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2018-2019 Application Thread


Leo9

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Just now, MidnightSkywalker said:

Wow I got rejections from Cornell and Brown today. I think it was a big mistake to aim too high, like around only top 25 schools. I guess I will have to try the next cycle... Frustrated, but oh well, there's nothing I can do now.

 

Good luck everyone!

Why not attend UCSD?

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Just now, yubs89 said:

Why not attend UCSD?

I applied to the Master's degree in International Affairs at UCSD, probably not funded at all. I should have been more specific there, sorry.. I don't think I'll go to UCSD though. I can't afford the tuition and cost of living. Wow this is getting even more sad now lol :wacko:

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10 minutes ago, MidnightSkywalker said:

I applied to the Master's degree in International Affairs at UCSD, probably not funded at all. I should have been more specific there, sorry.. I don't think I'll go to UCSD though. I can't afford the tuition and cost of living. Wow this is getting even more sad now lol :wacko:

Got it. Don't give up until the end. You never know!!!

By the way, if necessary, do you plan to reapply? I was completely devastated in the last cycle, but I got into several places in this cycle.

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30 minutes ago, yubs89 said:

Where do you plan to go then?

I have an acceptance from another school which is the best fit possible in the whole world. It was my top choice and best fit anyway. Harvard and Brown are a bit stretch for my profile :)

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3 minutes ago, TheBunny said:

I have an acceptance from another school which is the best fit possible in the whole world. It was my top choice and best fit anyway. Harvard and Brown are a bit stretch for my profile :)

Best of luck to you! By the way, BC is still dead silent on me...

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Just now, yubs89 said:

Best of luck to you! By the way, BC is still dead silent on me...

I got my rejection from BC; I think a week ago. I am not very sad as I learned that they accept a very small cohort (4-5 students) and most of them are theorists or CP people. I am an IR person and BC was not a great fit for me. I got over it. 

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Just now, TheBunny said:

I got my rejection from BC; I think a week ago. I am not very sad as I learned that they accept a very small cohort (4-5 students) and most of them are theorists or CP people. I am an IR person and BC was not a great fit for me. I got over it. 

I'm IR too. Perhaps I should forget about it!

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1 minute ago, yubs89 said:

I'm IR too. Perhaps I should forget about it!

Do not worry about it so much as they gave some acceptances and rejections if you did not receive any info, you may be on the waitlist! :)

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58 minutes ago, yubs89 said:

Got it. Don't give up until the end. You never know!!!

By the way, if necessary, do you plan to reapply? I was completely devastated in the last cycle, but I got into several places in this cycle.

Yeah, I have a temporary job at a local NGO that ends in July, so probably I should have time to prepare for the next round.

How did you improve your application? I don't even know what the biggest problem was. Maybe everything? I am not sure if I am just not right for the Ph.D. program, or my application was not good enough overall. I should have had other people evaluate my profile before I decided where to apply :unsure:

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1 hour ago, MidnightSkywalker said:

Yeah, I have a temporary job at a local NGO that ends in July, so probably I should have time to prepare for the next round.

How did you improve your application? I don't even know what the biggest problem was. Maybe everything? I am not sure if I am just not right for the Ph.D. program, or my application was not good enough overall. I should have had other people evaluate my profile before I decided where to apply :unsure:

Here's a bunch of stuff that probably isn't helpful or reassuring at all, but hopefully has the intended effect (to be reassuring and encouraging). 

Looking at where you applied it looks like there are really no mid-range programs other than Florida State (which is really well respected). It looks like you still have quite a few pending, so don't give up hope, and remember that it is a very idiosyncratic process. Most of these places have 10-50 applications for every one that they accept (for example, Washington-Seattle accepted 10 people and had over 160 people apply). At the 70-100 range the competition is a lot less, but obviously the career prospects aren't as 'good' (if by 'good' you mean becoming a tenured professor at an R1 institution).

I'm currently at an institution in the 90-100 range, and reapplied to programs because where I am does not have LGBT support ... at all ... and so in my second go-round with quite a bit of training and a massive data project under my belt I've gotten in only at a similarly ranked University, with a few still pending. So, it's kind of a brutal process that requires really solid applications all around, and even then, it's still luck of the draw (some people are exceptions and just stand above the rest). So don't give up hope, hopefully you get in at one of the schools you are waiting on a decision from (and fingers crossed we will see each other at UPenn, lol), but if it does require a second go-round remember that fit is the most important thing for getting in (beyond the strength of your applications) and to apply widely based on that. When you do, you'll see that it naturally constrains where you apply within each rank (so for me, that looks like --- Elite tier: Berkeley (UCLA, if I applied) -- High: Northwestern (haven't heard back), Minnesota, UPenn (UBC, if I applied) -- Mid-high: Washington-Seattle, Hopkins -- Mid-low: UC Santa Cruz -- Lower: Delaware, remain at home institution). Regardless, even at the lower institutions, a postdoc can really give you a better chance (we've had people get jobs at Kansas and South Carolina recently and are ranked pretty low). There's also a possible selection effect in some lower ranked Universities, at mine there are very few of us who want to be at research Unis, so most people are looking for teaching jobs at liberal arts colleges, or to work in the private sector. The people that have wanted research oriented jobs have generally been able to get them. I don't know how far that travels to other institutions. 

Edited by schuaust
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1 hour ago, MidnightSkywalker said:

Yeah, I have a temporary job at a local NGO that ends in July, so probably I should have time to prepare for the next round.

How did you improve your application? I don't even know what the biggest problem was. Maybe everything? I am not sure if I am just not right for the Ph.D. program, or my application was not good enough overall. I should have had other people evaluate my profile before I decided where to apply :unsure:

I wouldn't lose hope just yet.

If you can't get feedback from schools you applied to about your application, you might have people who sit / have sat on admissions committees look over your statement if you have to reapply. They would probably be the best ones to ask if there is some glaring mistake. Apparently there is a certain formula and language of writing these things, which I was not totally aware of when I applied.

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For anyone waiting on Oregon: I gave the department a call today and they told me that there will be a 2nd round of admissions coming at some point (implied in the near future). The person I spoke with said she didn't know when the committee was re-convening, but she said all decisions will be out before March 15th.

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On 2/19/2019 at 7:30 AM, supertitiz said:

anyone knows if all NYU decisions are out (specifically IR)? I emailed both DGS and coordinator but havent heard anything yet. 

Unclear. It's likely that all of the decisions are out, but I haven't seen any IR subfield-ers post an acceptance. Let us know if the Department replies. 

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6 minutes ago, Tobz said:

Anybody here still thinking that not having heard from northwestern at this point may mean anything but a rejection? 

I mean, it seems like they'll mostly be rejections? I applied last year and was rejected on Feb 22nd. But logically, I just CAN'T imagine why they would have SOME rejections, but not all of them. So like, maybe there are very few admits left, but mostly rejections? 

Does anyone know if they waitlist? I don't think they do, but I'm not 100% sure. 

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