american2020

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad Institution: Small Liberal Arts College (#64 in US News)
Major(s)/Minor(s): Philosophy, Classics
Undergrad GPA: 3.7
Type of Grad:
Grad GPA: 
GRE: V165/Q163/AWA4.5
Any Special Courses: n/a
Letters of Recommendation: Three professors, One went to the similar program as I was applying
Research Experience: Senior Thesis
Teaching Experience: n/a
Subfield/Research Interests: Political Theory (Ancient and Early Modern)
Other:

RESULTS:
Acceptances($$ or no $$): Michigan State University ($$), Claremont Graduate University ($$), Boston College, University of Dallas
Waitlists:
Rejections: Harvard, Notre Dame, UT Austin
Pending:
Going to: Michigan State University
 
LESSONS LEARNED:
1. Try to connect with the professors you are interested to work with at the graduate school. I found out that one of the professors at the graduate school went to the same small undergraduate college as mine and we had very fruitful conversations over the phone.
2. Ask the professors who can really vouch for you to write recommendation letters. One of my professors went to the same program I was applying to (even same subfield) and she was impressed with me in class. It is especially important when you go to a small college.

It is mainly because you don't have any offer from Top 40(~39) schools. 
In reality, there is a significant gap within top 20~50 schools, in terms of placement, resources, admission chances, etc, 
No one puts Northwestern and CU Boulder, OR even,  PSU and UConn, in the same group. You should probably know better. 

Claiming the UT Austin acceptance off the waitlist! Will now have to make the difficult decision between UT Austin and Michigan State. 

I chose MSU among other options (top 3 in Canada, top 30 and top 50 in the USA).
Their placement record for recent years is solid; they are a small program with an almost nonexistent attrition rate. Particularly, MSU is strong in the CP and AP fields. It is not a super-top program, of course, but it is really good.
Honestly, Austin is a fantastic place to live in. However,  looking at recent placements, I'd choose MSU. Though, of course, I'm a bit biased since I have already chosen MSU

Very valid, MSU is generally frozen for part of the year. 
I agree that they are both excellent choices. I think it mostly comes down to department culture and vibes. From what I've read and experienced, they seem like two very different departments. 

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. 

Claiming the UT Austin acceptance off the waitlist! Will now have to make the difficult decision between UT Austin and Michigan State. 

Claiming the UT Austin acceptance off the waitlist! Will now have to make the difficult decision between UT Austin and Michigan State. 

Claiming the UT Austin acceptance off the waitlist! Will now have to make the difficult decision between UT Austin and Michigan State. 

In my view, the only thing to say about this is that very much data supports the idea that higher GRE scores correlate with higher academic ability and success in graduate school. The GRE score is a proxy for ability. And the test is meant to "level the playing field" because it is hard to compare GPAs across high and low ranked American institutions as well as foreign institutions. That way a high GRE score gives persons who did not go to top 10 schools for undergrad an opportunity to prove that they are top notch and deserve a spot in a top program. Not having the GRE required can only work against persons without a stellar undergrad degree from a stellar institution, and in favor those with a stellar undergrad degree from a stellar institution (since they have nothing further to prove).
And I assume that the admissions committee at OSU must view applicant who submit high GRE scores more favorably, and know that those who do not submit a GRE score likely did not perform well upon the test. This is especially true because virtually all phd applicants do the GRE test since it is required for all other programs (minus Hawaii?). So my guess is that it is, all else equal, a red flag if a GRE score does not accompany the application.
Finally, it is probably not unreasonable to suspect that OSU will receive far more applications as a result of the new policy, which ups the competition. So I think it would be prudent to still do the GRE, struggle with it like most people do, and submit it with your application. I say this to encourage you; the GRE sucks but you can do it!! With sufficient study it is possible for anyone who is genuinely qualified to enter a phd program to get in the 90th + percentile on all sections.

So a few things. I think it is more likely that schools will simply accept smaller amounts of funded students. It's a hell of a lot easier to simply accept less students than reduce students salaries. Maybe there won't be a COL increase or something like that, but I highly doubt there will be an actual reduction in salaries for TA's, RA's, and fellowships. Most universities (public ones at least) have some sort of grad student union or governing body and the salaries are the result of negotiations or some other deal between the students and administration. Because of that it is pretty difficult for the admins to cut stipends, they don't a general strike on top of everything else. This does go back to what you were saying though, grad admissions is going to get much more difficult in the coming cycles. I predict a decrease in overall admissions and a large decrease in funded offers. 
I would say though that if the downturn evolves into a full blow recession after the health crisis has passed, the impact to grad students may be minimal. The way I see it is that the result would be a decrease in state funding, so public schools would increase the tuition on both in state and out of state residents. That sucks and adds to the over all issue of college affordability, but with the increase in enrollment, it seems that this might save the schools. Sucks for undergrads, but I'm not sure we, as grad students, would be affected. 

bad, you don't see placements from there, plus a shitty town to live. 

Just wanted to add that private schools will also feel the squeeze in their endowments which will surely fall due to both the stock market crash as well as the decrease in donations. 
in theory big flagship schools may be better protected as federal aid to the states may be able to help (they received like 14 billion in this last bill), but at the same time they certainly do face cuts on the state level. 
last recession revenue was cut 25-50 percent on average. While this mostly translates into increase undergrad tuition (which doesn’t affect us), it can also lead to pots of money drying up. So conference travel, non-guaranteed summer funding, and additional fellowships and awards may all take a back seat for the moment. Now this all depends on how big this economic crisis is, and of course how long it lasts. If things do bounce back right away after the virus recedes then the affect could be minimal, but that’s a best case scenario. 
I’m honestly not sure how this will affect waitlists this year, but what I do know is what next year the competition will be much greater as a recession generally leads to an increase in grad school applications.