Muan1
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Muan1 got a reaction from afjackie in 2020-2021 Application Thread
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.
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Muan1 got a reaction from verschiedene in 2020-2021 Application Thread
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.
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Muan1 got a reaction from verschiedene in 2020-2021 Application Thread
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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Muan1 got a reaction from verschiedene in 2020-2021 Application Thread
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.
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Muan1 reacted to Theory007 in 2020-2021 Application Thread
The application process is messy and trust me there is zero guarantee that you would have gotten into Harvard had you applied next year. Whether or not you get in depends on if a faculty member happens to have sufficiently overlapping interests with you and if that faculty member has space/capacity to take on a new phd student. It also depends on who is reviewing applications that particular year. Since you did not get admission to several other competitive programs, I would for sure count myself lucky and wait it out for Harvard. If you get into Harvard then that's amazing, but if you don't you should definitely go to Northwestern. The idea that you would have gotten in in a normal year year because you were waitlisted during covid does not make much sense to me. If you don't get off the waitlist, go to Northwester.
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Muan1 reacted to BrownSugar in 2020-2021 Application Thread
Got a Yale reject! Surprisingly not upset I won’t be waiting on anymore applications. I’ll be accepting USC’s offer!!
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Muan1 got a reaction from SampleText in Which Security Studies, Political Science, or International Relations PhD?
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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Muan1 got a reaction from Angelo X in 2020-2021 Application Thread
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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Muan1 reacted to The Converse in 2020-2021 Application Thread
I have also... gotten rejected by Berkeley! Whatever, the hell with them. Onward and upward.
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Muan1 reacted to NotaDoctorShh in 2020-2021 Application Thread
Hey uh can we take it down a notch please? This is a very stressful time for all of us and I liked it a lot better in here when we were supporting one another instead of taking jabs.
Let's all just take a deep breath and cool off.
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Muan1 reacted to verschiedene in 2020-2021 Application Thread
You are absolutely right. None of us on this forum will ever be able to reach down to your level as a person.
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Muan1 reacted to PoliSHopeful in 2020-2021 Application Thread
I am the happiest I've ever been! I got admitted to my dream school.
But I understand why you might be grumpy. It should not be easy to only get admitted to the lowest ranked school you've applied to. Instead of trying to teach people how to act, try to find peace somewhere else.
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Muan1 got a reaction from PoliSHopeful in 2020-2021 Application Thread
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!
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Muan1 got a reaction from PoliSHopeful in 2020-2021 Application Thread
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.
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Muan1 got a reaction from PoliSHopeful in 2020-2021 Application Thread
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.
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Muan1 got a reaction from PoliSHopeful in 2020-2021 Application Thread
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.
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Muan1 got a reaction from PoliSHopeful in 2020-2021 Application Thread
If we haven't heard anything from Wisconsin, is it safe to assume a rejection?
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Muan1 got a reaction from PoliSHopeful in 2020-2021 Application Thread
Any chance Cal gets back today, though? What was their original timeline as stated in the Zoom call?
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Muan1 got a reaction from PoliSHopeful in 2020-2021 Application Thread
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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Muan1 got a reaction from PoliSHopeful in 2020-2021 Application Thread
What's going on at Berkeley? Anyone hear anything?
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Muan1 got a reaction from PoliSHopeful in 2020-2021 Application Thread
Fiat lux, said Cal, showering the night sky with a million acceptances.
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Muan1 got a reaction from PoliSHopeful in 2020-2021 Application Thread
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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Muan1 reacted to PoliSHopeful in 2020-2021 Application Thread
I feel like you need a break from this forum after so many rejections.
I will not learn how to treat people from you.
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Muan1 reacted to PoliSHopeful in 2020-2021 Application Thread
Do you even read people's posts before you pose them a question?
The post clearly says that the candidate is in AP subfield.
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Muan1 reacted to Mad Scientist Malfrost in 2020-2021 Application Thread
I honestly totally missed it. Thanks for informing in such a GRACIOUS manner.