2024-2025 Application Thread

[garmit]

Anyone claiming the most recent Harvard acceptance? 😶

Edited March 1 by garmit
specifying the most recent "acceptance"

[01anonymous]

Are there any people here who have applied to Tufts? That is my last pending application.

[jaliren]

8 hours ago, 01anonymous said:

Are there any people here who have applied to Tufts? That is my last pending application.

Fletcher school PhD in IR? I didn't apply, although I heavily considered it because I was looking into various more policy-oriented programs. If you don't mind me asking, are you interested in policy as opposed to academic jobs following the PhD? 

[01anonymous]

6 hours ago, jaliren said:

Fletcher school PhD in IR? I didn't apply, although I heavily considered it because I was looking into various more policy-oriented programs. If you don't mind me asking, are you interested in policy as opposed to academic jobs following the PhD? 

No, it was just one of the schools I applied to. I have other more traditionally academic programs I got into, so I would be choosing one of those. But yes, policy is of interest too at the moment.

[jacksmith98798]

On 3/2/2025 at 12:07 PM, 01anonymous said:

Are there any people here who have applied to Tufts? That is my last pending application.

I didn't apply to Tufts because of Fletcher stating that they provide funding only for the first 2 years. How valid is that? They say it here: 
https://fletcher.tufts.edu/programs/phd-programs/phd-international-relations/phd-admissions#:~:text=Does Fletcher offer stipends for living expenses to PhD students%3F

[jaliren]

5 hours ago, jacksmith98798 said:

I didn't apply to Tufts because of Fletcher stating that they provide funding only for the first 2 years. How valid is that? They say it here: 
https://fletcher.tufts.edu/programs/phd-programs/phd-international-relations/phd-admissions#:~:text=Does Fletcher offer stipends for living expenses to PhD students%3F

I didn't apply for the same reason. I don't have more information than what's on the website, so it's possible that we're both interpreting that wrong. But the funding situation seems pretty bad. 

[01anonymous]

From my understanding, the guaranteed funding is only like 2-3 years and then you sort of depend on your guide for their funds, grants and other awards you find yourself. I did apply for it as one of my back up schools to be very honest. Now that I got into different public schools I will stick with them. Guaranteed funding for 5 years is definitely very important.

47 minutes ago, jaliren said:

I didn't apply for the same reason. I don't have more information than what's on the website, so it's possible that we're both interpreting that wrong. But the funding situation seems pretty bad. 

 

5 hours ago, jacksmith98798 said:

I didn't apply to Tufts because of Fletcher stating that they provide funding only for the first 2 years. How valid is that? They say it here: 
https://fletcher.tufts.edu/programs/phd-programs/phd-international-relations/phd-admissions#:~:text=Does Fletcher offer stipends for living expenses to PhD students%3F

 

[Tempaccount]

Just got waitlisted from Georgetown MSFS, meh I won't be upset about it even if I don't get off the waitlist later. The foreign service might not exist in a few months anyway, it at least saves me time if there aren't any IR jobs left by the time I'd graduate

[jaliren]

22 minutes ago, Tempaccount said:

Just got waitlisted from Georgetown MSFS, meh I won't be upset about it even if I don't get off the waitlist later. The foreign service might not exist in a few months anyway, it at least saves me time if there aren't any IR jobs left by the time I'd graduate

I did my MA at SFS (not MSFS, a different program) a few years ago. Feel free to PM me if you want any insight on the school. 

[mwmwmw121212]

I’m not that invested at this point, but more just curious/amused what the deal with Harvard decisions (ie the remaining rejections) is? Also, I’m broadly interested in the strategic, game-theoretic angle to admissions decisions that someone alluded to earlier.  
 

I understand why some non-top-ranked places would release rejections later, but it seems like some top schools like Stanford and Princeton just went ahead and released rejections alongside admits. And then some that are lower ranked than these three schools sent rejections alongside admits too. 
 

Edited March 3 by mwmwmw121212

[Omkar Poojari]

Anyone yet to hear from Duke?

I see rejections posted since Feb 28. But nothing on my portal yet.

[jaliren]

16 minutes ago, mwmwmw121212 said:

I’m not that invested at this point, but more just curious/amused what the deal with Harvard decisions (ie the remaining rejections) is? Also, I’m broadly interested in the strategic, game-theoretic angle to admissions decisions that someone alluded to earlier.  
 

I understand why some non-top-ranked places would release rejections later, but it seems like some top schools like Stanford and Princeton just went ahead and released rejections alongside admits. And then some that are lower ranked than these three schools sent rejections alongside admits too. 
 

I'm equally confused by this. I've got three more schools other than Harvard that fit into this category -- and I am pretty invested still, as nearly every one would be preferable to my current best option if I got in haha. 

[polisci001]

Adding to the confusion for Harvard: given my deadline to reply to another offer, I  emailed again the DGS administrator who had previously told me that decisions would come out last Friday. He replied within minutes on Sunday evening (GMT) saying that the DGS was sending out decisions “just now” and informed me that I was rejected. I’m very grateful he replied to my emails and told me the outcome (plus he was very nice) but why insist on decisions being officially sent out even though that was obviously not true?

