2020-2021 Application Thread

[nivy25]

34 minutes ago, natpvh72 said:

I get you! The job market just sucks.

Thankfully I'm an international student and I'm open to getting academic jobs outside the US, where there're a lot more opportunities. The US market feels crowded nowadays, esp. for R1s. Maybe you should consider goin abroad as well. From what I know a lot of globally-ranked schools would welcome people with US degrees.

Haha it really does.

That being said, even the admissions process is equally competitive and I am GRATEFUL to even have been waitlisted by 2 great schools.

On a side note:

This is just another reminder/request to everyone who got accepted to UT Austin or Rice and is not planning to go there to decline as soon as they feel comfortable doing so. The anxiety is real, and the uncertainty makes it worse. Every day that I spend waiting for UT Austin/Rice to get back to me regarding my waitlist is filled with extreme uncertainty, and also a lot of hopes that something might work out after all. 

[djuric]

Claiming a Stanford rejection

[SanC]

Hello everyone. Claiming Duke and Yale rejection as well.

As this cycle draws to a close, would any of you here have an idea about what the long term effect (if any) was of the 2008-09 economic downturn on grad school admissions? A prof (my recommender) told me that he couldn't get in any program when he applied for the first time that year but managed to get into Princeton the next. Would this economic downturn lead to permanent reduction in cohort sizes or do people think it is a temporary blip?

[icemanyeo]

1 hour ago, SanC said:

Hello everyone. Claiming Duke and Yale rejection as well.

As this cycle draws to a close, would any of you here have an idea about what the long term effect (if any) was of the 2008-09 economic downturn on grad school admissions? A prof (my recommender) told me that he couldn't get in any program when he applied for the first time that year but managed to get into Princeton the next. Would this economic downturn lead to permanent reduction in cohort sizes or do people think it is a temporary blip?

Quick response: I think it's permanent, especially if universities/departments believe they can operate with less grad students and manage the same teaching loads. I think the reduction in cohort sizes was long overdue because of the abysmal job market, the pandemic was just the "perfect" time to make it official.

[Uberfloweret]

5 minutes ago, icemanyeo said:

Quick response: I think it's permanent, especially if universities/departments believe they can operate with less grad students and manage the same teaching loads. I think the reduction in cohort sizes was long overdue because of the abysmal job market, the pandemic was just the "perfect" time to make it official.

Agree, and considering the gossip I keep hearing (it looks like they tend to turn into self-fulfilling prophecies) from various universities, everyone thinks we are not going to enjoy old numbers of available spots. The timing sucks, speaking of our poor, nasty, brutal, and relatively short cycle. 

[rash_sulganni]

Claiming Notre Dame acceptance. I guess this cycle is virtually over.

[glacier21]

12 hours ago, icemanyeo said:

I would like to give a huge thanks to everyone on this forum for being such a supportive group this year. This cycle has effectively ended for me, pending my MA application responses. 

I will be taking a break from this forum and come back around April to post my final results as I'm in the last leg of my master's (thesis defense soon ?) and would like to focus on finishing on a strong note.

If you would like to keep in touch beyond this forum, I'm pretty active on Twitter! DM me and I'll send my handle to you. 

Congratulations again to all those who have received offers in such a difficult cycle -- if you are planning to apply in another cycle, you'll probably see me on this forum again. 

Best wishes to all! ☺️❤️

All the best, @icemanyeo! 
Btw, did you hear from Concordia?

[Habermas]

Rejected at Stanford too. Hoping for a swift response from Harvard to officially declare the end of my cycle.

[hannahbananapie]

aaaand there’s the Cornell rejection.

[Aydemiru]

Cornell rejection

Cp

It was in the promotions section on gmail

[ovejal]

4 minutes ago, Aydemiru said:

Cornell rejection

Cp

It was in the promotions section on gmail

Same here on all three points

[Habermas]

Claiming a Cornell rejection.

[spotted]

theres my NW rejection

[jjiffy]

Cornell rejection here, also just heard back that OSU put me on their funding wait list. Bummer. Was thinking I was safe with the OSU acceptance. Anybody know when we can expect to hear back from MIT?

[crf1981]

2 minutes ago, jjiffy said:

Cornell rejection here, also just heard back that OSU put me on their funding wait list. Bummer. Was thinking I was safe with the OSU acceptance. Anybody know when we can expect to hear back from MIT?

What's ur subfield?

[gradpumpkin]

Claiming Cornell and NW rejections within 5 minutes of each other. Officially struck out this semester. Other than waiting on an official Maryland reject, at least I've got the closure I need to move on fully to the job and masters hunt!

[jjiffy]

Just now, crf1981 said:

What's ur subfield?

IR

[polisci21]

3 minutes ago, jjiffy said:

Cornell rejection here, also just heard back that OSU put me on their funding wait list. Bummer. Was thinking I was safe with the OSU acceptance. Anybody know when we can expect to hear back from MIT?

Waitlisted for funding at OSU too. CP subfield. I was wondering something... the departmental virtual visit is next week, are we supposed to attend it now? I was excited to go, but now I don't know. Any thoughts on what do you think is the best to do?

