Muan1
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Posts posted by Muan1
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9 minutes ago, verschiedene said:
That is certainly true. if 2020 taught us anything it's there's no guarantee how much worse it could get... but still, can't seem to shake the terrible feeling called hope lol.
I haven't decided but my partner is at Uchicago, so I might not live in Evanston.
Right, you correctly identified a possible complication: next year's admissions prospects might even get worse. But it also might get better. But the fact that this is an uncertainty should convince you about why it might be incorrect in not entering a PhD program this year on the off (maybe off-off-off) chance you get into Harvard the next year. Moreover, plenty of folks who get waitlisted from a top program one year when reapplying the next year do not get in. Perhaps the faculty on adcom reading theory apps won't be the same next year, or perhaps there might be a candidate next year whom they prefer more. Who knows? Your safest best is to go with Northwestern in the here and now. Yes, of course the Harvard name brand carries some weight when it comes to hiring decisions, but Northwestern is not chopped liver, and what is more decisive is the quality of your research and the strength of your mentorship relationship (not to mention the reputation of the mentor itself). NW does not lack on any of these fronts: depending on what your interests are, plenty of great theorists to work with at Northwestern. Monoson and Dietz immediately pop up in my mind, and Monoson as I understand has a lot of diverse eclectic interests that span the history of political thought.
I'm sorry for the aporetic quality of my advice. But these are the questions that I genuinely would be thinking about if I were lucky enough to be in your position. Hope this helped -- best wishes.
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Sure -- happy to chat in the DMs.
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19 minutes ago, verschiedene said:
Received a waitlist from Harvard Govt ~3hrs ago. Theory subfield.
Utterly surprised and a bit at sea right now, since I was rejected by every other school except for Northwestern, which is a great school and a fantastic fit for me. I have already begun communicating with students at NW, getting their advice on studying and living in Chicago etc.
I am more than happy doing my doctorate at NW, but now knowing that "in an ordinary year" I could be getting into Harvard, I am wondering if I should do my masters first and reapply in another cycle?
So I guess I am asking if there is really a chance to get off the waitlist at Harvard and if ppl who are accepted into Harvard theory could lmk if they're accepting? Many thanks and any suggestions from all of y'all would be appreciated.
Go to Northwestern. You really don't want to miss out on that opportunity based upon the possible but by no means guaranteed chance you'd get into Harvard in a normal year. Certainly, there is no harm in hoping you'd get off the waitlist this year (who knows what would happen? And I presume your chances of getting off the waitlist is greater than the initial chance of even getting on the waitlist). But Northwestern is a very good program, especially for theory, that consistently places its students in great TT positions after graduation. Also would you be commuting to Evanston from Chicago? If I recall correctly, Evanston is an hour from Chicago proper, so the vibes would probably be quite different.
- afjackie and verschiedene
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out of curiosity -- how did the cornell rejection read?
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I've heard great things about the MA program in security studies at Georgetown: it's great for people who are considering either transitioning into government-work (also being in DC it's quite an advantage), or the PhD/academic pipeline.
If you are interested in a PhD program with a dedicated group of scholars invested in security studies (not just tangentially, but explicitly and primarily), then UChicago is definitely somewhere to consider. Folks like Mearsheimer are still advising students, and there's a new crop of associate professors there that are ready to take up the mantle.
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2 minutes ago, nightowlll said:
What does personalized email mean?
It suggests that they are admitting students one by one, as opposed to a massive email dump. The hope is that personalized emails imply that not all acceptances happen at a single time, which implies that if you haven't heard anything yet you still might. Hope that helps.
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Just a friendly suggestion: try not to get tunnel vision just because you didn't happen to get into a particular school, whether that be Princeton or whatnot. For many of us, we still have yet to hear from a ton of schools, and how one school decides is quite different from another. Also a nice excerpted thought by Henry James:
“Life is, in fact, a battle. Evil is insolent and strong; beauty enchanting, but rare; goodness very apt to be weak; folly very apt to be defiant; wickedness to carry the day; imbeciles to be in great places, people of sense in small, and mankind generally unhappy. But the world as it stands is no narrow illusion, no phantasm, no evil dream of the night; we wake up to it, forever and ever; and we can neither forget it nor deny it nor dispense with it."
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What's going on at Berkeley? Anyone hear anything?
- PoliSHopeful and ExileOnMainSt
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Just now, icemanyeo said:
I mean, it's only 12 PM in Berkeley, so there's still time. But I'm not holding out hope for today. We'll see!
Best wishes. I saw on the results thread that one year they were getting back to applicants on Sunday. So who really knows. Admittedly right now I'm enjoying riding out this Schroedingerian moment of uncertainty. I certainly would rather be hopefully waiting for good news than feeling sad because I was rejected. Strange how the mind works.
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Any chance Cal gets back today, though? What was their original timeline as stated in the Zoom call?
