ComparativeScholar Posted January 22 Posted January 22 6 hours ago, brumingdales said: I saw on the spread that all offers have been made for wash u st l. is this true? I haven't heard anything yet... Probably you might assume waitlist or rejection:/
ComparativeScholar Posted January 22 Posted January 22 Hi everyone. I saw two posts that George Washington University sent applicants email that they stopped enrollment for Fall 2026 PhD program; anyone who received similar message from them?
lilia0913 Posted January 22 Posted January 22 12 minutes ago, ComparativeScholar said: Hi everyone. I saw two posts that George Washington University sent applicants email that they stopped enrollment for Fall 2026 PhD program; anyone who received similar message from them? 大家好。我看到两篇帖子说乔治·华盛顿大学给申请者发邮件说他们停止了2026年秋季博士项目的招生；有人收到过类似的邮件吗？ Yes, I received that. Worse than a rejection letter.
ComparativeScholar Posted January 22 Posted January 22 25 minutes ago, lilia0913 said: Yes, I received that. Worse than a rejection letter. I assume this is due to funding issues
PoliSci2026 Posted January 22 Posted January 22 (edited) 12 hours ago, ComparativeScholar said: Hi everyone. I saw two posts that George Washington University sent applicants email that they stopped enrollment for Fall 2026 PhD program; anyone who received similar message from them? 12 hours ago, lilia0913 said: Yes, I received that. Worse than a rejection letter. Yes I also received this email, they said they aren't taking any new PhD students to Political Science this year I don't understand why they waited so long to give this notification... I know some schools (like SAIS) decided in advance they're not taking new PhD students this year, seems so much more fair... Edited January 22 by PoliSci2026
Lorne Malvo Posted January 22 Posted January 22 Looks like Wisconsin-Madison acceptance offers are out, didn't get any email or notification. Is this it or is there a chance they will send out more acceptances? AP Subfield
PoliSci2026 Posted January 22 Posted January 22 5 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said: Looks like Wisconsin-Madison acceptance offers are out, didn't get any email or notification. Is this it or is there a chance they will send out more acceptances? AP Subfield I was wondering that too, I'm IR subfield. I saw some interviews and acceptances are out, but I didn't hear anything from them (and actually thought it was a great fit)
Lorne Malvo Posted January 22 Posted January 22 Just now, PoliSci2026 said: I was wondering that too, I'm IR subfield. I saw some interviews and acceptances are out, but I didn't hear anything from them (and actually thought it was a great fit) yeah, grad cafe reports from previous years show a clear pattern: all acceptances first, all rejections couple days later. Still, there are cases when people got their offers couple days later than everyone else but the chances are we both won't be going to Madison this year
PoliSciAm1512 Posted January 22 Posted January 22 UW-Madison sent out all acceptances and waitlists yesterday. They are decreasing the size of their cohort by a bit this year and implementing a waitlist to help facilitate that.
Lorne Malvo Posted January 22 Posted January 22 26 minutes ago, PoliSciAm1512 said: UW-Madison sent out all acceptances and waitlists yesterday. They are decreasing the size of their cohort by a bit this year and implementing a waitlist to help facilitate that. Mind me asking how you got this information? I don't see how you'd know whether they sent out all of their offers and what the actual cohort size is like unless you're member of the faculty
PoliSciAm1512 Posted January 22 Posted January 22 2 hours ago, Lorne Malvo said: Mind me asking how you got this information? I don't see how you'd know whether they sent out all of their offers and what the actual cohort size is like unless you're member of the faculty I'm in the department. ComparativeScholar 1
awakecat Posted January 22 Posted January 22 Does anyone know whether Berkeley sent out interviews for American Politics, or whether it requires interviews for all subfields? I’ve seen interviews for CP, IR, methods, and theory being posted.
smoothoperator77 Posted January 22 Posted January 22 5 hours ago, PoliSci2026 said: Yes I also received this email, they said they aren't taking any new PhD students to Political Science this year I don't understand why they waited so long to give this notification... I know some schools (like SAIS) decided in advance they're not taking new PhD students this year, seems so much more fair... They have been doing this for at least three years now. In the last two years, they would internally discuss the situation until this point or even later, to decide that they would drastically decrease their admitting cohort compared to the years before, without any alarm. Most likely, the process is essentially the political science department waiting for the university to decide on funding. In the last two years, they admitted 5 new students each, or some number around that, and apparently, this year it's 0. So I think they either have some funding problem as a university, or the university is strategically lowering the capacity of political science. lilia0913, ComparativeScholar and Jim VK 3
ComparativeScholar Posted January 23 Posted January 23 3 hours ago, smoothoperator77 said: They have been doing this for at least three years now. In the last two years, they would internally discuss the situation until this point or even later, to decide that they would drastically decrease their admitting cohort compared to the years before, without any alarm. Most likely, the process is essentially the political science department waiting for the university to decide on funding. In the last two years, they admitted 5 new students each, or some number around that, and apparently, this year it's 0. So I think they either have some funding problem as a university, or the university is strategically lowering the capacity of political science. I would attend to a workshop there tomorrow and I would ask this question to the department as well; as I live in DC area.
