2026-2027 Application Thread

[Lorne Malvo]

5 minutes ago, PoliSci2026 said:

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?

We know that UW-Madison reduced their cohort size, WashU won't have a cohort this year, and I remember seeing couple programs not enrolling anyone in the theory subfield 

[awakecat]

1 hour ago, Lorne Malvo said:

We know that UW-Madison reduced their cohort size, WashU won't have a cohort this year, and I remember seeing couple programs not enrolling anyone in the theory subfield 

Some news articles report that the grad schools at Harvard, Columbia, and UPenn will/may have smaller cohort sizes than in the pre-2025 cycles. 

Edited January 30 by awakecat

[ComparativeScholar]

Anyone here who received admission from University of İllinois urbana-champaign Phd program; especially for Comparative Politics?

[PeculiarTheory]

Hello! I was wondering if anyone has heard back from the following universities' MA programs in Comparative Politics/Political Theory? It has been a bit difficult to find anything (I presume because it might still be too early for some, and that most graduate admission posts/forums are regarding phD programs) : 

- Columbia University (USA)

- University of California Berkley (USA)

- University of Toronto (CAN)

- McGill University (CAN)

- University of British Columbia (CAN)

 

[ComparativeScholar]

18 hours ago, PeculiarTheory said:

Hello! I was wondering if anyone has heard back from the following universities' MA programs in Comparative Politics/Political Theory? It has been a bit difficult to find anything (I presume because it might still be too early for some, and that most graduate admission posts/forums are regarding phD programs) : 

- Columbia University (USA)

- University of California Berkley (USA)

- University of Toronto (CAN)

- McGill University (CAN)

- University of British Columbia (CAN)

 

I think they tend to announce their decisions for MA programs around mid or late March; as far as I remember.

[Elation]

I can't update the spreadsheet for whatever reason, but I just got a rejection in the portal from Brown! Too bad. 

[Polisci882]

Hi everyone, I'm a current PhD student in the Government department at Cornell, in case anyone applied to Cornell this cycle. We are shaping up to have a very, very selective admit cycle this year. I share these numbers to provide helpful context and to help manage expectations. Our department received a record number of applications this year (close to 600), but the number of students that will be admitted is a little lower than usual because of funding and things of that sort. I've been told the admit rate will be a low single digit number and certainly below 5%. 

[PoliSci2026]

I just saw in my University of Maryland (College Park) portal that my application status changed from "Under Program Review" to "Under Grad School Review". Any idea what it means? If it even means anything at all?

 

11 hours ago, Elation said:

I can't update the spreadsheet for whatever reason, but I just got a rejection in the portal from Brown! Too bad. 

btw, about Brown, same here

[IRpolsci21]

2 hours ago, Polisci882 said:

Hi everyone, I'm a current PhD student in the Government department at Cornell, in case anyone applied to Cornell this cycle. We are shaping up to have a very, very selective admit cycle this year. I share these numbers to provide helpful context and to help manage expectations. Our department received a record number of applications this year (close to 600), but the number of students that will be admitted is a little lower than usual because of funding and things of that sort. I've been told the admit rate will be a low single digit number and certainly below 5%. 

Thanks for this. Do you know when they plan to send out decisions?

[Senochka]

@PoliSci2026 Hi! I do not want to give you false hope, but you may cautiously interpret this as a positive sign. So, most graduate admissions committees are actually "bicameral", haha, dry jokes aside, there is either a prelim. faculty committee that reviews applications first based on their general merit, and sends a shortlist to the academics who are available for supervision that year. Alternatively, a select committee from the faculty, still mostly involving but not exclusive to members available for supervision, reads applications and comes up with a shortlist. Then, this shortlist is sent to the graduate school's approval. Based on budgetary considerations and a multitude of other factors, the graduate school either accepts the list as is, or sends it back for further trimming. Now, the reason I am saying "false hope" is that, in the current environment, those lists are trimmed a good deal. But, you can at least interpret this as a silent waitlist, and be content that the game is still on for you. Hope you get good news soon! 

Edited February 3 by Senochka

[brumingdales]

On 1/30/2026 at 12:38 PM, Lorne Malvo said:

We know that UW-Madison reduced their cohort size, WashU won't have a cohort this year, and I remember seeing couple programs not enrolling anyone in the theory subfield 

which programs aren't enrolling theory?

[Lorne Malvo]

2 hours ago, Polisci882 said:

Hi everyone, I'm a current PhD student in the Government department at Cornell, in case anyone applied to Cornell this cycle. We are shaping up to have a very, very selective admit cycle this year. I share these numbers to provide helpful context and to help manage expectations. Our department received a record number of applications this year (close to 600), but the number of students that will be admitted is a little lower than usual because of funding and things of that sort. I've been told the admit rate will be a low single digit number and certainly below 5%. 

 

[Polisci882]

53 minutes ago, IRpolsci21 said:

Thanks for this. Do you know when they plan to send out decisions?

It is usually around February 19th or 20th. The decisions will almost certainly be out by late February. 

