Political Science - Fall 2011 Cycle

[rosie14]

Just received my offer of admission from the Grad School at Georgetown via snail mail. Found out I was accepted a couple weeks ago via phone and then an e-mail from the Gov. department. Kinda a lame letter, no package or anything, just letting me know when I need to respond. Deposit is waived through (I am waitlisted for funding).

[slacktivist]

Slacktivist, couldn't help but notice your signature. You have one of the best acceptance/applications ratios of all polisci phd applicants cycle. Congratulations! Did you decide which school you'd attend?

Thanks! I've been very fortunate. I have a really tough decision to make and am considering five schools:

Maryland has been my top choice, but I won't get to visit the campus before I have to decide and their financial offer is currently too low for me to accept. I'll need to negotiate and talk with several professors and students about the program.

Brown is the place where I would be personally happiest. The students, city and lifestyle are great, the department has a reputation of being especially happy and collegial, and I can bump up to Harvard and MIT to take some classes. However, they are weaker than any other school on this list in terms of research fit and placement outcomes. They did make an outstanding hire of a young scholar who fits my interests perfectly, which is cause for giving them a very hard second look.

Rice has come on very strongly. I say this acknowledging the risk of outing myself if anyone at Rice visits this board, but I am at their admit weekend and am very impressed both by the caliber of graduate students and the prospective students in my cohort. It is immediately clear that they are very well socialized into the discipline, which sends a signal that faculty are plugged into the state of the discipline and prepare their students well.

Irvine is almost formally out. I'll need to do a pairwise comparison between them and Rice after I've returned from the admit weekend and have had a chance to reflect on it, but I can't see myself choosing Irvine over Rice.

I haven't thought much about Iowa, though I will arrange a visit at the beginning of April. It seems the department is in a state of transition.

[Wishing and Hoping]

Inquiring minds want to know, if you care to share the information-how were you notified? It'd be a lot of help to ease this old soul

I'm not sure about RWBG, but for me it was via email - just a form letter with an "acceptance by" date and details of funding (or the lack thereof).

[firefly28]

One of the worst parts of waiting: fear that someone will come out with a very similar research design as you have in mind. It's happened twice already :\

[RWBG]

Inquiring minds want to know, if you care to share the information-how were you notified? It'd be a lot of help to ease this old soul

Yeah, it was an e-mail that alternated congratulatory sentences with sentences offering condolences for the ph.d rejection. April 10 deadline to accept.

[gtown_applicant]

Does anyone know if Georgetown has notified non-funding applicants yet?

[rosie14]

Does anyone know if Georgetown has notified non-funding applicants yet?

I think they have based on people on this forum.

[Richter]

I am probably going to be applying next cycle but just wanted to stop by and wish good luck to everyone who is still in limbo. Hopefully everything works out for the best.

[yang2010us]

has anyone received results from Gatech Sam Nunn School of International affairs? Many thanks.

[camcgee97]

Just got my rejection from Brown... pretty much makes it a certainty I'm not getting into a PhD program this cycle. Wish Notre Dame and Georgetown would go ahead and get their notifications sent out.

[gtown_applicant]

Just got my rejection from Brown... pretty much makes it a certainty I'm not getting into a PhD program this cycle. Wish Notre Dame and Georgetown would go ahead and get their notifications sent out.

Also waiting for Notre Dame and Georgetown.

[athenianstranger]

I received an unfunded offer of admission from Georgetown about two weeks ago via email. Official letter to follow soon.

[gtown_applicant]

I received an unfunded offer of admission from Georgetown about two weeks ago via email. Official letter to follow soon.

Sigh... well i was hoping they haven't notified unfunded people yet. But it looks like i'm totally wrong. So i guess i'm out at Gtown.

[gjason]

Schmidt and Chingos ranked MSU at 17 and FSU at 22; however, those are overall placement rankings and are not broken down by sub-field.

Not sure how well the two programs compare for my subfields of IR and methods (game theory). Any info/feedback on that would be appreciated. FSU has a rather complete breakdown of alumni placement on its website, but info for MSU has been harder to find. That has made it difficult to compare similar (same sub-field) candidates from the two schools.

I could be wrong, but doesn't MSU place better?

[Poppet]

Received my admissions email from University of Toronto (at 2:36pm EDT) for the MA in Political Science. Email was from Louis Testos, who is quite pleasant on the phone if you badger him. I received no funding, which was expected since MAs in PoliSci aren't funded there...

I'm excited. The sunny day seems brighter. Maybe this will boost me out of my serious case of senioritis and let me actually work on my thesis instead of spending my time refreshing pages!

[lasthope]

Called USC and UCLA demanded a response . put myself out of the misery. Ahh moving on...glad I called UCLA said they would send a letter in 2 weeks....

Edited March 14, 2011 by lasthope

[lasthope]

LSU anyone going? what do we think of this school?

[mormegil]

LSU anyone going? what do we think of this school?

I sent an email to the DGS few days back but haven't heard anything. No news on the results page too.

[wtncffts]

Congrats on Western! While there, you should check out Ron Wintrobe in the econ department, as well as Al Slivinski if you're at all interested in formal theory. Just in case those two slipped past you because they're in the econ department.

Thanks! I may be looking into doing something with formal modeling, so I appreciate those suggestions.

[YAGSA]

Just got my rejection from Brown... pretty much makes it a certainty I'm not getting into a PhD program this cycle. Wish Notre Dame and Georgetown would go ahead and get their notifications sent out.

Out of Brown as well. I guess I'm not even bottom-tier Ivy league material. I wouldn't have accepted anyways, but it would have been nice as an ego boost.

[namul]

Called USC and UCLA demanded a response . put myself out of the misery. Ahh moving on...glad I called UCLA said they would send a letter in 2 weeks....

Did UCLA tell you anything about your status? Or did they just say you'll have to wait to get your letter?

[namul]

Yeah, it was an e-mail that alternated congratulatory sentences with sentences offering condolences for the ph.d rejection. April 10 deadline to accept.

RWBG: Any idea where you will be doing your Master's?

[lasthope]

Did UCLA tell you anything about your status? Or did they just say you'll have to wait to get your letter?

I kind of insisted on getting an answer. They said a letter will be sent out at the end of the month. Rather not wait that long so i insisted.

[lasthope]

I sent an email to the DGS few days back but haven't heard anything. No news on the results page too.

yeh communication may not be their strong point...I called. Waiting is for the birds

[Poppet]

I don't know where else to post this because I can't really see straight and this is the thread that I've most been watching and hoping/empathizing with.. But I just got my acceptance to an MSc in Human Rights at LSE. Half of it is in international political economy, so I figured it fit here.

And they gave me funding. Funding! I can't stop crying and my fingers are shaking. I had to share. I don't think I've ever been this happy about a school-related decision before.