2020-2021 Application Thread

[gradpumpkin]

Just now, jjiffy said:

Just got an acceptance to CIR! Was in an email about 45 minutes ago with other info to come. 

Congrats!! Any funding info included?

Edited February 26, 2021 by gradpumpkin

[jjiffy]

Just now, gradpumpkin said:

Congrats!! Any funding info included?

Nope, they said I could expect an email with funding info in the near future.

[nivy25]

+1 for the CIR offer! Same as the person above, more information will follow later! 
 

At least I have a solid back up if the waitlists don’t work out

[jjiffy]

1 minute ago, nivy25 said:

+1 for the CIR offer! Same as the person above, more information will follow later! 
 

At least I have a solid back up if the waitlists don’t work out

My feelings exactly. Such a relief to have this.

[smug-face]

1 hour ago, antiq said:

Thanks for the info! Such a relief it must be. Well, then, I guess, do you have any tips for the applicants next year?:) Did you contact any faculty before applying? Or did you do anything else that you think carried you up in the ranking?

I think a few things I did right were:

1. Not be content with my first (mid-160) quant GRE score. I wanted to do quant work, I knew that I needed exceptional scores, and I knew that this year especially, "good enough" was not gonna be good enough. So I took the GRE again and I think that really helped, especially because my math background was pretty good but not stellar (e.g., only took some undergrad calc, no real analysis). I also did this because I was applying to several GRE-mandatory programs, which I thought would place a ton of weight on my scores, and because I assumed that GRE-optional ones would mostly receive very good scores because of selection effects (only high-score applicants would send in their scores).
2. Apply to places with a good fit. I didn't apply to stellar places like Harvard or Stanford polisci because there's just no one there that does what I want to do. Incidentally, the places that I got rejected from were all places where I struggled to find more than 2 faculty members with whom I thought I had a good fit beyond broadly similar research agendas (e.g. democratization, institutions, development). What I mean by "fit" is, has this professor recently written a paper that made you think, huh, that's pretty close to what I'd like my dissertation to look like? 
3. Not contact faculty. Not that it would have hurt necessarily, it's just that it's unlikely to help in any way. Better invest the time and energy reading faculty's work and seeing how it fits with your interests. There's nothing they can tell you that you can't already find online.

Edited February 26, 2021 by smug-face
grammar

[ps10]

10 minutes ago, smug-face said:

I think a few things I did right were:

1. Not be content with my first (mid-160) quant GRE score. I wanted to do quant work, I knew that I needed exceptional scores, and I knew that this year especially, "good enough" was not gonna be good enough. So I took the GRE again and I think that really helped, especially because my math background was pretty good but not stellar (e.g., only took some undergrad calc, no real analysis). I also did this because I was applying to several GRE-mandatory programs, which I thought would place a ton of weight on my scores, and because I assumed that GRE-optional ones would mostly receive very good scores because of selection effects (only high-score applicants would send in their scores).
2. Apply to places with a good fit. I didn't apply to stellar places like Harvard or Stanford polisci because there's just no one there that does what I want to do. Incidentally, the places that I got rejected from were all places where I struggled to find more than 2 faculty members with whom I thought I had a good fit beyond broadly similar research agendas (e.g. democratization, institutions, development). What I mean by "fit" is, has this professor recently written a paper that made you think, huh, that's pretty close to what I'd like my dissertation to look like? 
3. Not contact faculty. Not that it would have hurt necessarily, it's just that it's unlikely to help in any way. Better invest the time and energy reading faculty's work and seeing how it fits with your interests. There's nothing they can tell you that you can't already find online.

Thanks for this! A question I have for the group regards point 3: to contact faculty or not to contact faculty? 

I am not from the US so am not sure about the customs there regarding reaching out to faculty during the applications process. I'd be grateful if people could share their thoughts and experiences of this. It has struck me that a lot of admits on this forum and the results page have first heard about it from their 'POIs'. To those who reached out: did you find this made a difference? How so? When did you reach out? To those who didn't: I'd also be very grateful to hear your thoughts on this! Thanks in advance everyone! 

[Crossed_fingers]

1 hour ago, Luxlux said:

Someone else still with no communication from Vanderbilt?

I haven’t heard anything back. I imagine with the acceptances and waitlists posted here a while ago - and that we’re well behind the timeline they gave us for admissions - we’re waiting for rejections.

[smug-face]

Just now, ps10 said:

Thanks for this! A question I have for the group regards point 3: to contact faculty or not to contact faculty? 

I am not from the US so am not sure about the customs there regarding reaching out to faculty during the applications process. I'd be grateful if people could share their thoughts and experiences of this. It has struck me that a lot of admits on this forum and the results page have first heard about it from their 'POIs'. To those who reached out: did you find this made a difference? How so? When did you reach out? To those who didn't: I'd also be very grateful to hear your thoughts on this! Thanks in advance everyone! 

I did not reach out to faculty. Most blog posts from professors I've read also recommended not reaching out in advance (e.g. Cyrus Samii's at NYU, Chris Blattman's at Harris). As to people talking about PoI, I was also surprised -- though I have to say, in most (all?) of the programs I was admitted to, the DGS who emailed me with the good news was also one of the people I mentioned in my SoP...

[foucaultscat]

6 hours ago, iamlia said:

Congrats!! Did you apply to the Master's or to the Ph.D. as well? Did you have an interview?
CUNY is such a great school! I don't know where you're located, but if you're outside of NYC, welcome to the city!!! 

Thank you! I applied for the Master's program. No interview! Thanks! I'm in Philly now but I'll be moving up in June. So stoked!

