2022-2023 Application Thread

[xStardust]

Claiming rejection from Princeton, just got an email indicating update on the portal

[navyir]

29 minutes ago, Anonymous8_8 said:

anyone experienced an all rejs cycle can suggest some mental health tip and career development? mainly applied for top 20 and got rejected by brown and all the other schools that have decisions so far- definitely walking away from academia after this round. 

As someone who has been through applications, been accepted, and started  a PhD, I really cannot stress how important your fit with faculty is in terms of admissions and you having a succesful experience. I don't know your background at all but the entire process is a gamble. Prospective students, particularly those with only undergrad experience, are making a gamble on what they are going to be interested in researching over a several year time frame. That is rarely accurate as you are exposed to more work and topics and your interests evolve. Admissions are gambling on limited info that you have similar interests and will want to do grunt work in service of their interests. Sure, I want to go to a top ranked school but I frankly didnt apply to 90 percent of them because the faculty just is not doing the research I want. If your research topics are the mainstream topics and they are in the top schools then go for that. If they are specific, go for lower but good fit and good placement or it is futile one way or another. They wont admit you or when you get there they wont push your research forward and you wont do that for them. I couldnt even imagine applying to more than 10 schools because I dont want the experience of having to convince advisors about my research and go it alone because it is not their expertise. 

[okiedokie.....]

Has anyone heard back from Cornell? CP subfield 

[Kiwi_293]

28 minutes ago, navyir said:

As someone who has been through applications, been accepted, and started  a PhD, I really cannot stress how important your fit with faculty is in terms of admissions and you having a succesful experience. I don't know your background at all but the entire process is a gamble. Prospective students, particularly those with only undergrad experience, are making a gamble on what they are going to be interested in researching over a several year time frame. That is rarely accurate as you are exposed to more work and topics and your interests evolve. Admissions are gambling on limited info that you have similar interests and will want to do grunt work in service of their interests. Sure, I want to go to a top ranked school but I frankly didnt apply to 90 percent of them because the faculty just is not doing the research I want. If your research topics are the mainstream topics and they are in the top schools then go for that. If they are specific, go for lower but good fit and good placement or it is futile one way or another. They wont admit you or when you get there they wont push your research forward and you wont do that for them. I couldnt even imagine applying to more than 10 schools because I dont want the experience of having to convince advisors about my research and go it alone because it is not their expertise. 

Thanks for these words! This is the thing that I've been thinking these days as well. I believe I have a decent academic background but my research interest is a niche. I applied to all the schools that share at least the same regional interest with me, but have only been receiving rejections so far. I am already mentally prepared to all rejs and looking for work opportunities now. 

[Anonymous8_8]

19 minutes ago, navyir said:

As someone who has been through applications, been accepted, and started  a PhD, I really cannot stress how important your fit with faculty is in terms of admissions and you having a succesful experience. I don't know your background at all but the entire process is a gamble. Prospective students, particularly those with only undergrad experience, are making a gamble on what they are going to be interested in researching over a several year time frame. That is rarely accurate as you are exposed to more work and topics and your interests evolve. Admissions are gambling on limited info that you have similar interests and will want to do grunt work in service of their interests. Sure, I want to go to a top ranked school but I frankly didnt apply to 90 percent of them because the faculty just is not doing the research I want. If your research topics are the mainstream topics and they are in the top schools then go for that. If they are specific, go for lower but good fit and good placement or it is futile one way or another. They wont admit you or when you get there they wont push your research forward and you wont do that for them. I couldnt even imagine applying to more than 10 schools because I dont want the experience of having to convince advisors about my research and go it alone because it is not their expertise. 

I hear you but as an international applicant, I really need some guaranteed prospect at landing a decent job at a lib dem country. So yes when I applied I aimed to do mainstream research at a top program- I have a bachelor in top non U.S. institution and am graduating from a top ma in US with good GRE and GPA- I know I wouldn’t be attending some school even with an admit -

i know this mindset probably doesn’t make me a good minimum wager at top schools but in general I am honestly not that enthusiastic about the academia and research that I would be willing to do unrecognized work for years at a less known place… if all the top schools don’t really have a match then I am honestly done. 

