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Posted
15 minutes ago, aurat278 said:

Have any other Columbia admits gotten visit weekend info beyond the initial email from the 14th?

I haven't even received a decision from Columbia lol. Assuming likely rejection at this point if they're already sending visit weekend info... 

Posted

With Georgetown's visit RSVP approaching, is there any update on their decisions? I emailed them asking about it but couldn't get a reply. Not even sure how many people actually got in until now. 

Posted
3 minutes ago, polisciad said:

With Georgetown's visit RSVP approaching, is there any update on their decisions? I emailed them asking about it but couldn't get a reply. Not even sure how many people actually got in until now. 

I'm also still waiting for a decision (IR subfield). Not sure why there are so many schools that don't send out all their decisions at once—seems like a strange approach. 

Posted
50 minutes ago, jaliren said:

I'm also still waiting for a decision (IR subfield). Not sure why there are so many schools that don't send out all their decisions at once—seems like a strange approach. 

Georgetown is very bad when it comes to notify applicants about their application result 😞

Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Heffalump27 said:

Does anyone have any info about stipend amounts, whats good, whats not. Are there ways to leverage more money?

I found this thread, but its a bit old. 

https://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/28410-range-of-funding-for-polisci-programs/page/8/#comments
 

What is good of course depends on your area, as schools in big and expensive cities naturally pay more than those in cheaper towns on the countryside.

But of course, it depends on overall wealth of the university and (!) the department. There is this very helpful website, where you can filter according to program, year and university: "phdstipends". But many entries are wrongly entered or trolls, so you need to find a trend and way through the lists (usually still quite possible).

Most t10-15 schools in bigger (more expensive) cities seem to have payed between 40k and 50k USD last year. That is at least my experience and a very good PhD stipend. Some of these schools are traditionally a bit stingy with money (Columbia, for example) while others are more generous. Often, private schools pay better than public ones. The trend is to pay more and admit less students.

The amounts get lower rather quickly in the "ranking", however.

To me as a European, those are still dream numbers. If they do at all (which at least half don't), most PhD programs there pay max. around the 20k mark (Switzerland is different). 

Edited by JPYSD
Posted

Has anyone been accepted/rejected to Yale for theory subfield? Just wondering since I still haven't heard anything (trying to be patient but it's hard as I haven't had positive news yet from any school). 

Posted
2 hours ago, polt29 said:

Has anyone been accepted/rejected to Yale for theory subfield? Just wondering since I still haven't heard anything (trying to be patient but it's hard as I haven't had positive news yet from any school). 

Claiming rejection for Yale PT. Perhaps you're waitlisted? 

Posted

I currently have an offer from UCSD, which was recently revised due to the ensuing uncertainty around federal funding. While the offer remains, the university has replaced the phrase "guaranteed funding" with a paragraph explicitly stating that the funding package is not guaranteed. Have any of you with other admits received similar updates or revisions? UCSD is my top choice right now but I'm unsure how to factor this into my decision-making process and would love to hear your thoughts, especially from those in a similar situation. 

Posted
1 hour ago, PLSC25 said:

I currently have an offer from UCSD, which was recently revised due to the ensuing uncertainty around federal funding. While the offer remains, the university has replaced the phrase "guaranteed funding" with a paragraph explicitly stating that the funding package is not guaranteed. Have any of you with other admits received similar updates or revisions? UCSD is my top choice right now but I'm unsure how to factor this into my decision-making process and would love to hear your thoughts, especially from those in a similar situation. 

 

4 minutes ago, garmit said:

Some of my friends have had their funding offers retroactively cut down for their PhD offers bc of the Trump cuts. UCSD specifically 

Sorry, I did not see your post @PLSC25.What are the odds this spreads to other cali schools? I have no idea how to deal with this btw. Write your reps, if you are American.

Posted
32 minutes ago, polisci119 said:

It really seems a brutal round; just saw UPenn is negotiating to cut 40% of offers bc of trump

can you share the source?

Posted (edited)
3 minutes ago, 1251pl said:

can you share the source?

it's for School of Arts & Science, covering a wide range of subjects beyond PoliSci. I tried to attach the link here but it was censored, you can google 'UPenn School of arts and science funding freeze'.

Edited by polisci119
reedit
Posted
3 hours ago, PLSC25 said:

I currently have an offer from UCSD, which was recently revised due to the ensuing uncertainty around federal funding. While the offer remains, the university has replaced the phrase "guaranteed funding" with a paragraph explicitly stating that the funding package is not guaranteed. Have any of you with other admits received similar updates or revisions? UCSD is my top choice right now but I'm unsure how to factor this into my decision-making process and would love to hear your thoughts, especially from those in a similar situation. 

I received the same email. UCSD is also my top choice, but this update has made the decision more complicated. I'd love to hear how others are approaching this uncertainty.

Posted

Apologies in advance if this is a dumb question. I’m an international applicant and I’m extremely undecided between staying where I am and going to the US. Do you think this funding freeze will affect Ivy League schools? And can schools change the funding amount and/or conditions after you accept an offer?

Posted
32 minutes ago, anonymous99 said:

I received the same email. UCSD is also my top choice, but this update has made the decision more complicated. I'd love to hear how others are approaching this uncertainty.

As a rule, do not go to a US university where funding is not guaranteed. San diego is one of the most expensive places in the country and if your funding is not guaranteed you should literally take ANY other FUNDED option. I pray you have a funded alternate offer.

Posted
18 minutes ago, polisci001 said:

Apologies in advance if this is a dumb question. I’m an international applicant and I’m extremely undecided between staying where I am and going to the US. Do you think this funding freeze will affect Ivy League schools? And can schools change the funding amount and/or conditions after you accept an offer?

It's impacting everyone. Ivies have big endowments, but they also rely heavily on federal funding. Treat offers like legal contracts, because they are. Until it's signed and processed by both parties it can still be changed. Make sure to read the language in your offer letters carefully to see if it has a clause clarifying when/if they can change the stipend amount.

 

For those of you who have multiple offers, you can use that to counter offer the stipend amount. Note that this is usually limited to bargaining how much you make the first year or trying to get non-departmental fellowships.

 

Fair warning to everyone. The job market has always been awful but given current conditions it's going to get a lot worse. I expect hiring freezes nationwide, and even when they lift you'll be competing with several postdocs/Assistant Professors who were under placed because of all this. The market is still recovering from the impact of covid and never really recovered from the great recession. Given the high opportunity cost of spending 5+ years in your 20s/30s getting a PhD, make sure this is what you REALLY want to do.

Posted
17 minutes ago, jaliren said:

Anyone else feel that decisions have been very delayed for a lot of schools this year? If so, do we think this is likely due to uncertainty with funding, or what? 

I think so. For one, GW is most likely delayed due to the uncertainty with funding, and I think Columbia obviously is, and maybe the Harvard and Upenn conundrum that's going on for us is also due to this reason. I feel like those schools that release results later than previous years are most likely all related to this, and there are many of them this year.

Posted
1 hour ago, jaliren said:

Anyone else feel that decisions have been very delayed for a lot of schools this year? If so, do we think this is likely due to uncertainty with funding, or what? 

A source at Harvard told me that this is exactly the case.

Posted
16 minutes ago, garmit said:

A source at Harvard told me that this is exactly the case.

Interesting. Did they mention when Harvard expects to release decisions? I would think that Harvard would be least affected of any school by funding difficulties, given their crazy levels of wealth. 

Posted

So should offer letters literally say 'guaranteed funding for x years at y amount'? I've had offers that say 'you can expect funding for 5 years' and as loose as 'we endeavor to renew fellowships for up to 5 years....'

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