Political Science - Fall 2011 Cycle

[KeepinOn]

I assume it's a yield thing too...I'm guessing a lot of people accepted NWU's offer. Oh well...

Just went and checked the status of my app at JHU, and I only now noticed that they listed one of my transcripts as "not official", and another one as "not received". As for the "not official" one, it was an original transcript that was sent to JHU in the official, sealed school envelope it came in. I don't know how to make it any more official than that. As for the "not received one": it was from a school where I obtained two degrees, so the sealed envelope from the school contained both (official) transcripts, and were clearly marked as being separate transcripts. The status page does list the other one of the pair as "received," so they did get it--I'm positive. Just airing my frustrations here--if I'm extremely thorough and meticulous in putting my app together, why can't they review it with the same care? Now I have to email them to make them correct something that was never wrong in the first place...

Edited February 16, 2011 by KeepinOn

[bugbear]

Hmm. Midnight has come and no word from UCLA yet. I'm curious to see if anyone hears anything during the day. I don't know if I'm on some sort of unofficial waiting list to get on the waiting list or what. I think I'll try to forget about it for now and proceed to worrying about Cornell.

[bugbear]

It'd be interesting to know if us remaining folks are competitive candidates, at least prima facie. I would assume that if they thought we were scrubs they'd just give us the ol' valentine's day boot.

I wonder about this too. Impossible to say really.

[Viking]

I checked my UCSD messaging tab and found an acceptance. Subfield is American. No e-mail or other notification, so I guess that will come later. UCSD's funding package was guaranteed for five years and between 16 and 17k. Also got into UCLA last night but on the waitlist for funding.

Edited February 16, 2011 by Viking

[Purled]

I completely understand. I had my originals Fed Exed and signed for, and they were marked as Not Received. It took several emails and a phone call, and then they were "found" and my status updated. Arg.

I know there are a lot of applicants this year, but c'mon! They were signed for!

I assume it's a yield thing too...I'm guessing a lot of people accepted NWU's offer. Oh well...

Just went and checked the status of my app at JHU, and I only now noticed that they listed one of my transcripts as "not official", and another one as "not received". As for the "not official" one, it was an original transcript that was sent to JHU in the official, sealed school envelope it came in. I don't know how to make it any more official than that. As for the "not received one": it was from a school where I obtained two degrees, so the sealed envelope from the school contained both (official) transcripts, and were clearly marked as being separate transcripts. The status page does list the other one of the pair as "received," so they did get it--I'm positive. Just airing my frustrations here--if I'm extremely thorough and meticulous in putting my app together, why can't they review it with the same care? Now I have to email them to make them correct something that was never wrong in the first place...

[Rose]

Anyone else STILL in UCLA limbo? Northwestern put me out of my misery this morning...and if I were to go purely on ranking instead of by fit, I'd take that to mean I'm in pretty serious jeopardy of striking out.

[Purled]

Anyone besides me still waiting to hear from NW? I saw the new results this morning on the train and spent the rest of my commute bracing myself for the rejection, but I'm still hitting the No Decision wall.

[bilarslan]

Anyone besides me still waiting to hear from NW? I saw the new results this morning on the train and spent the rest of my commute bracing myself for the rejection, but I'm still hitting the No Decision wall.

A lot of limbo people were dinged today, including me, that means you're still in the game.

[TheCreuset]

Any thoughts on the silence with Berkeley Comparative? I saw the one acceptance. Does anyone else think that means all the other admits just aren't TGC lurkers?

[Beach Bum]

Anyone besides me still waiting to hear from NW? I saw the new results this morning on the train and spent the rest of my commute bracing myself for the rejection, but I'm still hitting the No Decision wall.

I think they sent out their acceptances already, because the RSVP deadline for their visiting weekend is tomorrow. But you could be on an unofficial wait list if you haven't heard yet. Otherwise why wouldn't they reject everybody at once? By the way, what's going on with Rochester? They seem to be long overdue, and I'm getting worried...

[history?]

Anyone else STILL in UCLA limbo? Northwestern put me out of my misery this morning...and if I were to go purely on ranking instead of by fit, I'd take that to mean I'm in pretty serious jeopardy of striking out.

Lurking here for a while, just thought I'd jump in to answer this (and the others like it). Look. It's chance. Luck. Whim. Whatever you want to call it. Maybe half the apps go out the window immediately because the person can't cut it, but the rest of the stack is filled with perfectly capable candidates. At some point, it comes down to "fit," which can mean anything from your project fits with longstanding faculty interests, your project happens to fit with something that a faculty member just started researching in the last month and that neither you nor any of the other applicants have any way of knowing even exists as an interest in the department, they happen to like whatever little bit of personality shines through on your app, or they think that you will happen to mesh well with some of the other applicants they are considering. Maybe you wrote a letter to one of the profs that made them laugh. It could be that the perfect fit you applied to based on faculty X is not actually a good fit because faculty X just turned in her retirement bid last week, something which you would have had no way of knowing. Perhaps you wanted to work with Y because you like his work, but it turns out that he secretly detests Hannah Arendt, whom you have mentioned as your hero. Perhaps the professor whose work you love the most doesn't actually take on grad students, or perhaps they do but they are the giantest douche in the history of douches and only take on the blonde lady types for their students.

