im_sleep_deprived

Good question. I don't really know. Here is the quote from the Madison email that I received: "As I work to craft the best possible offer I can for you, the university will sometimes ask me for the terms of any competitive offers that you will undoubtedly receive. If you are willing to share those with me, it will help me make my case." It seems like if I share offers with them I can get a better stipend maybe. Idk.

Claiming UC Davis Admit. Subfield: Political Theory My safety school but I was unsure if I could get in during the covid cycle. I'm hoping to use this admission to get a better offer from UW Madison.

That sucks and I think from what you're saying most programs if they are in a similar position will sacrifice theory students. Here's hoping that some programs have the money needed to admit folk in what is, without a doubt, a very important field. I really just want to get into one more school so that I can try and get the best deal for myself but it looks like that probably won't happen. On a separate note, what do you ideally want to focus your research on if you don't mind me asking?

Did you hear directly from someone in the department? Sorry, I don't mean to pry. Its just if thats the case I can work on getting my ego ready for the rejection that is coming my way

Hi all, I am applying to University of Michigan and I just had an interesting chat with my professor. Apparently, there are times where Michigan does not admit any students in a particular field. In other words, different fields get to select different numbers of students in different years and sometimes it works out so that no students are admitted to a particular specification. I am unsure if this is the case this year. He believes that theory applications will probably not be admitted this year (which sucks for me).

Claiming UW Madison acceptance (theory subfield). I can't believe it happened lol. I'm an econ major so I thought I was disadvantaged.

I can't speak for all the programs (my impression of the programs), but generally they look at all portions of your application provided that you meet certain minimums. Since, the GRE is optional, it does not make sense for them to signal that it does not matter and then use it to cull applicants. Maybe some programs do this, but usually programs are balanced with how they look at the different parts of your application. They would look at your statement, recommendations, grades, and they would put more stock into these as the GRE is optional. In other words, I think that a cross applicant comparison between an applicant that submitted the GRE and an applicant that did not would mostly focus on the non-GRE portion of your application. I am sure that you have sufficiently distinguished yourself through those parts of your application, so don't worry about not including the GRE.

To be fair to the other poster, the whole reason I go on here is because its scary to just wait and nice to see other people in the same boat. This may be the "loop of self deception" but it makes total sense to me. We worry about things that are important to us, even when they are not in our control. The fact that you understand or believe that people are "just unwilling to confront it since the act of asking the questions, however empty, seem to be a venue of anxiety-reduction" should also effect your approach when answering or engaging with such questions. You should ideally respond, if at all, empathetically, while still making your point, but in a way that avoids the current tone of superiority in your post.

Any theory people interviewing with Madison? If so how did your interview go? I have mine tomorrow and I am quite anxious. The previous posts here have really helped me out regarding what to prep. However, I am worried that the theory interview will have some curveball questions.