honeymoow

Sure! I'm still in college, and would recommend just cold-emailing as many professors in your area of interest as possible (just don't be too annoying about it!).

For anyone else who's done with their cycle, I know it really helped me and other applicants to look at earlier years' results/lessons threads!

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: IvyMajor(s)/Minor(s): Political Science / Data ScienceUndergrad GPA: 3.85 CGPA (cumulative), 3.96 in-major GPAType of Grad: n/aGrad GPA: n/aGRE: 338 (170Q, 168 V) + 5.5 writingAny Special Courses: Graduate-level seminar(s) and methods course(s)Letters of Recommendation: 3 active + tenured, 1 tenure-track; did multi-year research for all fourTeaching/Research Experience: ~6 research assistant positions in specific areas of interest at different universities (remote) + honors thesisOther: RESULTS: Acceptances: Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, ColumbiaRejections: MITPending: n/aLESSONS LEARNED: Engage with as much scholarly research as possible! Don't be afraid to reach out to professors and really put yourself out there. I've spend the last couple of years really focused on research and it really showed, in my statement(s) of purpose, letters of recommendation, and experience. For every academic interest that I mentioned anywhere on my application / every professor with whom I stated that I'd like to work, I had very specific research assistance experience that backed up my statements. I think this is far and away the most important element for applications, and I think admissions are less opaque than they otherwise appear because of this. To future applicants — make sure you do this (conduct a lot of research / do a lot of research assistant work, either paid or unpaid) and ask those professors for letters of recommendation. None of my letters came from faculty that I'd taken courses with. Other than that, and making sure that current graduate students / professors read your statement of purpose, best of luck! Also, I know users in similar threads across previous years posted the structure of their statement of purpose. Here's what I did: i. Three sentences of very specific research interests with explicit mention of field and sub focuses ii. Paragraph that addresses a broader gap in the literature across all these focuses iii. Paragraph on sub focus (a) that describes research experience and courses iv. Summary of independent research related to sub focus (a) v. Paragraph on sub focus (b) that describes research experience and courses vi. Paragraph on sub focus (c) that describes research experience and courses vii. Summary of independent research related to sub focus (b) viii. Paragraph listing all the faculty, centres, and programs I'd like to engage with, tying all into sub focuses iv. Summary of all of the above and explicitly stated post-PhD goals

Neither, it was a professor who led recruitment in my subfield, I think (that's who notified from the other schools as well)

Just received an email from Stanford, though the earlier post is still unclaimed!

Comparative!

I believe they do phone calls every year, though I also know of a previous applicant who received an informal email from their POI!

Claiming a Harvard acceptance via phone!

Is it really possible that this thread has had 200,000 views??

I'm surprised that Stanford hasn't released yet, relative to previous years.

Yeah, they're set to release next week!

I actually never consented—I believe that's only for them to match you with current graduate students!

No, but I received first post-acceptance contact from a POI last night. Otherwise it's been very quiet!

Taking after last year's thread created by @BrownSugar, I thought we might start a thread for users to post their results and advice for future applicants, once their admissions cycle is over! PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: Major(s)/Minor(s): Undergrad GPA: Type of Grad: Grad GPA: GRE: Any Special Courses: Letters of Recommendation: Teaching/Research Experience: Other: RESULTS: Acceptances: Rejections: Pending: Attending: LESSONS LEARNED:

Absolutely—I'd be more than happy to in the overall results thread once the month is over!

Claiming an acceptance to Columbia!

It was the Politics program (political science).

Yeah! It was a mass email from the DGS.

Hi, everyone! Sorry about the delay—was freaking out to everyone I know. I've updated my signature (which I didn't want to do to jinx my results; this is the first program I've heard back from!

Claiming Princeton acceptance!

I will say that I do think it more fruitful to focus discussion on the forum, which is naturally more accessible for both current and future applicants.

How about a Slack?

It also seems like there were more *different people commenting, in addition to schools releasing earlier!

Have not heard back from any myself—the wait weights so heavily!

I can feel it in my bones—tomorrow is a big day! Best of luck, everyone!