icemanyeo

I think LinkedIn/website views do mean something if there's an increase around the time of application reviews, especially if that website/link was included in your CV. At least it means they're closely looking at your profile!

Most of my schools are US PhD programs but I applied to Concordia as well in Montréal.

I haven't had any of my portals changed yet so I'm keeping hope. Admissions anxiety is real!

Congratulations to those who are starting to receive acceptances! I hope things pick up soon, I'm stressing out too much haha.

hopefully we start getting some real news in the next two weeks. I would expect OSU and Rice around that timeline, but Madison *might* take longer given they're doing several interviews it seems like.

Thank you for sharing!

I'm expecting to hear from Rice in the coming two weeks, unless their process was delayed.

I applied to Princeton for Comparative as well and haven't heard anything. I even checked my junk mailbox and nothing was there, nor was there anything in the application portal.

I don't remember the exact answer, but does anyone know if Berkeley plans to interview applicants? Past data from this forum shows they usually release admits on the last week of January/first week of February so I'm not sure if they will interview this year.

I'm assuming you're speaking of American programs specifically, so I'll go based off of that. I don't think they prefer one over the other, but I think most programs try to build a diverse cohort across ages and experiences. I have two family members who went through US PhD programs in other fields and their experience has been of cohorts where you have 23 year old straight out of undergrad people to 35 year old married individuals with children, maybe a master's or a lot of work experience. It's all anecdotal of course, but I don't think there are any dis/advantages to being straight out of school as long as you can demonstrate the requisite knowledge, skills and drive. Personally, I went straight from undergrad to a policy master's degree to now applying to PhDs while finishing up my master's degree. I don't regret doing a master's first because of the networking opportunities and additional quantitative preparation I got/am getting since most of my research and classes in undergrad focused on qualitative work.

Disclaimer: I didn't apply to UW-M; but I think that since they didn't require GRE scores this year, they might be interviewing applicants to help weed out ones with similar profiles. I know you said you don't have an outstanding profile but I wouldn't sell yourself short! It might be that they don't need more information from you to do a comparison with other applicants or they might be slowly rolling out interviews to applicants.

One of the professors at a school I applied to was a LinkedIn contact of mine, so I reached out through that platform, but otherwise did not contact other professors. I think it's very common for people to submit without connecting to professors, at least in the US, since most programs don't require having an advisor selected when you enroll in the program. Don't let the stress eat you too much, I can definitely relate to your anxieties. I agree. The only professor I reached out to was because our interests highly overlapped. Especially with the difficulties that come with COVID and the awful schedules/dynamics for faculty, I figured they were already overwhelmed and "superficial" contact with me wouldn't matter.

Thank you for sharing! I'm really hoping that's the case -- most of my masters work is focused on global governance policies and I applied to CP/IR whenever two major subfields were possible so I'm staying hopeful this works out.

Unfortunately, I registered using my grad email and am working on a co-authored paper over break, so not having mobile access to that email address isn't possible. I appreciate the suggestion though! One of my coping mechanisms is taking part in PhD meme pages and groups on Facebook ?.

I know Chicago sent out an email a couple of weeks earlier stating we can expect to hear back in the first two weeks of March as well, with the caveat that the department might informally notify an applicant earlier than that.

I'm on winter break until mid-February, so I keep having a heart attack every time I hear the notification sound for my email. It's supposed to be my time to relax but PhD admissions are consuming it. ?

That's one of the reasons why I think there might be a slight delay in the release of results this cycle, because the value of GPA depends on the institution (is there grade inflation or deflation?), there are distinctions in graduate degrees (2-year MA/Mphil vs. MPP) so there's no single metric that can serve as a somewhat "fair" comparison between candidates.

I did not submit any scores either for this cycle. I noticed that about half of the schools I applied to were GRE-optional but also wouldn't even consider GRE scores as part of an application even when submitted.

Wholeheartedly agree with that. Unfortunately luck also plays a role in PhD admissions given that there are at least several highly competitive applicants for each spot. Definitely a good number. I applied to 8, and I think most people tend to apply to at least 6 schools for PhD admissions.

Thank you to everyone who shared on the thread -- I truly appreciate it!

At least we have companions in this suffering! I've been commiserating with a friend who is applying this cycle as well (albeit in another field) and it has helped.

I'd noticed a few people in other political science threads mentioned they were compulsively checking the results page -- this app at least gives people a timeline to expect to hear back. I know it helped me when I'd seen it shared previously in other threads. The app creator himself mentioned similar behavior since he didn't know when he'd hear back, which is why he created it.

Hi all, Just wanted to plug this app by Martin Devaux (https://martindevaux.com/2020/11/political-science-phd-admission-decisions/) where you can check past admissions decisions over the years in a more organized fashion, so you can have an idea of when to expect releases for this year, COVID disruptions notwithstanding. Good luck and don't stress too much!

I just perused their website and they don't state anywhere that they interview applicants regularly, so I would concur.

Backing up @polisci_gal on this as well. I think you have a very strong profile, especially with a sole-author publication and your research/conference experience. Did you submit any GRE scores? PhD admissions this year seem like the Hunger Games with the number of schools receiving an uptick in apps also being ones that have waived the GRE, so that throws a wrench in decisions this year. Best of luck with admissions!