scared_phd

I have four acceptances from T-20 programs thus far and I can't be far enough from a final decision. I am yet to hear back from the majority of the programs I applied to. I am already super anxious about the decision I will have to make eventually. Currently, I am setting up numerous meetings with professors at the institutions I have already gotten into. I am also talking to graduate students trying to understand the reality behind the scenes. The plan is to wait for the rest of the decisions to come out, have more meetings with professors and grad students at the institutions I will hopefully get into, discuss with my mentors and make a final decision after weighing up the financial packages, availability of research funding, advisor(s) and program fit, etc. I don't expect to make a final decision until after the visit days in March. But I don't expect the decision to be easy at all. The fact that everyone is telling me this might be the biggest decision of my life is also scaring the shit out of me. I am just grateful that I have mentors who can help me through this decision. I would advise everyone to reach out to their mentors/recommenders because they will definitely know something that you won't which could end up being super important.

Thanks and congrats to you too! I haven't replied yet but I will do the same thing @LatinAmericanFootballdid soon.

I couldn't agree more! The process is so random that you don't even know what and how many boxes you have to tick to get in. Admissions committees also change considerably every year so somebody that was accepted last year may get rejected this cycle even if they use the same materials. My mentors were kind enough to point this out and let me know not to take the decisions personally as I can easily use the same materials the next year and get accepted to a few of the programs that reject me this year.

Huh, that sounds awfully small. Did they mention the number of applicants this year?

I got one too. Received email from the chair of the admissions committee. Funding to come later as @LatinAmericanFootballsaid.

Another Berkeley acceptance posted on the results page lol. Supposedly received on the 27th but posted today. Don't know what to make of this but ok I guess.

Another Emory rejection posted today. When are they gonna send acceptances? This is inconsistently weird!

So, what's the deal with Berkeley?

Is that an actual fact? Like if an institution emails you there has been a status update and to go check portal, is it most definitely a rejection? I have always wondered.

Just got my Madison admit! Had an interview last week. Pretty excited! Doing pretty well so far; I expected all rejections.

Been doing that for Berkeley. I gotta stop that lol. Can't have my heart racing every time I do so.

Got an interview at Georgetown. Got an email from a couple of profs including the comparative government field chair. I didn't know Georgetown did interviews. Hope this is a good sign; it is hard to tell these days.

That hasn't helped me so far unfortunately. As soon as I got my acceptances, I move on to worrying about the next big thing or the next decision lol. I guess we will have to lose some more sleep until the application cycle concludes.

My status page just got updated. Check if they have updated yours.

I thought there was something wrong with my device. Good to have the forum back online. I also got accepted at UT Austin. Pretty much the same thing as you: email by DGS followed by an email from another prof on the adcomm and a few graduate students. A good program and a great fit for me. I also haven't heard nothing from Emory and Berkeley. Saw a bunch of rejection claims for Emory on the results page but nothing yet; hope that's a good sign. Desperately waiting for Berkeley ?

Thanks for telling us. For quoting, you just click quote under the post you want. If u wanna quote a specific part of the post, you can highlight it and it should show an option to quote selection.

I was also wondering the same thing. A lot of people have claimed rejections on the results page but I couldn't manage to find an answer on how the decisions were received. So, if anyone here has answer to that, please do tell us. I can't for the life of me operate the apply web portal.

@modesteffect Random weird question: On your signature, you say "say no to Chicago & Columbia". What's the story there? Just curious lol

When did you get your invite if I may ask?

Anyone here who is not a theorist got an interview at Duke? I specify because I have only heard of theorists claiming interviews.

Congratulations!

What's the deal with Emory? In previous years, decisions were posted around Jan 20.

I wouldn't put too much stake on interview invites and all that. Different schools do things differently. Some schools might decide to invite you and reject you at the end and some might not interview you and end up accepting you. The process is not definite so I wouldn't let that worry me a lot. With regards to not hearing back from the schools, worrying about it just makes you uneasy and doesn't help you in any way. I was worried that my OSU portal said pending throughout the 20th when decisions are supposedly posted and that concerned me a lot and I wasn't productive for much of that day and today. I had already decided all by myself that OSU is a lost cause and moved on. A day later, I get my acceptance so I worried that much for nothing while I could have had a productive day. My advice is until you hear back from the schools on the final decisions, don't let claimed interviews, late status updates and so on affect you too much.

Thank you! I am so happy. Such a bummer I can't open the champagne yet; had one ready for this occasion lol jk jk. Do you know when the funding decision is going to be communicated? I think you mentioned this before but I forgot.

Same. I had already given up. I don't even know why I decided to check it again. Glad I did lol.