cheetah

Finally, receiving NYU decisions... got rej from the PhD program, but an offer in the so-called "pre-PhD track M.A." program w/ half tuition scholarship. Will decline it.

I applied to SAIS PhD too but no update yet. My friend said SAIS will release decisions around March 26.

Congrats on your offers! As a SAIS alumna, I'd say it's a great school in terms of community vibe, location, alumni networks, reputation, and research (esp. Middle East studies and security studies). One should not take the cliche as granted, because they really are the strengths of SAIS. You will be more familiar with the process of finding a job in the US government as there are a bunch of other comrades sharing similar interests and career plans with you. SAIS Career Office is a great resource you should make good use of, and the staffs there are very experienced of mentoring students for a State Department career. Plus, SAIS has many outstanding female student leaders, profs, alumnae, and colleagues, so in a nutshell it is a supportive community for females. So does SAIS for POCs. I am an international student, female, POC, and an English non-native speaker, but I never felt embarrassed or discriminated due to any of my identity. I did not regret being a SAISer as well. Regarding cons, first of all, expensive tuitions and living expenses. It is a real problem to study and live in DC. High taxes, parking fees, apartment rents, and so on, which is the other side of the coin. Meanwhile, DC is a cool city to live in due to its city sceneries, distance to govt agencies, think tanks, and international orgs. Many people often live in Viginia where costs are a bit cheaper. Second, research. Yeah this can be tricky as I mentioned above, the profs are fabulous - I even met some great profs who inspired me to pursue an academic path after graduation. However, our coursework is not that research-oriented nor heavy quantitative. If academia is an impossible option for you, SAIS coursework is fine, and even enough for a career in international and governmental agencies. In essence, policy schools are designed to cultivate students the skills needed in professional settings rather than academia. Third, small campus and limited facilities. SAIS is a "school," whereas GW (Elliott) is a whole university and you can enjoy the sense of a larger community. SAIS was founded separately from Johns Hopkins, and later on they two merged, so SAIS remains nominally a part of JHU (Baltimore) but is still located in DC. We only have three buildings lol. OK regardless, I hope these words can help to some extent! Wish you make a decision by chasing your own heart, and never feel regretful after matriculation. All the best to you.

Same - and nah.

Claiming Tufts - the Fletcher School (IR) rejection. Email notification to check portal.

Happy Friday everyone! Does any one know when the decisions of Tufts will be released? Also anyone got any funding package from Georgetown?

Hey all! Have a tricky question, which i'm not sure if anyone encountered before. I actually have two virtual visits with one day overlapped. Any tips on how to manage the time conflict issue? I don't think either univ is gonna change the tentative schedule as there are many stakeholders (faculty member, prospective students, current PhDs, etc.) involved.

Anyone claiming Yale acceptance? Saw one on the result page who got an email from POI today (Sat EST). Not sure if it's real.

Claiming Stanford GSB rejection. Portal said there're over 800 applicants - way too crazy!

Nah, I guess funding packages will be in the emails next week

Claiming Georgetown (IR sub) acceptance. POI called me this noon, indicating there are two admits in IR this cycle. Total applicants are over 500. Decisions likely to be released next week. Fingers crossed for everyone else then!

Got a personalized congrats email from my POI in Berkeley after acceptance from the department yesterday. My POI said the applicant pool is twice the size of that in normal years. So just wanna say IT IS a competitive year, but don't lose hope or count yourself down if you haven't heard anything positive until now. I'm not sure about Berkeley's timeline to release all decisions, maybe miracles will happen eventually - who knows!

Claiming UC Berkeley offer, IR sub. Congrats to all who got admitted!

Claiming BU IR rejection. Got an email around 3:09pm, no update on my portal

Anyone heard any news about BU IR subtrack?

Claiming UCSD rejections. First two decisions of mine, very unexpected as it's almost the fittest program/univ. Now I'm really dubious about fit v.s. covid-related competitiveness.

Applied to ggt too (ir) but got no interview invitations ;( nor did i receive any update/interview from Duke

I saw this post too yesterday, and it's quite a good one! Fingers crossed that most of us can still have some options to select out. Random thought: would people mind sharing some twitter accounts/threads they think are useful? Just hope to get some insightful and updated information - and thanks in advance!

Hi, I also have the same question. In this case, would you suggest listing ALL courses taken during undergrad and master's schools if a person has both degrees?

Thanks so much! My only concern is that if I submit the first one, would AW3.5 be a significantly low score...While if submit both, would the adcom think my performance goes down after several years of study in the U.S., given my second test is taken during quarantines? I have relatively a good WS in terms of quali writing and quant models.

Hi all, I'm applying for the Ph.D. programs in PoliSci now. A non-native speaker with a degree in the U.S., almost all good regarding GPA, SOP, letters, experiences, etc. Sadly, I have two GRE scores: V (155), Q (168), AW (3.5); V (154), Q (161), AW (4.5). Would you suggest sending them both to schools with GRE as a requirement (given that my second AW is higher), or just sending the first one? I know that many people say (1) GRE is not as important as previous years; (2) Verbal's bar for non-native speakers is not very high; (3) it's pretty unsafe to have a section below 160 (90th percentile); (4) a low GRE score will result in a funding problem, i.e. taking a quota of 'waiver'; (5) adcom will review all files together... However, different people have diverse views on the importance of GRE. I have browsed the majority of information on this website, and getting more and more nervous about my low Verbal score. My questions: How much does it hurt? Will my profile be passed for the first round by the Grad School? Is it okay to ask my profs to indicate that a low standardized test score does not mean a low academic ability in the letters? Should I address why I performed poorly in my GRE test in the optional section/supplementary materials on the application web? Thank you so much!