Welcome to the 2012-2013 cycle

[balledematch]

I got an email from UCLA graduate advisor. I almost had a heart attack. "Your application has been marked complete" ... way to troll UCLA...

Lol yeah same here

[GopherGrad]

Quigley,

 

As one of the posters that made the distinction between what MA and PhD essays need to communicate, I should stress my agreement with those who argue that there is no archetype format that works for everyone. If you reworked your statement and sought criticism, and turned in an SoP that you and your advisors felt was strong, then it probably matched your application well. Because we all have different experiences, our Statements of Purpose all have different work to do in fleshing out who we are. The average statement for a PhD should be different than the average MA essays, but that doesn't offer binding guidance to individuals.

 

"That said, as somebody who was rejected from every PhD program I applied to the first time, it is good to be aware that it can happen."

 

Due to what I can only assume is commendable humility, an important piece of information is missing here: Adaptations got results like a boss on the second go-round.

 

No one on this board is out of time to improve themselves if they fall short of their hopes during this process. No one here is out of opportunities to distinguish themselves. These applications are one moment in the development of one facet of your life. You just never know how the world is going to surprise you, and as we all sit around compulsively checking our emails and accidentally garnishing our double whiskeys with freshly chewed fingernails it is important to remember that the challenges and hopes that animate us two, five, twenty years from now will often not resemble in the slightest the things that are so crucial today.

 

For the types of people that haunt boards like this one, climbing for a brass ring is more important than grabbing it. Big successes and big failures offer dramatic but fleeting moments of reckoning. As long as we have some of each, I suspect they will each have relatively little impact on how we judge our own lives later on.

[PolyWonk]

Well put, and quite inspirational!

 

No one on this board is out of time to improve themselves if they fall short of their hopes during this process. No one here is out of opportunities to distinguish themselves. These applications are one moment in the development of one facet of your life. You just never know how the world is going to surprise you, and as we all sit around compulsively checking our emails and accidentally garnishing our double whiskeys with freshly chewed fingernails it is important to remember that the challenges and hopes that animate us two, five, twenty years from now will often not resemble in the slightest the things that are so crucial today.

[ThisGuyRiteHere]

Congrats to the UIUC admit!

[polisciguy21]

Congrats to the UIUC admit!

That would be me! Thanks MarketMan! I am excited to have been admitted to a great program. Best of luck to all of you -- I can tell you, the stress of waiting it out was worth it once I got the phone call from Illinois.

[ThisGuyRiteHere]

That would be me! Thanks MarketMan! I am excited to have been admitted to a great program. Best of luck to all of you -- I can tell you, the stress of waiting it out was worth it once I got the phone call from Illinois.

Stats, Research Focus?

[PhDhopeful2013]

That would be me! Thanks MarketMan! I am excited to have been admitted to a great program. Best of luck to all of you -- I can tell you, the stress of waiting it out was worth it once I got the phone call from Illinois.

 

Congrats! 

 

I have a question about phone call notifications... Are they usually just brief "You got in! Congrats!  More info is on its way.." Or do the conversations get more detailed.  For instance, does the caller want to get a feel for how likely the applicant is to accept the offer?  Just curious... in case I'm lucky enough to receive one of these calls, I want to be prepared!

[ThisGuyRiteHere]

So I have a question for the forum. I love political science and research. Id love to be a professor and even work in a think tank, fed. gov or policy or even corporate strategy at a corporation. So I can think of quite a few ways to work a PhD in Poli Sci. Issue is, I may have an opportunity to go back into the previous field I was in (think banking/real estate/technology) and get a MUCH better job than I did. I am having the issue of justifying the opportunity cost to myself. I would be giving up 250k (assuming 50k X 5 yrs) for about a 40%-50% chance at getting a job most of which pay 40k-60k (assistant prof).

I guess how much is the love of the subject/becoming a political science professional worth to everyone?

Forgive me if this is worded bad, in a hurry lol

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

So I have a question for the forum. I love political science and research. Id love to be a professor and even work in a think tank, fed. gov or policy or even corporate strategy at a corporation. So I can think of quite a few ways to work a PhD in Poli Sci. Issue is, I may have an opportunity to go back into the previous field I was in (think banking/real estate/technology) and get a MUCH better job than I did. I am having the issue of justifying the opportunity cost to myself. I would be giving up 250k (assuming 50k X 5 yrs) for about a 40%-50% chance at getting a job most of which pay 40k-60k (assistant prof).

I guess how much is the love of the subject/becoming a political science professional worth to everyone?

Forgive me if this is worded bad, in a hurry lol

 

Do you like what you're doing now? Does it make you happy? Or is the only thing keeping you there the financial security? If it's the latter, then it'd be worth spending the next 5-7 years learning about something you love and making a slightly smaller salary to enjoy yourself. And if money is an issue, you can go the (as you said) think-tank/consultant route.