I don't mean to rant. I'm just trying to make it clear -- a huge amount of this has NOTHING to do with our abilities. Because of the economy, there are twice as many applicants and half as many spots, and so a process that has always been dicey at best is all the more so. Being rejected is not an ontological statement about our failures as human beings. Seriously. I cannot wait to go to a PhD, and I love academia, but this is one of the most toxic streams of bullshit that it feeds us. You are not a failure if you don't get in. You are not a failure if you get in and then don't get a professorship at an R-1 before you've even finished your diss.

It would really help if we could do away with the conviction that this is strictly based on reputation and ranking, and that those things are the most important in the process.

[Rose]

Lurking here for a while, just thought I'd jump in to answer this (and the others like it). Look. It's chance. Luck. Whim. Whatever you want to call it. Maybe half the apps go out the window immediately because the person can't cut it, but the rest of the stack is filled with perfectly capable candidates. At some point, it comes down to "fit," which can mean anything from your project fits with longstanding faculty interests, your project happens to fit with something that a faculty member just started researching in the last month and that neither you nor any of the other applicants have any way of knowing even exists as an interest in the department, they happen to like whatever little bit of personality shines through on your app, or they think that you will happen to mesh well with some of the other applicants they are considering. ...

I agree with you in large part--this is nothing but toxic and although I can't help but take it a bit personally, I definitely understand that it's largely up to chance. Part of the reason I'm a bit antsy is that my interests walk some interdisciplinary boundaries, and I was pretty sure Northwestern was the perfect fit-or at least the best of the schools I applied to. At least with UMich I didn't have to take it quite as personally because the fit wasn't right and they're supposedly even more competitive.

I don't think any of these (or any of the schools I applied to) are easy to get into, and I'm not even sure I'm comfortable saying which might be easier than others based on so little information, but my thought process was more that I might be in some peril based on the NWU decision, given the goodness of fit (albeit assessed by me) and the fact that northwestern didn't make every competitive candidate's list for comparative the way some other schools do.

[sorashinobi]

Lurking here for a while, just thought I'd jump in to answer this (and the others like it). Look. It's chance. Luck. Whim. Whatever you want to call it. Maybe half the apps go out the window immediately because the person can't cut it, but the rest of the stack is filled with perfectly capable candidates. At some point, it comes down to "fit," which can mean anything from your project fits with longstanding faculty interests, your project happens to fit with something that a faculty member just started researching in the last month and that neither you nor any of the other applicants have any way of knowing even exists as an interest in the department, they happen to like whatever little bit of personality shines through on your app, or they think that you will happen to mesh well with some of the other applicants they are considering. Maybe you wrote a letter to one of the profs that made them laugh. It could be that the perfect fit you applied to based on faculty X is not actually a good fit because faculty X just turned in her retirement bid last week, something which you would have had no way of knowing. Perhaps you wanted to work with Y because you like his work, but it turns out that he secretly detests Hannah Arendt, whom you have mentioned as your hero. Perhaps the professor whose work you love the most doesn't actually take on grad students, or perhaps they do but they are the giantest douche in the history of douches and only take on the blonde lady types for their students.

I don't mean to rant. I'm just trying to make it clear -- a huge amount of this has NOTHING to do with our abilities. Because of the economy, there are twice as many applicants and half as many spots, and so a process that has always been dicey at best is all the more so. Being rejected is not an ontological statement about our failures as human beings. Seriously. I cannot wait to go to a PhD, and I love academia, but this is one of the most toxic streams of bullshit that it feeds us. You are not a failure if you don't get in. You are not a failure if you get in and then don't get a professorship at an R-1 before you've even finished your diss.

It would really help if we could do away with the conviction that this is strictly based on reputation and ranking, and that those things are the most important in the process.

I agree with you that a lot of the acceptance process is hugely influenced by intangible factors that we have little or no control over. And I also agree that simply being rejected in no way means that you are a failure (as someone who got rejected from all of the 5 PhD programs I applied to last year). However, I hope that the "it's mostly luck" mentality in no way diminishes the accomplishment that the people who were lucky enough to get in feel. They had to work damn hard and pure luck is not enough to get you in.

[balderdash]

I have to disagree entirely with the idea that it's largely explained by luck. I'm not saying admissions is entirely a meritocratic, easily measurable, rational process - a lot of it is intangible, indeed. But it's not luck or whim. A candidate is never drawn out of a hat to be admitted, and it's never just drawing straws. Adcoms are looking for a specific community of incoming students with a specific range of interests and abilities, changing year to year. It may seem random to us, but that's because we're not inside their heads.

