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PoliSci 2008-2009 Cycle


CAPoliSciPhD

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Hey guys and girls, sorry to interrupt all of the UPenn excitement (and congrats to all who got in!!!) but what's the deal with Washington - Seattle? Have the acceptances gone out or were those just a select few people to receive phone calls? This is all very unclear... Any insights?

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Hey guys and girls, sorry to interrupt all of the UPenn excitement (and congrats to all who got in!!!) but what's the deal with Washington - Seattle? Have the acceptances gone out or were those just a select few people to receive phone calls? This is all very unclear... Any insights?

Nothing official has come out. I was told I would have to wait at least a week or two before we heard anything official from the department, so I wouldn't worry. Moreover, they're closed today for President's day, so I definitely wouldn't expect to hear anything today.

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Hey, thanks Plisar! Aside from my Yale rejection there are two schools that I've applied to (Emory and WashU) that have made a few notifications but still "nothing official." Now it seems that I have achieved a heightened state of limbo; not only have I not heard from 7 of my 8 programs I know that two of them have pretty much, kinda sorta, stared making up their minds. I say forget Gitmo...convince suspected terrorists to go to grad school and interview them during early - mid February.

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Whammy... That's that then.

In terms of getting feedback on why you didn't get in places, when do we start going about that, and is it alright to ask?

I have read on many dept's websites that they do not give individual feedback to rejected applicants. I understand why. Can you imagine the workload that that would entail? I don't think it is OK to ask for feedback from the adcomm. Anyway, the answer you could get would probably be along the lines of "there was a candidate with better stats and/or letters and/or faculty match. Unfortunately, much of this process is bound to remain mysterious.

After this is done, you could send one of us your stats and SOPs and we can give you our opinion. You should also go back to your letter writers and ask for their honest opinion. Approach them by asking what you could do to make your app better for next year for example. This is about as good of a feedback as you are going to get I'm afraid.

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Yeah, I'm more than willing to help you out if you are interested. I would wait until you get all your responses though -- no need to stress over nothing if you get an acceptance along the way!

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As far as feedback goes, you're original advisors and letter writers are probably the best source of this information. Schedule a meet and sit down with them and go through what you submitted with a fine-tooth comb and figure out what can be done differently next time. However, if your advisors love you it can be difficult to get a good answer from them because sometimes they are not as objective as we wish they'd be. If you still have departmental contacts and this remains a problem, talk to someone who didn't love you and see what they think you should do strengthen your candidacy. Some of the best advice I received was from people who liked me the least. I just wish I had had the time to take up their advice (math through multi-variable and linear algebra) before graduation. However, fit does remain an issue for some people regardless of their strengths, especially if you have an interest that has recently been abandoned by the field (even if it shouldn't have been).

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Chicago, Chicago...when will you notify? I saw on the results page that Social Thought is notifying, and political science is like, right next door, right? Plus, it seems like half the patrons of this board have applied, so decisions would keep so many of us occupied. So many incentives to spill it, Chicago.

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Well, that's a wrap for me. My cycle is officially over for the year, heard from Indiana this afternoon. Now I just have to decide. Good luck to everyone still waiting!

Congrats!! Of all those schools, I think the clear choice is Ohio State, but that's just my take...

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Well, that's a wrap for me. My cycle is officially over for the year, heard from Indiana this afternoon. Now I just have to decide. Good luck to everyone still waiting!

Must be nice, polisci09 :) Mind if I ask roughly when your email from Indiana came in? Need to know if I should still have my hopes up.

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Well, that's a wrap for me. My cycle is officially over for the year, heard from Indiana this afternoon. Now I just have to decide. Good luck to everyone still waiting!

Congrats! And the worry wart in me must second the previous poster's question: when did you receive your notification from Indiana? I'm still waiting on them, too.

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For those of you waiting on Duke, all final decisions have been sent to the graduate school. In other words, all rejections will be posted soon. Sorry guys :(

Take some solace in the fact that Duke got beat by Boston College last night and will fall in the rankings today.

Do we think it's the same case with Northwestern?

Argh.

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