honeymoow
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Posts posted by honeymoow
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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!
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PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad Institution: Ivy
Major(s)/Minor(s): Political Science / Data Science
Undergrad GPA: 3.85 CGPA (cumulative), 3.96 in-major GPA
Type of Grad: n/a
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 338 (170Q, 168 V) + 5.5 writing
Any 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 four
Teaching/Research Experience: ~6 research assistant positions in specific areas of interest at different universities (remote) + honors thesis
Other:
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Columbia
Rejections: MIT
Pending: n/a
LESSONS 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 -
5 minutes ago, dj1414 said:
Was the email from a POI or the DGS?
Neither, it was a professor who led recruitment in my subfield, I think (that's who notified from the other schools as well)
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Just received an email from Stanford, though the earlier post is still unclaimed!
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10 minutes ago, second-time said:
Sorry I meant to ask, what subfield?
Comparative!
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6 minutes ago, second-time said:
Damn, congrats! Did it seem like a phone call is the normal process for them, or is this from someone you personally connected with there?
I believe they do phone calls every year, though I also know of a previous applicant who received an informal email from their POI!
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Claiming a Harvard acceptance via phone!
- CapTipps, moomagoo, Avocado_town and 11 others
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Is it really possible that this thread has had 200,000 views??
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I'm surprised that Stanford hasn't released yet, relative to previous years.
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2 hours ago, EstherBritoAbrio said:
It is! I think the government department hasn't released any decisions yet
Yeah, they're set to release next week!
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2 hours ago, HJ95 said:
One of the professors also reached out to me, and I am talking to him him tomorrow. I think you need to give them permission to contact you so that they can reach out. (In the first unofficial email it asks if you agree to give permission)
I actually never consented—I believe that's only for them to match you with current graduate students!
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13 hours ago, blueskies58 said:
For any Columbia admits: have you received a funding offer yet?
No, but I received first post-acceptance contact from a POI last night. Otherwise it's been very quiet!
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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: -
11 minutes ago, natsecguy said:
Congrats! We are patiently awaiting your stats for context --- if you're comfortable sharing them.
I've been at both Princeton and Columbia and I would humbly recommend Princeton. I'm currently at Harvard for a master's degree and one of the advantages here, I feel, is access to courses and seminars at the Law School (relevant to pol sci) and over at MIT, where I took a graduate seminar last term.
Absolutely—I'd be more than happy to in the overall results thread once the month is over!
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Claiming an acceptance to Columbia!
- scared_phd, PoliCommsGirl, Lighthopes and 9 others
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5 hours ago, EstherBritoAbrio said:
Thank you! Quick question, was it PoliSci or Public Policy? I know Princeton has both and I dont know if they send out results at different times. Just to prepare ?
It was the Politics program (political science).
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27 minutes ago, EstherBritoAbrio said:
That's amazing! Congratulations! Did you get an email?
Yeah! It was a mass email from the DGS.
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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!
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Claiming Princeton acceptance!
- PoliCommsGirl, zoooxu, swanronson and 3 others
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1 hour ago, Avocado_town said:
BTW, people were already on page 63 of the forum last year on February 4!
It also seems like there were more *different people commenting, in addition to schools releasing earlier!
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25 minutes ago, ballofstress said:
Anyone have any ideas on why the timeline seems so different this year? I applied last year and received most of my decisions by now. This year I've only hear back from 1/6 of the schools I applied to. I'm guessing COVID has had an impact on this unusual timeline.
Have not heard back from any myself—the wait weights so heavily!
- ballofstress and CapTipps
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I can feel it in my bones—tomorrow is a big day! Best of luck, everyone!
2021/22 Cycle Profile/Results/Lessons
in Political Science Forum
Posted
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!).