balderdash

So I go to bed early one night, and I miss Yale and Harvard admits, with Princeton, Berkeley, Columbia, and Northwestern rejects. Sounds about right. I haven't heard from Yale or Berkeley, but I got the official Princeton and Northwestern rejection (like others, I just discovered it online). @wmplax: thanks, but I'm really not that upset about doing worse with P this year. It's just the way it works, and I don't think they owe me anything. It is kind of cruel, but so is the world, wot wot?

Actually, this dynamic made me think it'd be easier: last year they reportedly didn't accept a single Africanist, so I thought that would be good for me this year. But the point you and RWBG make is still valid, there are lots of changes, especially in the committee makeup. Perhaps some kind soul fought hard for me last year and wasn't on the adcom this year. In any case, I'm not taking it personally. More generally, academia is about having a thick skin. We're constantly (through our writing) putting ourselves out there for everyone to scrutinize, and it's important to learn how to take rejection in stride.

I have to say, I'm surprised Princeton didn't throw me a bone. I don't mean that to be arrogant - Princeton's incredibly competitive, and getting waitlisted one year doesn't imply an acceptance the next - but I guess either the crop of Africanists improved markedly this year or the evolution of my SOP moved my interests away from what they wanted. I truly thought that it was better tailored to the school this year, and there's no doubt my profile improved, so I guess I just wasn't as competitive relative to new applicants. Anyway, looks like the cycle is just about wrapped up for me. All of the schools for which I'm currently waiting have sent out their admits, so now I can only hope that I'm lagging behind because they're waiting to approve me for a massive fellowship. Since that seems a slim possibility, I've only now to choose between UCLA and Madison. Once everything's official, I'll contribute to the SOP thread. I encourage all others to do the same.

London rocks, and LSE is a great place. Be sure to take advantage of the University of London library in Russell Square, near SOAS.

Not to prolong the agony, but: Are people who are just now posting their acceptance emails just discovering them later than everyone else, and they were all sent at the same time? Or have they been sending them out separately?

Princeton does rank the waitlist, but it's by subfield. Last year they had a lower than expected yield in IR, so they took an IR guy. From what Whittington told me last year, there are only about 2 from each subfield on the waitlist. Also, the earliest you'll hear is literally April 14, and you'll hear for sure by end of business on April 15.

Yeah, it's a quality problem that we both have.

Congrats! I guess I can not haz Princeton. C'est la vie.

Basically state formation and institutional change in the Great Lakes, particularly Rwanda, Uganda, DRC but with a bit of pan-Africanism thrown in.

Red, White, and Blue - and Green: a veiled Canadian socialist agenda?

Lawl. And Colonel Qaddafi handed power back to the people in the 80s.

Anyone claiming the Yale admit?

Ah, I see. Well, she was one of a few for me, and really since my specialization is so narrow (and so out of fashion), my potential POIs are rather narrow. Also, I listed her last year and was waitlisted, so who knows this year.

I believe she has an above-average load of institutional/departmental duties, for one, and it seems as though she was in the UK last fall. Also, the two works you mention are book projects (which necessarily take a long time), and her CV lists a $300,000 grant last year. But why do you press the point? Lots of academics go years without updating their CVs, and in fact I don't think I'd need to once I had tenure at Princeton. Besides, I've seen much "emptier" ones than her's...

President: I'll just go with one who I think is heavily underrated, LBJ. He was a crude jerk, but apparently one of the best ever in terms of manipulating Congress to get what he wanted. And if it weren't for that, civil rights and the social welfare system would be far less than what they are today. I can haz Princeton plz?

All decisions will be sent by blah blah buzz off.

Was the Yale call made by anyone on here? I'm immediately skeptical because of how rigid they were last year when I called, as well as the grammatical errors (apologies if someone on here wrote the post... just saying that it's similar to the Princeton troll). Also, I just looked up my rejection email from last year, which came on Feb 18 - so yes, we're behind schedule this year.

Don't know. If I had just been accepted, I'd probably forget how to work my hands, much less get my vowels in order.

(I'd put the change in the email itself and not just on the CV.)

By the way, doesn't Princeton always give official funding? Since every admit is offered a full ride (and reportedly a generous one), I thought each admit email should have it. No? (Perhaps not if it's from a POI though, I suppose.)

I've also yet to hear about NW. I honestly have no idea what's going on, but I would guess we're in an informal waitlist situation or they simply haven't gotten to the bottom of the rejections list.

Gradcafe, I need your help. I've been asked to review a book for a respected journal. They sent me a hardcover copy, and I'm about halfway through it. It's bad. It's horrifyingly bad. Errors of both grammar and syntax abound (misspelling the names of the authors whose work is cited, using the word "barbaric" four times in three sentences). One page contradicts the next. There are 8 "parts" and 25 "chapters" in a 250-page book, so nothing substantive really gets said. The authors misrepresent the literature badly, ie, completely misread Fukuyama's "end of history" argument (just a popular example, among many others more specific to my subfield). They rehash arguments that have been roundly dismissed, triumphantly stating a claim (previously and widely disproven) without evidence. They decry certain narratives and then fall into the same trap in the next chapter. From what I can tell, at least half of what I've read is entirely descriptive, with no analysis. And to top it off, where there is analysis, it's usually just... wrong. So: what to do? Write a scathing review, as an obviously young scholar, and look like a petulant jerk trying to make a name? Damn with faint praise? Hedge on everything and express reservations?

Yeah man, I wish Princeton would just hurry up and admit me so I could start stocking up on my orange bow-ties.

Yes and no: if it's next weekend, you've almost certainly been rejected/waitlisted. If it's April, then perhaps you're still in limbo. Where is the line drawn? I would think at around a month in advance of the open house.

On a holiday, no less. Wish I could claim either, but alas I cannot. Tempted to think they're fake, but there are confirmed admits from both schools, so who knows.