2022-2023 Application Thread

[Fellowpigeon]

3 hours ago, Obscurepun said:

Hi everyone - I have a somewhat basic question. What do PhD students do their first summer in terms of rigid scheduling? Are there summer teaching requirements or anything similar? I am planning a wedding for summer 2024 and really need to set a date lol

typically no, sometimes students do RAships or work on their first-year papers. but you're not really REQUIRED to do anything in summer. 

[wywen]

19 hours ago, PolGrad said:

Do you know, does Syracuse University already send its offer results? Couldn't see any posts on Syracuse University;

I was waitlisted; got an email from DGS last Friday. 

[QuantPoliSci]

Claiming admit from Pittsburgh. AP/Behavior 

[institutionalized one]

does anyone know if Pittsburgh releases all its acceptances in one batch? Or is it possible that more acceptances could be released today?

[Senochka]

Claiming a CIR referral admit. 20k scholarship. Been there before, means nothing to me, yeah...

[qampus]

10 hours ago, Senochka said:

Claiming a CIR referral admit. 20k scholarship. Been there before, means nothing to me, yeah...

Could you please elaborate on this? Why nothing?

[institutionalized one]

23 hours ago, QuantPoliSci said:

Claiming admit from Pittsburgh. AP/Behavior 

is pitt an option for you? I saw before that u got an acceptance from vanderbilt, which is better for your research?

[QuantPoliSci]

1 minute ago, institutionalized one said:

is pitt an option for you? I saw before that u got an acceptance from vanderbilt, which is better for your research?

Vanderbilt. Gonna accept Vandy here in a couple days. 

[institutionalized one]

1 minute ago, QuantPoliSci said:

Vanderbilt. Gonna accept Vandy here in a couple days. 

oh great great. I am at a "short waitlist" at pitt and knowing that you will reject their proposal gives me some hope. Vanderbilt is an excellent place for behavior, LAPOP is a great hub

[QuantPoliSci]

1 minute ago, institutionalized one said:

oh great great. I am at a "short waitlist" at pitt and knowing that you will reject their proposal gives me some hope. Vanderbilt is an excellent place for behavior, LAPOP is a great hub

I really hope you get off the waitlist; Pittsburgh the city is a beautiful place and the department is great, I just think Vanderbilt is gonna be a better fit for me. You behavior as well? AP or CP?

[institutionalized one]

3 minutes ago, QuantPoliSci said:

I really hope you get off the waitlist; Pittsburgh the city is a beautiful place and the department is great, I just think Vanderbilt is gonna be a better fit for me. You behavior as well? AP or CP?

It is a beautiful place indeed! I am mainly institutions, parties and democratization, CP naturally. The department is awesome and it seems that they are gonna hire some big shot on democracies & autocracies, a dream

[qampus]

1 hour ago, institutionalized one said:

oh great great. I am at a "short waitlist" at pitt and knowing that you will reject their proposal gives me some hope. Vanderbilt is an excellent place for behavior, LAPOP is a great hub

Does the fact that some of us have received nothing from Pitt yet mean that no luck there?

[Senochka]

4 hours ago, qampus said:

Could you please elaborate on this? Why nothing?

Well, it's part my personal story and part the program(s). Since my story is irrelevant to the general discussion, I might offer what I think about these terminal master's programs at prestigious universities (As far as I know, Columbia has a couple of terminal social science MAs as well as LSE and Oxbridge across the pond.).

1) It's no secret that these programs are largely cash cows. Value-wise, they are not very highly regarded but they are not trash either. So, students with little aid and enough resources go because they want that name on their resume, and students who get the most generous aid give these programs a shot as a final push towards the line. The latter group of students already have good enough profiles for many PhD programs, but either their applications are lacking in one aspect, whether it be GPA or publications, or they're exclusively shooting for top tier institutions, and think a degree from UChicago will boost their chances.