ComparativeScholar Posted January 23 Posted January 23 Anyone here who received offer from Washington University in St. Louis? I want to ask some questions.
PhDHopeful2026 Posted January 23 Posted January 23 I'm curious about whether it's taboo to email a program to ask for a status update if I've seen a bunch of people saying they've gotten responses? Or should I just sit and wait it out?
Lorne Malvo Posted January 23 Posted January 23 29 minutes ago, PhDHopeful2026 said: I'm curious about whether it's taboo to email a program to ask for a status update if I've seen a bunch of people saying they've gotten responses? Or should I just sit and wait it out? If you don't get an acceptance email and the acceptance offers are out, you're probably waitlisted or rejected. Programs send out results in batches, acceptances first, rejections couple days later
smoothoperator77 Posted January 23 Posted January 23 (edited) 2 hours ago, PhDHopeful2026 said: I'm curious about whether it's taboo to email a program to ask for a status update if I've seen a bunch of people saying they've gotten responses? Or should I just sit and wait it out? It's always okay to ask for status, only that it wouldn't make much difference other than easing the nerves. If you are considered, you will be contacted eventually; if not, it is just rejections waiting to be sent. There is one possibility that is worth checking, though, which is that sometimes people are on a tacit waitlist, or people are waitlisted but are not notified, but this is rare. In this case, they would likely confirm that you are on the waitlist if you ask them. Sometimes, some schools do not even send rejections for some, so in this case, an email asking for status actually serves the purpose of making sure that you do not need to wait for this to make decisions on your plan, but this would be more meaningful in March or April. Edited January 23 by smoothoperator77
ComparativeScholar Posted January 23 Posted January 23 22 hours ago, ComparativeScholar said: I would attend to a workshop there tomorrow and I would ask this question to the department as well; as I live in DC area. Hi everyone! I asked this today to some GW Professors and they responded that it is due to the budgetary limitations that Faculty and Department have been facing and in line with this, they had to stop enrollment for Fall 2026 😕
sesam9 Posted January 26 Posted January 26 I received a request for an informal interview from one of the professors I mentioned in my SOP. He clearly stated that this is not a formal interview and that he's not involved in the PhD admission decisions. To be honest, I’m not sure how to interpret this signal. Could it be that, as an international applicant, they want to talk before making any decision? Or maybe they are unsure about making an offer and want more information first? I’d really appreciate any thoughts or similar experiences.
ComparativeScholar Posted January 26 Posted January 26 3 hours ago, sesam9 said: I received a request for an informal interview from one of the professors I mentioned in my SOP. He clearly stated that this is not a formal interview and that he's not involved in the PhD admission decisions. To be honest, I’m not sure how to interpret this signal. Could it be that, as an international applicant, they want to talk before making any decision? Or maybe they are unsure about making an offer and want more information first? I’d really appreciate any thoughts or similar experiences. Firstly, I believe this is a good sign Most of the time, it is normal that professor who are not in the admission committees might have interviews with applicants. From which University did you receive this interview request?
ComparativeScholar Posted January 29 Posted January 29 Hi everyone. I saw acceptance posts for University of Virginia; are there any applicants who received admission offer for Comparative Politics from University of Virginia?
awakecat Posted January 30 Posted January 30 Has anyone heard about programs decreasing their cohort sizes this year? I had an interview where a professor said they were planning to admit only 1/3 of the number that they usually admit. I’m not sure how widespread this is across programs, though.
PoliSci2026 Posted January 30 Posted January 30 39 minutes ago, awakecat said: Has anyone heard about programs decreasing their cohort sizes this year? I had an interview where a professor said they were planning to admit only 1/3 of the number that they usually admit. I’m not sure how widespread this is across programs, though. During October-December, I heard that many programs expected to reduce their cohorts due to budget cuts and uncertainties stemming from the Trump administration, but I haven't heard of a program that said that for sure. It was the speculations of faculty members and stuff said vaguely in info sessions, nothing concrete. Does anyone know something more concrete about specific programs?
IRpolsci21 Posted January 30 Posted January 30 Just saw the one Northwestern waitlist. Was anyone else notified?
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