2020-2021 Application Thread

[icemanyeo]

8 hours ago, waitinggame1234 said:

The thing is that admissions notifications have been pretty consistent over the years. Perhaps a graduate program would be loathe to disrupt what might be a particularly timed event. What is interesting though is despite the ostensible increase in applications, post activity here is comparatively more infrequent than last year (which itself wasn't really active). What does this mean?

I think a lot of people are lurking and not posting (just based on the number of views for various threads, even accounting for duplicates).

[cbsag123]

On 1/4/2021 at 11:37 PM, BunniesInSpace said:

 

 RIP 

 

eta: she's not officially housed in polisci (but i'm under the impression that she has some involvement in that department), but rather the public policy school, so i'm not sure if she's referring to the polisci or the public policy PhD program 

Do people think this could also be related to people generally applying to far more program this cycle? I've seen many people state they applied to up to 15 programs which is far higher than usual.

[Indeed]

Somone claims to be interviewed by Madison, has anyone heard anything? or spam?

[Habermas]

17 hours ago, Indeed said:

Somone claims to be interviewed by Madison, has anyone heard anything? or spam?

Haven't heard anything but looking at past data on interview dates it doesn't seem unfeasible. Looks like Madison routinely interviews people in the last three years in the first two weeks of January.

[icemanyeo]

16 minutes ago, Habermas said:

Haven't heard anything but looking at past data on interview dates it doesn't seem unfeasible. Looks like Madison routinely interviews people in the last three years in the first two weeks of January.

the only madison interview results posting on there is already claiming an admission, which I would think is early given the number of applicants and the COVID environment -- so I wonder if its spam.

 

18 hours ago, Indeed said:

Somone claims to be interviewed by Madison, has anyone heard anything? or spam?

 

[Theory007]

Historically Madison and OSU are among the first out with offers. It seems early but an informal acceptance is not out of the question in my opinion. However the bulk of the acceptance letters is still to come so I would not worry if you applied there.

[icemanyeo]

21 minutes ago, Theory007 said:

Historically Madison and OSU are among the first out with offers. It seems early but an informal acceptance is not out of the question in my opinion. However the bulk of the acceptance letters is still to come so I would not worry if you applied there.

Thanks for clarifying!

[Theory007]

As I mentioned in my previous post, admission decisions are likely to begin coming out soon. I encourage all you amazingly smart and driven people to do your very best not to go insane in the meantime. I recommend to try to stay busy with other things and resist the temptation to check your email every 5 minutes. Know also that you may feel disheartened when you dont hear from a school on the day where acceptances come out. Unfortunately that is just a part of the process and usually it does not speed things along to inquire professors and staff about your application.

Finally I'll say that even if your applications are not successful this round then do like many of us have done and reapply next year or the year after. A phd is not something anyone can accomplish over night and it really makes no difference if you postpone by a year or two. But best of luck! I'm sure many of you will receive great - and life transforming - news the coming months!

[Muan1]

I second the kind words above. Remarkable how months and large tracts of time can pass, but as we approach event horizon, time seems to stop and feel much longer and more treacherous, and we begin to perseverate over every new update happening to others while we have no news ourselves. It's difficult, and very easy to succumb to tunnel vision. PhD is not the be all end all of life. We must learn to find happiness in other things. No wonder why so many people in academia suffer from all kinds of mental illnesses. 

Edited January 8, 2021 by Muan1

[loiewo]

Does anyone know if Madison always interviews? In other words, does not getting an interview mean you got cut?

[1OOYearsofSolitude]

Hi everyone! Been lurking for a while, and thought I'd finally say hello. Best of luck to everyone applying despite the apparently unprecedented increase in applicants. Hopefully everyone gets in where they want!

[Nihankg]

Hello all, I newly discovered the world of Grad Cafe. It felt good to find people who can truly understand and empathize with you. I have two questions about which, I thought, you may have an idea or suggestions. First, I applied a bunch of schools at 15 December. Since all the deadlines coincided, I was a bit of harsh to revise my SOP and send them out. Now I come to realize that there were some stupid mistakes (grammatical errors or typos) in my SOPs, not too much fortunately. But since the day I have seen them, I am obsessed with it. So I was wondering should I send an email to grad schools and try to find a way to resend my SOPs or something. Btw I was diagnosed with covid around 7 Dec. And I think this has also something to do with my unpreparedness. I know that SOPs are maybe the one single most important element in our application files but I want to hope that these mistakes are not enough to make ad.com. completely discard my application.  Secondly, I was wondering about the effects of writing a hotmail extended email address for our referees. Some schools indicated that an unofficial email addresses might be subject to additional scrutiny. However, I don't have anything in my mind as to the extend of this scrutiny. For example will the ad.com. be informed about this or the grad schools make some additional phone calls, or what?  Sorry for the long post. I wish all of us the best of luck. 