[zzzzzz]

For my own circumstances, it's everything.  My current job is easy, has incredible benefits, and I am making in the upper range of what I would make as a starting assistant professor 5 or 6 years from now.  But it's also boring and unfulfilling.  I'm turning 27 soon and have spent a lot of time thinking about what I want the rest of my life to look like.  I know that it's never too late to change careers but I know that the longer I wait, the more difficult it becomes.  I just don't want to spend the rest of my life staring at the clock from 8:00 to 5:00 every day and counting down the hours until the weekend because I loathe my job.  The opportunity to spend your life doing what you love makes this whole thing worth it to me. 

Word.

[PDCU]

I second everything that Takemycoffeeblack writes above.

 

Personally, I am in a job that is low-stress, easy, has incredible benefits, and I am making in the upper range of what I would make as a starting assistant professor 5 or 6 years from now.  But it's also boring and unfulfilling.  I'm turning 27 soon and have spent a lot of time thinking about what I want the rest of my life to look like.  I know that it's never too late to change careers but I know that the longer I wait, the more difficult it becomes.  I just don't want to spend the rest of my life staring at the clock from 8:00 to 5:00 every day and counting down the hours until the weekend because I loathe my job.  The opportunity to spend your life doing what you love makes this whole thing worth it to me. 

Based on my experience it is my love to hate that gets me going.

[PhDhopeful2013]

I second everything that Takemycoffeeblack writes above.

 

Personally, I am in a job that is low-stress, easy, has incredible benefits, and I am making in the upper range of what I would make as a starting assistant professor 5 or 6 years from now.  But it's also boring and unfulfilling.  I'm turning 27 soon and have spent a lot of time thinking about what I want the rest of my life to look like.  I know that it's never too late to change careers but I know that the longer I wait, the more difficult it becomes.  I just don't want to spend the rest of my life staring at the clock from 8:00 to 5:00 every day and counting down the hours until the weekend because I loathe my job.  The opportunity to spend your life doing what you love makes this whole thing worth it to me. 

 

you read my mind. i'm in a very similar situation.  the prospect of enjoying what i do during the majority of my waking hours for the next 40 years far outweighs the time and income trade-off required over the next 5 or 6 years....

[ThisGuyRiteHere]

I guess you all are right. My main issue is with business in general, at the end of the day it is a for-profit venture. And thats fine now while I am young, but i would actually like to do something with meaning where I can maybe change things or help people.

[ollyollyoxenfree]

i know it's futile/unhealthy to obsess at this point, but i want to throw another general question about GREs out there. i don't know if it's just me, but the vast majority of scores i see on the results board and in forums like this from past years make me feel like the Q score is going to totally sink me (159Q/168V/5.0) at a top-25, american subfield.

 

are there any fellow not-so-stellar Q scorers out there who have success stories? i know there are all the typical assurances that a GRE score can't make or break you, but the lack of evidence to the contrary has me a bit scared. 

[GopherGrad]

OOOF,

 

Your scores are almost exactly mine and no one has ever suggested to me that they do anything but support my application at top programs.

[ollyollyoxenfree]

don't let me be a downer! i'm probably being overly pessimistic. just seems sometimes like all the successes come to those with double 170s, but i know there must be others out there.

 

also, i should have said "perfect Q scorers" instead of "not-so-stellar"... that was the application anxiety talking. i'm sure you'll be more than great, gophergrad!

Edited January 16, 2013 by ollyollyoxenfree

[ThisGuyRiteHere]

don't let me be a downer! i'm probably being overly pessimistic. just seems sometimes like all the successes come to those with double 170s, but i know there must be others out there.

 

also, i should have said "perfect Q scorers" instead of "not-so-stellar"... that was the application anxiety talking. i'm sure you'll be more than great, gophergrad!

Your fine

[chaetzli]

i know it's futile/unhealthy to obsess at this point, but i want to throw another general question about GREs out there. i don't know if it's just me, but the vast majority of scores i see on the results board and in forums like this from past years make me feel like the Q score is going to totally sink me (159Q/168V/5.0) at a top-25, american subfield.

 

are there any fellow not-so-stellar Q scorers out there who have success stories? i know there are all the typical assurances that a GRE score can't make or break you, but the lack of evidence to the contrary has me a bit scared. 

 

Last application cycle someone got into Stanford and Yale with pretty similar scores (same Q score). So I wouldn’t worry too much!

[ThisGuyRiteHere]

Well I believe the majority of graduate programs deadlines have passed..i think a large percentage of them have Jan. 15 deadlines if not earlier. Should only be a couple more weeks!

I have decided to be optimistic and take some classes that may aid in my future research (Econometrics & Mathematical Econ.). Hopefully I get a chance to actually do future research :/

[PoliSwede]

Tick tock.

 

Maybe I just should consider locking away my phone and laptop.

Edited January 16, 2013 by Lemeard

[RiffRam]

Waiting is getting harder now that some of my colleagues, also PoliSci majors, are getting their acceptances to law school! Just let it be March already!

[cooperstreet]

What's everyones math background? I've been out of undergrad almost 8 years, but I did get up to Calc II!

[Tupamaros]

Congrats to the recipient of the offer from U of North Texas!

[PoliSwede]

There we go. My profile and signature actually contain some information now.

Edited January 16, 2013 by Lemeard

[Littlej8]

Thanks! The North Texas thing was me. Was excited and suprised to hear back from a program so quickly. Good luck to everyone else.