[PoliSci2026]

57 minutes ago, Senochka said:

@PoliSci2026 Hi! I do not want to give you false hope, but you may cautiously interpret this as a positive sign. So, most graduate admissions committees are actually "bicameral", haha, dry jokes aside, there is either a prelim. faculty committee that reviews applications first based on their general merit, and sends a shortlist to the academics who are available for supervision that year. Alternatively, a select committee from the faculty, still mostly involving but not exclusive to members available for supervision, reads applications and comes up with a shortlist. Then, this shortlist is sent to the graduate school's approval. Based on budgetary considerations and a multitude of other factors, the graduate school either accepts the list as is, or sends it back for further trimming. Now, the reason I am saying "false hope" is that, in the current environment, those lists are trimmed a good deal. But, you can at least interpret this as a silent waitlist, and be content that the game is still on for you. Hope you get good news soon! 

It's good to hear! Thanks a lot for the explanation

Edited February 3 by PoliSci2026

[ComparativeScholar]

15 hours ago, Polisci882 said:

Hi everyone, I'm a current PhD student in the Government department at Cornell, in case anyone applied to Cornell this cycle. We are shaping up to have a very, very selective admit cycle this year. I share these numbers to provide helpful context and to help manage expectations. Our department received a record number of applications this year (close to 600), but the number of students that will be admitted is a little lower than usual because of funding and things of that sort. I've been told the admit rate will be a low single digit number and certainly below 5%. 

It seems that it was a wise decision for me to not apply for Brown University 🙂

[ComparativeScholar]

Hi everyone. I have one question especially for American applicants: I have been seeing many posts from applicants whose both Undergraduate and MA Program GPAs are 4.0; or applicants whose Undergraduate GPAs are around 3.90-4.00.

I am coming from a country wherein there is significant degree of grade deflation and graduating with almost full GPAs is not even possible in my home country. Do you have any idea on how admission committees evaluate these? Do you think they also take these country-specific factors into account or do they not too much focus on overall GPA?

[Lorne Malvo]

Someone reported an acceptance from Vanderbilt. Any news? Is it over or do they send acceptances in batches 

[ComparativeScholar]

1 hour ago, Lorne Malvo said:

Someone reported an acceptance from Vanderbilt. Any news? Is it over or do they send acceptances in batches 

I also wait response from them but I don't think that they send their results in batches.

[Lorne Malvo]

1 minute ago, ComparativeScholar said:

I also wait response from them but I don't think that they send their results in batches.

Looks like game's over for us  . Their placement is not that strong but the faculty fit was great and the program is not hyper competitive. Really bummed about this 

[ComparativeScholar]

17 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said:

Looks like game's over for us  . Their placement is not that strong but the faculty fit was great and the program is not hyper competitive. Really bummed about this 

Yes, you are right. I did apply there for Comparative Politics; particularly for voter behavior but I realized that the faculty predominantly focuses on Latin American Politics. It does not look like super competitive but it seems that it is more competitive than my guess.

I saw one acceptance for Vanderbilt; from an American student who has around 3.96 Undergraduate GPA but other than that; I didnt see any acceptance posts.

 

[PoliSci2026]

12 hours ago, ComparativeScholar said:

Hi everyone. I have one question especially for American applicants: I have been seeing many posts from applicants whose both Undergraduate and MA Program GPAs are 4.0; or applicants whose Undergraduate GPAs are around 3.90-4.00.

I am coming from a country wherein there is significant degree of grade deflation and graduating with almost full GPAs is not even possible in my home country. Do you have any idea on how admission committees evaluate these? Do you think they also take these country-specific factors into account or do they not too much focus on overall GPA?

I think that if you're from a country from which many people tend to apply to US universities, they are probably aware of this fact.

I can tell you that I'm from a country where it's exactly the opposite - we're on a 0-100 scale, and when converting to the American scale, it's super easy to reach 3.9+ GPA. I thought my high GPA would help me, but when I spoke with an American professor who is a family friend, he told me something along the lines of "everyone knows that in your country it's easy to get high grades" so basically no one cares that I come with high grades, I need more impressive achievements.

So I guess you're on the other side of the same coin - there is a chance they know what you're describing and taking it into account.

[awakecat]

Do you guys think acceptances/waitlists/rejections will come earlier or later than last year due to funding constraints/risks some departments are facing?

[ComparativeScholar]

2 hours ago, awakecat said:

Do you guys think acceptances/waitlists/rejections will come earlier or later than last year due to funding constraints/risks some departments are facing?

I think that is possible; but for some Universities I assume usual timeline.

[ComparativeScholar]

Hi everyone. Anyone who received admission from University of California, Davis? I am International applicant and my application status is now Waitlisted; I wonder whether there is any applicant who could receive offer from UC Davis.

[PoliSci2026]

In the rejection letter from UMD (which seems like a template email) they wrote to me: "The Graduate School relies on graduate programs to evaluate applications and make admission recommendations. Should you have any questions about this decision, please contact the Doctor of Philosophy program in Government and Politics to which you applied."

 

Do you think it means they may be willing to provide a feedback on the application, if I ask them? So I can learn what went wrong? Or is there another reason they wrote it and it's not an invitation to ask for feedback?