k314 Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 Hey fellow Princeton applicants... (This is my first post on The Grad Cafe) I've enjoyed reading these threads like a crazed, impatient hopeful for grad school acceptance. :| It's good to know I'm not the only one checking my email every 3-5 minutes in hope of getting a glorious message from Princeton. Haven't felt this way since applying for undergrad back in 1991 (yeah, I'm an old guy). Please keep writing in and let me know if you get in. Even if I don't, I'm glad to hear of your acceptance! Does anyone know if they slow-leak the email acceptance notifications, or if it's an e-blast? If it's the latter, I'm toast. i don't know anything specific to princeton, but i do know that my yale acceptance appeared a few days after the first ones were reported on the results board. so basically, i think the take-away message is that nothing about this process works intuitively, nor can you really make any meaningful predictions based on the available information. fun, huh?
CatallaxisOfEvil Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 For those such as myself who need a reason to feel better about getting rejected from a bunch of schools, I submit the following anonymous posts by PoliSci Job Rumors users who just returned from the ISA conference: "ISA was light on rumors and gossip. Main issue being that there will be few grad school spots this year." "Second the above post; I heard rumors that schools were contemplating not bringing in any grad students this year so they could have normal-sized classes next year." It still sucks to be rejected, but let's keep things in perspective. This may actually be the worst year for grad school admissions EVER. Of course, this just makes it all the more impressive an accomplishment for those who got into top schools. To all those people (and there seems to be a lot of them on this board), congratulations are definitely order. For the rest of us, let's keep the hope alive. And even if we don't get into our top choices, we should be thankful for the schools that have given us a spot. I think there's a specific question that needs asking in cases where a school decides not to admit ANY grad students for a specific discipline. Isn't spending $50+ on an application fee on the assumption that there is at least a place to be filled something worth thinking about? Put it this way: Isn't failing to advertise the possibility that there will be no spots AT ALL indicative of... kind of... you know... evil? I have no problem with stiff competition, but there really ought to be an opportunity at the heart of it somewhere. Do such schools intend to refund people's application fees if they decide not to enroll anybody? I severely doubt it. And there's no way of refunding time, effort and heartache. So I sincerely hope the anonymous poster was wrong about this - I hope that all the schools we applied to at least admit one applicant. Otherwise this whole thing is a very expensive and unfunny joke.
aria880 Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 Wow. The results board is just downright depressing this morning. There are only three acceptances on the first page. Here's hoping we turn it around today!
gradster Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 Question, gradster: do they meet plenary or do the sub-fields decide on their own admits beforehand? Both, they first meet by subfield and then plenary. It's a bit of a complicated process, but it works well. If you are interested in the details PM me. As to why schools don't just send out all the news at once, well each school works different, but I know at Columbia the rule is that the graduate school office sends out all the information. So once a department makes their decisions, they pass that on to the grad school office, and the grad school sends out letters (first they send out acceptances because you need all the paper work before April to decide). The department is given permission to contact admits because of recruitment visit and all that, but they are not really supposed to tell those that were not accepted. This is why these blogs were created. Basically no news is usually bad news when others have been admitted (especially because schools let admits know asap because they need to move fast to organize your travels for recruitment visit). But each school works different so this is really just advice for Columbia, although in general I find that most schools will have told all their admits by the end of February because they have to do their recruitment visits. Oh and as to the number of applications being down at Columbia, yes this year they were down a bit from last year, but they are still very many applications. They are also accepting less students than last year, hoping to bring a smaller class this year, so the odds are about the same as last year. Last, for those of you that are starting to panic, yes this year is bad, but all years a pretty hard. The chances of getting in to grad school are about 5% for top 10 programs. It is just very hard and competitive. If you don't get in, don't take it personal, and don't get down on yourself if you don't get into your top schools or any schools. If you decide to apply again next year, you will need to be very prepared, as next year applications are probably going to increase by a lot. After the admissions season is over I will post some advise for those of you that weren't lucky this year. But I wait because I'm hoping you will all get in somewhere
catchermiscount Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 I think there's a specific question that needs asking in cases where a school decides not to admit ANY grad students for a specific discipline. Isn't spending $50+ on an application fee on the assumption that there is at least a place to be filled something worth thinking about? Put it this way: Isn't failing to advertise the possibility that there will be no spots AT ALL indicative of... kind of... you know... evil? I have no problem with stiff competition, but there really ought to be an opportunity at the heart of it somewhere. Do such schools intend to refund people's application fees if they decide not to enroll anybody? I severely doubt it. And there's no way of refunding time, effort and heartache. So I sincerely hope the anonymous poster was wrong about this - I hope that all the schools we applied to at least admit one applicant. Otherwise this whole thing is a very expensive and unfunny joke. This is an interesting point. Though it is unlikely that any program will turn everybody away, the possibility does raise questions of false advertising. Of course, I'm sure that if the Messiah of Political Science applied to a department low on money, then they'd find a way to fund Him/Her/It. That's likely the departments' reaction: we didn't find anybody that we thought was worth taking on the costs in this economy. Frustrating? Yes. Evil? No.