I worked in undergrad admissions for years. We got about 25,000 apps for an incoming class of 1,500 (4,000 admitted). Not a single decision was made based on "whim" or "luck."

On an entirely separate note, I am fed up with this process. My productivity has dropped to probably 20% of what it was last term. I'm supposed to be writing a short paper on a topic with which I'm very familiar, and I can't even get an outline written. Everything's so muddled...

[beatlesfan]

I think they sent out their acceptances already, because the RSVP deadline for their visiting weekend is tomorrow. But you could be on an unofficial wait list if you haven't heard yet. Otherwise why wouldn't they reject everybody at once? By the way, what's going on with Rochester? They seem to be long overdue, and I'm getting worried...

I'm really nervous about Rochester too. I was thinking we'd have heard something a while ago, and right now I just have one waitlist and no acceptances... :-/

Edited February 16, 2011 by beatlesfan

[Tufnel]

I think it's important to realize that none of this matters. At the end of the day, grad school shouldn't define you. At least, I don't think it should. That'd be a terribly narrow and shallow definition. You can be a complete douche and still get a PhD from a great school. You can be a frickin hero and never have a shot at a doctorate.

You're no better or worse a person with an acceptance. It's about what you do wherever you find yourself. Life isn't an Olympic event.

Edited to add: None of this is to belittle the frustration and disappointment associated with rejection letters. Only that at the end of the day, we're a lot more than students.

Edited February 16, 2011 by Tufnel

[balderdash]

And by the way, (@secretly_yes particularly), Chicago lady said yesterday that it will be "around March 1st" when the rest of decisions will be sent, so it could be late February as well. Of course, this is only waiting for the inevitable.

[GopherGrad]

I have to disagree entirely with the idea that it's largely explained by luck. I'm not saying admissions is entirely a meritocratic, easily measurable, rational process - a lot of it is intangible, indeed. But it's not luck or whim. A candidate is never drawn out of a hat to be admitted, and it's never just drawing straws. Adcoms are looking for a specific community of incoming students with a specific range of interests and abilities, changing year to year. It may seem random to us, but that's because we're not inside their heads.

Well, it's certainly not random or lucky from the perspective of the schools. Doubtless you're right about the rigor that goes into selecting candidates and rounding out a class.

But in terms of who you've become over the last 20-30 years, what your interests are, whether they are in vogue ... well, you reach a certain threshold of qualification and then its diminishing returns. From the perspective of the college freshmen trying to decide between interests and accomplishments to pursue, there certainly is a large element beyond control. To that extent, being admitted over other equally qualified students is certainly lucky, even becoming equally qualified was a difficult process worthy of admiration.

[balderdash]

I think it's important to realize that none of this matters. At the end of the day, grad school shouldn't define you. At least, I don't think it should. That'd be a terribly narrow and shallow definition. You can be a complete douche and still get a PhD from a great school. You can be a frickin hero and never have a shot at a doctorate.

You're no better or worse a person with an acceptance. It's about what you do wherever you find yourself. Life isn't an Olympic event.

That was a massive edit, mate.

[RWBG]

I'm really nervous about Rochester too. I was thinking we'd have heard something a while ago, and right now I just have one waitlist and no acceptances... :-/

I e-mailed Rochester, and they said the committee has met, and they'll be making offers very shortly. I would expect by the end of this week.

[Tufnel]

That was a massive edit, mate.

Yep. For those who didn't read it, I wrote out a long, melodramatic ramble about luck vs. choice. After rereading it, I decided that it wasn't worth reading while sober. Since we can't all kill brain cells together, I decided to save the amateurish tirades for future conferences. I'll buy a round and listen to those of you who go to Rochester rant about regression, then you can listen to incoherent discussions about the philosophy of choice. It'll be great.

[secretly_yes]

I agree. Undergrad and grad admissions are not the same. I wanted to go to college to "become" something (a journalist, then an investor relations person.) After a few semesters in the Michigan tundra, a couple of jobs and an MA, I already am who I am going to be. Undergrad admissions was whether that school could help me become whatever I said I wanted to be, grad admissions is about whether I, fully formed as I am, can do research at a school. To me, applying to PhD programs is more like applying to a job than applying to undergrad.

Hopefully that made sense. I am tired from not sleeping because of the stress of all of this.

[history?]

You're sober?

Oh god, I knew I was doing something wrong.

[Beach Bum]

I e-mailed Rochester, and they said the committee has met, and they'll be making offers very shortly. I would expect by the end of this week.

Thanks, that's good news! (or better: it will be good news for some people )

[sorashinobi]

I e-mailed Rochester, and they said the committee has met, and they'll be making offers very shortly. I would expect by the end of this week.

Did the say how they would be notifying people?

On a separate note, I have a presentation tomorrow and have been working on it for the past 5 hours most unsuccessfully because I keep checking this site and UCSD's application page.