Political Science - Fall 2011 Cycle

[JMoo]

Then it's officially not you. That dude was a serious jackass. Hopefully they were just having a bad day. Probably a good idea to visit, and if the impression is backed up in person, run far away. The quality of the support staff can make your grad career either a breeze or a living hell.

Edited to add: And yes, you're right, a legitimate question like that deserves a polite answer. After 13 years doing this, I get annoyed with vague questions from people who clearly didn't bother to even glance at our website, but a simple question about the application procedures, especially when it's our fault it was unclear, almost never bugs me.

Forgive my testiness - it's been a looooooong day.

Edited February 24, 2011 by JMoo

[explodingstressball]

Then it's officially not you. That dude was a serious jackass. Hopefully they were just having a bad day. Probably a good idea to visit, and if the impression is backed up in person, run far away. The quality of the support staff can make your grad career either a breeze or a living hell.

While appreciative of the "reprieve," one cannot help but note that it is a bit of a douche move to assume that all and sundry that complain of douchery must be douches themselves. How's that for convoluted logic?

[tomsmonticello]

Still no news from Princeton. Someone in the same boat? Are they done with their rejections and waiting?

I'm in the same boat--not a word from Princeton either way. The same with Harvard, which has left me accosting the mailman these past few days given the news that rejects are being sent out via USPS (which is certainly a nice gesture...).

[JMoo]

Perhaps you missed the multiple "having a bad day" references?

[explodingstressball]

On 2/23/2011 at 8:06 PM, JMoo said:

Perhaps you missed the multiple "having a bad day" references?

Got 'em loud and clear. The convoluted logic was on my part!

 

On 2/23/2011 at 8:04 PM, tomsmonticello said:

I'm in the same boat--not a word from Princeton either way. The same with Harvard, which has left me accosting the mailman these past few days given the news that rejects are being sent out via USPS (which is certainly a nice gesture...).

Unfortunately, my mail is some of the last to be delivered in the entire city (I have no idea why), so I have to wait until 7 pm to get .... no news at all lately.

[gjason]

Thanks a lot everybody! I'm pretty stoked. I didn't know how all this would play out as my profile certainly has some flaws. I'm withdrawing from all but a couple schools, so hopefully that opens up spots for people on wait-lists.

I wish I could buy a round for everyone. The last seventy-odd pages certainly fostered some solidarity.

More importantly, I'm now very excited for the coming baseball season. I now have much higher expectations for the Reds!

Congratulations on Harvard. That is an achievement. However, I would say praying to the baby Jesus is much more important if you want the Reds to make the playoffs.

[firefly28]

I have no idea if I'm that person, but I only contacted the department in question twice, so I don't believe I would have had enough interaction with anyone to drive anyone up the wall. And further, the department's website literally internally contradicted itself.

I haven't excluded a school due to rudeness (in part because I have not experienced it), but there is one school that has been incredibly nice in our interactions, and even though that school is ranked a little below another school that accepted me (mind you, it's still a good school and there's one faculty member that I am particularly interested in working with), I am absolutely giving the VFU (Very Friendly University) as much if not more consideration.

In fact, so far, with the three schools I've been accepted to, I'd say the following:

1) VFU (Very Friendly University)

2) FBLU (Friendly But Large University)

3) FBIBU (Friendly But Inefficient Bureaucracy University)

Note that 3) is not the fault of the PS department--the department was actually very helpful and it's full of very good researchers. So I'm not going to hold it against the PS dept that there was some real inefficiency in the general bureaucracy of the school.

Edited February 24, 2011 by firefly28

[explodingstressball]

I haven't excluded a school due to rudeness (in part because I have not experienced it), but there is one school that has been incredibly nice in our interactions, and even though that school is ranked a little below another school that accepted me (mind you, it's still a good school and there's one faculty member that I am particularly interested in working with), I am absolutely giving the VFU (Very Friendly University) as much if not more consideration.

I would like to attend VFU instead of RRU (Really Rude University).

[firefly28]

I would like to attend VFU instead of RRU (Really Rude University).

Me too. Honestly, I'd much sooner go to VFU than RRU, even if RRU is higher ranked. Rankings matter, but so does my happiness, and I would not be happy at RRU.

[explodingstressball]

Me too. Honestly, I'd much sooner go to VFU than RRU, even if RRU is higher ranked. Rankings matter, but so does my happiness, and I would not be happy at RRU.

Agreed. I also think who you choose to hire says a lot about the staff at the university. Even if one's career at RRU isn't entirely determined by support staff, if the professors hated the really rude staff at RRU, they wouldn't last that long.

