CatallaxisOfEvil

Philosophy or Political Science, eh? I'd say neither. You sound like a History of Political Thought person to me. The best part? You could probably make yourself employable in history, political science/theory AND philosophy departments, if you balance your expertise right.

I hope you don't mind if I weigh in? I'm afraid that you've encountered one of the many emotionally stunted people who take refuge in academia. I'm sure your undergrad prof. is a fantastic thinker, researcher, teacher and all the rest of it. But many, many people stay at school for the shelter it provides, as much as for the intellectual opportunities it offers. It can be a bubble, and the bubble can preserve people in amber, emotionally. This man is one such case, I'd stake my life on it. He was disappointed that your mutual efforts would come to nothing, and he reacted like a child. It was unprofessional and unneccessary, even if he means the best for you. My only advice is that you should not allow him to infect you with his irrationalism. A PhD at Cornell would be a remarkable achievement and I think you must pursue it. Then go back to this guy in five or six years and tell him all about your real 'achievements of distinction'.

Clearly you should be applying for courses in philosophy, Ivyreject. Seriously, very good attitude. I will attempt to emulate.

From your lips to God's ears, my friend. But I'm not feeling too bad about it, been assuming rejections were on the way since I applied, basically. I think the most difficult thing at the moment is the idea that I'll have to go tell girlfriend/family/friends about it. I hate the 'disappointed sympathy' look. And I dislike trotting out the "it's a tough year to apply" line like it's an excuse. If we did this stuff in a vacuum or a bubble with no-one else's expectations to satisfy the whole thing would be a total breeze.

Whoa. Just got email rejection from NYU. Busy day... Go click 'refresh', friends.

Alternatively, read loudly from whatever journal you're currently looking at. Anything on indexing democracies should do the trick.

Ok, so at least I can stop wondering about Brown. And NYU should have rejected me by the start of next week...

I got a cryptic response from Brown, to the effect that yes, all acceptance calls are being made "around this time" and that we can look forward to formal letters toward the end of the month. So precisely nothing new there. If we hear nothing soon, then that's it.

Well, I weakened: I've written to Brown to ask whether they're done etc. I will let you all know if/when I get a reply.

It'd be nice if our colleagues who have been admitted would stand up and tell us all about it...

There's another Brown admit on the results database... this one was notified on the 26th! Starting to think that everyone who got in, got in last week...

Good grief.

That's a good question! I suspect that (unless it's a tiny, tiny intake this year - not beyond the realms of possibility...) Brown hasn't finished making its calls. They've done it over several days, traditionally. But I will say that if you haven't heard by... say... end of business Wednesday, then it's probably game over. Does that sound reasonable? Of course, it would be most helpful if the board's one confirmed Brown acceptee would step forward...

Looks like Brown has made its first phonecall... whoever that is on the results page, congratulations! Care to share the details?

BRANDEIS news: Hey folks - just in case anyone is interested, I just got through to Brandeis' politics department. I was told that they have "only just started" to review the applications there, and so we shouldn't be expecting any responses for a couple of weeks.