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Wow, you applied to 18 schools with little chance, on your own account, of getting in? Don't take this the wrong way, but you must be incredibly wealthy and/or severely deluded. Sorry to have to say that.

Yeah, that's the e-mail I received. I'm assuming a rejection, especially since I haven't gotten anything since.

Personally, I would go for a year, and if you think you need to try to transfer, do so. Take the guaranteed thing now; there's no guarantee you'll get better results next time around.

Oh, Okay. I can see how that would be tough. Still, you have the option, which is more than some, unfortunately.

You got in somewhere, no? Your signature indicates that.

I'm sorry. That sounds rough. You still have five schools left, though. Perhaps you have greater reason to be more confident in some of those? Good luck.

I think both are right; (unfortunately) Rand's work has sizable influence on a significant element of the American political scene. I haven't read more than a few pages, but I've read enough from the philosophical commentariat to know the philosophy is overwhelmingly regarded as amateurish and Rand as a philosophical hack.

Moving day for me. Accepted at Western Ontario, rejected at UBC, and an e-mail from Vanderbilt which leads me to believe I've been rejected. But I'm happy that I have one admit!! I wanted to post first thing, and haven't read the most recent posts, but congrats to everyone else who got admits today!

Unless I'm mistaken, we haven't heard from at least four of your schools yet. Don't count yourself out now!

Well, I suppose it does vary by department and school, but I do agree that if they have a hardline, categorical rule about cutting at <500, they really should say so upfront. The only reason I can think of to not do so is to charge application fees to those who the department knows have no chance. That's unfair, but not surprising.

None that I'm aware of. Perhaps they just haven't sent out all acceptances yet. Hopefully.

A wonderfully informative post. It certainly puts a lot of speculation to bed, though it doesn't really ease any anxieties I have; if anything, it confirms them. If you're able to reply to this, can I ask why political science departments, in general, don't do interviews? Or some other method of gathering more information or 'psychological' testing? I presume that when you speak about students who will complete the program and get jobs, that is largely a psychological measure. You want to know which students might have tendencies towards 'flaking out' when the going gets tough, being ambitious but not overconfident, etc. Perhaps an interview or some sort of questionnaire tailored to 'measure' such attributes would contribute to the process. I don't say all applicants should have to take the MMPI, but it's a thought.

Received my Wisconsin rejection in the mail today. The only good thing about receiving a paper letter is that it can be framed.

I, for one, still don't really understand what 'fit' means; it might mean something different from the adcomm's end than our end, and there all sorts of idiosyncrasies. I think fit in a poli sci or social science department is qualitatively different than that in the sciences; poli sci faculty generally don't have their own 'labs' through which the entire grad school process is experienced, including funding, publishing, etc. We're not forced to work on very specific research projects by our POI. At least I don't think this is the case, and it certainly wasn't when I did my MA. So, take heart, I'm still pulling for you for Harvard et al. It's not uncommon to be accepted to a 'better' school while being rejected from a 'lesser' one.

I didn't get an e-mail from OSU; I just happened to check the app status page and it was there. Have you checked there? And thanks everyone for the responses to my earlier post. That was a great story; I only hope something similar for me.

This has nothing to do with schools, but there is also a journal, PS: Political Science and Politics, which, in addition to substantive papers, focuses on pedagogical and discipline-specific issues.

Is anyone else feeling intense resentment towards the schools that rejected you? It's a funny feeling, because I know it's nothing personal, and perhaps my application just wasn't comparable to others, for fit or for credentials. But right now I'm in an "I'll show them" mood, fantasizing about possible future scenarios in which I, as a future eminent scholar, could stick it to them hard. I don't know, my feelings about this whole process have taken a dark turn lately. Someone give me some good news or else put me out of my misery.

Oh, I certainly agree. The OP wanted to get a 'head start', though, so that's what I tried to do. The list of 'essential' comparative readings I posted is mostly taken straight from the syllabus of the graduate comparative course I took.

organic lifeform

Thanks. I certainly realize the element of 'chance' in this whole process, and in a way I guess it's comforting. It's also somewhat discouraging, though, because if there's that much 'luck' involved, there's really no assurances were I to try again that it would be any better. I think I'm being overly pessimistic right now, and just need to think about something else, but it's hard.

I just posted my rejection from Ohio State. Checked on website half an hour ago, said nothing, just checked, says not admitted. I really wish this kind of information were openly available, and that departments were upfront about their budget cuts as it affects their admissions process. EDIT: On another note, my MA graduation was finally approved by the Faculty. It was simply procedural, since the requirements were satisfied a long time ago, but at least it provides a little joy.

That's exactly my point. If, say, you had applied to one or two more, and you were still rejected from every one, wouldn't it be a lot worse than knowing (or telling yourself) that you could have gotten in if only you had? I think that the hope of "there's always next year" is greater if you knew you could have done more, than, as in my case, I feel like I've done all I could this time, and would really feel like I'm just not cut out for this.

I'm sort of beginning to regret applying to so many schools, in the sense that it's going to feel A LOT worse if I don't get in anywhere. If I had only applied to a few, I could always tell myself that I would've gotten in if I had applied to a few more. But if I'm rejected from all eleven schools this time, I really have to rethink what I want to do with my career.

Ergg, I wasn't expecting Chicago decisions until later, since the application says "Decisions will [be] sent out by email in early March". Well, another one to add to my stress and anxiety pile...

tragic end