Prof2B

Thank you @Theory007, @Dwar, @sloth_girl! Thankfully funding at OSU is sorted out. Been lurking on these forum for years, so I appreciate hearing from current graduate students. And @sloth_girl congratulation on an amazing cycle last year! Hope you're enjoying sunny CA!

Is Livingstone the DGS this year? Congrats again! I hope you get a place!

Congrats!! When did you receive it? Saw it was from the DGS

Just saw your post there! Thank you for that - definitely helps with the decision. It is funny how choosing a Ph.D program throws out everything we know about university ranking/prestige at the undergraduate and master levels. Hope Colorado is treating you well (been lurking on this forum for years now haha)

Thanks guys! I know you can't speak to sub-field, but maybe you could talk about brand name of the university and whether that is important. Say going to a lower ranked program that has better University brand name.

Yeah right. I applaud the optimism. Logic will say they will send out the 20 or acceptance first and drag out the rejections (I don't know why though - use a waitlist if you aren't sure about your yield like other programs). If it was in random order, then why did the first batch only consisted of acceptance and the subsequent sporadic decisions been rejections? But hey, I can't fault keeping the hope alive.

Btw, seeking thoughts on choices, if anyone wants to provide thoughts it would be much appreciated! Also Paging current grad students like @BunniesInSpace@sloth_girl, @Dwar, @Theory007 etc

Go back and read the comments on this thread. I called the day people received acceptance and the guy said decisions have been reached and everyone should get them that Friday. Others have also called more than one time. NW has been saying all throughout they are working to upload those decisions and that the process takes them 5 minutes for each upload bla bla bla. Never have they said decisions haven't been finalized.

Then they could clearly say that. They stated decisions have been reached and they are working to upload the letters. It doesn't take this long to upload standardized emails - rejection or acceptance.

I very much think so.

Congrats! When did you receive the waitlist notification? Was it from the DGS or the coordinator? Thanks

I am sorry guys but no. I have been lurking here since early Jan and NW has been saying the same thing since the first acceptance came out. @nivy25 and @polnerd have called a few time and its is the same story. You really think a standardized acceptance/rejection letter (so far the acceptance and rejections have been a standardized letter in the portal) will take them these long? Nope. Something else is going on - and it doesn't send a good message for that department.

Thank you both! Great point on RAND Summer Associate! @PolPsychGal11Yeah, I think I am leaning more towards Ohio or Maryland (because of (1) its proximity to DC (2) the department and the DGS seems to be very supportive, even though the stipends are a bit tight and (3) it is still T30). There are at least 2-3 faculties in both programs that I could work with (again Ohio has an upper hand on this). Placements wise, honestly, Ohio hasn't been doing well since like 2016. Seems UMD is actually doing better for its ranking. But I noticed you didn't bring up Maryland, so if you were in my shoes (and since you're in IR), which program would you have picked and why? Others, please feel free to chime in!

Hi everyone! So I am lucky to have been accepted at a few programs this year and I am now working on collecting information to help me make a decision. To give a bit of background, I went to Chicago for both my undergrad and masters. I needed a change lol so didn't apply there for my Ph.D. I am interested in studying IR, specifically international security, conflict, and interventions. My main goal is a TT position after (and will be working hard towards that), but I am not delusional not to know how crappy that market is. So I am interested in slowly plugging myself while in grad school in the policy arena - you know, writing for MonkeyCage, networking with think-tank peeps, writing a few Op-Eds on breaking news, etc. I have work experience that will help towards that end. If academia doesn't work, will be equally happy as a fellow at a think-tank or research center - in the U.S or abroad. In each of these programs, there are scholars I will happily work with, so fit is there. Of course, Ohio State seems to be of better fit due to number of top IR scholars working there. So a few questions I have: 1) Besides the rankings of these programs, how important does name brand of the university as a whole hold? Both for TT track jobs but especially in the policy world. Ohio State (#8 in IR and #15 in overall PoliSci) is the top ranked political science program out of my admits, but Rice (#33) and John Hopkins (#49) have better name brands overall. Same thing with the two programs in the greater DC area: Maryland (ranked #29) vs JHU (#49). Asking this because I don't think people outside academia know or care about the ranking of political science programs. 2) How detrimental will it be to pick the DC area - by choosing MD over Ohio - in pursuit of TT positions? I know it would probably help for policy jobs being in the DC area but not sure how that will impact TT competitiveness. Would love to hear thoughts on these. Any other thoughts from current or former students of these programs in general also welcomed. Thanks!

Long time lurker who finally decided to join the party! Any funding info from Ohio? Any additional updates from Cornell other than from those who received news yesterday (+acceptances, waitlists, rejections)? I read someone mention here they will be relying heavily on waitlist this year