2( These programs are a bit like some European research master's and take nine months (3 quarters) to complete with one week breaks between the quarters. But unlike European research master's, they require you take 2-3 courses each quarter . These are not realistic performance expectations from students, and even a minor thing like a particularly bbad cold can topple your world in that pace. What then? All your effort and money go down the drain.

3) While it's true that these degrees will add lil something to your resume, the same value can be harvested from other endeavors at no (monetary) cost. You can hunt for internships, RA positions, or work on a publication for a reasonably well-ranked journal and they will boost your profile just as much with the extra perk that you won't have to cough up 60k to do these things.

4) I think all that scholarship money think is a carrot they dangle in front of our noses to pull us in. There is an old adage in Turkish that goes something like: "You don't mind sacrificing a chicken if you expect a goose in return." So, they're trying to get us into sacrificing our chickens with the promise of a goose is what I'm saying.

5) MAPSS and CIR alumni are complaining all over the internet about the faculty's preferential treatment towards the PhD students and terminal master's students lacking a support system.

For me, the reason that my profile is sub-optimal for places I really want to attend is not the lack of a UChicago degree, it's a lack of other things, and some of those things I can not control or change. Would a CIR degree make up for the lack of those things? Maybe, I will never know. I got way better packages from similar places in the past, and couldn't come up with the money to cover whatever is left. So... But if you're an American, are offered at least 1/2 aid, and enticed by the program, I'd say go for it just to see for yourself.

[institutionalized one]

38 minutes ago, qampus said:

Does the fact that some of us have received nothing from Pitt yet mean that no luck there?

I really dont know. I received the waitlist notification yesterday, but there were some acceptances/rejections notifications from last week. As I've stated earlier, those notifications sounded a bit off to me (the fact thar a person claimed to be on a waitlist and was offered proposal a day after the initial round of acceptances was weird). I would wait for a few more days before considering it a "rejection", because things seems to be messy

[QuantPoliSci]

CORNELL REJECTIONS OUT LETS GOOOOOO 

[wubble]

Finally got the Harvard rejection as well 😌

[Isolate]

With eight rejections and only two schools left pending, this cycle is not looking good for your boy.

[irapplicant123]

Is anyone waiting for UCSD IR? I see a lot reject notifications came out, but confused how its taking so long. From previous years, it seems they roll out pretty quickly

[Obscurepun]

@irapplicant123 I am also waiting… getting tired of it but it’s the last school I’m waiting for at this point. I can’t see how they’d do a visit day this late in the game.

[Fellowpigeon]

is there anyone who has a Berkeley acceptance that I can speak to?

[qampus]

What's up with all that waiting on Pittsburgh now? Does it mean anything, or is it simply a delayed rejection?

[TerribleTowel]

8 hours ago, Obscurepun said:

@irapplicant123 I am also waiting… getting tired of it but it’s the last school I’m waiting for at this point. I can’t see how they’d do a visit day this late in the game.

UCSD's visit days are March 5-7. If you haven't heard from them, maybe you've been informally waitlisted? I'd expect some people to make up their minds after the visit days, so hopefully you'll hear from UCSD soon

[TerribleTowel]

2 hours ago, Fellowpigeon said:

is there anyone who has a Berkeley acceptance that I can speak to?

I was also admitted there, feel free to DM me if there's anything you'd like to talk about

[Obscurepun]

@TerribleTowelOh yeah maybe then! I though nobody had heard back who applied for the joint Poli Sci public policy PhD but I’ve not been monitoring as religiously once March hit?

[TerribleTowel]

7 minutes ago, Obscurepun said:

@TerribleTowelOh yeah maybe then! I though nobody had heard back who applied for the joint Poli Sci public policy PhD but I’ve not been monitoring as religiously once March hit?

Ah, I didn't apply for the joint program, but I imagine they'd have the same visit day? I didn't realize you were referring to that program in particular. I haven't been checking the site frequently either!

The stipend at UCSD is a little low (at least in the political science department). If you have better offers, I wouldn't wait for this result.