Uberfloweret

Well everyone, I got a rejection from my last viable school today. I still technically have an app outstanding at Yale but I've honestly written myself out of that race given all the other rejections. I'm looking into Master's programs now. For everyone that has gotten accepted this cycle, congrats! You've really earned them given how much smaller the cohort sizes are this year. For everyone else, there is always next cycle and I will likely see you all then. 

I plan to be back next year! I'm looking into one year Master's programs and I'm contacting the professor I'm doing research for to see if I can stay on full time after I graduate with this first Master's degree. I'm glad a number of people felt my presence was a positive one; if I was able to bolster the morale of even a few of you than I'm happy to have helped. 

Good luck with Masters programs. I don’t mean to instil false hope in you, but you really never know what happens with Yale  
 
 

I am. You know what's better than one Master's degrees? TWO, ha ha. XD 

I am officially taking a break from the forum since my only remaining "pending" are likely rejections. If I get in at any of the two remaining schools, it will be a very nice surprise; if not, no need stress about.
For those who have been accepted into programs, congrats! For those still waiting, best of luck!
Will probably log back around mid March to start talking about programs and where to go etc. 
Good luck to all!

Received a personalized Cornell acceptance (IR) and emails from two professors to talk about the opportunity and shared research interests. My research "fit" is good and one of my LoR is from a well-known Cornell International Relations Alumni, but I'm still really surprised. Wow, just wow.

Received a Cornell acceptance earlier this morning!

Speaking of /possible/ n+1 application cycle, I got curious: I keep seeing lots of posts (not on this thread) about how people who got rejected got feedback and - using it - improved their sop/sample, applied again, and got offers. Who do they ask for comments? I mean, if you get a rejection letter, and your POI is in the committee, and you are in contact, then yes, asking him/her sounds like a good thing to do.
But what if this is not the case? Who to reach out to? Or it is not a common thing to do, and there is no one (except for the situation I briefly sketched above) a rejected applicant could ask for feedback? ?

Hi guys, a lurker here,
I know this has been a rough year for all of us, and a really disheartening admission season. I dared to write today because UMass Amherst waitlisted me, and I have been rejected from every other school (I applied to MANY). Just like others before, I'm only here to ask you that if you have been waitlisted or offered admission by UMass, and you believe to have a better option, please decline as soon as possible so others and I can have a shot in here.
I apologize in advance for the inconvenience of this post, because I understand the stress and anxiety.
 
Thanks. Congrats to those admitted everywhere, and good luck to everyone.?
P.S. Subfield: IR/CP

Good luck next week everyone.

Wanna wish everyone goodluck with whatever happens! This has been a tough week for me but I know I can't assume anything yet with what I have left. Has time just been so slow for everyone else? This process is exhausting, I almost wanna say the waiting and rejections are more mentally tasking than when I was doing the applications back in November! 

I concur. We all like PoliSci - I mean we either majored in it in undergrad or work in some sort of politics adjacent job, and are applying/ or currently in a polisci PhD program. So that is a given. Yet, we also want after the 5/6 years of living on minimum wage salary and the craziness that is grad school, a job that pays well. Whether that is in academia or industry. This isn't and shouldn't be controversial.

tbf it's a very uniquely bad year: grad program admissions and department hiring are all worse this year because budgets were made back when the markets were at their worst last year. Everyone expects the job market to be back to about normal within a couple of years. Every department can get away with less hiring for a year or two, but it's not long-term sustainable for departments. As long as as law schools and MPA programs exists and as long as politics is batshit crazy, there will be some jobs for political scientists to teach the undergrads who end up in those programs. We're advantaged over the humanities in that we get NSF funding and also people see our work as a little more relevant. Things will never be as good as they used to be pre-2008, but (mainstream, quant) political science is gonna be ok. 
IMO this is too extremist and is an attitude that promotes underrepresented groups not joining the discipline and also promotes this shitty starving artist trope. There are very valid economic considerations to going to grad school that can play in your favor, depending on your current situation. If you go somewhere like CHYMPS doing AP/methods, it's a clear cut case to go to grad school unless you're like already making six figures. Better case: a good TT job. Worst case: working at FB doing social science, or a polling firm, or management consulting, and definitely pulling in 90k starting (a LOT more for FB or MBB). 

To  be frank, no. People deserve to make a living and shouldn't have to sacrifice for "love." A phd is really a job and a job training program. Programs in the US already offer too little in terms of stipends because they don't see grad students as workers proper, you don't need to buy their PR line on top of it. 

I'm thinking very seriously about whether a PhD is worth it. These numbers are terrible:
 
 

I appreciate the cowboy mentality in these trying times lol

Claiming rejections from Penn State and Princeton! Yeehaw. 

Hello! I have not been very active on the forum but I have appreciated all of the posts. It is nice to know that I am not alone in this process. I wanted to go ahead and report an acceptance to John Hopkins (for IR)! I know the results section has been somewhat unreliable so I figured I would drop it here. I am beyond ecstatic - this is my first admit and I felt very unsure of myself through much of this process. Regardless, I am happy to be here and I wish you all the best!

Well it's going on 5 PM EST and while Iowa still technically has an hour until close of business I'll just have to assume a reject or waitlist there. It's been a rough cycle personally. 

My thoughts exactly. Been thinking about how this side of Gradcafe that no one knows about (in my country, at least) turned out to be my safe space since I don’t feel like I can bother my friends or advisors with the issues that phd application provokes this year, so I am grateful to everyone here, who knows and understands! 

My thoughts exactly. Been thinking about how this side of Gradcafe that no one knows about (in my country, at least) turned out to be my safe space since I don’t feel like I can bother my friends or advisors with the issues that phd application provokes this year, so I am grateful to everyone here, who knows and understands! 

My thoughts exactly. Been thinking about how this side of Gradcafe that no one knows about (in my country, at least) turned out to be my safe space since I don’t feel like I can bother my friends or advisors with the issues that phd application provokes this year, so I am grateful to everyone here, who knows and understands! 

My thoughts exactly. Been thinking about how this side of Gradcafe that no one knows about (in my country, at least) turned out to be my safe space since I don’t feel like I can bother my friends or advisors with the issues that phd application provokes this year, so I am grateful to everyone here, who knows and understands! 

My thoughts exactly. Been thinking about how this side of Gradcafe that no one knows about (in my country, at least) turned out to be my safe space since I don’t feel like I can bother my friends or advisors with the issues that phd application provokes this year, so I am grateful to everyone here, who knows and understands! 

My thoughts exactly. Been thinking about how this side of Gradcafe that no one knows about (in my country, at least) turned out to be my safe space since I don’t feel like I can bother my friends or advisors with the issues that phd application provokes this year, so I am grateful to everyone here, who knows and understands!