Welcome to the 2012-2013 cycle

[phdhope2013]

has anyone recently heard from or called that department that is located in the icy cold tundra known as Minnesota? I am assuming a wait list/rejection at this point. 

[Wemayet]

+1 to the person who added "safety school" as comment to the Stanford rejection

 

That safety school comment on the results board made my day

 

Laughing at these comments and the results post, I was compelled to look up the "Men Without Hats" song "Safety Dance"... and was NOT DISAPPOINTED!  At about 40 secs... "we can go where we want to"; at about 50 secs  "we can act like we want to... we can be real rude... can act like an imbicile"

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iOUnO-EssI

[Juliii]

When can we expect UNC to show some mercy?

 

I wouldn't be too optimistic. 221 applicants for only 12 open spots. Good luck everyone!

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

I wouldn't be too optimistic. 221 applicants for only 12 open spots. Good luck everyone!

 

I'm asking when they'll show mercy and let us all know yay or nay.

[raptureonfire]

I pretty much meant the opportunity costs of academia itself . I think I'm getting this better now. i would have taken an all-out rejection as a signal that academia and i were a poor fit for each other and would have taken time to reflect and formulate a plan B, partly because I assume I can't make my application any stronger -- but perhaps that's wrong. Those of you who felt you were stronger the second time around, what did you do differently?

 

Well, I think it's really important to remember that, when applying to doctoral programs, the odds are against you.  Even if you're an extremely strong candidate, you're competing against other extremely strong candidates.  Remember, most programs receive hundreds of applications for just a few spots.  It's not just the top-10 schools; it's basically every school.  Even if we assume that only a quarter of the applicants are qualified, we're still talking about anywhere from 50 to 150 students trying to fill 10-15 spots.  That means that in any given cycle, per school, 35 to 135 qualified individuals are being turned away.  (Someone should check my math here ... )

 

There are plenty of things that you can do to boost your status as a candidate.  Make sure that your GRE scores are as absolutely high as you can make them.  It's no shame to take them multiple times - they only send the highest score to the school.

 

For myself?  I work in a 'related field', and the extra year really helped me focus my own research.  I went and spoke to about 15 - 20 professors, asking them directly what I should do to improve my candidacy.  I tailored my SOP to be tighter and more focused, and I submitted another article for publication (still waiting from the committee ...   ).

 

 

You should be absolutely certain that this is what you want to do; if you're not, then you shouldn't do it.  Because the last thing you want to do is spend 6-7 years of your life studying when you could be building a career.  It may be a good idea to spend a few years pursuing a job in a similar field.  Try working for an NGO, a development firm, etc.  You'd get hands-on experience, possibly some travel, and a good idea of whether you'd rather work in policy or academia.

 

Just a thought!

[GopherGrad]

I pretty much meant the opportunity costs of academia itself . I think I'm getting this better now. i would have taken an all-out rejection as a signal that academia and i were a poor fit for each other and would have taken time to reflect and formulate a plan B, partly because I assume I can't make my application any stronger -- but perhaps that's wrong. Those of you who felt you were stronger the second time around, what did you do differently?

 

For starters, I'll agree with the posters who argue that applications are stochastic and competetive; the same application to the same school may be rejected one year and accepted the next. Now, if you apply widely to schools that would empower you to make the career goals that underlie your desire to get a PhD and get rejected everywhere, blaming it all on randomness might not be the smartest choice.

 

As to the actual question: I did not have any political science training during my first application round, so I found a Master's program I could do for free and gave the career (and my polisci talents) a test drive. This allowed me to get letters that addressed my research capacity, signal that my interest in my research agenda was not a whim and better frame my SoP. My lack of qualification was so obvious that applying for a second time was kind of a no-brainer.

[upam]

Curious, why do people post rejections on the board when many others have been posted and they don't give their stats?

[theapolsci]

For anyone waiting on UWashington, I emailed to ask and they said "We expect to be sending out information about our decisions by the end of February." (though this doesn't offer much insight..)

[bright on time]

 

 

There are plenty of things that you can do to boost your status as a candidate.  Make sure that your GRE scores are as absolutely high as you can make them.  It's no shame to take them multiple times - they only send the highest score to the school.