[jjiffy]

Just now, polisci21 said:

Waitlisted for funding at OSU too. CP subfield. I was wondering something... the departmental virtual visit is next week, are we supposed to attend it now? I was excited to go, but now I don't know. Any thoughts on what do you think is the best to do?

Yeah I'm not totally sure. I think I'll still go just in case I get funding even though I doubt its coming. I had also been really looking forwards to it but this sure throws some cold water onto it. 

[polisci21]

Just now, jjiffy said:

Yeah I'm not totally sure. I think I'll still go just in case I get funding even though I doubt its coming. I had also been really looking forwards to it but this sure throws some cold water onto it. 

Yeah, same here, I understand. Maybe if someone rejects the offer, we can still get in. Good luck! See you in the virtual visit if we end up going.

[jjiffy]

3 minutes ago, polisci21 said:

Yeah, same here, I understand. Maybe if someone rejects the offer, we can still get in. Good luck! See you in the virtual visit if we end up going.

Here's hoping! Fingers crossed!

[StudyofLilia]

Hi, everyone! Guess I found this topic quite late lol

So, this was my first cycle, and I ended up applying only to 3 depts (mostly because of the pandemics, couldn’t retake GRE and so on) and I just received the last rejection from NW. I was already preparing to try again this year (2021/2022 cycle), but somehow I am feeling very unsure of my plans rn, especially after reading your thoughts about cutting funding/classes and so on. So I would like to hear from the ones that were admitted this cycle if it was your first time applying and/or experiences about going on a second cycle. I guess I just need some perspective, because I am feeling quite lost on what to do next. Thought I was prepared to receive these rejections, but it does not seem to be the case. Thank you all 

[uncle_socks]

5 hours ago, SanC said:

Hello everyone. Claiming Duke and Yale rejection as well.

As this cycle draws to a close, would any of you here have an idea about what the long term effect (if any) was of the 2008-09 economic downturn on grad school admissions? A prof (my recommender) told me that he couldn't get in any program when he applied for the first time that year but managed to get into Princeton the next. Would this economic downturn lead to permanent reduction in cohort sizes or do people think it is a temporary blip?

4 hours ago, icemanyeo said:

Quick response: I think it's permanent, especially if universities/departments believe they can operate with less grad students and manage the same teaching loads. I think the reduction in cohort sizes was long overdue because of the abysmal job market, the pandemic was just the "perfect" time to make it official.

I wouldn't say truly permanent. I think the brunt of the pain is on this year. Like, Columbia and UNC aren't closed shop forever, and the schools that are temporarily offering extra paid years for phd students due to covid will have that money back in the department ready to have normal cohort sizes within a couple of years. Departments don't want to get smaller and most will resist long-term downsizing if at all possible. 

That being said, it's quite normal to get shut out completely one year, and then get into a super top program the next year. It's not abnormal to apply to every top 10 program and only get into Harvard or something. 

 

[rash_sulganni]

 

19 minutes ago, StudyofLilia said:

Hi, everyone! Guess I found this topic quite late lol

So, this was my first cycle, and I ended up applying only to 3 depts (mostly because of the pandemics, couldn’t retake GRE and so on) and I just received the last rejection from NW. I was already preparing to try again this year (2021/2022 cycle), but somehow I am feeling very unsure of my plans rn, especially after reading your thoughts about cutting funding/classes and so on. So I would like to hear from the ones that were admitted this cycle if it was your first time applying and/or experiences about going on a second cycle. I guess I just need some perspective, because I am feeling quite lost on what to do next. Thought I was prepared to receive these rejections, but it does not seem to be the case. Thank you all 

Hi @StudyofLilia! I believe there is another room created by @BrownSugar for sharing our experience and lessons from this cycle. Here is the link https://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/127325-202021-cycle-profileresultslessons/

Here is my take from this year's cycle (it's my first time btw)

• Fit is of utmost important. Of course that isn't to say GPA and all that don't matter but a perfect GPA and GRE won't get you anywhere if your research doesn't fit with the research of the faculty. 
• Think broadly in terms of your interest. Don't fixate on regional interests alone. I learned that thematic fit was equally if not more important. Else, you may just have one or two professors who study the region you want to study. 
• Polish your SOP as much as you can. Get as many friends, colleagues, etc as possible to read it. (I did that. Had more than 8 people read my SOP). 
• Reach out to POI in time. Contacting professors right before or after submitting your application doesn't really work.

disclaimer: I am no expert. This is just from my personal experience. 

 

Edited February 23, 2021 by rash_sulganni
corrections

[polisciii]

5 hours ago, SanC said:

Hello everyone. Claiming Duke and Yale rejection as well.

As this cycle draws to a close, would any of you here have an idea about what the long term effect (if any) was of the 2008-09 economic downturn on grad school admissions? A prof (my recommender) told me that he couldn't get in any program when he applied for the first time that year but managed to get into Princeton the next. Would this economic downturn lead to permanent reduction in cohort sizes or do people think it is a temporary blip?

This pandemic is certainly going to permanently restructure graduate programs. Cohorts will continue to stay small, if not smaller. This was, as one person said earlier, just the perfect time to do that. So I think it's just going to get worse.