2019-2020 Application Thread

[Dwar]

Hey All, 

Guess I'll start this thread. This will be a place for applicants applying to the 19-20 cycle to talk about their applications and such. Ask question, hopefully get some answers. When the time comes, get updates on admissions decisions! 

 

[Dwar]

I'll start it off. I am very happy to say that as of yesterday, all of my applications are fully submitted! my last professor finally submitted her letter of rec so now i'm 100% done with the season!

How's everyone else's season coming along?

Edited November 28, 2019 by Dwar

[desperado_dd]

Thank you for starting a thread.

I'm almost done too except my profs skipped a couple of schools when sending their letters out.

I just need to remind them. 

[Rachmaninoffovich]

Does anybody know if submitting fall grades for Yale is mandatory or optional? The confirmation email I received after submitting my application said that I can submit fall grades to the checklist, but it isn't exactly clear if this is required. 

Thanks

[Dwar]

On 11/30/2019 at 11:38 PM, Rachmaninoffovich said:

Does anybody know if submitting fall grades for Yale is mandatory or optional? The confirmation email I received after submitting my application said that I can submit fall grades to the checklist, but it isn't exactly clear if this is required. 

Thanks

I'd check with the department. Maybe shoot one of their admin staff an email and ask?

[Rachmaninoffovich]

12 hours ago, Dwar said:

I'd check with the department. Maybe shoot one of their admin staff an email and ask?

I probably should. Just don't want my first contact with them to be on something somewhat trivial/petty. I figure that even if submission of fall grades is volitional, it'll still raise some suspicion that an applicant decided conveniently not to submit them. Guess I'm annoyed that I still have to "try" my senior year. 

[Theory007]

1 hour ago, Rachmaninoffovich said:

Guess I'm annoyed that I still have to "try" my senior year. 

LOL!

[uncle_socks]

3 hours ago, Rachmaninoffovich said:

Guess I'm annoyed that I still have to "try" my senior year. 

ur in for a fun ride at grad school buddy  

[Rachmaninoffovich]

20 minutes ago, BunniesInSpace said:

ur in for a fun ride at grad school buddy  

You're right; I'm the only one feeling the problem of senior year burnout. Everyone else's intrinsic motivation carries them gently forward. 

 

Also this should not be a problem, because I do not think I'm getting in anyway

Edited December 3, 2019 by Rachmaninoffovich

[Dwar]

8 hours ago, Rachmaninoffovich said:

Also this should not be a problem, because I do not think I'm getting in anyway

Big Mood

[Mixedmethodsisa4letterword]

Well. First School down. 7 to go. 

Good luck guys. 

 

[S-Kyo]

Duke will not accept new phd students in this year. if duke pols faces economic problems then which school does not. 

[Dwar]

7 hours ago, S-Kyo said:

Duke will not accept new phd students in this year. if duke pols faces economic problems then which school does not. 

https://polisci.duke.edu/graduate/apply 

So i think this has less to do with economic problems and more to do with a high yield. That sometimes happens with programs where they have a target class, in Duke's case 10-12 students, and they exceed that. That happens because more then the expected number of students accept their offer. 

It is sometimes common among high ranked programs. I know two years ago U of M had an unexpectedly high yield so last year they only accepted a handful (3-5) students. 

I don't think it should be a warning bell for other programs though. Just don't apply to Duke this year 

Edited December 10, 2019 by Dwar

[terefere]

On 12/10/2019 at 1:58 AM, S-Kyo said:

Duke will not accept new phd students in this year. if duke pols faces economic problems then which school does not. 

As Dwar said, this is not because of economic problems but rather a recognition that resources are constrained. Admitting more students when you have larger cohorts already means less resources available to existing students, which is something Duke is trying to avoid.

[Mixedmethodsisa4letterword]

On 12/10/2019 at 1:58 AM, S-Kyo said:

Duke will not accept new phd students in this year. if duke pols faces economic problems then which school does not. 

And it is actually ethical to announce it beforehand than just admit 3-4 students without telling anyone about the funding issue. At least now applicants dont need to throw in 125 bucks.