[iskander]

I see people getting rejections from Princeton. You guys are getting it from SPIA, right? Not some other political science department? I still haven't heard anything from SPIA.

[Kiwi_293]

7 minutes ago, iskander said:

I see people getting rejections from Princeton. You guys are getting it from SPIA, right? Not some other political science department? I still haven't heard anything from SPIA.

You are probably waitlisted? 

[juliacar]

Guys, I have to say it: can we please stop putting “presumed” rejections on the results page? The whole point of the database is so that we (and the cycles after us) know what to expect and when. If you add something that you’re just “presuming” then you are skewing the data!! I know you want to rant, so rant in the forum. That’s what this area is for. We’re social scientists we should care about data ?

Edited February 8, 2023 by juliacar

[theory_philosophy]

2 hours ago, xStardust said:

Claiming rejection from Princeton, just got an email indicating update on the portal

Same. Was hoping for a waitlist. 

[redaxcx]

On 2/6/2023 at 7:23 PM, qampus said:

1. I have applied for three one-year programs (PoliSci, IR, and Envir.)

2. Straight out of undergrad, qualitative (which is terrible for PoliSci these days, but oh well), one co-authored paper, one conference paper, top-1 university in my country.

And you? Which programs have you applied for and what are your stats?

I only applied for the 1-year PoliSci. I got an admission last year for the 2-year program, but they screwed up my interview invite and I only got an interview after I emailed them and they had already given out all offers. The offer I got was not that good. 

Either way I wouldn't have attended as I went to my 1st choice which is a Digital Humanities and Quantitative Methods master's at the top school in France. No papers but got RA roles at Sciences Po, Sorbonne, also just won a scholarship for a RA at University of Toronto this summer.

Knowing their admissions I think you should certainly get in!

[qampus]

1 hour ago, redaxcx said:

I only applied for the 1-year PoliSci. I got an admission last year for the 2-year program, but they screwed up my interview invite and I only got an interview after I emailed them and they had already given out all offers. The offer I got was not that good. 

Either way I wouldn't have attended as I went to my 1st choice which is a Digital Humanities and Quantitative Methods master's at the top school in France. No papers but got RA roles at Sciences Po, Sorbonne, also just won a scholarship for a RA at University of Toronto this summer.

Knowing their admissions I think you should certainly get in!

Interesting! Is that program you're in now in French?

[Senochka]

11 hours ago, Anonymous8_8 said:

anyone experienced an all rejs cycle can suggest some mental health tip and career development? mainly applied for top 20 and got rejected by brown and all the other schools that have decisions so far- definitely walking away from academia after this round. 

I went through five cycles in total so far. Two undergrad, one master's, and two PhD. In some, I got into decent programs with no aid and couldn't attend, in some others, got decent aid but didn't have the means to cover the rest, and in still others got flat out rejected from every school I applied to. I had a very similar mindset to yours in terms of comparative weight material and immaterial values such as prestige, financial prospects, and meaningful work hold in our lives. However, after so much, I saw that it's even more random than often suggested here. Of course there are expectations, cutoffs etc. But once you make it to the starting point of the race, unless you are truly exceptional in some way that denying you a place would be objectively irrational, like if you're Malala Yousafzai or whatever, it is truly, truly random. I saw people with "barely there" scores getting into top twenty and some with near perfect scores getting rejected by much lower ranked places this cycle alone. Sometimes what you need is not three points on your GRE or five decimal points on your GPA, it's not one more publication, the endorsement of a superstar professor, sometimes, it's just a lucky break. That lucky break, you cannot create, summon, or call at will. So, my humble advice would be, focus on what you can control such as qualities that would raise your profile both in the private sector and in academia like decent knowledge of statistics, a programming language, knowing your subject well, languages and whatever you value, whatever you believe that if you had would make you a well-rounded, more mature person. Schools like people with worldly knowledge, people who had breathed the air outside the academia jar. I believe everyone here is well above average, so put your potential into some other use, and in a couple of years, if you realize that this is your true calling, come back to see if they will take up on the opportunity. Best of luck for everything.

