2020-2021 Application Thread

[funfetti]

I'm a bit confused by the Duke activity on the results page... There is chatter about Duke but I can't see why. 

Also, I see two interviews, but my understanding was that Duke had not done interviews in past years. Does anyone claim those/does anyone have any insight to Duke's process? 

 

Also, congrats @mypolisciguy on Northwestern! Glad to see success here :))

[mypolisciguy]

32 minutes ago, Lurker929 said:

Awesome and Congratulations! What subfield? Curious if any IR have received acceptances! 

Comparative.

[mypolisciguy]

2 minutes ago, _nutella_ said:

I'm a bit confused by the Duke activity on the results page... There is chatter about Duke but I can't see why. 

Also, I see two interviews, but my understanding was that Duke had not done interviews in past years. Does anyone claim those/does anyone have any insight to Duke's process? 

Wouldn't surprise me that many more departments do interviews this cycle. The costs of setting up a zoom interview are very low.

[animal_whisperer]

Congrats to the Northwestern admits!! Any theory admits?

[cbsag123]

how long does it take for schools to send out all admissions decisions? alternate wording: when the first acceptance posts go up on the results page and i havent heard anything from that school, does that seal my fate?

[ovejal]

12 minutes ago, cbsag123 said:

how long does it take for schools to send out all admissions decisions? alternate wording: when the first acceptance posts go up on the results page and i havent heard anything from that school, does that seal my fate?

I'm guessing this depends on school, but I'm also stressing over not hearing from Northwestern yet so I looked at their releases last year. There are five acceptances on GradCafe so far this cycle, all from today. Last year, there were five acceptances on the first day, followed by five on later days. I think at least for NW we shouldn't count ourselves out just yet!

[nivy25]

Waiting to hear back from schools is probably the most brutal and stressful experience ever. Look at all of us here (including me obviously), constantly checking the forums/results and then overthinking the tiniest details and wondering what is in store for us ? 

[HJB_4]

Glad I'm not the only person that is checking my applications multiple times per day ?

[5698wh]

2 hours ago, ovejal said:

I think at least for NW we shouldn't count ourselves out just yet!

Current PhD student here (not at NW). Just piping in to say that NW usually sends out multiple batches of admits over an extended period of time.

[nivy25]

1 hour ago, 5698wh said:

Current PhD student here (not at NW). Just piping in to say that NW usually sends out multiple batches of admits over an extended period of time.

Thanks! That’s comforting to hear. 

[nivy25]

Quick question:

My NW application statement mentioned one professor who I’m incredibly looking forward to work with. They’re currently on sabbatical for this year, but they’ll be back by Fall 21. However, it’s clear they’re not on the admissions committee, or even around to discuss applications generally.

Would that hinder my chances of being accepted at all? Since someone I’m inclined to work with specifically is not around to sorta “okay” this decision? 

[polisci_gal]

33 minutes ago, nivy25 said:

Quick question:

My NW application statement mentioned one professor who I’m incredibly looking forward to work with. They’re currently on sabbatical for this year, but they’ll be back by Fall 21. However, it’s clear they’re not on the admissions committee, or even around to discuss applications generally.

Would that hinder my chances of being accepted at all? Since someone I’m inclined to work with specifically is not around to sorta “okay” this decision? 

I don't think that this will make any difference to your admission decision - if they feel that you're a strong candidate it's possible that they'll connect with that professor to see if they'd be interested in working with you, but it would depend on their process. Many professors I expressed interest working with and/or had chats with prior to applying mentioned they weren't on the admissions committee this year and might not find out about admission results until I do. That being said, some also mentioned that even though they weren't on the committee, they were still permitted to give input on applicants and it was helpful to know me and my research interests. All in all, I think that each place is different- and I wouldn't sweat it too much! Try not to overthink

[guest789]

46 minutes ago, polisci_gal said:

I don't think that this will make any difference to your admission decision - if they feel that you're a strong candidate it's possible that they'll connect with that professor to see if they'd be interested in working with you, but it would depend on their process. Many professors I expressed interest working with and/or had chats with prior to applying mentioned they weren't on the admissions committee this year and might not find out about admission results until I do. That being said, some also mentioned that even though they weren't on the committee, they were still permitted to give input on applicants and it was helpful to know me and my research interests. All in all, I think that each place is different- and I wouldn't sweat it too much! Try not to overthink

This! Plus you're also admitted to the department, not to work with a specific faculty member. They fully expect our research interests - perhaps even our subfields, like AP or CP - to change once we're in a PhD program, so they don't put much stock into who we're going to work with. I think they want to see that we can connect a research question or agenda to a faculty member, but I don't think they expect us to actually work on that question or agenda... If that makes sense. 

[ssppiikkeerr]

Sorry, I’ve been MIA - trying to stay off the site periodically, so my head doesn’t explode. I noticed some UCLA acceptances and UCSD denial... it seems early for both. Along with that many Northwestern admits, I wonder if today is a big spam day. I know a person already claimed a NW admit (congrats!), but this many decisions today seems a bit odd considering I know many of us have applied to these programs as well. Figured at least some more would be claiming. Thoughts? 

Edited January 19, 2021 by ssppiikkeerr
Correcting a word.

[guest789]

15 minutes ago, ssppiikkeerr said:

Sorry, I’ve been MIA - trying to stay off the site periodically, so my head doesn’t explode. I noticed some UCLA acceptances and UCSD denial... it seems early for both. Along with that many Northwestern admits, I wonder if today is a big spam day. I know a person already claimed a NW admit (congrats!), but this many decisions today seems a bit odd considering I know many of us have applied to these programs as well. Figured at least some more would be claiming. Thoughts? 