[suovren]

Claiming a waitlist from Chicago Harris. Pretty surprised by this honestly. I didn't think I had any chance. 

[hannahbananapie]

3 hours ago, jjiffy said:

Just got an acceptance to CIR! Was in an email about 45 minutes ago with other info to come. 

Congrats!!

Would you mind sharing who the email was from and if your Uchicago portal has updated? Thank you!

[uname_suggests_rdumb]

39 minutes ago, hannahbananapie said:

Would you mind sharing who the email was from and if your Uchicago portal has updated?

The email was signed by the Interim Director of CIR, Michael Albertus, and is mainly about a virtual session of the CIR program.

The Uchicago portal does not reflect the admissions to the MA, only creates a referral form. 

[hannahbananapie]

12 minutes ago, uname_suggests_rdumb said:

The email was signed by the Interim Director of CIR, Michael Albertus, and is mainly about a virtual session of the CIR program.

The Uchicago portal does not reflect the admissions to the MA, only creates a referral form. 

Thanks a lot! Congrats to you too

[cbsag123]

Has anyone heard back from MAPSS?

[pol_real]

On 2/27/2021 at 12:56 AM, smug-face said:

I did not reach out to faculty. Most blog posts from professors I've read also recommended not reaching out in advance (e.g. Cyrus Samii's at NYU, Chris Blattman's at Harris). As to people talking about PoI, I was also surprised -- though I have to say, in most (all?) of the programs I was admitted to, the DGS who emailed me with the good news was also one of the people I mentioned in my SoP...

agree with this BUT if you are totally sure about your top preferences AND you know some of your recommenders is closed connected to faculty there you COULD ask them to signal your application. If they are good recommenders they should have done this without being asked to. If they care about your placement they will surely do it--even if they are not so convinced about the effectiveness of that strategy

[The Converse]

On 2/26/2021 at 6:52 PM, ps10 said:

Thanks for this! A question I have for the group regards point 3: to contact faculty or not to contact faculty? 

I am not from the US so am not sure about the customs there regarding reaching out to faculty during the applications process. I'd be grateful if people could share their thoughts and experiences of this. It has struck me that a lot of admits on this forum and the results page have first heard about it from their 'POIs'. To those who reached out: did you find this made a difference? How so? When did you reach out? To those who didn't: I'd also be very grateful to hear your thoughts on this! Thanks in advance everyone! 

It seems like it depends on the situation.  As the other posters noted, many people argue not to contact the faculty.  I had a graduate program representative tell me outright not to email anyone from that department.  However, for one of the schools I was accepted at, a faculty member posted on a professional list serve and indicated that any interested students should feel free to contact him.  My interests with aligned with his and we spoke for well over an hour.  My SOPs were horrid and I really believe that having the opportunity to outline my research interests and history in our call is what got me into the program.

[poliscihopeful2021]

On 2/27/2021 at 5:26 AM, smug-face said:

I did not reach out to faculty. Most blog posts from professors I've read also recommended not reaching out in advance (e.g. Cyrus Samii's at NYU, Chris Blattman's at Harris). As to people talking about PoI, I was also surprised -- though I have to say, in most (all?) of the programs I was admitted to, the DGS who emailed me with the good news was also one of the people I mentioned in my SoP...

Congrats on all your offers! These are all great choices. I'm curious how you are weighing your options - Chicago vs NYU vs the others. Happy to talk over DMs as well.

[smug-face]

1 minute ago, poliscihopeful2021 said:

Congrats on all your offers! These are all great choices. I'm curious how you are weighing your options - Chicago vs NYU vs the others. Happy to talk over DMs as well.

For sure, DM me  

[poliscihopeful2021]

Maybe this was already covered on the forum - but are there people here who received multiple CHYMPS offers this cycle?

[poliscihopeful2021]

Also has anyone has claimed a waitlist in CP at UCLA yet? Or any waitlist at all? 

[spurlark]

hi everyone! i've been lurking for a while and really appreciated this thread in moments of stress, so i thought maybe it'd be a good place to pose this question.

i've got a few meetings this week with faculty at a programs i was accepted to with whom i don't really share many research interests-- i've been having a hard time coming up with questions that can't already be answered by the website, and i really don't want to bore them/really do want to learn as much about the program as i can. 

what are the important questions that i should be asking faculty at this stage?

thanks in advance for any help!! 

[Newhope1212]

Long time observer but first time poster. Congratulations to all of you who got into your dream schools, half-congratulations to those who are waitlisted like myself. I got an update from Maryland that I have been put on the waitlist. Just checking with fellow mates who have been accepted to Maryland's Govt and Politics PhD program, if any of you would like to decline the offer in case you have better offer! Thank you. 

[Sad Politics]

2 hours ago, spurlark said:

i've been having a hard time coming up with questions that can't already be answered by the website, and i really don't want to bore them/really do want to learn as much about the program as i can. 

In my (limited) experience, if you share research interests, it is nice to ask them about their current projects. You may end up working for them, so it is nice to get a sense of what they are doing.

[spotted]

29 minutes ago, kaiser2cu said:

Long time observer but first time poster. Congratulations to all of you who got into your dream schools, half-congratulations to those who are waitlisted like myself. I got an update from Maryland that I have been put on the waitlist. Just checking with fellow mates who have been accepted to Maryland's Govt and Politics PhD program, if any of you would like to decline the offer in case you have better offer! Thank you. 

whats your subfield? theres a couple of us that have claimed umd waitlists so hoping for the best for all of us

[Newhope1212]

My field is CP.