PoliSci 2008-2009 Cycle

[LeftCoast]

To those giving advice about funding, I was just offered by a school I would like to attend; TA or RA, typical stipend, health, etc.

Excited, but should I be concerned that the offer is only for 3 years? They say that other options will present themselves in years 4-5, but do I want to take them at their word so willingly?

I guess I should contact students within the program to get the real lowdown.

Any thoughts? Anyone have any experience with something like this?

PM if you want to know specifics before advising me.

Thanks.

Was this from UMass? I found out why I have not heard anything from them. Apparently, my transcripts from grad school were misplaced somewhere. This has been resolved so hopefully I will get some response from them soon.

[Luckige]

Does anyone know who should I contact in NYU to ask about my status? I've sent an email to GSAS admission office two days ago and until now I haven't heard from them.

I want closure!

EDIT: I guess no one is really concerned, but I got this useless automated response:

The Graduate School forwards your application to the department for consideration. The Graduate School does not provide the status of applications online, nor does it provide admissions decisions online, by email or by telephone. Applicants will be notified of all admission decisions by mail. The mailing of decisions varies by department. Most doctoral programs make their decisions in February and March. They arrange to have decisions mailed by mid- to late March. Master's and non-degree programs make their decisions at different times, beginning in late February.

Alas! those rejections on the results page were received by email.

[Wesson]

For people who were not admitted or were admitted without funding, I suggest that you consider applying to funded M.A. programs. Many mid-level public universities have these. In the Midwest, for instance, many of the MAC schools have such programs. You can get two years of funding to be a TA and work on your M.A. The benefits of doing this are 1) you can get a relatively quick and painless taste of graduate school, so you can find out if it really is for you; 2) you won't go deep into debt; 3) you can focus on getting a high GPA and on developing ties with faculty who can write letters for you, which will increase your odds when you apply again to Ph.D. programs; and 4) you can shave a bit of time off of the Ph.D. down the road. On #2, these programs tend not to pay nearly as well as the Ph.D. programs, but you're still getting free tuition and some sort of monthly stipend. On #4, coming in with the M.A. generally will only save you perhaps one semester, or maybe a tiny bit more, of coursework in the Ph.D. program. But that's something, plus you'll have a big leg up on the Ph.D. courses because you'll almost certainly take some in the Ph.D. program that are highly similar to ones you already had in your M.A. program. If you consider going this route, shop around and find out which programs have 1) faculty with ties to the Ph.D. programs that interest you, and 2) a track record for shipping their graduates off to get Ph.Ds.

[polisci09]

Also, regarding funding. To those of you who have been accepted to Indiana-Bloomington, has anyone heard anything about funding yet?

I called Bloomington on Monday. The graduate secretary, Ms. LaRoche, was lovely as always, but didn't know when funding would be decided ("soon" was the response). Apparently details need to be worked out with higher ups outside the ps department. She did say notifications would be delivered by email.

Regarding Penn State--did anyone else get an increase in their funding package recently?

[wishingandhoping]

Any UPenn admits doing comparative or IR giving up there spots for better offers?

[mdnicx42]

How about comparative people planning to turn down their UCLA offer or their Georgetown funding offer?

[chicagocat]

I'm comparative and accepted at UCLA, and I just informally turned down the offer w/ full funding. Have to wait until the status shows up on the website to decline fully, but they know I'm not coming or taking the fellowship.

[BigCheese]

anyone heard any news from georgetown? acceptance or rejections?

[LeftCoast]

Lots of Maryland results today. How about showing some PS decisions?

[poststructuralist]

Five languages (including Arabic), an HYP BA, publications, presentations and a research fellowship haven't made any impression so far. Really starting to question what it takes to get in and wondering if I was simply a wrong fit at a lot of my schools. I should add that I do not have a quant. background at all.

Sigh, I place the blame squarely on my own shoulders...I really should have done a lot more research into schools and this whole strange process before I started appying....

I'm in the same boat, although not quite as impressive of a pedigree as you. Good GRE's, non HYP Ivy BA with a double major in PoliSci and Philosophy,Great LOR's from the top philosophers and political theorists here, I got chosen as an undergrad to be a TA for a class in the PoliSci Dept., have been a Research Assistant for a prof in PoliSci, 3.7 undergrad GPA (i came out of Freshman year with a 3.3 but then did well after that), with 3.9 major GPA in PoliSci, and still no love from anywhere. That's right...no acceptances. I guess my SOP must have been really awful or something. It's pretty disheartening to be honest. I'll give it a go again next year I guess, unless Northwestern pulls through for me...i doubt it though.

not to sound bitter...