PoliSci Guy Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 Thanks Gradster, good advice! Will you do me a favor and see if someone named PoliSci Guy was accepted? Oops...secret's out! Yes that's my real name. My parents didn't like me very much.
guvmentkid Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 As something of an outsider, what I find most interesting about the conservatism exhibited by some schools pulling way back on cohort size is that almost all of them were extraordinary beneficiaries of exponential growth in endowments over the last 5-7 years, with most, if not all, having endowments still at least 2-3 times larger over the same time period.... I envision retired old ladies in palm beach sweating over their most recent statements from Dean Witter, wringing their hands.... (this post is not meant in any way to begin a discussion of endowment use, percentage of growth, etc. -- we all have our business models, I understand)
CatallaxisOfEvil Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 This is an interesting point. Though it is unlikely that any program will turn everybody away, the possibility does raise questions of false advertising. Of course, I'm sure that if the Messiah of Political Science applied to a department low on money, then they'd find a way to fund Him/Her/It. That's likely the departments' reaction: we didn't find anybody that we thought was worth taking on the costs in this economy. Frustrating? Yes. Evil? No. I take your point - the 'messiah' of political science would still be taken on if the faculty had just been taken by a tornado, absolutely. But most of the conversation we're having on here revolves around the idea that there are too many perfectly capable and qualified candidates for each phd spot. Eventually, as someone said recently, they just have to choose; certainly whoever gets in might be all the better for the immense competition, but that doesn't rule out the fact that the next 30 people in line would have been creditable additions to the school as well. So it's in this context that I'm suggesting that it's false advertising and very bad practise to accept money for application processing and then announce that 'there won't be any matriculation this year'. All that said, I'm not aware of this having actually happened to anyone yet. Surely this board will be the first to find out if it does. But someone raised the possibility and it really does strike me as problematic.
truckasaurus Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 When my friend's dad got into the polisci PhD program at Chicago in the 60s, his cohort was almost 100! Well, it's better for the job market this way, I guess... So are any of the Penn admits besides mgallop reading this thread? If so, where else did you get in? As a waitlister, I'm just trying to gauge my chances.
plisar Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 Rejected from Michigan on Wolverine Access. At least they made it short and sweet unlike Berkley which is keeping me on their string for another day.
IRguyinTN Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 i don't know anything specific to princeton, but i do know that my yale acceptance appeared a few days after the first ones were reported on the results board. so basically, i think the take-away message is that nothing about this process works intuitively, nor can you really make any meaningful predictions based on the available information. fun, huh? k314, Thanks for your message of hope. There are already 5 Princeton acceptances posted on this site, so my confidence level has been on the decline for the last day. Who knows... I signed up for this "game", so I guess I have to play. Harvard is on my short list as well. Please let us know if anyone's heard anything!
BigCheese Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 any news on Harvard and Columbia.. is it possible that we might hear today....
catchermiscount Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 Also out at Michigan. Top choice, so a little on the bummed side. Many hearty congratulations to those that have been admitted.
PoliSci Guy Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 Also out at Michigan. Top choice, so a little on the bummed side. Many hearty congratulations to those that have been admitted. Sorry about your top choice but you've got some great admits! I'm still waiting to hear from six of my eight programs (2 rejections) so you should be pleased...it could be worse! :wink:
expatbayern Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 Also out at Michigan. Top choice, so a little on the bummed side. Many hearty congratulations to those that have been admitted. How exactly did you get to the decision link? If I log into New and Prospective Student Business on Wolverine Access and click Application Status, I just have links to View Application Data and View Credentials. Does the View Decision link appear next to those when it's available? Still holding onto a tiny little bit of hope if I haven't been officially rejected yet... But my sympathy to those who have, and I do imagine I'll be joining you soon.
guvmentkid Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 I see a ND reject by mail on the results page... does anyone have any intel on Florida State?
catchermiscount Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 expatbayern said: How exactly did you get to the decision link? If I log into New and Prospective Student Business on Wolverine Access and click Application Status, I just have links to View Application Data and View Credentials. Does the View Decision link appear next to those when it's available? Still holding onto a tiny little bit of hope if I haven't been officially rejected yet... But my sympathy to those who have, and I do imagine I'll be joining you soon. Yup, there was a View Decision link next to the other two. Sounds like you've still got hope -- good luck!
gradster Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 any news on Harvard and Columbia.. is it possible that we might hear today.... Yes, very possible Good luck everyone!
expatbayern Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 Yup, there was a View Decision link next to the other two. Sounds like you've still got hope -- good luck! Thanks. Now I'll be checking my mailbox and my email AND wolverine access every five minutes all day long. :wink:
swr22 Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 Nothing yet for me in wolverineaccess either.
k314 Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 i've just gotten an acceptance email from columbia. good luck everyone!
AllFiredUp Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 Any indication that it was a mass email or individually sent?
jimcompx Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 I fiddled around with Wolverine Access too, but to no avail. Finally, I emailed the political science department, and received this in response (very quickly, I might add). "The admissions committee has made their decisions. However, you will not be receiving and offer of admission. Due to budget constraints, we were not able to make as many offers as would have liked too. Thank you for your interest and applying to the Political Science Program. Best of luck to you, in your future endeavors." So, I would say that Michigan appears to be done. I am kind of bummed-0 for 3 so far (Duke, Yale, Michigan) with no word from WUSTL (a faint hope I know) and Iowa yet to come next week, maybe.
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