OP4599

I second that. With the final deadline a week away, everyone's anxiety is peaking. So, let us avoid any contentious conversations which is insensitive to what people are suffering rn. Wishing everyone luck. Hoping things move for those on the waitlist.

I do not think there was any abuse on this forum before today. You are the one putting down others and abusing. Multiple people have you told that here. For a platform like Gradcafe where people rarely downvote, your negative rep based on the downvotes is a good indicator of the same. As @smoothoperator77 rightly remarked, you are free to leave and leave this forum to waitlisted people. I made this separate forum specifically because I felt waitlisted applicants needed a separate forum to express themselves without influencing or disturbing people with a spot.

To anyone on the Brown WL here- did you get an email asking about your continued interest in the program? Also to those who got offers- have you accepted or declined (or plan to)? Trying to gauge chances in the final lap..

Sorry to hear this. I hope that you have other good offers in hand. And if you are on the waitlist for other places, wishing you luck. The cycle just keeps going from bad to worse.

Congratulations!!! Thanks for sharing this here!!

This clarifies a lot of doubts and puts things into perspective. Thanks for the detailed explanation!

Hi Prof, Many thanks for this extremely detailed advice. I understand that this is a period uncertainty and waitlists are unlikely to move at most places this cycle. I don't have other offers- hence I've been more on the edge. But you are right- it is futile to think too much about this given it is beyond one's control at this point. I appreciate you taking time to write this. I had one question- more so out of curiosity. I understand that I might have got it wrong about thinking how funding works- but is it fair to say that social sciences and political sciences have been a little more unlucky. To my understanding federal funds and grants are predominantly for STEM. Now, that much of it has gone, universities are adjusting for the lost revenue by also cutting cohorts and budgets of soc science programs. I don't wish to make this a "us v them" narrative- but I've been thinking about this. I would be happy to be corrected if I am flawed in my assumptions here. Thank you.

Thank you very much for this, Prof. I do not have another offer currently - so that is the reason why I am looking forward to something happening. Having said that I understand it is beyond control at this stage and only waiting till the last week- as you suggested could make things clear. Thanks for sharing your perspective!

Thanks for the insight. Is it fair to assume that even among the few school that might use a waitlist- the chances of a school that has not over admitted is more likely to go to the waitlist?

Has anyone here been offered an acceptance from a WL? Or knows someone who moved off a WL? It is looking very bleak now..

I saw that too but I guess rescinding of offers is happening mostly for biomedical programs. So, I think other disciplines do not need too worry much. Smaller cohort sizes across departments (including Political Science) has been the indirect effect of NIH cuts. I don't think we would witness a direct effect i.e. rescinding offers. Maybe only biomedical programs would face this problem. (Definitely better if any faculty members here can confirm.)

Sorry to hear about the Georgetown situation. Frankly quite unprofessional. May I know which schools are rescinding offers?

Anyone here who is on the Brown WL? Or anyone who got an offer and accepted/rejected at Brown?

Anyone here who has accepted or rejected a Brown offer - especially for CP? On the waitlist for CP and would greatly appreciate any information that helps asses chances. Thank you very much!

I think it is okay to exchange 2-3 emails from the time you are waitlisted to the April 15 deadline. (So about one email in a month should not harm.)

This might be wishful thinking on my part but this could in some schools work well. I think most schools have been conservative in making initial offers. They have probably not over admitted or only marginally over admitted. Maybe even the waitlists are shorter. So, this could mean there is decent chance for those on the waitlist.

As a waitlisted candidate elsewhere, this is very cruel to hear. Also, unlike other schools, Harvard released its decisions later- so surprising that they didn't consider not waitlisting in the initial round.

Hi! Yeah. I second that- the fear is if they would actually get into the waitlists this year. But on the brighter side, I think most schools have not over admitted or admitted fewer than usual students in the initial round this year. Possibly this could mean some more chances for those on the waitlist. This is my guess based on the place where I've been waitlisted. I know they don't target more than 2-3 people for my subfield and I only know 3 offers being made. At max, I am assuming they made 5 offers - so 1-2 more admits. Again, all this is my guess.

Not sure if this has been asked before and I apologise if it has been but do programs normally wait till April 15 to admit students off the waitlist? So, if a few people from their initial list decline earlier- in March- would they move people on the waitlist in some days or wait till the April 15 deadline? Could things differ this year?

No clue, maybe drop a comment?

sorry off topic but is there a thread or subreddit for pol sci PhD admissions of this year? if so, could you please share it. I am worried about losing out on any info related to this cycle that might have been posted there. Thanks.

Just an observation- see two acceptances for Stanford and Wisconsin posted today. two schools that had sent initial acceptances earlier. I wonder if these were acceptances off the waitlist. I did not apply there but if these were waitlists getting converted to an offer, it gives much more hope to everyone here.

Good luck! I hope it works out for you. Do you know if Rutgers over admits? Usually programs over admit. So, assuming that in a program they want 2 people per subfield, the initially send offers to 3-4 people. My guess is this year most schools would not overadmit. So, if they want to admits, they would have only sent 2 offers initially. This makes chances a bit higher for those on the waitlist.

Thanks. Do you think this attrition percentages factor comes to play when a school has over admitted? Maybe this year with the funding cut chaos, schools have not over admitted.. Also, would this 25-50% attrition requirements be subfield specific. The program that I have in mind here is only admitting 2-3 people in my subfield. Or would it be across subfields? So 25-50% is actually just 1 out of 2-3 here...

Do movements in the waitlists happen immediately? So, if someone turns down and offer, do they reach out to the next person on the waitlist in a few days? Or do they wait longer?