PoliSci27 Posted February 21, 2012 Posted February 21, 2012 Well, if it's any consolation, that's how I felt last year. As I've said a couple times on this forum, don't let not getting in discourage you, because so many people on this forum had that experience and are now being admitted to programs. In any event, LSE's a nice place, and I'm sure you'll enjoy your MSc there! I also hear they do a great job placing their students in Ph.D programs. I'm amazed at the ability that you and others had to go through this terrible process more than once. I'm lucky to have one acceptance under my belt in this cycle. I don't think I could do it again (and I have no clue what I'd do in the intervening year).
balledematch Posted February 21, 2012 Posted February 21, 2012 Well, if it's any consolation, that's how I felt last year. As I've said a couple times on this forum, don't let not getting in discourage you, because so many people on this forum had that experience and are now being admitted to programs. In any event, LSE's a nice place, and I'm sure you'll enjoy your MSc there! I also hear they do a great job placing their students in Ph.D programs. Thanks for the kind words. I'm excited about the MSc, and the opportunity to live in London for a year. I'm just feeling the usual angst, I'm sure
Adornopolisci2012 Posted February 21, 2012 Posted February 21, 2012 Anyone going to claim the Rutgers admit from the survey? I second this emotion.
Secret Squirrel Posted February 21, 2012 Posted February 21, 2012 Well, no Princeton for me. Harvard or Berkeley or I'm out of the running.
balderdash Posted February 21, 2012 Author Posted February 21, 2012 Thanks for the kind words. I'm excited about the MSc, and the opportunity to live in London for a year. I'm just feeling the usual angst, I'm sure London rocks, and LSE is a great place. Be sure to take advantage of the University of London library in Russell Square, near SOAS.
Anonymouse Bosch Posted February 21, 2012 Posted February 21, 2012 (edited) SCENARIO: I received an informal admissions email from a POI and have been driven mad by its informality. I read the email about 4 times a day to confirm that it is real (and addressed to me) and I check my mailbox roughly 3 times a day (yes... this is illogical as mail is only delivered once a day) to see if the official offer has arrived by horse and buggy (snail mail is too kind a description of Canada Post). THOUGHT: This school could save me a lot of gut-clenching anxiety if they spent some of my application fee (or the fees of the 600-odd other people who applied) to fedex this darn letter to my house. CONCLUSION: I will not believe that this is real (and not some anxiety-hallucination) until a shiny letter appears in my mailbox.... maybe I should go check for one now... You should arrange for a phone call from the Director of Grad services, it really helps! Some DGS are so on the ball they even have skype. A nice little face to face really went a long way to a) taking away some concerns I might have had about uprooting and moving. b ) Makes it feel really REAL. Like picturing myself there in the near future. stupid emoticons... I just want to say b ) but it turns it into a Edited February 21, 2012 by Anonymouse Bosch
saltlakecity2012 Posted February 21, 2012 Posted February 21, 2012 (edited) I see that one brave soul reached out to Yale for his/her admissions decision... I'm wondering whether I can summon the courage to do the same with Berkeley and Yale, and thereby obtain some closure! Edited February 21, 2012 by saltlakecity2012
RWBG Posted February 21, 2012 Posted February 21, 2012 Don't forget, if your cycle ends, post your SOP! Help future applicants, especially those here who'll be back again next year; I know after last cycle, I wished more people had posted stuff. AuldReekie, TicToc. and gradcafe26 3
saltlakecity2012 Posted February 21, 2012 Posted February 21, 2012 Okay - for all you anxiously awaiting Berkeley: just spoke to Janet Newhall, who said that the majority of acceptance offers have already been made, but that there is "a group in the middle" whose fate has not been decided yet. No clue on the size of this group, or when the crystal ball may clear up. So, no information can be released. All decisions (including rejections) will be sent by next Wednesday (I know, torture...). WorldMan and adaptations 1 1
kolja00 Posted February 21, 2012 Posted February 21, 2012 So I guess those Berkeley acceptances were real on the results page.