[ECpoli]

I don't remember submitting a writing sample for Yale or Harvard. I was told by my adviser that the writing sample wasn't particularly important to a lot of schools, since committees have a lot to read and would probably just skim the writing requirement if they read it at all.

Haha really... I got into both Harvard and Yale and sent writing samples. I figured thats why I got in but who knows. weird...

[GradHappy]

Congratulations, that's great news!

Can anyone claim the first UF acceptance for this round?

I received an e-mail from the graduate coordinator this afternoon.

Good luck.

[Abu Bakr]

So.. last week when Cornell emailed that they were notifying accepted students "immediately" I guess that was hyperbole? Has anyone heard from Cornell either way?

[Count de Monet]

Still no news from Princeton. Someone in the same boat? Are they done with their rejections and waiting?

I'm still waiting in Princeton...but I'm not holding my breath...

[calvinandhobbes]

I'm still waiting in Princeton...but I'm not holding my breath...

I'm guessing I'll get my rejection in the mail by the end of the week from Princeton. Has Berkeley sent out rejections yet? I haven't heard anything since acceptances came out a couple of weeks ago.

[bugbear]

So.. last week when Cornell emailed that they were notifying accepted students "immediately" I guess that was hyperbole? Has anyone heard from Cornell either way?

Nope, nothing yet. No results posted on the board either.

[GopherGrad]

I'm still waiting in Princeton...but I'm not holding my breath...

Penelope Higgins, a faculty member of unknown extraction who has been with the board for a long time and earned a lot of trust, has said that Princeton is done admitting and probably done waitlisting.

If you have not heard, you are not in. That includes me.

[Count de Monet]

Penelope Higgins, a faculty member of unknown extraction who has been with the board for a long time and earned a lot of trust, has said that Princeton is done admitting and probably done waitlisting.

If you have not heard, you are not in. That includes me.

Well then...that's ok. Who wants to live in New Jersey anyways?

[balderdash]

Well then...that's ok. Who wants to live in New Jersey anyways?

Me!

Edited February 24, 2011 by balderdash

[oranje1989]

Well then...that's ok. Who wants to live in New Jersey anyways?

Why? How about that?

I am not living in the States. So I have absolutely no clue why people hate New Haven or Princeton.

[adaptations]

Why? How about that?

I am not living in the States. So I have absolutely no clue why people hate New Haven or Princeton.

New Jersey gets a bad rap from just about everyone on the east coast (have you watched Jersey Shores?). That said, I have heard nothing but positive things about Princeton and the area around it. Supposedly it's beautiful, which I certainly don't think you can say for the rest of Jersey. (I base my ill-educated opinion on South Park's "It's a Jersey Thing")

[Beach Bum]

New Jersey gets a bad rap from just about everyone on the east coast (have you watched Jersey Shores?). That said, I have heard nothing but positive things about Princeton and the area around it. Supposedly it's beautiful, which I certainly don't think you can say for the rest of Jersey. (I base my ill-educated opinion on South Park's "It's a Jersey Thing")

I wonder where adaptations is planning to move this fall

[tolstoy]

So.. last week when Cornell emailed that they were notifying accepted students "immediately" I guess that was hyperbole? Has anyone heard from Cornell either way?

I think they meant "immediately" upon making the decisions... which hasn't happened yet. I emailed Tina directly and she said they expect to make offers the first week of March, or at the very latest at the beginning of the following week.

[tomsmonticello]

Penelope Higgins, a faculty member of unknown extraction who has been with the board for a long time and earned a lot of trust, has said that Princeton is done admitting and probably done waitlisting.

If you have not heard, you are not in. That includes me.

Yep--just got the notice via email from the ubiquitous "GS Autoresponder."

Thank you for applying to our Graduate School for the 2011-12 academic year. While I assure you that the materials you submitted were carefully reviewed by the faculty in the Department of Politics, I regret to inform you that the department did not recommend your admission for the coming year.

 

The number of places available at Princeton for entering graduate students is extremely limited and we cannot offer admission to all who are well-qualified. Indeed, many departments consistently have applicants who would be admitted without hesitation if the resources were available. Our decisions take into account not only the applicants’ merits, but also the suitability of the department’s programs to the candidates’ expressed interests. Our goal is to achieve a sound match between the strengths of our programs and the interests of the relatively small number of outstanding students that can be accommodated.

 

I wish you success in your plans for graduate study and thank you for considering Princeton University.

 

Sincerely,

 

William B. Russel

Dean of the Graduate School

[UFGator]

I received an e-mail from the graduate coordinator this afternoon.

Good luck.

Since you can't receive personal messages, would you mind sharing your stats? I know it's all about fit, I think I am a decent fit with what their public policy department does. I am kind of worried about my stats though for them. I am excited for you though!