Mazarin

It might be too late for programs with dates from December 1st but the 15th ones onwards and the January deadline ones, you might as well try! It can’t hurt, can it? 
 
Excellent fun fact! Mine is more cliched, but Cleopatra and Antony are chronologically  closer to this year 2021 than they are to when the Pyramids were built! 

I have just got a long email from Graduate and Professional Admissions (I think it's mostly meant for international students) that explains that next steps. It starts like this:
"Dear Richelieu20:
Congratulations! We are pleased to offer you admission to the Political Science, Doctor of Philosophy program at The Ohio State University for the autumn 2021 semester on the Columbus campus. ..."

Congratulations to those who received acceptances from UT Austin and Rice! To those wo are still waiting, I am with you... Based on previous cycles, Berkeley and Princeton decisions should be rolling out after the weekend ? 

Congrats to the UT Austin admits! We're a lovely department, and I do hope you consider joining.
To those on the waitlist: I can't give any insight on your chances of getting admitted, as it depends on subfield/potential advisor/how many people accept their offers, which may be impacted by COVID, etc. As someone who was admitted off the waitlist, I would just note that the best thing that I did for my chances was attend the admitted students' day and introduce myself to the faculty that I was interested in working with. Good luck!!

I wonder if it might be that it's more difficult for an international applicant to succeed with AP applications compared to a domestic student, especially given the job market and the immigration hurdles to work in the US (since AP would be most applicable in American universities) so instead they flock to CP/IR where they might have a language advantage/more worldwide employability? 

I think I might need someone to cut off my internet access because my heart rate is going up! ?

Claiming one too.

I can claim one as well. I was admitted this morning for IR. Definitely surprised with how early it came too. 

I do. Just received the e-mail.

Me right now with Rice...I was expecting them to release admissions decisions this morning but I guess it's still early in the South.

Regarding tomorrow I'm already in the state that can be summarised as: [heavy breathing]
Perhaps tomorrow during the day I'll be evolving to the state that I call: [heavy breathing plus a pint of Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie neither confirming nor denying that I may be watching Frasier reruns]
Such fun! 

Regarding tomorrow I'm already in the state that can be summarised as: [heavy breathing]
Perhaps tomorrow during the day I'll be evolving to the state that I call: [heavy breathing plus a pint of Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie neither confirming nor denying that I may be watching Frasier reruns]
Such fun! 

Guys, the waiting is killing me.

When do you all think/guess we will start to hear back from Princeton, Berkeley, and Northwestern? Also, I did some half-ass search and it seems Rice likes to release decisions on Fridays, the third week of February, which is tomorrow. So hoping to at least hear from Rice tomorrow.

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)? 

I also think that doing a two-year master's at a (probably public) continental European university would be nice in terms of saving money, since tuition rates are extremely low compared to America. In some cases it is also not so difficult to adapt to your visa situation (varies by country, it seems) and find a decent side job to keep oneself afloat, especially if you choose a country with a low cost of living and get a remote job in the US. That is actually a fantastic deal, I believe. The catch is usually the language of instruction which can actually turn into a small plus if related to your area of interest (in the Nordic countries, though, you can even find something in English without much difficulty). Many schools will also allow you to write your dissertation in English. You also get to write a master's thesis which you could chop into writing samples by having different chapters sent to different schools according to program profile. There are some excellent options everywhere on the continent! And some of the application deadlines are SUPER late in the year. Feel free to PM me if you are interested. PS: the other catch is that PoliSci in continental Europe generally has a very different feel from its anglophone counterpart, but you'd be surprised at how many exceptions there are and how flexible some departments can be in terms of student topic choices!
 
EDIT: but that's just my two cents. I would like to hear what our friends here think of this idea. I've been thinking about it myself and know some people who have taken that route

I also think that doing a two-year master's at a (probably public) continental European university would be nice in terms of saving money, since tuition rates are extremely low compared to America. In some cases it is also not so difficult to adapt to your visa situation (varies by country, it seems) and find a decent side job to keep oneself afloat, especially if you choose a country with a low cost of living and get a remote job in the US. That is actually a fantastic deal, I believe. The catch is usually the language of instruction which can actually turn into a small plus if related to your area of interest (in the Nordic countries, though, you can even find something in English without much difficulty). Many schools will also allow you to write your dissertation in English. You also get to write a master's thesis which you could chop into writing samples by having different chapters sent to different schools according to program profile. There are some excellent options everywhere on the continent! And some of the application deadlines are SUPER late in the year. Feel free to PM me if you are interested. PS: the other catch is that PoliSci in continental Europe generally has a very different feel from its anglophone counterpart, but you'd be surprised at how many exceptions there are and how flexible some departments can be in terms of student topic choices!
 
EDIT: but that's just my two cents. I would like to hear what our friends here think of this idea. I've been thinking about it myself and know some people who have taken that route

Thanks y'all, I appreciate it! My subfield is AP/Methods (for Duke specifically, political institutions). It was a fairly short interview, they talked about the program for a while and then asked me about my research interests and my quantitative background and then left room for questions at the end. I don't know if it'll differ between professors but that was my experience, it was fairly relaxed but substantive.

Congrats on your interview and glad to hear it went well! Would you mind sharing your subfield? Wishing you the best this application cycle!

Bit late on this but I just had an interview with two POIs from Duke today. It was brief, only about 15 mins, and I haven't been notified of a decision yet but from what I could gauge things are looking positive. Fingers crossed, and best of luck to all of y'all!