brickinthewall

this resonates on such a deep level haha that said, i don't know if i'd expect anything today as its technically a holiday in the US

Hey, I can also claim UCLA this afternoon. But I think they're slowly rolling out, as @NotaDoctorShh posted the other day claiming an admit, and at the time I totally thought that meant I was out of the running... so it is still possible that there are more to come.

I haven't used Urdinez/Cruz, but Imai is great and I found it has a solid explanation of the statistical intuition in addition to the programming basics. It was definitely worth it for me. Also, another resource in addition to the great list from @NeedaMormon is Happy Git and GitHub for the useR - a useful guide to setting up version control in R with Git/Github

In my experience grad students are usually pretty straightforward on department culture/questions of this sort, but it may require setting up separate calls outside of official visit day Zooms (which I can envision being sort of stilted etc)

I wanted to chime in on fit/this cycle! I think fit does matter quite a lot, but given the competitiveness of this year there will inevitably be places in which we feel we are strong fits but still–with increased app numbers + (sometimes) reduced cohorts– it may not work out. I do think fit remains important, however, as it is essential to one getting the research background and having the necessary advising to produce the best dissertation possible in the program. I have no real insight on this (from an adcom or anything), but would expect that there will be many strong candidates with strong fits that would get in any other year but essentially with the COVID numbers it doesn't work out. So, please do not discount yourself or your gauge of your own fit! Closing out with some good (peaceful, distracting, non-application-related) vibes as we enter into another day of the wait™️

Also claiming an acceptance at Madison! Interviewed last week as well. I am nicely surprised and super stoked.

Was it a single BCC'd email or did it seem like they were sending them individually?

Duke is a program that comes to mind as one that appears to be interviewing for the first time in a while. Are there other programs that you are referencing here as not historically interviewing candidates (but seem to be doing so this cycle)?

For what it's worth, I also find the following app useful. (I found it either on a thread here or on reddit, I think). It includes some GRE/GPA ranges as well as results for other disciplines, so will provide results for the History programs you mentioned as well @scarletwitch! https://fretpwner.shinyapps.io/GradCafeStatistics/ (Yes, I recognize how obsessive this makes me triangulating previous cycles across multiple applications lol?)

This happened to me as well- I think you are fine. Some programs even explicitly stated that it could take a few weeks after an application submission for scores to match, so it seems fairly common that test scores match after the deadline. I think it's just a technical/back-end mechanic!

Same here! I also talked with current PhD students as to get a sense of their departments and anything quirky that could be useful to know. To any future applicants out there, this was also very useful for my applications, as they'd recently been through the process and therefore could help a lot with really detail-oriented application questions that professors or my advisors may not have been as equipped to answer.

Anyone claiming the Duke interview? Are there others? From what I can tell they haven't historically done interviews, but it doesn't seem out of the question this year given their higher-than-expected yield in the 2018-19 cycle and the oddities of this cycle.

Here is the link - the GRE in the times of COVID discussion is around the 56:40 mark.

This is my understanding of the GRE as well. I recall the Berkeley webinar mentioning (briefly) something to the effect of, if submitted, it wouldn't be looked at in the first stages of the review and that they would be highly mindful of not advantaging/disadvantaging applicants based on whether or not someone submitted it. I would wager that this is the same mindset at most of the other schools that made it optional. To this end, I would be curious on application #s at schools that did require the GRE and whether or not they saw the same spike.

I would love to hear back earlier... this wait is brutal! I've been banking on early/mid February for now, though, which seems to be standard from previous years. That said, I'm intrigued where you've seen this re: a decrease in applications given the posts in this thread about various tweets suggesting huge increases in application numbers in certain programs. Presuming an increase in app numbers, I was wondering if we wouldn't hear back later than normal (sadly).

I've noticed this as well, and don't know what to make of it. Honestly, I tend to wonder if it is mostly just noise regarding how active the forum is during any given year? Of course, that's entirely a conjecture with no real data behind it. However cheesy it may be to say, though, it makes me feel less alone in the waiting game now that this page is getting a little more active!

Yeah, this is definitely re: the public policy program, as UNC poli sci did not accept applicants this year Still, that increase in number of applications is scary. Has anyone else seen anything to this effect in poli sci?

Saying hi and good luck to all. As for COVID, I honestly have no clue. I'd imagine that the effect of COVID on the decision timeline will probably vary depending on which schools are operating in person, to what degree, and how this influences administrative channels, etc.