Pol Sci 2024-25 / Waitlisted Candidates

[brzher]

26 minutes ago, smoothoperator77 said:

I got an email from the DGS. Yeah I think all decisions were already out. Where did you accept? 

UMN (my top choice from the start)

[smoothoperator77]

9 minutes ago, brzher said:

UMN (my top choice from the start)

That's great! Congratulations. 

[jaliren]

Is it the impression of others that in the case of schools that haven't sent a decision yet, we may be unofficially waitlisted? I am thinking that certain schools like to send out an initial batch of acceptances, wait to see who accepts/rejects, then send out another wave later to lower-ranked candidates. The reason they may not officially place applicants on a waitlist is that it could negatively color their perception of the school—they may believe that waitlisted applicants will in the meantime start to develop a more positive opinion of other schools that they believe are more interested in them, and therefore refrain from actually doing a real waitlist. 

Does this (admittedly entirely speculative) theory sound reasonable to other people? Maybe I'm just deluding myself haha 

[PolSciComp]

2 hours ago, jaliren said:

Is it the impression of others that in the case of schools that haven't sent a decision yet, we may be unofficially waitlisted? I am thinking that certain schools like to send out an initial batch of acceptances, wait to see who accepts/rejects, then send out another wave later to lower-ranked candidates. The reason they may not officially place applicants on a waitlist is that it could negatively color their perception of the school—they may believe that waitlisted applicants will in the meantime start to develop a more positive opinion of other schools that they believe are more interested in them, and therefore refrain from actually doing a real waitlist. 

Does this (admittedly entirely speculative) theory sound reasonable to other people? Maybe I'm just deluding myself haha 

During my previous application cycle, I had been waitlisted at City University of New York(CUNY) but i could learn this only after sending them multiple emails during the first week of March at that time, I had thought that they forgot reviewing my application 🙂 They had replied that they were looking options whether they could extend further offers.

Hence, there is a possibility that you have been waitlisted if schools still do not respond to you.

[OP4599]

Just an observation- see two acceptances for Stanford and Wisconsin posted today. two schools that had sent initial acceptances earlier. I wonder if these were acceptances off the waitlist. I did not apply there but if these were waitlists getting converted to an offer, it gives much more hope to everyone here.

[01anonymous]

 

16 hours ago, Omkar Poojari said:

Just an observation- see two acceptances for Stanford and Wisconsin posted today. two schools that had sent initial acceptances earlier. I wonder if these were acceptances off the waitlist. I did not apply there but if these were waitlists getting converted to an offer, it gives much more hope to everyone here.

Saw the same about the University of Michigan just now. I am wondering if they just put the date wrong or were actually accepted off the waitlist (seems early for this). The comment just says '123' for reference. 

[OP4599]

No clue, maybe drop a comment?

[OP4599]

Not sure if this has been asked before and I apologise if it has been but do programs normally wait till April 15 to admit students off the waitlist? So, if a few people from their initial list decline earlier- in March- would they move people on the waitlist in some days or wait till the April 15 deadline?

Could things differ this year?

Edited March 10 by Omkar Poojari

[01anonymous]

On 3/10/2025 at 9:51 AM, Omkar Poojari said:

Not sure if this has been asked before and I apologise if it has been but do programs normally wait till April 15 to admit students off the waitlist? So, if a few people from their initial list decline earlier- in March- would they move people on the waitlist in some days or wait till the April 15 deadline?

Could things differ this year?

Hi Omkar,

I was waiting for someone else to take a jab at this because of knowing quite little and being on the same boat as everyone else here, but here's my take - I think, at this point, it depends on how soon other people reject their offers. Say over 50 percent of people reject their offers post admit day or by the first week of April, they might move to the waitlist sooner than anticipated and probably have a decision before 15 April. However, for a lot of schools, people may hold their offers till the last minute and sometimes not even reject them until 15 April when the schools assume an automatic rejection. I think the wait could really vary from school to school and department to department. What worries me more, is the funding cuts, which are causing schools to admit less and less people which might mean that they may not move to waitlists and that is kind of scary. 

[OP4599]

54 minutes ago, 01anonymous said:

Hi Omkar,

I was waiting for someone else to take a jab at this because of knowing quite little and being on the same boat as everyone else here, but here's my take - I think, at this point, it depends on how soon other people reject their offers. Say over 50 percent of people reject their offers post admit day or by the first week of April, they might move to the waitlist sooner than anticipated and probably have a decision before 15 April. However, for a lot of schools, people may hold their offers till the last minute and sometimes not even reject them until 15 April when the schools assume an automatic rejection. I think the wait could really vary from school to school and department to department. What worries me more, is the funding cuts, which are causing schools to admit less and less people which might mean that they may not move to waitlists and that is kind of scary. 

Hi!

Yeah. I second that- the fear is if they would actually get into the waitlists this year. But on the brighter side, I think most schools have not over admitted or admitted fewer than usual students in the initial round this year. Possibly this could mean some more chances for those on the waitlist. This is my guess based on the place where I've been waitlisted. I know they don't target more than 2-3 people for my subfield and I only know 3 offers being made. At max, I am assuming they made 5 offers - so 1-2 more admits. Again, all this is my guess.