[BigCheese]

I'm in the same boat, although not quite as impressive of a pedigree as you. Good GRE's, non HYP Ivy BA with a double major in PoliSci and Philosophy,Great LOR's from the top philosophers and political theorists here, I got chosen as an undergrad to be a TA for a class in the PoliSci Dept., have been a Research Assistant for a prof in PoliSci, 3.7 undergrad GPA (i came out of Freshman year with a 3.3 but then did well after that), with 3.9 major GPA in PoliSci, and still no love from anywhere. That's right...no acceptances. I guess my SOP must have been really awful or something. It's pretty disheartening to be honest. I'll give it a go again next year I guess, unless Northwestern pulls through for me...i doubt it though.

geezes i thought it was just me wondering what it takes to get accepted.Graduated with honors from a private well known university, Masters from an ivy league school, LOR from well known professors, two who actually got their PhD from two of the schools i applied to, currently teaching (adjunct) at a private university, research assistant and worked at a think tank in D.C. strong quant. skills, i don't get? i feel like i had a better chance getting accepted somewhere straight out of college with no experience.

[PollyTheory]

I'm in the same boat, although not quite as impressive of a pedigree as you. Good GRE's, non HYP Ivy BA with a double major in PoliSci and Philosophy,Great LOR's from the top philosophers and political theorists here, I got chosen as an undergrad to be a TA for a class in the PoliSci Dept., have been a Research Assistant for a prof in PoliSci, 3.7 undergrad GPA (i came out of Freshman year with a 3.3 but then did well after that), with 3.9 major GPA in PoliSci, and still no love from anywhere. That's right...no acceptances. I guess my SOP must have been really awful or something. It's pretty disheartening to be honest. I'll give it a go again next year I guess, unless Northwestern pulls through for me...i doubt it though.

I really think a lot has to do with fit. And let's be honest, it was a VERY tough year. It's always tough for the theorists but when endowments are hit and they're cutting, we can definitely expect to be the ones who are short-changed. My GPA is lower than yours; I don't have a double major (was a philosophy major), went to a Top-10 SLAC but definitely no Ivy and my letters, while probably great (I was very close with my professors) were by no means written by "the top philosophers" in the field. I don't know where you applied but PARTICULARLY for the theorists, we cant get too down on ourselves. And who knows. Maybe every theorist schools X, Y and Z admitted matriculated last year and they need some comparativists to balance it out. All this to say, it's a crap shoot and one shouldn't take it personally. I like to think in a perfect world with unlimited funding, they would've admitted us all -- This is what I tell myself when I try console myself over not getting into Chicago

[poststructuralist]

I really think a lot has to do with fit. And let's be honest, it was a VERY tough year. It's always tough for the theorists but when endowments are hit and they're cutting, we can definitely expect to be the ones who are short-changed. My GPA is lower than yours; I don't have a double major (was a philosophy major), went to a Top-10 SLAC but definitely no Ivy and my letters, while probably great (I was very close with my professors) were by no means written by "the top philosophers" in the field. I don't know where you applied but PARTICULARLY for the theorists, we cant get too down on ourselves. And who knows. Maybe every theorist schools X, Y and Z admitted matriculated last year and they need some comparativists to balance it out. All this to say, it's a crap shoot and one shouldn't take it personally. I like to think in a perfect world with unlimited funding, they would've admitted us all -- This is what I tell myself when I try console myself over not getting into Chicago

Thanks for the words of support. I didn't get top philosophers in the field, but just the top philosophers here at my school. They are relatively well known though. I think one of my problems is probably that my interests are all over the place (despite the screen name). So I go from reading Deleuze to Parmenides to Badiou to stuff about critical race theory to Plato to Hobbes to Metaethics and pretty much everything I can get my hands on. So it's not like some professor is going to look at my SOP or transcript and be like, "hey this kid is into ancients and I am into ancients too" or "hey this kid is interested in democratic theory so am I" and go to bat for me. Plus, now that I think about it, one of my LOR writers actually took on the academic establishment awhile back and there might still be some bad blood in the Political Science world towards her...Whatever though, I'll do something else for awhile then reapply. No biggie. Just wanted to play the world's smallest violin for awhile.

[PollyTheory]

Thanks for the words of support. I didn't get top philosophers in the field, but just the top philosophers here at my school. They are relatively well known though. I think one of my problems is probably that my interests are all over the place (despite the screen name). So I go from reading Deleuze to Parmenides to Badiou to stuff about critical race theory to Plato to Hobbes to Metaethics and pretty much everything I can get my hands on. So it's not like some professor is going to look at my SOP or transcript and be like, "hey this kid is into ancients and I am into ancients too" or "hey this kid is interested in democratic theory so am I" and go to bat for me. Plus, now that I think about it, one of my LOR writers actually took on the academic establishment awhile back and there might still be some bad blood in the Political Science world towards her...Whatever though, I'll do something else for awhile then reapply. No biggie. Just wanted to play the world's smallest violin for awhile.

[sonnyday]

Thanks for the words of support. I didn't get top philosophers in the field, but just the top philosophers here at my school. They are relatively well known though. I think one of my problems is probably that my interests are all over the place (despite the screen name). So I go from reading Deleuze to Parmenides to Badiou to stuff about critical race theory to Plato to Hobbes to Metaethics and pretty much everything I can get my hands on. So it's not like some professor is going to look at my SOP or transcript and be like, "hey this kid is into ancients and I am into ancients too" or "hey this kid is interested in democratic theory so am I" and go to bat for me. Plus, now that I think about it, one of my LOR writers actually took on the academic establishment awhile back and there might still be some bad blood in the Political Science world towards her...Whatever though, I'll do something else for awhile then reapply. No biggie. Just wanted to play the world's smallest violin for awhile.