UCLA seems very, very early to me! Hmm... Not sure what to think. If they are sending out rejections,  I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Edited January 19, 2021 by timeseries

[afas103]

13 minutes ago, ssppiikkeerr said:

Sorry, I’ve been MIA - trying to stay off the site periodically, so my head doesn’t explode. I noticed some UCLA acceptances and UCSD denial... it seems early for both. Along with that many Northwestern admits, I wonder if today is a big spam day. I know a person already claimed a NW admit (congrats!), but this many decisions today seems a bit odd considering I know many of us have applied to these programs as well. Figured at least some more would be claiming. Thoughts? 

I am the person with UCSD denial. I definitely got denied from their GPS Political science program. The lady’s email made it sound like the political science ones were still under review. 

[irinmn]

22 minutes ago, ssppiikkeerr said:

Sorry, I’ve been MIA - trying to stay off the site periodically, so my head doesn’t explode. I noticed some UCLA acceptances and UCSD denial... it seems early for both. Along with that many Northwestern admits, I wonder if today is a big spam day. I know a person already claimed a NW admit (congrats!), but this many decisions today seems a bit odd considering I know many of us have applied to these programs as well. Figured at least some more would be claiming. Thoughts? 

Understand your point of view because none of us want to see schools we applied to sending out notifications without us receiving anything, but with that said, we are in unprecedented times so I'm not sure using the timelines from previous admissions cycles is as valid this year. Even this time last year when COVID was just coming on the radar, there were multiple examples of schools either admitting earlier or later than previous years. The school I did my master's at sent out its first batch of PhD acceptances a full month early last year. With several people on here confirming they received the aforementioned acceptance/denial decisions, I'd lean against calling today's grad cafe decisions 'spam'. 

Edited January 19, 2021 by irinmn
typo

[ssppiikkeerr]

Just now, irinmn said:

Understand your point of view because none of us want to see schools we applied to sending out notifications without us receiving anything, but with that said, we are in unprecedented times so I'm not sure using the timelines from previous admissions cycles is as valid this year. Even this time last year when COVID was just coming on the radar, there were multiple examples of schools either admitting earlier or later than previous years. The school I did my master's at sent out its first batch of PhD acceptances a full month early last year. With several people on here confirming they received the aforementioned acceptance/denial decisions, I'd lead against calling this spam. 

I completely agree - this cycle is going to be unprecedented no doubt. Honestly, I lean towards departments likely notifying applicants earlier this year due to COVID whatnot. Unfortunately all I can go off of is historical data in terms of gauging when I should expect to see movement (in either direction). When they seem exceptionally early, it just raises some red flags. But again, you're completely right in the fact that this year is going to be a strange admissions cycle. I didn't mean to inject any negativity.

[ssppiikkeerr]

12 minutes ago, afas103 said:

I am the person with UCSD denial. I definitely got denied from their GPS Political science program. The lady’s email made it sound like the political science ones were still under review. 

Ah. Maybe the GPS program is under a different admissions review period than the political science program specifically. Regardless, I'm sorry for your rejection notification! I wish you the best going forward! ?

[guest789]

4 minutes ago, ssppiikkeerr said:

 Honestly, I lean towards departments likely notifying applicants earlier this year due to COVID whatnot. 

Why? Unless they're being more stringent with the culling process - e.g. not looking at apps below a high GPA threshold - this doesn't make much sense if apps have generally doubled. Having said that, UCLA required the GRE this year, so maybe their apps haven't doubled.

[verschiedene]

8 hours ago, animal_whisperer said:

Congrats to the Northwestern admits!! Any theory admits?

also applied to nw for theory and waiting!

[ssppiikkeerr]

Just now, timeseries said:

Why? Unless they're being more stringent with the culling process - e.g. not looking at apps below a high GPA threshold - this doesn't make much sense if apps have generally doubled. Having said that, UCLA required the GRE this year, so maybe their apps haven't doubled.

Mainly because departments that still require the GRE will likely still have a similar (if not slightly higher) amount of applicants. Departments that waived them will utilize different factors to speed up the process. Also, I think departments have an incentive to issue on time or slightly earlier admissions this year to provide potential graduate students with more time to facilitate moving during a pandemic - especially international students. I'm not saying this will apply for every department (or even any of them at all). But if the admissions decisions that we've seen on the results page are an honest indication, it seems that many departments are moving on time or even slightly earlier. 

[Oboeist]

Bit late on this but I just had an interview with two POIs from Duke today. It was brief, only about 15 mins, and I haven't been notified of a decision yet but from what I could gauge things are looking positive. Fingers crossed, and best of luck to all of y'all!

[gingerantelope]

6 minutes ago, Oboeist said:

Bit late on this but I just had an interview with two POIs from Duke today. It was brief, only about 15 mins, and I haven't been notified of a decision yet but from what I could gauge things are looking positive. Fingers crossed, and best of luck to all of y'all!

Congrats on your interview and glad to hear it went well! Would you mind sharing your subfield? Wishing you the best this application cycle!

[Mazarin]

8 minutes ago, Oboeist said:

Bit late on this but I just had an interview with two POIs from Duke today. It was brief, only about 15 mins, and I haven't been notified of a decision yet but from what I could gauge things are looking positive. Fingers crossed, and best of luck to all of y'all!

First of all congratulations on the interview! I'm just quite curious about the interview process at Duke and had one question to ask: was the conversation more focused on substantive matters (sort of like an oral exam, I mean) or was it more like a personal/aspirations "getting to know who you are" sort of thing?