expatbayern

IR. Oh, and I just got rejected by Chicago by mail.

This was the same as mine--25% TA year one and then 50% thereafter, right?

I just got an email from Nancy Rosenblum saying I'm wait listed at Harvard! "I cannot make you a definite offer of admission at this time. Thus, we are placing your name on a very short wait list of exceptional candidates that we would like to admit to the program, if permitted, in the coming weeks." Sounds like maybe they're hoping for funding to open up to admit a few more (or maybe they just phrase with that "if permitted" but it's still just a normal wait list...)--I'm going to email back and see what details they're able to offer. Exciting news either way. So....any IR folks who got into Harvard but are planning on turning it down? :wink:

Congrats to the Harvard admits. Nothing in my email...

I applied to just a few PhD programs in Poli Sci out of undergrad at a second-tier LAC and didn't get in anywhere, but was offered half-tuition for a one-year MA at a top program, did well there, and am now having a lot more success in my second round of PhD applications. I did accrue $20,000 in debt in that one year, but figure it was worth it for the boost it gave to my file (and as I was debt-free from undergrad). I can't speak to your field, but if you can identify the major flaws in your file now (for me, it was the relatively unknown undergrad school and recommenders) and they're things that would be fixed by the MA, I say go for it.

Thanks. :oops: More to do with the fact that even though it's not a great fit, at the time I was applying, I thought staying in Chicago would factor somewhat into my decision, but now turns out not to really sway me at all.

I still haven't heard anything from Northwestern, though I don't really have much interest in the program anyway at this point.

I just received a waitlist letter as well. Can we make a tally of who was waitlisted by Michigan in what subfields? I'm in IR.

I didn't apply to WUStL, just University of Washington (Seattle), where I was one of the ones who received a phone call but nothing official.

Congrats! I'll have my fingers crossed for you as well. Though, since I still haven't heard anything from Michigan (went and checked my mailbox after your post to no avail), I'll also have my fingers crossed for, you know, me...

So when I try to access Gradcafe later in the day and the servers have crashed, can I assume that means Harvard has started notifying?

This is basically what I had assumed was the case, given the number of admits we saw and that there were already waitlisted folks, but it does suck to hear it put so definitely.

I think a few people got very informal calls (I got one, they wanted to check that I was still interested in the program and try to sell me on the fit, but didn't actually ever say "you're in," though I'd be surprised not to be...), and I think all of those calls indicated that they were two weeks away from actually releasing decisions. So look back at when those calls were reported on the board (I don't remember the exact date) and add two weeks.

Just received my second official rejection--form email from Princeton (results page isn't letting me post right now). Still no decision link on Wolverine Access, but I'm holding off on emailing the department to keep my Michigan hopes alive for a little while longer. Congrats to the successful folks at Princeton, I would guess that everyone else should look out for the same email I got.

Thanks. Now I'll be checking my mailbox and my email AND wolverine access every five minutes all day long. :wink:

How exactly did you get to the decision link? If I log into New and Prospective Student Business on Wolverine Access and click Application Status, I just have links to View Application Data and View Credentials. Does the View Decision link appear next to those when it's available? Still holding onto a tiny little bit of hope if I haven't been officially rejected yet... But my sympathy to those who have, and I do imagine I'll be joining you soon.

I will be there as well.

Congrats!

Harvard admit from the results board still not coming forward with any details, huh? Anyone else hearing anything new from Michigan today (another day with nothing in the mail for me...)?

Congrats westcoast! I already got the mail today without anything from Michigan in it, but I'm sure I'll be hovering by the mailbox waiting for it to arrive tomorrow...

Anyone going to come out of the woodwork with details? I see two admits, one by email and one by mail. Is that really that likely? If they're emailing some people, shouldn't they be emailing everyone to let them know the letter is in the mail?

Good point. For my one-year MA, I was offered half-tuition and took out loans (Perkins and both subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford) for the rest of tuition plus living expenses. It seemed reasonable enough, given that I managed to come out of undergrad without any debt, and now I'm successfully getting funded PhD offers.

Those seem like pretty good stats to have that problem...I think it's really just a testament to the random nature of the process. I would keep your spirits up for other places this time around, but if it doesn't come through, I'd still think that you ought to be able to get into a good program with good funding next time around. If I were you and thought I could get a job in the fall, I'd probably do that and see if I could take a few classes as a non-degree student (maybe an intro stats/methods sequence? or something else that you think might be a weak point in your file) alongside. And definitely go over your applications with some professors that you trust and ask them what you could do to improve them (SOPs, etc.) for next time. Of course, this depends on some specifics of your life. Could your finances handle taking out some loans for a year or two while trying to compete for funding at UT? Is your age such that you are anxious to get moving on a PhD, or are you just out of undergrad and ok to work for a year? etc. Good luck.

I think a lot of schools will be willing to ignore your community college grades and look at your university ones as representative--one of my advisors says that when he serves on adcomms, he looks for an applicant to have just one semester/quarter where they do really well in higher-level courses, and if he sees that, he figures they can make it in grad school (regardless of the rest of their grades). If there are issues that caused the lower grades early on and better ones later, you may want to cover those in your SOP or have your letter-writers mention them, even if it's just that you got a lot more excited about school and political science once you moved from doing general ed requirements at comm coll to taking specialized, challenging courses at university.

Mine says the same. From my call, it sounded like formal decisions won't be for a couple of weeks, so I wouldn't expect any change before then. On the other hand, at Wisconsin the Department recommended me for admission nine days ago and the Grad School still hasn't taken any action on my file. I'm almost certain other people said their status at my.wisc.edu changed last week. What could be taking so long with mine?