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Nobody can give you odds. It's an idiosyncratic process. Are you finished? No. Your cumulative GPA will make it harder for you, but you can overcome it. The key for you is writing a killer statement of purpose and finding programs with professors who match with your research interests and are taking students. Publishing will also help you. I'll also say that getting into a PhD program directly out of undergrad is not easy. If it doesn't go your way the first time, you can pursue a Masters (if financially possible) or spend time working and try to publish or gain relevant experience to bolster your application.

Disappointed but undeterred. I applied to a relatively short list of top programs and struck out. It was my first cycle, and I learned a lot. Over the past few weeks, I've talked with people from the political science world and know where I went wrong. I was expressing my research interests and fit from an attorney POV, rather than a political science perspective. From talking to political scientists, I've gotten great advice on how to speak the right language when conveying my interests and on books and articles to read to enhance my fluency. (I've also received advice on how to better determine which programs fit with my interests.) If I apply again next cycle, that advice will be invaluable. And I am leaning towards giving it another go. I will also have gone from zero publications to at least two publications. (I have two forthcoming pieces and anticipate publishing more between now and November/December). That should make my application stronger. All this to say, I'm not letting a little rejection stop me from continuing to pursue this.

I think I had the background and credentials to be accepted, but I think I screwed up my statement of purpose. That said, I'd be interested in hearing what your concerns are. Very sorry to hear you did not get in either!

Received Harvard rejection, as expected. That's it for me. 0 for 8 lol. On the plus side, I know what went wrong and how to fix it. Might take a shot again next year. Might skip the PhD, as it's not strictly necessary. While this was disappointing, I'm grateful to have a career I enjoy that pays the bills. Best of luck to all of you who were accepted to programs! You earned it. To those who aren't, keep your head up. It's a tough process. Don't let rejection deter you from pursuing your dreams. It's a temporary setback and may prove to be a blessing in disguise.

You're not alone. I'm about to get my final rejection. On the bright side, you still have eight pending. I'm not deterred by the rejections. I know where I went wrong. I am confident I can fix it if I apply again in the future. And I'm finally making time to publish. So I'll be exploring my options in the next few months to decide how I want to approach things next fall. Even if I'm disappointed with how it all panned out, I feel blessed in life and am happy to continue with my current job. Academia will be there when it's my time. Failure is temporary and breeds success. 🙂

Same here. Received an email directing me to the portal. Congrats to the folks who made it in!

Received a rejection from Stanford a couple hours ago, FWIW.

Yep. Rejection in the portal. Expected after the calls went out last week. At least they moved quickly with the rejections. Might apply next year. Might just skip the PhD and go on the market without it. Will have a lot to think about over the next few months.

Nothing on my end. Think I'm at the point of giving up hope. Best of luck to those who made it. It seems like a great program, and I'm very jealous. Looking like this year will be a bust for me, so I'll keep doing what I'm doing and see if I want to apply again in the future. I hope I'm wrong and that those of you who are still waiting get some good news!

Congrats! I have no doubt it was well deserved.

I feel all of this lol. I will turn 33 this summer, and this process has definitely made me feel old.

I'd give Princeton until the end of the week. They generally send rejections out within three or four days of acceptances based on past years. I didn't get an acceptance, so I'm assuming a rejection from them until told otherwise.

I appreciate the optimism! I got rejected by three programs today, two of which I felt were really good fits. So it's been a rough day. I hope you're right on this. My other outstanding applications all felt like worse fits (from equally competitive programs) than the ones that rejected me---except JSP, which also feels like a strong fit. So this was the last bit of hope I was holding out. I'll hold on to it a bit longer.

Well, assuming that's accurate, that seems to be bad news for the rest of us.

Same. Been a tough day. I'm at least getting results. Better than the uncertainty.

Rejection from Michigan. Disappointed, but that's how it goes.

I didn't get anything, so I'll be expecting a rejection soon lol. Congrats to those who got in!

No, as I said in my post, I wasn't commenting on whether you should or shouldn't apply to "safety schools." I was asking an earnest question. You and others answered it. The international market isn't as snobbish when it comes to American universities as the American market is.

Purely out of curiosity (no judgment here), why apply to "safety schools"? I have to assume if you're applying, you're willing to go there. Do folks just need a PhD from a reputable American university to succeed on the international market? Is the hope to gain status in America with the PhD? I just know that hearing from professors how competitive the American academic market influenced my choice in programs, so I'm wondering if international applicants have a different perspective because they have different objectives.

No. I only applied to highly ranked programs. I'm trying to transition to academia and already have an established career. So my feeling was that if this doesn't pan out for me, I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.

Another week with no results. Hopefully, I'll finally hear from some programs next week. Until the past two days, it wasn't much of a distraction, but I spent way too much time checking my email today. It doesn't help with my concentration that I'm having to wade through the tedious (but necessary) parts of my job until late next week. ☹️

At least in America, the economy isn't bad, though. Unemployment is quite low. From what I read on Reddit, it seems like more people are applying because the system is more accessible to both domestic and international students now.

It's possible they're real. This is the time of the year when Chicago admits people. I've taken the approach of assuming that every application will be a rejection until I've heard otherwise, so I'm not going to sweat it either way. But you might be right. It could well be a troll.

I haven't. But I'm expecting a rejection from them. Feel like my fit there isn't great, at least comparatively speaking.

Sorry to hear it didn't go your way last year. Hopefully, things are different this year! I was also pegging next Friday as the day after reading threads from past years. The wait has been so difficult.