2020-2021 Application Thread

[Habermas]

Has anyone been in contact with Stanford? Based on past data this is starting to become an unusually late response date for them...

[applicant45457]

I received an e-mail from UGA stating that my application will be reviewed at admissions meeting on February 25th. Also, today was emailed by the UGA's IT with instructions to create MyID and an institutional e-mail (I think it is quite weird since I'm still an application, I'm assuming it is an automatic e-mail sent to everyone). Did it happened to other applicants?

[BrownSugar]

23 minutes ago, EstherBritoAbrio said:

Also, thank you BrownSugar and poliscihopeful2021 for your replies! If you would like to share, I would ask as well. Thank you all and best of luck in the remaining decisions!

To be honest, I hate questions like this because I need to work on my self confidence and identifying and accepting my strengths. But, I will try to answer it for you  

I think it’s two things. Firstly, my graduate level research experience and publications. My background is not purely political science so I have been insecure during the entire application process. So I think my master’s degree and publications really showed my competences and abilities.

Secondly, my statement was very strong. I got feedback from various professors and current PhD students. I think it’s very important you know how to show that you’re knowledgeable of political science generally, as well as the specific areas of research interests and then work in your past experiences to show your competences etc. I also didn’t try to ‘force’ my fit anywhere except BU and Princeton (and I got rejected soooo). 

 

[MEESASOBOREDSA]

Is it just me who have not heard from Indiana? I saw many people claiming their results?

[BrownSugar]

1 minute ago, MEESASOBOREDSA said:

Is it just me who have not heard from Indiana? I saw many people claiming their results?

I would suggest emailing. 

[peculiarindividual]

Boy if Yale don’t hurry up

[uncle_socks]

1 hour ago, EstherBritoAbrio said:

Hi everyone! Thank you so much for your responses. I really appreciate it! This is my first time applying to Phds and Im super lost. I think it might be fair to say NYU is done then. If it were ok (I dont know if this is the place to ask), _nutella_ and polisci123_1, can I ask what do yo think was your biggest strength when applying? I am hoping to reapply next year to NYU, its been my dream school for quite a while. I hope this is not a bother! 

Historically quantitative ability is a big deal for nyu. Take calculus, statistics, econ, or CS, get a really great quant GRE score, in addition to the regular things that make applications great. 

[foucaultscat]

15 hours ago, mmads said:

 

Same for me. I did look through the results page from over the years and it seems they tend to notify late (mid March ish) ??‍♀️

Hi all! I don't know if any of you attended the November Graduate Center (CUNY) grad open house, but there they said the results will come in spring (and not to reach out and they'll get to everyone). They do historically seem to send admissions notices mid-March through April so I guess we just have to sit tight. It's my top choice, fingers crossed!

Edited February 18, 2021 by foucaultscat

[XXXXbe1]

40 minutes ago, BunniesInSpace said:

Historically quantitative ability is a big deal for nyu. Take calculus, statistics, econ, or CS, get a really great quant GRE score, in addition to the regular things that make applications great. 

Actually, other than Northwestern, it is important for almost every school.

Last year, I just did a simple regression analysis for my writing sample, even the competition is not as strong as this year, I was either rejected or waitlisted by every school I applied.

So this year, I forced myself to practice a lot of codings, and self-learnt knowledge of geo-spatial analysis and deep learning, and wrote a very quan writing sample, using thousands lines of python codes and a lot of frontier algorithms, politely asked lots of previous PHD students in computer science, economics, and geography department to point out the mathematic misunderstandings I may initially have in WS, and then self-learnt new knowledge, refine the method and writing, keep doing this for a few months. I have to say it helped a lot, either for a much more thorough understanding of Quan methods, or the final admission results. 

Edited February 18, 2021 by XXXXbe1

[StarkDark1]

Anyone heard anything from UBC?

[StarkDark1]

Also I called Northwestern again, and they send that their system is such that they have to send out decisions individually.  Apparently it takes 5 minutes per application, and they have 500 applications, which means that it takes a while for all of them to come out. ?

Edited February 18, 2021 by StarkDark1

[MEESASOBOREDSA]

2 hours ago, BrownSugar said:

I would suggest emailing. 

And after doing that they told me that they forgot to send my rejection... So, claiming an Indiana rejection.

[BrownSugar]

1 minute ago, MEESASOBOREDSA said:

And after doing that they told me that they forgot to send my rejection... So, claiming an Indiana rejection.

Wow. Sorry about that  Glad you’re not waiting pointlessly anymore though 

[nivy25]

19 minutes ago, StarkDark1 said:

Also I called Northwestern again, and they send that their system is such that they have to send out decisions individually.  Apparently it takes 5 minutes per application, and they have 500 applications, which means that it takes a while for all of them to come out. ?

That’s what they’ve been saying since 10 days...

[iamlia]

19 hours ago, Nihankg said:

Hi, sorry to distract the heated debate on Cornell but I must ask: Is there anyone who hear something from CUNY? It seems like sociology admissions was a bit of mess. I wonder is it the same for POLS as well.

Hi! I got an interview request this week. I didn't know they were doing interviews. Wishing you the best of luck!!

Edited February 18, 2021 by iamlia
Also saw someone else posted about an interview on the results page.

[EstherBritoAbrio]

1 hour ago, BunniesInSpace said:

Historically quantitative ability is a big deal for nyu. Take calculus, statistics, econ, or CS, get a really great quant GRE score, in addition to the regular things that make applications great. 