I'm the same way. My interests are "diverse" shall we say but I tried to be somewhat cogent with my SOP. I've been out of school for a couple of years; you're not in terrible company if you re-apply. I have a LOT of friends who did the same. At any rate, I just got off the phone w/ a theorist at one of the schools to which I've been admitted. We talked about "my interests in the later chapters of the Phenomenology."

Needless to say, I am drinking a beer and playing Tetris right now to decompress

[ivyreject]

I got my acceptance from Georgetown on Wednesday. Unlike many for whom this was a back-up plan, it is toward the top of my list. They notified their top applicants a few weeks ago, presumably those who are being offered funding. I just got a generic email to the rest of the admits, presumably those being offered no funding.

My question is this: how and to whom should I address the question about whether any funding might exist for me?

Their website publishes statistics showing how very few of their students get funding:

PhD Admissions Statistics (2007)

Total PhD Applicants: 696

American Government - 68

Comparative Government - 245

International Relations - 296

Political Theory - 87

Total Admitted PhDs: 85

American Government - 17

Comparative Government - 28

International Relations - 27

Political Theory - 13

Total Enrolling PhDs: 28

American Government - 7

Comparative Government - 10

International Relations - 7

Political Theory - 4

Total Funded PhDs: 10

American Government - 3

Comparative Government - 3

International Relations - 2

Political Theory - 2

Admitted PhD Applicant Statistics

*Average GRE scores - 673 Verbal, 709 Quantitative, 5.5 (out of 6) *Analytical Writing

*Average GPA - 3.7

*Average TOEFL - 274 (ETOEFL); 112 (ITOEFL)

*Male to Female Ratio - 51:34 (60% men and 40% women)

*Average age (at time of application): 27 years

*Number of International Students admitted: 12 (18%)

*Average years of work experience: 5 years

In my field in 2007 (American), they admitted 17, enrolled 10, and only funded 3. Should I ask the staffer who send the acceptance email? The professor with whom I've had contact? I'm afraid if I was at the bottom of their list of people they wanted to admit that it will seem presumptuous for me to ask for funding. I wonder if their attitude will be, "This dude should just be lucky he got in somewhere."

Thoughts?

[biginternational]

You're in, go for it. There's nothing wrong with an honest inquiry, and I doubt the feathers of any reasonable person would be ruffled over a simple question on an issue that's of great consequence to every grad student.

[twright]

I officially hate Northwestern. They have taken forever to post decisions and they have not responded to my e-mail inquiring about my status. Luckily, I've already been admitted to the program I want to attend or I would be absolutely livid about the situation with Northwestern...

[oscarwildebeest]

I officially hate Northwestern. They have taken forever to post decisions and they have not responded to my e-mail inquiring about my status. Luckily, I've already been admitted to the program I want to attend or I would be absolutely livid about the situation with Northwestern...

Seriously. What is with the Midwest? Is it that Midwesterners are too polite to say "no"? Because I have received a decision, for good or bad, from every school on the east coast. But Chicago, Minnesota, and Northwestern remain silent. At this point, even if I were on some kind of waitlist, I'd be inclined to turn them all down since the school which has offered me a spot and funding is clearly interested in having me attend, whereas those three don't seem to care much at all.

[aria880]

I officially hate Northwestern. They have taken forever to post decisions and they have not responded to my e-mail inquiring about my status. Luckily, I've already been admitted to the program I want to attend or I would be absolutely livid about the situation with Northwestern...

Amen!

[GreatMix]

If e-mail requests for info don't work, or it's been too long, I really think it's ok to call and check the status of your application. I called Madison after a few weeks had gone by and everyone had posted their acceptances/rejections and I still hadn't heard. The graduate office was really very nice, and it turned out I had been waitlisted.

[PoliSci Guy]

Well, I guess that's it for me. I've been accepted to UF w/o funding and am still waiting on WUSTL, Columbia, and Chicago. I've got to come to terms with what that means. On the plus side, I've spent to last few days looking at jobs in my field and it seems that I am very qualified for dozens of well paying jobs! Maybe that's what I should have done in the first place. Well, as the old saying goes...If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans!

[natofone]

I officially hate Northwestern. They have taken forever to post decisions and they have not responded to my e-mail inquiring about my status. Luckily, I've already been admitted to the program I want to attend or I would be absolutely livid about the situation with Northwestern...

I am somewhat annoyed that I am literally the only person to have been rejected yet. I wonder what I did to warrant that treatment. But, I'm glad to know...

[joelpolisci]

I am somewhat annoyed that I am literally the only person to have been rejected yet. I wonder what I did to warrant that treatment. But, I'm glad to know...

Just out of curiousity, how did you find out? I've been told "unofficially" that I'm probably on the waitlist by a current grad student in the department, but have yet to hear anything official. Did you find out online through the application system? Email?

[DrRockso]

Any UGA applicants heard anything about funding yet?