afjackie

I would also like to point out that most of the top US programs are VERY orthodox and VERY narrow-minded in what constitutes "worth pursuing." To the point that there are many good (and scholarly articles) out there about how political science is writing itself out of relevancy. I didn't apply to any top 10 programs this time for that reason, because I am passionate about my research and much life and professional experience has convinced me of its relevance. I was specifically told by a political science professor this year to keep in mind that, "just because it is a compelling real-world political problem, doesn't make it an interesting political science question." While I can see how that might theoretically be the case, there is still a huge problem with the privileged ivory tower getting to decide which random and often irrelevant political science questions deserve attention this decade. I have no idea what your specific research focuses on, but if you are passionate it, don't give up. Don't let a very small portion of the profession that has made up the rules on what is worth pursuing or not tell you otherwise. The rules are constantly rewritten and the more scholars that are out there pursuing interesting, relevant, cutting edge work, the more that becomes the norm. I'd urge you to seek out other scholars who are interested in similar questions, and worry less about the rankings of the programs they are at (not that you didn't do that this time - I don't want to assume!). But I do know that a lot of amazing academics who wrote the book on something didn't come from top ten or top twenty programs, but wound up redefining how those programs taught. I'll get off of my soap box now! Sorry for the ramble, I know I don't know you, but you've been a good influence on this forum and I hate to see great potential scholars disheartened by a system that isn't designed to create innovation and advancement but rather to replicate itself over and over again. I hope the future sees an army of political science renegades constantly redefining the profession we are all so passionate about! (To be clear, I'm not putting down anyone who goes to or got into a top 10 program - that is amazing, and if your research interests fit go get it! I'm just advocating that there are other very relevant areas of research outside of what some of those programs are willing to consider.)

My understanding is that part of it is money, but part of it is time. Many current PhD students are having to extend their time in program due to Covid-19 - particularly those who have had to put fieldwork on hold. So in addition to funding constraints, some programs aren't taking on a full cohort because they don't want to wind up with too many PhD students in the program at one time and not enough supervisory support to do their current and future students justice.

My last name starts with a B so alphabetical is possible, but really who knows! I hope there are some people unofficially waitlisted out there - keeping my fingers crossed for you all still waiting!

I got a rejection this morning. Came at exactly 12pm EST, just like all of the previous times Northwestern notifications were sent out. Seems like their system sends out notifications every day at that time, based on what has been inputted into the system at that point. Feels to me like they are just coming on a rolling basis as data gets entered into the system, but it could be possible they are holding some back on an informal waitlist. If you look back at previous years, it does not look like Northwestern does an official waitlist.

Yikes!

+1. Only two people have claimed official rejections so far, so I think the majority of us who applied to Northwestern are still waiting. They said they would hopefully have all decisions out by yesterday...but clearly not. Sigh.

I think that depends on the funding situation and your career goals. Back in 2009 I turned down a funded PhD from UCONN to get my Master's at Georgetown, so a very similar situation. But at that time I was happy to pursue a foreign policy career, and the MPP from Georgetown opened all of the doors I needed. I managed to get what was at the time my dream job, but I also wound up with over $100,000 in student loan debt that I'm still paying off. So I think the biggest question is if you really want to go straight into academia and are therefore going to try and get the PhD as soon as you are done with your masters, and/or what your financial situation is going to be like during the masters. I don't regret mine, but if I had decided to immediately go for my PhD afterwards (instead of 10 years after my masters), I would have been super bitter about that student loan debt.

Right! After finishing an interview with one of my top choices today, I spent the rest of the afternoon listing the variables I could isolate to help decide which program would be best for me (i.e. department and advisor fit, collegiality, access to outdoor and social activities, financial support/stability, etc), ranking each variable by importance, and then ranking each school for each variable, and then finally weighting the variables accordingly and coming up with a final sum for each school. I'm clearly obsessing a little bit and just want to know what my final choices are so I can obsess even more about my variables

Srsly. I'm not even sure Northwestern is my first choice anymore, I just want to know for certain so I can cross it off the list and move on with my decision making!

Yeah I was wondering if their comment of wrapping up the process "within the next three days" on Wednesday meant three days including Wednesday, which would be today, or three days from Wednesday, which could be Saturday or Monday depending on if they meant business days... I clearly haven't been obsessing over this

Thanks, I totally missed this answer somehow!!

Hi there! I am interviewing this week for Notre Dame's joint PhD in Political Science and Peace studies and I was originally concerned about the same thing. I talked to many people, to include professors, very candidly before applying and what I've gleaned is that while the main university is rather conservative, the political science department and the Kroc, Kellogg, and Kenough institutes are a bastion of liberal and progressives values and ideas. I've definitely gotten that sense during my interviews, as I am particularly interested in feminist and critical peace studies. South Bend itself also has a slightly progressive bent, though it is a relatively small city in the process of revitalization and reinvention and is definitely surrounded by some conservative areas. There are pros and cons for sure, but from what I understand I don't think the conservative attitudes will permeate all that much into the graduate programs/graduate life...

UCI has given those they have sent current offers to until Monday to let the school know if they plan to attend the virtual visit day (i.e. if they are still interested in the offer or definitely planning to turn it down). I can't be sure of this, but I would suspect they will wait at least until Monday to see if they get a lot of people turn the initial offer down before they send out rejections/waitlists/more offers. So maybe there is still some hope?

Also a T25 is nothing to be embarrassed about! That's still a great program! And you won't find much difference in your career between say a T15 and T25 PhD, especially not if you are a good scholar and publish.

Congrats! Can I ask where you got the information that it was only a 1% acceptances rate? They usually have an 11% acceptance rate.