breaks0

I feel pretty dumb atm not retaking gre last year, getting more work experience, networking better  nor applying to a few more top 20 (or even top 40) schools. Anyone reading this thread who will apply in future, thats good advice, Im applying to over a dozen but I went for too many low ranked ones and missed several fee waiver opportunities w/west coast schools. Don't do that if you're in a position  to take advantage of it. The wait of days and weeks on  end is just agonizing till you get an offer, and honestly in this position rejections and no decisions are equally bad. Sorry needed to vent.

That's rude. I've never gotten that sense. What's wrong with being happy that you got into a program? It's a huge accomplishment and nobody is rubbing it in anyone's face. We are all helping each other get through this difficult time. This is a very peculiar experience and it helps to have one's peers be there to help.

what did your status say? Mine says "Your program has recommended you for admission. The Graduate School will be reviewing your file. Please refer to this page for updates." I don't know what that means....so anxious

I'm actually doing my master's thesis on newspaper coverage of fracking in regards to concerns about water contamination. We should chat. Feel free to PM me. 

Surprisingly, I got into Berkeley today and I'm currently an undergrad (senior year) so I dont think they exclusively take people with work experience

Berkeley doesn't want people w/o working experience... Oh that's really devastating... 
Just out of curious... Is there a top 10 program that actually admits young undergrads applying in their senior year?

I am trying to do the same, 2nd year in a row, but don't take that as an indicator or level of difficulty in doing so, which it's not very. It just didn't work out for me well last year since I was late finishing my MA so only a few schools actually looked at my apps so I wasn't a strong applicant. 1st off, I basically agree w/you about polisci and  only did my MA in polisci at the new school since it's an atypical program and am only reapplying in that field for phds there and a school in the UK. Most of the other places I'm applying are in sociology. You're right polisci is relatively narrow, hierarchical if I can say that and individually-focused, relative to sociology and other fields, that's part of why I want out.
 
Your interests fit well in sociology at most places and there is overlap, but emphases are obviously different. I'll leave to others to give more specifics and to recommend what sorts of places you may wanna look at since I don't know your subfield (identity, ethnic conflict comp-historical,, etc) as well as I should. But this might well be the field for you.

Congrads hopeful! Bookstore or comm coll teaching job (even a low paying adjunct job) sounds pretty good right now, at least for a semester-year!

The Chibber's good.

Hey, no problem! I haven't made a decision yet. I am waiting on funding information from CUNY Grad Center before making one, but it's between that and Stony Brook University. As soon as I decided Binghamton was out of the running, I turned down their offer. As someone stuck in limbo because of funding ambiguity, I understand all too well how frustrating it can be. I had full tuition and TAship for 15K/year from Binghamton, I hope it goes to you! It's definitely worth asking, at least. Please let me know how that conversation goes, and feel free to PM me if you need to talk!

I had given up a while ago about my prospects, but.... I just into Binghamton, albeit w/o financial aid. This is my first acceptance, so this is a mixed bag. Nonetheless, am quite happy someone at least wants me, just wish there was a means of livelihood attached. So my question to Leobixy and others is when did the BInghamton visiting day happen and did anyone go, what were your impressions? And what kind of things did you ask them? Also, would it still be viable for me to try visiting maybe later this month or something? I know there's a separate thread on the visit/questions topics, will probably repost there. Congrads all, if I can get in somewhere, I know the rest of ya'll still waiting can too!

I had given up a while ago about my prospects, but.... I just into Binghamton, albeit w/o financial aid. This is my first acceptance, so this is a mixed bag. Nonetheless, am quite happy someone at least wants me, just wish there was a means of livelihood attached. So my question to Leobixy and others is when did the BInghamton visiting day happen and did anyone go, what were your impressions? And what kind of things did you ask them? Also, would it still be viable for me to try visiting maybe later this month or something? I know there's a separate thread on the visit/questions topics, will probably repost there. Congrads all, if I can get in somewhere, I know the rest of ya'll still waiting can too!

Finally a venting thread (partly @ least) ! Your post is understatement of the year, probably longer. I waited many years to apply to an MA program, am finally getting it now (!) in the mail in a few weeks. But having at last taken the plunge to try to get into Phd programs, yes the wait isn't atrocious, it's hell. I hate it, mainly b/c I've gotten no acceptances and this is the goal, let's be real, if you know you wanna have an academic career for part of your life (after school), know what you wanna study and who with (say several schools) and know you need and want this degree, even if you don't end up in an academic career later, this just sucks. Day after day of it. In my case, I have the added pressures of sallie mae breathing down my neck if I don't get in and precarious personal finances. I have no plan b, maybe that's my fault, but there's only so much you can do in this horrible anti-labor economy anyway. It's all or nothing and I damn sure don't wanna waste ANOTHER year waiting, wasting time doing something else. Maybe everyone else feels differently, fair enough but this is the way it is in my case.
 
I wish I had tips for you, I guess the main one would be don't be like me, don't go nuts. Start on your plan b now if you haven't and/or haven't gotten in somewhere yet. Hopefully you do get in somewhere this (can we call it spring yet?), as do I, and refocus toward next year if it doesn't work out. There are hopefully things I can correct in next year's apps (GRE quant comes to mind, among other things, as much as I hate standardized tests!!) and I'm sure there are ones you can too. So in part, just redouble your efforts, focusing on your weaknesses. And if you don't know what those are, maybe try asking one or more of the programs you didn't get into or someone you trust to help you identify them and/or figure out how to improve/correct them. Buenos suerte!

I am an MA politics student at the New School and what other posters have mentioned here is true. There is little funding for grad students here, including PhDs (the estimate I've gotten is maybe 1 in 6 students get fully funded at that level). Further, as an external applicant you'll be admitted to the MA program and be eligible when you reach a certain number of credits to apply internally (which usually takes at least 3 semesters). I don't have figures, but they are cutting back on applications since there are too few faculty (especially senior faculty) and too many MA students. There's also a low limit on the number of credits you can transfer in, if you have any. We also effectively don't have a library, since it's under construction, so we largely use nyu's.

But if this line of theory (and theory in general is your bag), this is probably the best place in the country to be, along perhaps w/UMASS, as others have mentioned. The department seems to be dominated by theory and the Marxist brand, and I guess critical (do you mean post-structural/post-modern?) are popular here.

I'm a comparativist myself with a strong interest in this structuralist/Marxist theory and this is the only politics program I'm applying too, other perhaps than York. I suppose there are other options in Canada, about which I don't know much. But you may have to make some choices between what you want to study and where. Good luck!

I thought Cornell was good (at least when Ben Anderson was there) and I thought they still were strong at least in other fields and that they still had someone in the department. But maybe that's changed. If you like post-structuralist approaches, James Scott is at Yale.