[jaliren]

To others on waitlists, are you planning to reach out to inquire about your status at any point? Or is it better just to assume that if there is a place, they will reach out to you? 

[smoothoperator77]

3 hours ago, jaliren said:

To others on waitlists, are you planning to reach out to inquire about your status at any point? Or is it better just to assume that if there is a place, they will reach out to you? 

I've reached out to them to confirm my strong interest in early March and will contact them again in late March. But I don't think most schools will have an idea about the chances of waitlists before April or even the second week of April. So I guess it's up to us.

[01anonymous]

I reached out yesterday, and they said they have no updates yet. This was the Graduate Program Coordinator. I am expecting more things to move post the admit day and honestly only by the first week of April.

[jaliren]

I just sent an email to reiterate my interest—I was going back and forth about whether or not it was a good idea. Hopefully it doesn't hurt at least. But I doubt it has much of an impact either way. 

[smoothoperator77]

I think it 100% won't hurt as long as we keep it discretely and humbly. I mean, it should be only normal that we feel excited and look forward to being in good programs that are still interested in us. But yeah, I doubt it impacts their decisions much. I think our ranking on the waitlist is already set either way, so it should be solely dependent on whether there would be a spot opening up. But I also think not expressing interest is inappropriate because if they are ever going to make offers off of the waitlist, they need to know that this decision is worth it and that they give it to someone who would cherish this opportunity.  

[OP4599]

I think it is okay to exchange 2-3 emails from the time you are waitlisted to the April 15 deadline. (So about one email in a month should not harm.)

[jaliren]

FYI -- I reached out about my waitlist status and was informed that the department was instructed by the university not to accept any students off the waitlist, regardless of how many of their original offers was accepted. This was at George Washington University, which is one of the schools that is being targeted by the Trump administration. I was told that it is possible but very unlikely that this policy will change.

I'm going to go ahead and accept my existing offer elsewhere at this point, but I thought this information might be helpful for others. I don't think I would have known without having reached out via email. 

[smoothoperator77]

41 minutes ago, jaliren said:

FYI -- I reached out about my waitlist status and was informed that the department was instructed by the university not to accept any students off the waitlist, regardless of how many of their original offers was accepted. This was at George Washington University, which is one of the schools that is being targeted by the Trump administration. I was told that it is possible but very unlikely that this policy will change.

I'm going to go ahead and accept my existing offer elsewhere at this point, but I thought this information might be helpful for others. I don't think I would have known without having reached out via email. 

The situation we are facing as possible future scholars in academia is so ridiculous….

Edited March 14 by smoothoperator77

[01anonymous]

3 hours ago, jaliren said:

FYI -- I reached out about my waitlist status and was informed that the department was instructed by the university not to accept any students off the waitlist, regardless of how many of their original offers was accepted. This was at George Washington University, which is one of the schools that is being targeted by the Trump administration. I was told that it is possible but very unlikely that this policy will change.

I'm going to go ahead and accept my existing offer elsewhere at this point, but I thought this information might be helpful for others. I don't think I would have known without having reached out via email. 

This is heartbreaking to hear for me. I really need my waitlist to work out. I am so sorry, I hope you have a place of your choice to go to!

[jaliren]

27 minutes ago, 01anonymous said:

This is heartbreaking to hear for me. I really need my waitlist to work out. I am so sorry, I hope you have a place of your choice to go to!

Thanks—it's luckily not too bad for me, as I was pretty 50/50 between the two schools. So I'm happy with the offer I accepted. But hopefully this is not the norm across schools—wishing you the best. 

[OP4599]

Anyone here who is on the Brown WL? Or anyone who got an offer and accepted/rejected at Brown?

[OP4599]

Has anyone here been offered an acceptance from a WL? Or knows someone who moved off a WL?

It is looking very bleak now..

[01anonymous]

Guys how are we feeling? I know admit days are mostly done by next week, so if we are meant to go somewhere we should hear soon! I am really praying they can tell us sooner rather than later one way or another. The rescinding offers is really scaring me a lot. Everyday a different university, a different department. In the meanwhile, I am thinking of accepting an offer by Monday/Tuesday. Also, does anyone know how many people out of those who attend admit day actually accept on an average?

Edited March 22 by 01anonymous

[A Dalek]

4 hours ago, 01anonymous said:

Guys how are we feeling? I know admit days are mostly done by next week, so if we are meant to go somewhere we should hear soon! I am really praying they can tell us sooner rather than later one way or another. The rescinding offers is really scaring me a lot. Everyday a different university, a different department. In the meanwhile, I am thinking of accepting an offer by Monday/Tuesday. Also, does anyone know how many people out of those who attend admit day actually accept on an average?

About half. Not many departments are going to the waiting list this year though.

[OP4599]

16 hours ago, A Dalek said:

About half. Not many departments are going to the waiting list this year though.

Thanks for the insight. Is it fair to assume that even among the few school that might use a waitlist- the chances of a school that has not over admitted is more likely to go to the waitlist?