2020-2021 Application Thread

[TheLifeofBrian]

Claiming an admit from University of Oregon! 

[polisci_gal]

  On 2/10/2021 at 5:07 PM, ChairmanX said:

I just found this forum recently and wanted to say congrats to those who have recently been accepted!

I have 1 admittance and 1 rejection and I am anxiously waiting to hear from the other 4 schools I applied to. 

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Welcome! Congrats on your acceptance Where was it to?

[ChairmanX]

  On 2/10/2021 at 5:19 PM, polisci_gal said:

Welcome! Congrats on your acceptance Where was it to?

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Rice. I am really happy with it, but I am waiting to see if I get any other offers!

[loiewo]

any other Northwestern admissions?

[theoryyyyy]

Wondering what role does GRE play in this circle? GRE was optional in this circle for the majority of programs, and UCSD doesn't require GRE. The result is that I only receive an offer from UCSD and all rejections from others (some T50 or T60) who require GRE. My score was pretty ugly (with V158 and writing 4.0). I was thinking that GRE actually plays a greater role in this cricle as programs want to make sure they recruit the safe and right students.  

[loiewo]

  On 2/10/2021 at 5:47 PM, theoryyyyy said:

Wondering what role does GRE play in this circle? GRE was optional in this circle for the majority of programs, and UCSD doesn't require GRE. The result is that I only receive an offer from UCSD and all rejections from others (some T50 or T60) who require GRE. My score was pretty ugly (with V158 and writing 4.0). I was thinking that GRE actually plays a greater role in this cricle as programs want to make sure they recruit the safe and right students.  

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I think the opposite. I have high GRE scores (over 95th percentile on V/Q) and I've been rejected by 5/7 schools. 2 pending

[jacksonearlsweatshirt]

  On 2/10/2021 at 5:50 PM, loiewo said:

I think the opposite. I have high GRE scores (over 95th percentile on V/Q) and I've been rejected by 5/7 schools. 2 pending

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Yeah, I would say it's a bit early to determine if GRE mattered more or less this year. I haven't really noticed a pattern. I'll be curious to see what the grad/undergrad acceptance data are.

[BrownSugar]

  On 2/10/2021 at 5:47 PM, theoryyyyy said:

I was thinking that GRE actually plays a greater role in this cricle as programs want to make sure they recruit the safe and right students.  

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  On 2/10/2021 at 5:50 PM, loiewo said:

I think the opposite. I have high GRE scores (over 95th percentile on V/Q) and I've been rejected by 5/7 schools. 2 pending

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I also think the GRE is less important than usual, otherwise they would have made it compulsory or at least recommended. I personally didn’t take the GRE and therefore did not submit scores. 

[ssppiikkeerr]

  On 2/10/2021 at 5:47 PM, theoryyyyy said:

Wondering what role does GRE play in this circle? GRE was optional in this circle for the majority of programs, and UCSD doesn't require GRE. The result is that I only receive an offer from UCSD and all rejections from others (some T50 or T60) who require GRE. My score was pretty ugly (with V158 and writing 4.0). I was thinking that GRE actually plays a greater role in this cricle as programs want to make sure they recruit the safe and right students.  

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All of the schools that I have been accepted to thus far, with the exception of UCLA, have been non-GRE requiring schools. I didn't even send in my scores to most of the schools on my list. I was accepted into UCLA, and received an interview with Vanderbilt, however, with exceptionally low GRE scores - by their standards - (V156/Q155/W 5.0). I just personally think this cycle came down to so many different factors that GRE scores, whether high or low, were just one weak factor in a plethora of other reasons. 

Edited February 10, 2021 by ssppiikkeerr

[Luxlux]

(Can't believe I'm saying this)

Claiming a Northwestern acceptance!!! Political theory. I was sooo skeptical due to the 1% acceptance rate this year. Elated is an understatement 

[gradpumpkin]

  On 2/10/2021 at 6:00 PM, Luxlux said:

(Can't believe I'm saying this)

Claiming a Northwestern acceptance!!! Political theory. I was sooo skeptical due to the 1% acceptance rate this year. Elated is an understatement 

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Congrats!! You should be immensely proud! Did it seem like a mass/personalized email and did your portal change? Same congrats and questions for the WUSTL people too haha

[aae322]

  On 2/10/2021 at 6:03 PM, gradpumpkin said:

Congrats!! You should be immensely proud! Did it seem like a mass/personalized email and did your portal change? Same congrats and questions for the WUSTL people too haha

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For WUSTL, portal hasn't changed. It was an email from the DGS without an official letter or funding info etc, and it seems like we're getting it a couple mins apart so they could still be sending them. Good luck either way!