saltlakecity2012 Posted February 21, 2012 Posted February 21, 2012 So I guess those Berkeley acceptances were real on the results page. Looks like it. Congrats to all of them! WorldMan 1
puddle Posted February 21, 2012 Posted February 21, 2012 You should arrange for a phone call from the Director of Grad services, it really helps! Some DGS are so on the ball they even have skype. A nice little face to face really went a long way to a) taking away some concerns I might have had about uprooting and moving. b ) Makes it feel really REAL. Like picturing myself there in the near future. stupid emoticons... I just want to say b ) but it turns it into a I hate that emoticon too... I will be speaking with the prof. who contacted me (a POI ... if that stands for POtential advIsor...) later this week when she returns from an exotic foreign land. Until then I will just stew in my anxiety and luxuriate in a general feeling of benevolence and love for everyone and everything (even if it does not feel real, it feels pretty damn good!). Anonymouse Bosch 1
kolja00 Posted February 21, 2012 Posted February 21, 2012 I emailed one of my POI's at Berkeley and he said that admissions decisions have mostly been made and they were sent to the Dean for approval by the university.
balderdash Posted February 22, 2012 Author Posted February 22, 2012 I have to say, I'm surprised Princeton didn't throw me a bone. I don't mean that to be arrogant - Princeton's incredibly competitive, and getting waitlisted one year doesn't imply an acceptance the next - but I guess either the crop of Africanists improved markedly this year or the evolution of my SOP moved my interests away from what they wanted. I truly thought that it was better tailored to the school this year, and there's no doubt my profile improved, so I guess I just wasn't as competitive relative to new applicants. Anyway, looks like the cycle is just about wrapped up for me. All of the schools for which I'm currently waiting have sent out their admits, so now I can only hope that I'm lagging behind because they're waiting to approve me for a massive fellowship. Since that seems a slim possibility, I've only now to choose between UCLA and Madison. Once everything's official, I'll contribute to the SOP thread. I encourage all others to do the same. Eudaimonia and CooCooCachoo 1 1
rogerfed Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 Lets hope that those who are not rejected by Northwestern are in the waitlist group.
3221 Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 Also waitlisted at Princeton for Comparative/IR.
Max Power Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 I'm still waiting to hear from 3 schools (berkeley, harvard and caltech), is it too soon to post my info in the profiles/results thread? is there any penalty if i don't wait? any benefit to waiting?
kolja00 Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 I'm still waiting to hear from 3 schools (berkeley, harvard and caltech), is it too soon to post my info in the profiles/results thread? is there any penalty if i don't wait? any benefit to waiting? I'm still waiting and I posted mine. I can't imagine any penalty?? WorldMan and TicToc. 2
Max Power Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 I'm still waiting and I posted mine. I can't imagine any penalty?? fair enough. time to see how much personal and identifying information i need to strip from my SOP. also, to get over the embarrassment of having to post my undergraduate GPA in this forum
balthasar Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 Soooooooo.....NU, UVA, UPenn? I e-mailed UVA. They said they had a rolling process, that they made some offers and will do some more. So UVA hopefuls may continue to be hopeful.
kem140 Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 Soooooooo.....NU, UVA, UPenn? Spoke to Courtney at NU and she said that admissions were rolling. Acceptances and rejections have gone out but not all acceptance, wait list, rejections have gone out. She said they will make all decisions by the end of the week--here's hoping that is true. On another note--anyone have any more info about Indiana? Last week I was told they would send out all decisions by early this week and it is now midweek...
kolja00 Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 Anyone on the board claim a Berkeley admit yet? Dying here, sorry Im so obsessive over this guys haha.
Max Power Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 i think there have been a few berkeley claims in the last few weeks but i'm entirely too lazy to go back and check
RWBG Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 I have to say, I'm surprised Princeton didn't throw me a bone. I don't mean that to be arrogant - Princeton's incredibly competitive, and getting waitlisted one year doesn't imply an acceptance the next - but I guess either the crop of Africanists improved markedly this year or the evolution of my SOP moved my interests away from what they wanted. I truly thought that it was better tailored to the school this year, and there's no doubt my profile improved, so I guess I just wasn't as competitive relative to new applicants. Anyway, looks like the cycle is just about wrapped up for me. All of the schools for which I'm currently waiting have sent out their admits, so now I can only hope that I'm lagging behind because they're waiting to approve me for a massive fellowship. Since that seems a slim possibility, I've only now to choose between UCLA and Madison. Once everything's official, I'll contribute to the SOP thread. I encourage all others to do the same. I think it's a mistake to look at admissions decisions as having any level of consistency. It's not that you're less competitive relative to the other Africanists than last year, it's that when you have an entirely different group of people evaluating you, what's "competitive" changes significantly. It's quite possible that if you had applied with you application from today to last year's committee, you would have been admitted.
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