saffasrass

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: California State University (Regional University) Major(s)/Minor(s): Economics Undergrad GPA: 3.0 overall/3.8 major Type of Grad: MA in economics & MA in sociology Grad GPA: ~3.6 overall/3.35 economics/3.95 sociology GRE: Didn’t submit Any Special Courses: Lots of stats coursework in undergrad and grad school, including TA'ing for the grad stats sequence during the last year of my sociology MA. Letters of Recommendation: Sociology MA thesis chair (tenured) who I’ve also done research with, MA thesis committee member (untenured), and external thesis committee member who’s very well published and networked in sociology (tenured full professor & director of a university-wide research center) Teaching/Research Experience: 4+ years research experience as a research assistant and research associate at a policy research center. TA’d multiple undergrad and grad courses, including as a lab instructor for grad stats. Other: 5 co-authored publications in economics journals and two MAs. RESULTS: Acceptances: Rutgers (originally waitlisted for funding) and Cornell Rejections: UCLA, UCSB, Chicago (originally waitlisted), Northwestern, Indiana, Michigan, and Yale Pending: N/A Attending: Cornell LESSONS LEARNED: Spend the majority of your time on your SOP, it’s definitely the most important part of your application. Next, spend a lot of time on researching departments to find ones with the best overall research fit that have at least two faculty you could envision serving as your advisor. For Cornell, since I knew they are big on methods, I really talked up my extensive knowledge of quant methods and how much I want to learn more about different methods. My experience is likely wildly different from the average applicant since I actually applied while already a PhD student at another university. I kept an open dialogue with my advisors on my desire to re-apply to a program with a better fit and funding early on, and because of that I think I was able to get really strong letters despite them not wanting me to leave. The primary things that changed between my first application cycle and second is that I wrote a much better SOP, I got stronger LORs, and I improved my overall grad GPA (from 3.34 to ~3.6). If anyone has any specific questions, feel free to DM! I’ll check back here when everyone starts applying next cycle and answer any questions to the best of my ability.

I thought it would be interesting to borrow from the Poli Sci folks and start a thread for anyone willing to share about their results and overall profile for future applicants. If so inclined, use this guide for formatting: PROFILE:Type of Undergrad Institution: Major(s)/Minor(s):Undergrad GPA: Type of Grad: Grad GPA: GRE: Any Special Courses:Letters of Recommendation:Teaching/Research Experience:Other:RESULTS:Acceptances:Rejections:Pending:Attending:LESSONS LEARNED:

MAs are rarely funded, and if they are, it's often not enough to cover tuition and fees and living expenses. You'd likely have to take out loans or work, both of which are not great options for grad school. Getting accepted to a fully funded program, especially a top 30 one, is quite the achievement. Depending on whether you'd like to go into academia or industry, you'll be well set up. If you are intent on being in a higher ranked program, you can go to the PhD program, get some research done, network, and then re-apply and master out. That's what I ended up doing. I got into a top-50ish program, got on some papers, got close with my mentors, and then re-applied this cycle and got a fully funded offer at a top 20 program and waitlisted at a top 10. It really all depends on what your long-term goals are. If you have more questions, feel free to DM me.

Just got accepted off the Rutgers "waitlist" with a funding package, so there is definitely movement going on there for everyone else currently waiting!

If you go back through the results for Rutgers a few acceptances also mentioned being offered funding. The rest are technically waitlisted.

@lorenzen I was "conditionally accepted" and waitlisted for funding on February 9th

I don't know if there's a consistent trend in the way they release results, but in some previous cycles they've sent rejections a week or so after acceptances. That said, they've already reached out to the students who have been offered admission to sign up for the virtual visit day, so I don't know that it's likely there will be any further acceptances or waitlists.

I can confirm I received one directly from the DGS with funding information included.

Feel free to DM me! I'm a current PhD student re-applying this cycle, so I'm going through it right now!

With Northwestern releasing decisions, I only have two programs left that have already sent out offers. So glad to have been lucky enough to get one full acceptance! Good luck to everyone else waiting, and I'm crossing my fingers for everyone.

Smaller cohorts, smaller budgets, some current students still taking longer to finish their dissertations because of Covid. There's been a lot of small comments here and there from programs hinting that this cycle is different than previous ones. If you look at the application stats that are available for some schools, you'll see number of applicants are up too. There's just a lot of uncertainty in general right now, but especially in academia. And especially in public institutions.

They've been doing their admissions on a rolling basis so far, but I don't think they've sent out any rejections yet.

Nevermind, got waitlisted. Congrats to the admits!

Did your portal update with an acceptance too?

Also waiting on UCSB here. They're definitely doing things way differently this cycle than previous ones.

Was it a personal email and is your portal updated? I interviewed two weeks ago and haven't heard anything and I'm dying

Can anyone here claim a Chicago admit?

This is one of those things where you really need to just wait to hear an official decision. There's no way to know 100% for certain if this is a good sign or not because every department and university does things differently. Just cross your fingers and stay positive! It's all we can really do.

Crossing my fingers for us all! I know I only applied to 9 programs but it's crazy that it's the middle of February and I've only heard from two of them so far.

Both interviews I had were 30 minute casual conversations with one faculty member. We spoke about my research interests and fit with the department, discussed the department's culture, and spoke a bit about the POI's mentorship style. With both, we spent maybe 2 or 3 minutes discussing why their program was a better fit than my current one, but they didn't seem concerned at all about the fact that I am looking to switch programs.

Afraid not, no. This is all anecdotal on my part.

I applied and haven't heard a peep either. I have a really great fit and thought I had a decent shot, so we'll see. As with all the rest of the programs I applied to this cycle, UCSB doesn't seem to be following their usual pattern for decisions.

Me too. And it's weird because it seems like a lot of programs aren't following previous patterns, so it's making me check even more often. Totally thought I got rejected from Rutgers after having a decent interview, then got accepted (well, waitlisted for funding) three days after everyone else started hearing back.

I haven't applied to Pittsburgh, so I can't tell you with 100% certainty. It also looks like there aren't a lot of results posted for Pitt, so I can't speculate, sorry!

Michigan and Cornell usually release results in mid to late February and don't interview so you probably won't hear back from them until then. Notre Dame (usually) sends out interview invites in early February, but a lot of programs have been running behind their normal schedules based on results from previous cycles.