 

For myself?  I work in a 'related field', and the extra year really helped me focus my own research.  I went and spoke to about 15 - 20 professors, asking them directly what I should do to improve my candidacy.  I tailored my SOP to be tighter and more focused, and I submitted another article for publication (still waiting from the committee ...   ).

 

I'd certainly second all of this as a 2nd-round applicant. Particularly the point about the 15-20 professors- while I personally didn't speak to anywhere near that many, I did increase the number of people I spoke with and significantly increased the number of questions (or rather, the quality of questions) I asked. Most professors in my undergraduate department, which was very good, encouraged me to only apply in the top 15. This was a mistake for me- both because it had me attempting to hit well above my weight in many cases and because some of these choices simply weren't the best fit for my interests. For some others, it probably was excellent advice. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you should ask for SEVERAL opinions you'll respect, consider them carefully, and chart your path down the long and winding road of applications according to what you know will ultimately make you happiest/ benefit you the most. Additionally, talk to people who will go to bat for you, which I've learned is immensely important.

 

Another piece of practical advice- fix your SOP. No matter what it is now, it can be better. You can be more specific, you can phrase your research interests in a more precise way for each school, etc. I thought my SOP was solid gold last year- now I look at it and cringe in comparison. Maybe just think of it as the first 'paper' you're working on for your graduate life- it's never 100% done! Adapting and bettering my SOP was I think the main change in my application- in addition to fancying up my CV and ultimately applying to a (mostly) different set of programs.

 

The main thing that pushed me to apply again was NOT working in a related field for a year. When I received my multitude of rejections last winter/spring, I spent the following 3 months or so convinced academia wasn't for me. At some point in the summer, although I was passionate about the work I was doing with a nonprofit, I knew that my 'happy place' was still researching international relations. That alone convinced me to try again and do so smarter the 2nd time.

[ahandphd]

In at Binghamton! Generic message waiting on funding info.

[ThisGuyRiteHere]

In at Binghamton! Generic message waiting on funding info.

In at Binghamton! Generic message waiting on funding info.

Congrats

[raptureonfire]

In at Binghamton! Generic message waiting on funding info.

Congrats!!!

[Littlej8]

In at Binghamton! Generic message waiting on funding info.

Hey ahandphd did it say you got in the MA or phd program? I got a message from them earlier today, but it said I was admitted to the MA program. That was weird since I did not apply to the MA. Was wondering if you had the same issue.

[ahandphd]

Hey ahandphd did it say you got in the MA or phd program? I got a message from them earlier today, but it said I was admitted to the MA program. That was weird since I did not apply to the MA. Was wondering if you had the same issue.

It states phd program on the letter, but the letter really didn't have a lot info on it.

[yellow.wallpaper]

Has anyone claimed a Brandeis acceptance?

[raptureonfire]

I'd certainly second all of this as a 2nd-round applicant. Particularly the point about the 15-20 professors- while I personally didn't speak to anywhere near that many, I did increase the number of people I spoke with and significantly increased the number of questions (or rather, the quality of questions) I asked. Most professors in my undergraduate department, which was very good, encouraged me to only apply in the top 15. This was a mistake for me- both because it had me attempting to hit well above my weight in many cases and because some of these choices simply weren't the best fit for my interests. For some others, it probably was excellent advice. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you should ask for SEVERAL opinions you'll respect, consider them carefully, and chart your path down the long and winding road of applications according to what you know will ultimately make you happiest/ benefit you the most. Additionally, talk to people who will go to bat for you, which I've learned is immensely important.

 

Another piece of practical advice- fix your SOP. No matter what it is now, it can be better. You can be more specific, you can phrase your research interests in a more precise way for each school, etc. I thought my SOP was solid gold last year- now I look at it and cringe in comparison. Maybe just think of it as the first 'paper' you're working on for your graduate life- it's never 100% done! Adapting and bettering my SOP was I think the main change in my application- in addition to fancying up my CV and ultimately applying to a (mostly) different set of programs.

 

The main thing that pushed me to apply again was NOT working in a related field for a year. When I received my multitude of rejections last winter/spring, I spent the following 3 months or so convinced academia wasn't for me. At some point in the summer, although I was passionate about the work I was doing with a nonprofit, I knew that my 'happy place' was still researching international relations. That alone convinced me to try again and do so smarter the 2nd time.

