. This was my number one choice. 

I just got an email from CUNY saying I've been waitlisted. I have otherwise struck out, so if you got an accept and don't want to go, please reject. This was my number one choice. 

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad Institution: Big state school
Major(s)/Minor(s): IR
Undergrad GPA: 3.6
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 162v/147q/4.5aw
Any Special Courses: Two methods courses, one on R and the other on STATA
Letters of Recommendation: One from my undergrad mentor, who also supervised my senior honors thesis and was the director of an on-campus research institute. One from a professor who taught me various IR courses. One from a professor that taught me language and led my study abroad/field research experience. 
Research Experience: One summer field research experience, a junior level research one semester research project, a senior honors thesis. 
Teaching Experience: N/A
Subfield/Research Interests: 
Other: I also presented at three research conferences hosted by my university. They were for undergrads within the school, but it did give me presentation experience.
Results: 
3a/1w/2r/0p 
Cycle RESULTS: 
Acceptances ($$ or no $$): CU Boulder ($$), UConn ($$), Kansas (waitlisted for $$) 
Waitlists: Kentucky 
Rejections: Penn State, UMass Amherst
Pending: 
Going to: CU Boulder
 
SOP:
First section talked about my motivation for entering grad school, as well as the research question I had and wanted to pursue within grad school. Second section talked about how I prepared for grad school. So I went through my relevant undergrad courses and research experience.  Third section was the "fit" section. I went in depth as to why I wanted to attend the specific school, discussing at least two faculty members that I was interested in working with. 
Lessons Learned/Advice: 
Start the whole application process early. Start looking at schools, professors, and research topics well before you have to submit the applications. Secure your LOR writers early on as well, as sometimes those can fall through and you need time to pick up another one.  Get out of the undergrad mindset when selecting schools. By this I mean you have to look at the department and faculty, not the school itself. Sure a school may be prestiges for undergrad, or well known in various STEM or Humanities fields, but that isn't what you're going to school for. Get out of the whole mindset that dominates undergrads and undergrad admissions.  Find at least two professors at a given school that you want to work with. This is both for the admissions and the subsequent years spent there. For admissions, they are more likely to admit you if you show a strong fit with the department, and that is better demonstrated by having more then one POI on staff. But this is also important for when the program actually starts. You don't want to be in your 2nd or 3rd year and your POI leaves and you have no one to work with. I've seen that happen, and it sucks because the student then has to go through this entire hellish experience all over again.  Take quality of life into account when selecting where to apply. I think this factor is usually ignored or put on the back burner for many students as they are most looking at rank. But quality of life is one of the most important things in determining your ultimate success in grad school. If you are someone who hates winter, don't apply to any New England schools, if you are someone who loves four seasons, don't apply to U of F. If you are unhappy in your environment then you will less successful in graduate School. It is already a SUPER stressful time in your life. you don't want to increase that by being unhappy about where you are living.  Placement matters more than ranking. I know that this is a bit controversial, but I firmly believe that it is the placement that matters way more then the rankings. I think the most important thing is to take a look at the recent placement and think if you'd be happy there or not. Where do their students end up? R1's? R2's? LAC? Industry? all of this is important and you have determine if it is where you can see yourself and where you would be happy. NOTE: often times schools will get one or two big flashy placements, those are most likely outliers. Make sure you look at where most people end up as that is far more likely.  I think we as applicants place WAY too much emphasis on GRE. That is mainly because it is one of the two things that we can really compare to each other and one of the major things that shows up in the results page. While the GRE is a factor in admissions, I think it is definitely loosing its importance. We shouldn't see it as the end-all be-all of applications.  Second cycles are okay. I know it sucks not getting in anywhere, but doing it again is totally okay and does work out!  Apply to a wide rang of schools. PhD applications are a total and complete crapshoot. You don't know who will like your profile, or who will be on sabbatical or who will be looking to take on more students. All you can do is shoot your shot. So sure, apply to that top 20 school, or even the top 10 school, because who knows?  I would also like to say that generally speaking applying to only top 10 or top 20 is ill-advised. Sure you may think you have an excellent profile, but you never know what they really are looking for. Applying to schools from every bracket is a much better idea and a safer bet. I want to reiterate that the application process makes absolutely no sense. As you can see from my profile I was admitted to a top 40 which generally has an acceptance of around 15-20 percent, while I was either waitlisted/waitlisted for funding/straight out rejected from lower ranked/less competitive schools. I honestly have no idea why the cycle played out the way it did for me. I doubt I would be able to replicate it if I tried.  This website has been a great source for me and I would love to give back some of the knowledge that I have. Please feel free to slide into my DM's if you have any questions about anything I've posted. 

JT at CU Boulder confirmed for me that I am on an unofficial waitlist. I pretty much already knew this, but it is nice to have a degree of certainty regarding something about this process. 

JT at CU Boulder confirmed for me that I am on an unofficial waitlist. I pretty much already knew this, but it is nice to have a degree of certainty regarding something about this process. 

JT at CU Boulder confirmed for me that I am on an unofficial waitlist. I pretty much already knew this, but it is nice to have a degree of certainty regarding something about this process. 

Waitlisted at Princeton. Please, someone, send in your decline! Waiting for my fate is hard...
 
Rejected from Brown and MIT - expected. Also expecting a rejection from NYU since I haven't heard anything. Sad that so few universities love me, but as a wise woman told me - you only need to get into one school.

I am claiming a theory acceptance to Harvard, notified via phone call. So excited!!!

Yeah, there is almost no margin for error, in one of the nation's more expensive cities no less. That would give me serious pause.

Thank you for letting me know. 

Spoke to a coordinator at Rutgers, and we will hopefully hear next week.