chaetzli

Stanford bloodshed... this day sucks...

seriously, this is crazy... I fell asleep about an hour ago and dreamt the HKS is sending out decisions. this is why I turned on my computer to check gradcafe. congrats bauhaus!

http://youtu.be/DlS3w1GGE8g this is me waiting for admission decision...

totally agree!!!!

could someone please put me into an artificial coma for the next few days???

I haven't heard back from any of my universities yet.... I'm such a nervous wreck :S

... My mom once said: Mh, I don't see why I should support your dream ( = going to Harvard). We couldn't have coffee as often as we do now.

Thank you (Megan and jsclar) very much for your posts. I am very grateful that you share your personal experience with us. It actually made me change my mind about how it must be if you are a child of a professor. I am the first one in my family who went to college and got a university degree. For all my life, I felt that I must work harder than the kids from privileged families. While someone always opened a door for these kids (they went to the best schools/universities, got the coolest internships without even applying, language study travels...), I had to build the doors myself in order to open them afterwards. This made me jealous and sometimes it still does. Applying for grad school makes me feel even worse as I realize that there is so much competition and some of the applicants even have parents working as professors at top universities (I tried to suppress this fact for a long time). How can you compete with these students? I still think that pursuing an academic career is easier when your parents did the same but for other reasons that one may expect (you nicely described it above).

Right...sorry!! Thank you for this remark.

Thank you for this insight. Do you think that having a parent who works in academia helped you to pursue your own academic "career"? (With help I mean being able to attend better schools or getting to know the right people...)

I was wondering how the family backgrounds of PolSci applicants look like. I noticed that some of the GradCafe users are talking about their parents working in academia. Is this the exception or standard?

If you're bored, try this one: http://thinkzone.wlonk.com/MathFun/Triangle.htm

haha, I just LOLed! This is great!!! thx CooCooCachoo. Edit: oh, how I miss US TV Edit2: just watched an episode - love it! That really cheered me up. If I don't get into grad school, I will get unemployment compensation and become a full-time "RuPaul's Drag Race" viewer

I seriously feel like throwing up. This is THE week and somehow I fear that by the end of the week I've been rejected by all universities. Any advices how to cheer myself up? I listened ten times to Michel Teló's "ai se eu the pego" but it does not work anymore

This may explain why they were rejected. Just kidding. I guess if you were rejected by one of your dream schools you do not care much about spelling. I really hope that everyone will get a spot at a great university. There are so many great people on grad cafe who deserve to be at an amazing university with other bright students and excellent faculty. I keep my fingers crossed for all of you guys.

Go to "submit results" and type -> "Mass" it is the first option that you can choose

There is one aspect that would keep me from transferring: The university will invest a substantial amount of money in you (tuition waiver, stipend...). I believe that the university thus "deserves" that you have at least the intention to stay and to finish your PhD there (you never know whether it will work out). I am from a relatively poor family, which is why I appreciate if an institution invests in my education (I am sure you do as well) since I wouldn't be able to study at a good place otherwise.

Here comes a post from a person who has sleepless nights because of her low verbal GRE score. So please apologize if I am too skeptical about this measure: I am a Master's student from a world-class university and my program is taught in English. While my TOEFL is high 114 (iBT), the verbal GRE is very low (151). What does this tell you about my English skills? I am used to communicate in English and even though my English is not perfect (heeeeello typos) I am more than convinced that I am able to write decent papers and to have sophisticated conversations in English. When I participated in a summer school at Yale this summer together with 18 excellent students, I finished top of the class. Does the verbal GRE score indicate that ? No, not at all. Is it thus a good measure for someone's English skills? I don't think so. So why did I not perform better on the GRE? The only reason that comes to my mind is that I am really bad at remembering words. I totally understand why universities want to compare the English skills of different students (especially international students) but I really doubt that the verbal GRE is the right measure for that.

I believe that you would get a visa (if you are American) even though you're applying during the second application period. If you are really interested in the program I would call/mail Diana Bruni. She is the student coordinator and responsible for the admission administration. I'd ask her whether an "early decision" would be possible (so you could apply for a visa). I guess that you have good chances to be accepted since fewer people (compared to previous years) applied during the first period because of the new GRE/TOEFL requirements. I am a third semester student (just about to hand in my Master thesis). It is a very demanding and competitive program - especially during the first year. But the courses are excellent and we have a great faculty. In the research seminars you have 2 professors teaching 6 students. If you have any questions concerning the program, just send me a PM.

Do you also consider going abroad for an MA? ETH Zurich (Switzerland) offers an excellent program: http://www.cis.ethz.ch/education/macis http://www.cis.ethz.ch/education/macis/admission (application deadline 15th of April) - 1.5 years - Tuition is only $700 per semester - they offer many RA positions

You just made my day!!!

I just finished the third level of "Angry Birds Season" with *Total Destruction - Three Stars in All Levels*

my favorite reaction: "oh"... (long silence)... "well, good luck" ... (silence) ..."you know that these programs are very competitive?!" aaaaaaargh!!!!!!!

Hi bauhaus, I think that the "results are to be out only in March" is a standard reply. Last year they sent out admission decisions mid Feb. I only applied to a few top schools that have either a Pol. Econ. PhD or a Econ. PhD with Pol. Econ specialization since a professor from my home country already offered me a PhD position. Applied to: - Princeton (Sub-Field: Methods, intended field of research: Pol. Econ.) - Stanford (Pol. Econ.) - Harvard KS (Pol. Econ & Gov) - Georgetown (Economics - intended field of research: Pol. Econ) - MIT (Economics: ok, I really do not think I have the slightest chance of getting accepted there but I applied because my Master thesis provides empirical evidence for Acemoglu's theoretical model) What about you? Only NYU, Harvard, Princeton and Stanford? Unfortunately, I have a very low verbal GRE score (but high TOEFL), which makes me doubt that any of these schools will accept me.