Hello! Thank you so much. I had a 160 on GRE quant, and I had the feeling it was a too low. I did business in undergrad (statistics, econometrics, math, etc - but didn't really highlight it), and didn't do much quant after that. Would getting online certificates in statistics or some form of coding be valuable then? Or would I likely need more than that? Im so sorry for asking all these questions, Im just a bit lost on how to move forward. I thought that maybe politics wouldn't require much math, but I think I was way off. 

[uncle_socks]

1 hour ago, XXXXbe1 said:

Actually, other than Northwestern, it is important for almost every school.

Last year, I just did a simple regression analysis for my writing sample, even the competition is not as strong as this year, I was either rejected or waitlisted by every school I applied.

So this year, I forced myself to practice a lot of codings, and self-learnt knowledge of geo-spatial analysis and deep learning, and wrote a very quan writing sample, using thousands lines of python codes and a lot of frontier algorithms, politely asked lots of previous PHD students in computer science, economics, and geography department to point out the mathematic misunderstandings I may initially have in WS, and then self-learnt new knowledge, refine the method and writing, keep doing this for a few months. I have to say it helped a lot, either for a much more thorough understanding of Quan methods, or the final admission results. 

I meant a slightly bigger prioritization there than it is for most schools, like (made up numbers) if quant ability is like idk 30% for Duke, I mean it's >30% for NYU. Their website specifically tells you to take calculus if you are able to, and at their visit day they said something like "you're all here because we know you have the methods chops" which is certainly not something they tell you at other visit days.  

That being said, you're right quant ability is definitely an important component at every school if you're planning to become a quantitative person, and that sharpening quant skills will often improve your application everywhere. 

[StarkDark1]

1 minute ago, nivy25 said:

That’s what they’ve been saying since 10 days...

I applied last year and got a rejection the last week of February.   ?

[uncle_socks]

Just now, EstherBritoAbrio said:

Hello! Thank you so much. I had a 160 on GRE quant, and I had the feeling it was a too low. I did business in undergrad (statistics, econometrics, math, etc - but didn't really highlight it), and didn't do much quant after that. Would getting online certificates in statistics or some form of coding be valuable then? Or would I likely need more than that? Im so sorry for asking all these questions, Im just a bit lost on how to move forward. I thought that maybe politics wouldn't require much math, but I think I was way off. 

I would get this up first before taking online courses. IMO I think this is too low for NYU, assuming you're not a theorist. If you think politics wouldn't require much math, you're a little off in both your understanding of modern dominant political science and the NYU department as a whole. 

[Prof2B]

Long time lurker who finally decided to join the party!

Any funding info from Ohio?

Any additional updates from Cornell other than from those who received news yesterday (+acceptances, waitlists, rejections)? I read someone mention here they will be relying heavily on waitlist this year

[nivy25]

1 minute ago, StarkDark1 said:

I applied last year and got a rejection the last week of February.   ?

this process sucks. the professors’ tweets are right. it really is their loss. they’re missing out on people who could succeed and work hard and shape their fields in so many significant ways. there’s way too many applicants, and very little spots. 

[EstherBritoAbrio]

3 hours ago, BrownSugar said:

To be honest, I hate questions like this because I need to work on my self confidence and identifying and accepting my strengths. But, I will try to answer it for you  

I think it’s two things. Firstly, my graduate level research experience and publications. My background is not purely political science so I have been insecure during the entire application process. So I think my master’s degree and publications really showed my competences and abilities.

Secondly, my statement was very strong. I got feedback from various professors and current PhD students. I think it’s very important you know how to show that you’re knowledgeable of political science generally, as well as the specific areas of research interests and then work in your past experiences to show your competences etc. I also didn’t try to ‘force’ my fit anywhere except BU and Princeton (and I got rejected soooo). 

 

Thank you so much for the advice! I will definitely look to publish more and get feedback of the statements. If it were ok, how did you generally determine fit? In Europe we don't have much a tradition of that. I generally looked for them being in a similar area (conflict studies, ethnic politics, etc.) but think I maybe was too general. 

[XXXXbe1]

7 minutes ago, BunniesInSpace said:

I meant a slightly bigger prioritization there than it is for most schools, like (made up numbers) if quant ability is like idk 30% for Duke, I mean it's >30% for NYU. Their website specifically tells you to take calculus if you are able to, and at their visit day they said something like "you're all here because we know you have the methods chops" which is certainly not something they tell you at other visit days.  

That being said, you're right quant ability is definitely an important component at every school if you're planning to become a quantitative person, and that sharpening quant skills will often improve your application everywhere. 

As far as I know, Northwestern is the only school that taking "being familiar with theories in political science" as the most important thing. For other schools, like NYU, etc, Quant-geek is the easiest way to make one guy stand out of a lot of applicants. 

Edited February 18, 2021 by XXXXbe1

[EstherBritoAbrio]

1 minute ago, BunniesInSpace said:

I would get this up first before taking online courses. IMO I think this is too low for NYU, assuming you're not a theorist. If you think politics wouldn't require much math, you're a little off in both your understanding of modern dominant political science and the NYU department as a whole. 

Hi! Thank you. You are likely right, I genuinely thought of IR as more theoretical, because my graduate program in the UK was basically all theory, but US programs seem to be really different. I am thankful for the help!

[CompIR2021]

Hello,

Does anyone know how waitlisting works for PhD programs? I have been waitlisted from a few schools and I am curious.

To be more specific, do most people wait until the deadline to make a decision (opening up waitlisted seats) or do people make decisions faster/as they hear back from their target school? I know it varies person-to-person but if anyone has been through this process before or has some insight from professors, I would greatly appreciate their experience.

Thanks!