2018-2019 Application Thread

[humanpinata]

3 minutes ago, scdaaljobe said:

I'm in the same boat but with UC Davis and would love to hear what people think. (American Politics) 

Also American politics!

[Dwar]

17 minutes ago, scdaaljobe said:

I'm in the same boat but with UC Davis

 

14 minutes ago, humanpinata said:

Also American politics!

I would advise you guys to both go to the schools that you've been accepted to this cycle. Unless there is a very specific reason why you either don't want to go to that specific school, or really want to go to a different one. Both UC-Davis and Wisconsin are amazing schools and will serve you well on your careers. 

Plus, and this is the big thing, grad school admissions processes are always a crapshoot. There is really no guarantee that you'll get in somewhere different next cycle, or even somewhere at all. 

[scdaaljobe]

4 minutes ago, Dwar said:

 

I would advise you guys to both go to the schools that you've been accepted to this cycle. Unless there is a very specific reason why you either don't want to go to that specific school, or really want to go to a different one. Both UC-Davis and Wisconsin are amazing schools and will serve you well on your careers. 

Plus, and this is the big thing, grad school admissions processes are always a crapshoot. There is really no guarantee that you'll get in somewhere different next cycle, or even somewhere at all. 

That is very true. I think the question, at least for me, also relates to how to think about what going to this kind of school at this level means in terms of career prospects. Placement and ranking seem to carry a lot of weight, but actual measurements along these items seem pretty scant. 

[as2472]

1 hour ago, olieb0llen said:

From the result page it seems like UPenn is making a move. Can anyone here claim the acceptances?

Claiming a rejection   Not at all surprising as it was not a good fit and I mostly applied because I live in West Philly and already go to the PT workshops there anyway

[Dwar]

1 minute ago, scdaaljobe said:

That is very true. I think the question, at least for me, also relates to how to think about what going to this kind of school at this level means in terms of career prospects. Placement and ranking seem to carry a lot of weight, but actual measurements along these items seem pretty scant. 

I totally agree that both placement and rank play a role in the decisions. UC-Davis is a top 20 School though, and looking at their placements they seem to have some good ones.

[90BS]

Rejected from UPenn.

<begin rant>

Had worked really hard on the app and it seemed like the best fit among all the schools I had applied to given my area interests and methods bent. So kind of disappointed but fortunately I have an acceptance from a "top 10" school in my sub-field, of which I honestly knew nothing about when I applied to; this whole process is so arbitrary I can't even. Still, each new rejection manages to make me feel more like a fraud who barely won by fluke; I guess I will have to work that much harder to prove myself otherwise. Good luck to those who are still waiting for a lifeline or those waiting to hear back from schools of their choice; hope you, unlike me, are better at not pegging your self worth to the marginal whims of tired, tenure-troubled admission committees.

<end rant>

Edited February 25, 2019 by 90BS

[Larm]

Anything from NYU or Columbia?

[scdaaljobe]

32 minutes ago, Larm said:

Anything from NYU or Columbia?

Based on the results page it looks like several acceptances and rejections went out on February 6th. I also haven't heard back from them but I'm assuming at this point it's a no.

[Onwarrdz]

Just now, scdaaljobe said:

Based on the results page it looks like several acceptances and rejections went out on February 6th. I also haven't heard back from them but I'm assuming at this point it's a no.

Are you talking just about NYU? Or have I missed something with Columbia? I didn't think anything from them had gone out at all. 

[scdaaljobe]

Just now, Onwarrdz said:

Are you talking just about NYU? Or have I missed something with Columbia? I didn't think anything from them had gone out at all. 

Whoops, sorry for not clarifying. I'm talking about NYU. 

[schuaust]

Rejected at Penn. Hopkins says that decisions have been made and will be sent out this week. 

[Larm]

21 minutes ago, scdaaljobe said:

Based on the results page it looks like several acceptances and rejections went out on February 6th. I also haven't heard back from them but I'm assuming at this point it's a no.

Ok, thanks. Does anyone claim these acceptances? I've not seen anything from Columbia on the results page

[IR1221]

Just now, Larm said:

Ok, thanks. Does anyone claim these acceptances? I've not seen anything from Columbia on the results page

I think they are referring to NYU- I don't think there are any claims of Columbia.

[Corsette]

23 hours ago, sandmoon said:

From the other threads it looks like UCLA and OSU both admit people without funding (or waitlist them for funding).

OSU does, I'm finishing my B.A. from there and have taken 4 graduate seminars in the department. I know of one person in the 3rd year cohort who self-funded for a few years until recently.  

[Corsette]

Is anyone else still waiting on a decision from the University of Pittsburgh? It looks like rejections, waitlist, and acceptances have been going out. 

