honeymoow

First task for those admitted: create a Common App with a ~common decisions date~ for grad schools!

My guess is that Princeton might come out tomorrow.

I don't think I've ever experienced time moving so slowly before!

I'm just really hoping Princeton pulls through soon!

Manifesting more decisions today and tomorrow!

Well, I suppose the cohorts graduating in '26/7 will certainly have their pick of jobs!

Princeton usually releases on the 25th, right?

Asking for my partner, has anyone heard back from Stanford Hopkins, Rutgers, or Northeastern Marine?

I know many top departments such as Harvard have not even convened yet, much less made decisions. Hopefully this alleviates some concerns!

My partner just received notification of an interview for the E3B PhD at Columbia, so I assume they've sent all those out.

I'm sure it's okay! I just checked and I had my scores sent to the institutional code 3514 without specifying the department, in case you'd like to compare.

I just checked and can see mine here, though it might have taken a little while to process.

I don't see the reason to claim with such absoluteness that there is absolutely *no* consideration of the GRE in admissions, and that the exam is wholly and completely disregarded. If that were the case, many top programs wouldn't still require it; many wouldn't have switched from *not* requiring it during the pandemic to requiring it again; and all of the faculty that I have spoken to—all of whom are tenured, have served on the committee many times, and would not resort to cursing at applicants on this forum—claim that the GRE is still very heavily considered. So, while your own personal anecdote may certainly be true, I do not find it productive to make such absolutist claims, especially given the opaqueness of the application process, including to those on the relevant committee.

So, a couple more weeks until programs generally start releasing results?

I'm an undergraduate at a top-tier program, have spoken to several senior faculty (one of whom is on the committee this year).

GOV 2001 @ Harvard will be quite helpful in this regard.

What is everyone's back-up plan, should admissions go south? (though I'm sure everyone here will do just fine!)

afaik there's no indication on the test itself, though I disagree with the implication of consideration being tied to the format you chose (though, as above, this doesn't warrant further argument)

I would assume that they'd consider your application with the old GRE scores; might be worthwhile sending an email asking them to be removed.

The wait is already so difficult! And decisions are usually made available the final week of February, right?

This is obviously anecdotal, but I spoke to several professors in my political science department (one that yields a lot of applicants each year) and they all told me that having taken and performed well on the GRE was beneficial, even with the test being optional at a lot of programs.

Just as a point of discussion, I've heard internally that there's expected to be an increase of applicants—those rejected from last year, those seeking admission ahead of the coming recession, etc. Will be interesting either way!

I definitely wouldn't say it's a dealbreaker! (but the department name is not insignificant)

In case you're interested, I can actually think of several top-ranked programs with faculty who study those topics, and whose applications are not yet due. Princeton (McCarty), MIT (Magazinnik, and cross-registration/advising at Harvard (Enos, Levitsky, Ziblatt, etc.)), NYU (Rosenthal), and Chicago (Berry), among several others.

I'm confident that I'll be seeing all your acceptances in the results thread in February!