Edited February 10, 2021 by aae322

[funfetti]

  On 2/10/2021 at 5:50 PM, loiewo said:

I think the opposite. I have high GRE scores (over 95th percentile on V/Q) and I've been rejected by 5/7 schools. 2 pending

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I agree that it’s too early to say one way or the other - but I’m also speculating that high GRE scores are less “rewarded.” I had high scores and have had success at schools that required them and rejections at schools that did not, with the exceptions of a few that were great fits.

Edited February 10, 2021 by _nutella_

[HolyGinger]

I'd say my GRE scores are decent although far from perfect (V161/Q160/W4.0) but it seems like I will get rejections from all the schools I have applied (except for UAlbany, and I might not get funding so basically that is the same as a rejection for me). So I believe GRE didn't really matter that much, this year at least, from my experience. I think what mattered the most was SoP's and how people managed to convince the faculties that their research interests are a great fit. 

Edit: My low undergrad score and the lack of any TA or RA experience also had an effect on my rejections, however I believe SoP's were still the most crucial item this cycle. 

Edited February 10, 2021 by HolyGinger

[afjackie]

  On 2/10/2021 at 6:00 PM, Luxlux said:

(Can't believe I'm saying this)

Claiming a Northwestern acceptance!!! Political theory. I was sooo skeptical due to the 1% acceptance rate this year. Elated is an understatement 

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Congrats! Can I ask where you got the information that it was only a 1% acceptances rate? They usually have an 11% acceptance rate.

[Luxlux]

  On 2/10/2021 at 6:03 PM, gradpumpkin said:

Congrats!! You should be immensely proud! Did it seem like a mass/personalized email and did your portal change? Same congrats and questions for the WUSTL people too haha

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It was what is looked like a mass email to check the portal, and then there was a formal letter in the portal.

[Luxlux]

  On 2/10/2021 at 6:03 PM, gradpumpkin said:

Congrats!! You should be immensely proud! Did it seem like a mass/personalized email and did your portal change? Same congrats and questions for the WUSTL people too haha

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oh also thank you sooo much! still processing it. Good luck to all you guys!

[Polisci-IR]

  On 2/10/2021 at 5:58 PM, BrownSugar said:

 

I also think the GRE is less important than usual, otherwise they would have made it compulsory or at least recommended. I personally didn’t take the GRE and therefore did not submit scores. 

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I feel relived to know that! Just to make sure, even without a GRE score you got acceptance from UCLA and Chicago? I tend to think UChicago program is heavily quant focus, therefore they prefer candidate with strong quant background.

[Luxlux]

  On 2/10/2021 at 6:10 PM, afjackie said:

Congrats! Can I ask where you got the information that it was only a 1% acceptances rate? They usually have an 11% acceptance rate.

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I think I read it somewhere in this forum, and also through email in the past they told me they usually have a 10% rate but this year it would be around 1%

[Indeed]

  On 2/10/2021 at 6:10 PM, afjackie said:

Congrats! Can I ask where you got the information that it was only a 1% acceptances rate? They usually have an 11% acceptance rate.

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Before the application period I have requested a fee waiver from the department and they responded by saying that they can't and noted they will be admitting only 1-2% instead of usual 10%

[BrownSugar]

  On 2/10/2021 at 6:17 PM, A_21 said:

I feel relived to know that! Just to make sure, even without a GRE score you got acceptance from UCLA and Chicago? I tend to think UChicago program is heavily quant focus, therefore they prefer candidate with strong quant background.

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Not UCLA. USC and Chicago  I have some quant background due to my Bachelor and Master degrees. So I’m sure actual experience and training would be viewed more positively than a standardised exam. 

[defcaffeinated]

  On 2/10/2021 at 3:59 PM, cbsag123 said:

does anyone know how many people who apply to uchicago and get rejected get offered a spot at their MAPSS program? and does anyone know when those decisions are usually sent out?

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I've seen decisions sent out in mid march on previous threads. I do wonder how many people they refer - seems like quite a lot of people a year post that their applications have been referred.

[Polisci-IR]

  On 2/10/2021 at 6:20 PM, BrownSugar said:

Not UCLA. USC and Chicago  I have some quant background due to my Bachelor and Master degrees. So I’m sure actual experience and training would be viewed more positively than a standardised exam. 

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Make sense, thanks!

[btermite]

Is it probably safe to say that not hearing from NYU by now is a reject?

[Habermas]

  On 2/10/2021 at 6:17 PM, A_21 said:

I feel relived to know that! Just to make sure, even without a GRE score you got acceptance from UCLA and Chicago? I tend to think UChicago program is heavily quant focus, therefore they prefer candidate with strong quant background.

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Counterintuitively, Chicago is perhaps one of the most qualitative departments in the country.