[morri081]

On 2/20/2019 at 8:30 AM, Tedmonkey said:

Don't give up hope until all schools have responded. However, if you do need to reapply next round I can let you know what I did for my second round that has been successful. I studied and retook the GRE to improve my scores, I personalized all of my SOPs with detailed information on my fit to each individual department, I also have been working on an independent research paper and submitted it to present at conference (and was accepted). One other thing I did was to create an Excel file of every PhD program in the country, and a few Canadian ones, where I created a formula that weighted different factors of fit. For example, since my research deals with the LGBTQ community, does the school contain a PhD, Master's, or Graduate Certificate in a field related to gender or sexuality studies or political science faculty that did research in this area. These columns were weighted at 3 times value, other things that are more wish list were weighted at 1 times value, and some between at 2. Then I sorted by the total of the weighted value and chose high, mid, and low ranked schools to apply to. Last year I applied to 11 schools and got 10 rejections and 1 wait list (that failed). This time I only applied to 5 schools and so far am at 2a/0w/1r/1p and 1 withdrawn application (back-up school and already got in somewhere I prefer more). The school I am thinking of going to, at this point, is ranked around 50 so a solidly mid-ranked school. Also, reevaluate your reference letter sources and see if you could have done better there.

which school did you get in to? my intended research is going along the lines of "women"/gender/sexuality as well 

[GiornoGiovanna]

Is Columbia and Yale kidding me rn 

[sandmoon]

19 minutes ago, GiornoGiovanna said:

Is Columbia and Yale kidding me rn 

Only Columbia is late right. Yale last year was around this time too.

[DuBois]

19 minutes ago, GiornoGiovanna said:

Is Columbia and Yale kidding me rn 

It's definitely coming out this week for sure! May be even within a day or two!

[GiornoGiovanna]

12 minutes ago, sandmoon said:

Only Columbia is late right. Yale last year was around this time too.

I remember Yale was around Feb 22nd last year, I could be wrong. 

[GiornoGiovanna]

12 minutes ago, DuBois said:

It's definitely coming out this week for sure! May be even within a day or two!

really hope so, seriously ready to just be done 

[quesadilla]

Is anyone else a Fulbright Semi-Finalist and concerned that schools won’t let them defer if they are selected? I haven’t asked either specifically about whether they’ll let me defer for the Fulbright, but one of the schools I’m accepted to said that I’d have to reapply completely if I didn’t enter Fall 2019. I haven’t been selected or anything yet but I’m wondering who to ask about this. Obviously I’m prioritizing my PhD and will probably just not do the Fulbright if I can’t do both but what if I could get into a higher program if I reapply as a Fulbright scholar? The process of reapplying seems so grueling and a totally expensive crapshoot though so I know it’d be a silly choice.

[schuaust]

Looks like Hopkins sent out their IR decisions earlier today. I haven't heard back and my status portal isn't updated, but I'm guessing I didn't get in. Definitely the biggest disappointment of the cycle. Still waiting for Northwestern, but guessing that's also a 'no.'

[pscwpv]

2 hours ago, quesadilla said:

Is anyone else a Fulbright Semi-Finalist and concerned that schools won’t let them defer if they are selected? I haven’t asked either specifically about whether they’ll let me defer for the Fulbright, but one of the schools I’m accepted to said that I’d have to reapply completely if I didn’t enter Fall 2019. I haven’t been selected or anything yet but I’m wondering who to ask about this. Obviously I’m prioritizing my PhD and will probably just not do the Fulbright if I can’t do both but what if I could get into a higher program if I reapply as a Fulbright scholar? The process of reapplying seems so grueling and a totally expensive crapshoot though so I know it’d be a silly choice.

Not a Fulbright alum and speaking with absolutely no authority on admissions, but I've seen only a couple programs that allow any sort of deferral and most the time they make you reapply. I think it's just a cost-benefit analysis. Some students at great departments spent time doing research/teaching under Fulbright, but I think it's all about how you tie it into your research interests. If it's learning language, conducting research, or something else that relates very closely to what you want to study and you can demonstrate some benefits of it, it could boost your profile (a letter from a big name professor you work with while there would probably also help), but if it won't make a significant difference, it might be more of a headache than it's worth. For instance, if you already have great language skills and research experience, it might not be huge (other than the prestige of the Fulbright itself), but if you develop fluency while there and gain some valuable field experience, it could help. Where are you considering right now?

[quesadilla]

1 hour ago, pscwpv said:

Not a Fulbright alum and speaking with absolutely no authority on admissions, but I've seen only a couple programs that allow any sort of deferral and most the time they make you reapply. I think it's just a cost-benefit analysis. Some students at great departments spent time doing research/teaching under Fulbright, but I think it's all about how you tie it into your research interests. If it's learning language, conducting research, or something else that relates very closely to what you want to study and you can demonstrate some benefits of it, it could boost your profile (a letter from a big name professor you work with while there would probably also help), but if it won't make a significant difference, it might be more of a headache than it's worth. For instance, if you already have great language skills and research experience, it might not be huge (other than the prestige of the Fulbright itself), but if you develop fluency while there and gain some valuable field experience, it could help. Where are you considering right now?

UT Austin and Notre Dame. The main benefit for me would be acquiring language skills since it’s to teach English and not research.