[redaxcx]

1 hour ago, qampus said:

Interesting! Is that program you're in now in French?

Yes it is!

[coffeeman123]

Hopefully we will hear some acceptances from more schools this week

[anonymousvulture]

13 hours ago, okiedokie..... said:

Has anyone heard back from Cornell? CP subfield 

Previous posts here suggested we won't be hearing from them before next week at the earliest 

[PolGrad]

25 minutes ago, coffeeman123 said:

Hopefully we will hear some acceptances from more schools this week

Hope that they would be all acceptances.

[giraff]

15 hours ago, navyir said:

As someone who has been through applications, been accepted, and started  a PhD, I really cannot stress how important your fit with faculty is in terms of admissions and you having a succesful experience. I don't know your background at all but the entire process is a gamble. Prospective students, particularly those with only undergrad experience, are making a gamble on what they are going to be interested in researching over a several year time frame. That is rarely accurate as you are exposed to more work and topics and your interests evolve. Admissions are gambling on limited info that you have similar interests and will want to do grunt work in service of their interests. Sure, I want to go to a top ranked school but I frankly didnt apply to 90 percent of them because the faculty just is not doing the research I want. If your research topics are the mainstream topics and they are in the top schools then go for that. If they are specific, go for lower but good fit and good placement or it is futile one way or another. They wont admit you or when you get there they wont push your research forward and you wont do that for them. I couldnt even imagine applying to more than 10 schools because I dont want the experience of having to convince advisors about my research and go it alone because it is not their expertise. 

Absolutely this. I only applied for 3 PhD programs in PoliSci. Nowadays I think it is insane to apply for 10+ programs in the top 20, there is no way they could have a large correlation of any kind of concentration. I often see folks here with "pending" lists consisting of programs with drastically different profiles/faculty research it is insane. A random Anon will put in the same basket Yale, Chicago, Columbia, NYU and UCSD and I'm here thinking: what was even your target interest when doing this lol

 

EDIT: Anyone claiming being waitlisted by NYU?

Edited February 8, 2023 by giraff

[MooseTracks]

14 minutes ago, giraff said:

Absolutely this. I only applied for 3 PhD programs in PoliSci. Nowadays I think it is insane to apply for 10+ programs in the top 20, there is no way they could have a large correlation of any kind of concentration. I often see folks here with "pending" lists consisting of programs with drastically different profiles/faculty research it is insane. A random Anon will put in the same basket Yale, Chicago, Columbia, NYU and UCSD and I'm here thinking: what was even your target interest when doing this lol

 

EDIT: Anyone claiming being waitlisted by NYU?

for sure

Edited February 8, 2023 by MooseTracks

[Crossed_fingers]

Anyone willing to claim the UPenn admit and share any details they gave?

[politicallygrad]

Anyone claiming UPenn? I am currently in the earthquake area don't have much time to check the forum mails and everything pls update on UPenn if there is any

[polisci320]

I have no inside knowledge, but UPenn historically has decisions later than this, and it's only one result. I think you can consider it a false alarm

[qampus]

Has anyone applied for a Ph.D. at McGill?

[Philodemus]

12 minutes ago, qampus said:

Has anyone applied for a Ph.D. at McGill?

Claiming a McGill PhD acceptance. Got an informal email from the DGS late last night.

[PolGrad]

16 minutes ago, Philodemus said:

Claiming a McGill PhD acceptance. Got an informal email from the DGS late last night.

Did you apply from Canada or an international applicant?

I also applied for Mcgill (from abroad) and emailed to the Department about when results would be announced. They replied to me that the Department is still reviewing the applications.

[chairman mao]

Did the NYU waitlists receive an email or change in portal?