 

1 hour ago, mwmwmw121212 said:

I’m not that invested at this point, but more just curious/amused what the deal with Harvard decisions (ie the remaining rejections) is? Also, I’m broadly interested in the strategic, game-theoretic angle to admissions decisions that someone alluded to earlier.  
 

I understand why some non-top-ranked places would release rejections later, but it seems like some top schools like Stanford and Princeton just went ahead and released rejections alongside admits. And then some that are lower ranked than these three schools sent rejections alongside admits too. 
 

 

47 minutes ago, jaliren said:

I'm equally confused by this. I've got three more schools other than Harvard that fit into this category -- and I am pretty invested still, as nearly every one would be preferable to my current best option if I got in haha. 

 

[jaliren]

3 hours ago, polisci001 said:

Adding to the confusion for Harvard: given my deadline to reply to another offer, I  emailed again the DGS administrator who had previously told me that decisions would come out last Friday. He replied within minutes on Sunday evening (GMT) saying that the DGS was sending out decisions “just now” and informed me that I was rejected. I’m very grateful he replied to my emails and told me the outcome (plus he was very nice) but why insist on decisions being officially sent out even though that was obviously not true?

 

 

 

Yeah, that is strange. I don't see the rationale.

On a slightly different note, is anyone else still waiting to hear from Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, and/or Penn? It would be so nice to be able to cross those off my pending application list—but they seem to be slowrolling all their decisions. 

[polisci001]

First and thankfully last PhD cycle is finally over! Final tally: 5 acceptances (Oxford, LSE, UCL, Princeton, Yale) and 5 rejections (Berkeley, Stanford, Michigan, Harvard, MIT).
 

Will almost certainly be giving up spots at LSE, UCL, and Yale (CP), but very undecided between Oxford and Princeton. 

 

Best of luck everyone!

[smoothoperator77]

6 minutes ago, polisci001 said:

First and thankfully last PhD cycle is finally over! Final tally: 5 acceptances (Oxford, LSE, UCL, Princeton, Yale) and 5 rejections (Berkeley, Stanford, Michigan, Harvard, MIT).
 

Will almost certainly be giving up spots at LSE, UCL, and Yale (CP), but very undecided between Oxford and Princeton. 

 

Best of luck everyone!

Congrats on the big win here! 

[jaliren]

11 minutes ago, polisci001 said:

First and thankfully last PhD cycle is finally over! Final tally: 5 acceptances (Oxford, LSE, UCL, Princeton, Yale) and 5 rejections (Berkeley, Stanford, Michigan, Harvard, MIT).
 

Will almost certainly be giving up spots at LSE, UCL, and Yale (CP), but very undecided between Oxford and Princeton. 

 

Best of luck everyone!

Huge congrats, those are awesome results! 

[PolSciComp]

Hi everyone. Anyone here who received offer from University of Texas at Austin Political Science PhD program? I am asking for my friend who has been waitlisted there and he wonder how many students the Department admitted for Comparative politics. He tries to make a guess whether he still has a chance. Any information for him would be useful 🙂

[edwardsaid]

Claiming an R from Harvard! Finally concluding this tough cycle: 0A/1WL/9R.

Congrats to those who got into their desired programs! Looks like I’ll be preparing another round of applications next cycle. Does anyone have any advice on how to approach it the second time? I’m planning to ask each adcom on feedback; would love some suggestions on how to go about this 🙂. Thank you!

[PolSciComp]

1 hour ago, edwardsaid said:

Claiming an R from Harvard! Finally concluding this tough cycle: 0A/1WL/9R.

Congrats to those who got into their desired programs! Looks like I’ll be preparing another round of applications next cycle. Does anyone have any advice on how to approach it the second time? I’m planning to ask each adcom on feedback; would love some suggestions on how to go about this 🙂. Thank you!

But you were being waitlisted at Stanford University, right? I hope you can get admitted there.

[edwardsaid]

29 minutes ago, PolSciComp said:

But you were being waitlisted at Stanford University, right? I hope you can get admitted there.

Yes, I’m being waitlisted there but again it’s Stanford… I’m not betting on me getting off unless something miraculous happens 🙏

[polisciad]

Any update on Georgetown? Have they declared the date for their admitted student open house? Really confused as they haven't sent out all the decisions, but already completed RSVP for the open house. 

[jaliren]

41 minutes ago, polisciad said:

Any update on Georgetown? Have they declared the date for their admitted student open house? Really confused as they haven't sent out all the decisions, but already completed RSVP for the open house. 

On the results page, there was an admitted student who mentioned that they thought that all acceptances were out already and that they thought those who hadn't heard back could safely assume rejections at this point. I'm in the same boat with my decision still pending, but I don't have high hopes. 

[PolSciComp]

Hi everyone. Does anyone know when or whether University of Pittsburgh would start sending its offers for its PhD program?

[poliscicomp84]

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to check if anyone has any updates on WashU's admissions process.

I saw four acceptances in early February, a series of waitlist notifications in mid-February, and then two late acceptances.

I know it's best to assume I've been rejected since I haven't heard anything so far, but I wanted to see if anyone has any thoughts on this situation. Are they just slow in sending out rejection emails, or is there another explanation?