Max Power

I'll second a lot of what Megan said. I probably also had a few extra advantage. None of my family are in my field, but quite a few of them are well-known or working in Ivy league schools or the equivalent. Though these were most pronounced when I was applying to colleges. For me, the biggest advantage (that I recently took advantage of) came in the form of knowing what I was getting into when I decided I wanted to get a phd. I had clarity about what it meant to be a professor, beyond just that I'd be spending professional my life teaching and/or researching. I know exactly how my parents, and everyone else in my family, live. When I started putting my application together, I had a lot of advice. In October, my dad let me know that prospective applicants were reaching out to him about his program. He shared a bunch of their emails with me to give me an idea of what types of emails to POIs were more and less likely to elicit a helpful response. There were countless other small reminders that I got from both parents throughout the process of putting everything together.

my parents are both academics. if i dig into aunts, uncles and first cousins, i'll be the 9th phd in my family. this is not even close to normal.

probably, but i hope not

and we may have touched on a problem. This is not to say that external sources can't write a a good letter to build your case, but the likelihood will be lower than with the letter writers some other people have i'd also be happy to take a look if you are comfortable sending me stuff. different perspectives and whatnot

Most programs have a policy about not answering that so DGSs and graduate assistants are not going to be too helpful. Your best bet from somewhere you applied is to reach out to a POI. However, I think you would be more successful talking to someone you trust and already have some sort of rapport with who knows something about the admissions process, like one of your recommenders. Ask them to read your SOP and look at your numbers, and give an honest critique. They know what at least one of your letters said and that should give them a pretty full pictures of the application you submitted.

yeah, +1 to needing more action on grad cafe. i'm bouncing off the walls waiting for columbia. it is really up there on my wish list

apparently i missed that link. so then this is just making up for my own stupidity in december

got an email from harvard asking for a statement of financial resources. is this a standard thing they sent out to everyone? edit: this is what i assume it is anyways

Nice work there RWBG. After skimming that thread, all I could think of was this: http://abovethelaw.com/2011/11/any-lawyer-who-calls-himself-doctor-like-a-ph-d-should-get-punched-in-the-mouth/

Don't be bashful about asking. The worst thing they can say is no. Remember two things. 1) they know just how little they are paying you and 2) they all went through it too. The best thing to have is another offer in hand that you can point to. edit: i wrote that quickly on my phone, so let me add a bit. clearly don't just call and say "i want $5k more" or whatever. but use the two points to get a bit of sympathy. "I really like your program, but this other program is offering me $x more. is there any way to make up the difference with a little added to my fellowship and some summer money" they all know that its tough to live on $14k or $17k or $22k or whatever they are offering per year. No one is going to think you are all about the money because you tried to sweeten your package a bit. Anyone who is capable of getting into one of these programs but is all about the money could probably be making more than any package working somewhere else and probably by at least a factor of 2. if i was applying for jobs instead of Ph.Ds right now, i'd be asking future employers for more than triple the money MIT offered me.

As a bit of an outsider to the field myself with entirely different research interests than you (American politics, especially elections), I can mostly speak to points 2 and 3. I was an undergrad comp sci major. I think I took 3 or 4 courses in poli sci during that time, exactly none of which are particularly applicable to my current research interests. I came by my interests by way of my post graduation jobs in political consulting and campaign management. For me, getting a masters degree was enormously important because I needed to refine my questions from things that were professionally interesting to me (how to win campaigns) to things that were considered relevant academic questions. Ultimately what is going to matter when applying is your ability to ask questions that are of interest to the field. Your interests sound fine to me, but you should seek out the opinion of people more knowledgeable than myself about if you need to focus them more or not. As far as quant preparation, you are more than fine. I never took a stats class as an undergrad, but the math I took (multivariable calculus, linear algebra, discreet math, set theory) put me pretty far ahead of most of my cohort in my masters program, as well as most of of the first year phd students in the poli sci department. I took the multivariate regression class from the methods sequence with a bunch of 1st and 2nd year phd students and everything that was developed and proved was done using multivariable calculus and linear algebra. If you've taken those and more, stats are relatively simple by comparison

also, i'd imagine some programs have wait lists without calling them such. they admit some people, reject some others and wait to see what happens. then they admit some more and reject some more and continue that way until their class is filled without ever officially wait listing anyone

it may be foolish, but i totally agree with megan on not counting anything out until i have a rejection in hand

i actually blocked grad cafe on my computer for a few days this week until i got my first offer. but now i'm back, though i'm not really sure to anyone's benefit

It sounds like he's feeling out your interest in the program. This is your chance to tell him how wonderful you think his program is and that if accepted it is one of your top choices. This is doubly true if the app asked where else you were applying and they think there is a chance you might not go there if taken. Flatter without sounding desperate

it is now. it pulls from everything people have previously used and the type is alphabetically ahead of the rest

Got a fedex package from them today with information about funding and their open house. It seems like they put all their stuff in the mail yesterday. the letter is dated the 9th and the envelope says it was shipped priority overnight

good to know i can stop worrying about this one for a few days. with MIT in hand, this is now the one that i'm most anxious about

100% waitlist

I think two things went wrong in my Vandy interview. I was a bit too gung-ho about methods given the strength of their methods sequence and lack of an accompanying stats department where one can work and I didn't sell my love for them enough. At the end, my interviewer told me that they only made like 5 or 6 offers in American last year and got all but one of them, so it seems like they play games to try to keep their yield up.

i can claim one of the MIT admits. i had gotten despondent a few days ago when I got rejected from Vanderbilt (where I'm like 99% sure I blew the interview) and I buried myself in worst case scenarios that I wasn't going to get in anywhere and it was time to think about jobs again. I decided I wasn't going to check GC because it was just creating endless anxiety, but I guess I can relax now and go back to my old routine.

congrats cafe i just got a letter from wisconsin, i'm officially on the wait list there

i'll grant that was amusing. but being able to make jokes about cee lo going commando in front of a gigantic tv audience did not make up for suffering through the rest but of course