[loiewo]

1 hour ago, Nihankg said:

Hello all, I newly discovered the world of Grad Cafe. It felt good to find people who can truly understand and empathize with you. I have two questions about which, I thought, you may have an idea or suggestions. First, I applied a bunch of schools at 15 December. Since all the deadlines coincided, I was a bit of harsh to revise my SOP and send them out. Now I come to realize that there were some stupid mistakes (grammatical errors or typos) in my SOPs, not too much fortunately. But since the day I have seen them, I am obsessed with it. So I was wondering should I send an email to grad schools and try to find a way to resend my SOPs or something. Btw I was diagnosed with covid around 7 Dec. And I think this has also something to do with my unpreparedness. I know that SOPs are maybe the one single most important element in our application files but I want to hope that these mistakes are not enough to make ad.com. completely discard my application.  Secondly, I was wondering about the effects of writing a hotmail extended email address for our referees. Some schools indicated that an unofficial email addresses might be subject to additional scrutiny. However, I don't have anything in my mind as to the extend of this scrutiny. For example will the ad.com. be informed about this or the grad schools make some additional phone calls, or what?  Sorry for the long post. I wish all of us the best of luck. 

Hey there - I did send revised SOPs to a couple schools. I sent them to the admissions staff in an e-mail and didn't really go into detail as to why I was resending. It wouldn't hurt to try but I think the fact that it's been 3 weeks might mean that some schools don't accept it because they've begun reviewing. I would still try though.

[BrownSugar]

Hi everyone!! Finally made an account even though I lurked a lot on here when applying for master’s. Good luck to you all. I hope we all end up in great places where we’ll be happy. Looking forward to getting through this cycle with you haha 

[Habermas]

On 1/8/2021 at 11:51 PM, loiewo said:

Does anyone know if Madison always interviews? In other words, does not getting an interview mean you got cut?

Based on the numbers on GradCafe and some anecdotes, I would be surprised if they interviewed every single or even the majority of the candidates they accept, but I could be wrong.

[icemanyeo]

On 1/10/2021 at 3:37 PM, Habermas said:

Based on the numbers on GradCafe and some anecdotes, I would be surprised if they interviewed every single or even the majority of the candidates they accept, but I could be wrong.

I just perused their website and they don't state anywhere that they interview applicants regularly, so I would concur.

[btermite]

I've been lurking during this cycle so far, but wanted to say hello and wish everyone good luck! Waiting for results is truly brutal

[icemanyeo]

38 minutes ago, btermite said:

Waiting for results is truly brutal

At least we have companions in this suffering! I've been commiserating with a friend who is applying this cycle as well (albeit in another field) and it has helped.

[polisci_gal]

Ok thoughts on not submitting GRE scores this year? I will disclose that I didn't actually take the GRE ( for various reasons) and thus did not submit scores to any schools. Some of the potential supervisors I spoke with said it really wouldn't hinder an application to not have them, as the scores would just be considered an extra/supplemental document. What do y'all think? Do you think that it is *essential* to submit or not submit? Even though the schools waived the requirement will it hurt an application to not submit them? Why am i second guessing my whole life lol

[plus]

Just now, polisci_gal said:

Ok thoughts on not submitting GRE scores this year? I will disclose that I didn't actually take the GRE ( for various reasons) and thus did not submit scores to any schools. Some of the potential supervisors I spoke with said it really wouldn't hinder an application to not have them, as the scores would just be considered an extra/supplemental document. What do y'all think? Do you think that it is *essential* to submit or not submit? Even though the schools waived the requirement will it hurt an application to not submit them? Why am i second guessing my whole life lol

Based on previous conversations with professors, it seems that GRE scores serve as quick filters for dealing with large pools of candidates. I imagine that this cycle, given that the GRE was optional, they used some other metric for the same purpose.

[polisci_gal]

Just now, plus said:

 I imagine that this cycle, given that the GRE was optional, they used some other metric for the same purpose.

This is comforting. I would think so as well - since i presume a lot of people chose not to submit scores this year as it could potentially hinder their application (unless they were really confident with their scores). 

[BrownSugar]

18 minutes ago, polisci_gal said:

Ok thoughts on not submitting GRE scores this year? I will disclose that I didn't actually take the GRE ( for various reasons) and thus did not submit scores to any schools. Some of the potential supervisors I spoke with said it really wouldn't hinder an application to not have them, as the scores would just be considered an extra/supplemental document. What do y'all think? Do you think that it is *essential* to submit or not submit? Even though the schools waived the requirement will it hurt an application to not submit them? Why am i second guessing my whole life lol

This actually really concerned me because I also have not taken the GRE as I wasn’t able to given the pandemic and my location. I really hope it doesn’t affect applications

[macska]

Anyone claiming the rejection from Manchester? It's from beginning of Jan for the PhD in Politics. From my understanding the application should take at least 6 weeks to process, so it just seems early for news.

Also just generally, good luck to everyone applying, this is my second cycle, and I'm definitely feeling more fatalistic about it this time around

[plus]

13 minutes ago, BrownSugar said:

This actually really concerned me because I also have not taken the GRE as I wasn’t able to given the pandemic and my location. I really hope it doesn’t affect applications

I imagine that most candidates submitted “test at home” scores this year. Either way, I don’t believe that the GRE will be a decisive factor for any applications.

[brickinthewall]

26 minutes ago, plus said:

Based on previous conversations with professors, it seems that GRE scores serve as quick filters for dealing with large pools of candidates. I imagine that this cycle, given that the GRE was optional, they used some other metric for the same purpose.

This is my understanding of the GRE as well. I recall the Berkeley webinar mentioning (briefly) something to the effect of, if submitted, it wouldn't be looked at in the first stages of the review and that they would be highly mindful of not advantaging/disadvantaging applicants based on whether or not someone submitted it. I would wager that this is the same mindset at most of the other schools that made it optional.

To this end, I would be curious on application #s at schools that did require the GRE and whether or not they saw the same spike.