Edited December 12, 2019 by Mixedmethodsisa4letterword

[marthajones]

14 hours ago, Mixedmethodsisa4letterword said:

And it is actually ethical to announce it beforehand than just admit 3-4 students without telling anyone about the funding issue. At least now applicants dont need to throw in 125 bucks.

Still waiting for my refund. Bummer.

[desperado_dd]

16 hours ago, marthajones said:

Still waiting for my refund. Bummer.

I got mine back. $95, on 10th.  

[sloth_girl]

I heard that 1-2 years ago, they didn't have any female applicants accept at Duke. Duke offered a lot of extra funding/resources to one of my friends (who ended up going to Michigan) in an attempt to rectify this. I also know the "no new grad students for 2020" has upset faculty at Duke. Luckily I hadn't yet paid the application fee to Duke when I got the email. Seems odd they announced in December? 

[Dwar]

5 minutes ago, sloth_girl said:

I heard that 1-2 years ago, they didn't have any female applicants accept at Duke. Duke offered a lot of extra funding/resources to one of my friends (who ended up going to Michigan) in an attempt to rectify this. I also know the "no new grad students for 2020" has upset faculty at Duke. Luckily I hadn't yet paid the application fee to Duke when I got the email. Seems odd they announced in December? 

It seems like around this time is when the finally got their budget together and decided they couldn't accept any new students. But i do agree with you that it seems a bit late in the game to be announcing it. 

[uncle_socks]

2 hours ago, sloth_girl said:

I heard that 1-2 years ago, they didn't have any female applicants accept at Duke. Duke offered a lot of extra funding/resources to one of my friends (who ended up going to Michigan) in an attempt to rectify this. I also know the "no new grad students for 2020" has upset faculty at Duke. Luckily I hadn't yet paid the application fee to Duke when I got the email. Seems odd they announced in December? 

https://gradschool.duke.edu/about/statistics/political-science-phd-admissions-and-enrollment-statistics

Looks like they only ended up enrolling one woman that year (I've heard this same story lol). They got 9/20 women last year though so they sorta compensated. I think it's hard for schools like Duke to predict who will and won't eventually enroll -- most people with CHYMPS offers will turn Duke down but it's hard to say who exactly will get those offers and it becomes harder to build a class around desired diversity characteristics with that kind. They certainly weren't throwing money at all women last year if I recall my sources correctly. It also seems that women have always applied to Duke a lot less than men have, I wonder if Duke has some deeper gender problems  

[terefere]

5 hours ago, BunniesInSpace said:

It also seems that women have always applied to Duke a lot less than men have, I wonder if Duke has some deeper gender problems  

I doubt that this is a "Duke problem" since this is just generally true across schools in the discipline. It is just a fact that women are less likely to apply to political science programs. Just like men are less likely to apply to, say, psychology.

[Dwar]

Good luck to all of those with December 15th deadlines! 

[Mixedmethodsisa4letterword]

Do we have a thread for notification date of each school?

[ChooseHappily]

Still working on application over here. Good luck everybody!

 

Question... has anyone else found themselves applying to programs in different fields? My topic area sort of falls between sociology, policy, and political science, so I have been straddling. Most programs are political science/policy, and one is sociology with a policy focus. This is my first time applying to PhD programs, so I'm hoping I'm doing it right. 🤷‍♀️

[Romcomulus]

14 hours ago, ChooseHappily said:

Still working on application over here. Good luck everybody!

 

Question... has anyone else found themselves applying to programs in different fields? My topic area sort of falls between sociology, policy, and political science, so I have been straddling. Most programs are political science/policy, and one is sociology with a policy focus. This is my first time applying to PhD programs, so I'm hoping I'm doing it right. 🤷‍♀️

I think this is normal because political science as an academic field can be incredibly broad in spots. I applied to 9 poli sci programs and 1 international studies program. I found myself tailoring my focus based on department fit. For most schools I was theory/American. But there are a few that I leaned American/Comparative. Theory is dwindling at a lot of programs, so I made sure to highlight my research in other Sub-fields in addition to my work in theory.

I think versatility is a good thing as long as you don’t seem indecisive. Unless you seemed really unsure in your SOP, I don’t think you’re doing it wrong.