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If we haven't heard anything from Wisconsin, is it safe to assume a rejection?
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Just now, BrownSugar said:
Yeah things are definitely getting fishy/weird. Rejections never come on the same day as acceptances, and the confirmation email from Princeton explicitly said results will be emailed.
I just have no idea what type of person would do this. Adding gasoline to the collective bonfire of grad application anxiety. On another note, I'm totally fine with being rejected from Princeton. I just don't want my cycle to start with an L.
- AHD, animal_whisperer, Crossed_fingers and 5 others
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4 minutes ago, Habermas said:
Yes, also a little suspicious that they all seem to have been posted before noon today (around when I checked). I understand that some people diligently post/follow grad cafe but I would assume some people would be logging on later in the afternoon to post their results.
And now someone's claiming a rejection on the results page. Which makes no sense, considering how there's a week delay between admits and rejects. The rejection post also said they checked the program website where it was said there was an "update" to their application, and they found out that they were rejected.
- PoliSHopeful and gingerantelope
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I think the Princeton results might be fake. For one thing, decisions from them have never been released this early. According to my friend, last time it was on a Wednesday.
Second, and more importantly, nobody on this forum claimed an acceptance. In past years, plenty of folks on this forum claim their acceptance on the thread. Plenty of people this year have been claiming acceptances from schools on the thread -- no reason to believe that that would stop with Princeton.
Tldr: it's probably a troll, we wait more.
- PoliSHopeful and Habermas
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5 minutes ago, nightowlll said:
I always think sending rejections prior to acceptances is more reasonable, but unfortunately many programs or grad schools don't do the way ?♂️
Yes, but apparently graduate programs are going to do what's convenient for them. Some might object to this justification by reminding us that just because we are predisposed to doing what we find pleasant or convenient for us doesn't mean that we ought not care about the interests of others. Oh well!
- mypolisciguy and PoliSHopeful
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5 minutes ago, mypolisciguy said:
This + why should they really care? Programs are going to do what's convenient for them, the professors on the committee, and the staff.
Very good point! Wow, hadn't really thought about it along those lines.
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11 minutes ago, insightfulramblings said:
Hey everyone! I am checking in after lurking for a bit. I also was wondering about Boston College. In 2018, it looks like there was a rejection and acceptance posted this early. But I am not sure. I am American subfield. Hopefully no news is good news for us.
And to be honest, psychologically, I feel like sending rejections first (on one day), admits second (on another day) is the way to go. Suppose that the opposite method were employed (like Princeton): people are posting acceptances, and now you are spending the whole day anxious over whether you will get one, too. Then suppose that you don't, and now you're just left feeling disconsolate expecting an imminent rejection email the next week.
Using the first method, you're not anxiously awaiting any emails on the day rejections are meant to be sent. And when you don't get any news, you're automatically elated because you know you're going to get an acceptance email the second round.
This of course presupposes that each subfield would release results in a synchronized method: rejects the same day, admits the other.
It's unfortunate this system isn't employed. I feel like graduate programs would do their applicants many favors (and preempt many endless inquiries) by simply announcing a date for admissions and a date for rejections, much like undergraduate colleges. Wondering what you guys think.
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Saw that some rejections from Boston College were posted on the results list today. I know that there was one acceptance posted for IR a few days ago (though nobody's claimed anything in the forum). Do they usually send rejections before acceptances? Does it vary by sub-field? What do people think?
It seems uncharacteristically early for any news -- in past years most action seems to happen around early-mid Feb for BC.
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Just now, Muan1 said:
And to gain acceptance you must communicate in your SOP that you will refuse any stipend/funding, because otherwise you're just a social scientist allegiant to biological necessity.
As a compensation UT will give you free meals in the prytaneum.
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Just now, HobbesianKant said:
Yes, in order to see if your acceptance status, you have to find it in the texts of the great ancients. There, you shall find the map to Austin and BC.
And to gain acceptance you must communicate in your SOP that you will refuse any stipend/funding, because otherwise you're just a social scientist allegiant to biological necessity.
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Perhaps the theory admits have also communicated that they have been accepted. But, true to the Straussian principles of Austin, they've coded their acceptance to be comprehensible only to those who know...
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Don't worry, be happy.
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I second the kind words above. Remarkable how months and large tracts of time can pass, but as we approach event horizon, time seems to stop and feel much longer and more treacherous, and we begin to perseverate over every new update happening to others while we have no news ourselves. It's difficult, and very easy to succumb to tunnel vision. PhD is not the be all end all of life. We must learn to find happiness in other things. No wonder why so many people in academia suffer from all kinds of mental illnesses.
2020-2021 Application Thread
in Political Science Forum
Posted
Yes, depending on your research interests, Oxford might be a better place to study, and you could easily stay on via the DPhil. Although the funding is in general a ton iffier than in the states, however the importance of this really depends upon the person.