 

Not to turn this into a self-congratulatory feedback loop, but ... I agree absolutely with Bright on Time, and share his(her?) sentiments about advice.  It's absolutely important to hear the advice of other academics, but it's also important to decide for yourself.  Yes, ranking is very important.  But FIT is also very important, and if you're applying to programs where you're a poor fit, you're probably just wasting your time.

 

And BoT is right - the SOP is never quite finished.  It can always be better tailored.  The point of an SOP is to demonstrate why you are the best possible fit for the department.  You have to be able to show that you are intellectually mature enough to research at a doctoral level.  Your topic of interest should fit well within the department, and you should couch your statement in the language of political science.  

[CGMJ]

Are we all just assuming these Yale admits are fake?

[rainbowz]

Are we all just assuming these Yale admits are fake?

I am...but that may be out of my selfish desire to keep the dream alive and not at all rational.

[bright on time]

Are we all just assuming these Yale admits are fake?

That's my plan until someone claims them. I'll get better sleep that way.

[GopherGrad]

I am...but that may be out of my selfish desire to keep the dream alive and not at all rational.

 

No, you actually feel that way because so far every burst of admissions to programs widely admired by GradCafe junkies has included a relatively quick set of claims by established posters, and the lack of claims make these fakes easier to spot than a yellow-undersoled Christina Bouboutan.

 

Your excellent insincts, by the way, are exactly the reason Yale is really considering admitting you right now. HTH.

 

Seriously, I don't remember the last time I checked the results page. Everything good is worth working for, and that includes trolling. If these lazy assholes don't at least have the common courtesy to build an army of fake profiles, embed themselves in our community and eventually activate the sleepers at opportune moments, they don't deserve to get a rise out of me. Amatuer hour is what this is.

[tokenaustralian]

No, you actually feel that way because so far every burst of admissions to programs widely admired by GradCafe junkies has included a relatively quick set of claims by established posters, and the lack of claims make these fakes easier to spot than a yellow-undersoled Christina Bouboutan.

 

Your excellent insincts, by the way, are exactly the reason Yale is really considering admitting you right now. HTH.

 

Seriously, I don't remember the last time I checked the results page. Everything good is worth working for, and that includes trolling. If these lazy assholes don't at least have the common courtesy to build an army of fake profiles, embed themselves in our community and eventually activate the sleepers at opportune moments, they don't deserve to get a rise out of me. Amatuer hour is what this is.

 

<Joker voice> This forum deserves a better class of troller.  And I'm gonna give it to them! </voice>.

 

Levity aside, to the person who wrote "safety school" against their Stanford rejection - keen to buy you a beer.

[summerecho]

Yep, I checked it just the other day when I posted here. I was still being reviewed and, when I asked him and he checked, he told me he had a denial letter. I took a look at it and offered to buy him a pizza to try to cheer him up. In the week prior I had contacted the department (I figured I had been rejected anyway) and was told basically that they have not started second round admissions yet; that would come after some people from the first round make decisions on whether or not to attend. They said that final decisions would be made, at the latest, by mid-March.

 

So if we are still being reviewed, we are still on the wait-list until otherwise notified.

I looked at the results page and it said that some people received a waitlisted e-mail from Irvine already? Blah...I am stressing myself way too much. Best of luck to you!

Edited February 20, 2013 by summerecho

[BornAndRaised]

For anyone waiting on UWashington, I emailed to ask and they said "We expect to be sending out information about our decisions by the end of February." (though this doesn't offer much insight..)

 

Thanks for calling! I was really worried. 

 

Are we all just assuming these Yale admits are fake?

 

No one's claimed them right? And some of them on the board say they were notified by email and some by phone. 

[rainbowz]

No, you actually feel that way because so far every burst of admissions to programs widely admired by GradCafe junkies has included a relatively quick set of claims by established posters, and the lack of claims make these fakes easier to spot than a yellow-undersoled Christina Bouboutan.

 

Your excellent insincts, by the way, are exactly the reason Yale is really considering admitting you right now. HTH.

 

Seriously, I don't remember the last time I checked the results page. Everything good is worth working for, and that includes trolling. If these lazy assholes don't at least have the common courtesy to build an army of fake profiles, embed themselves in our community and eventually activate the sleepers at opportune moments, they don't deserve to get a rise out of me. Amatuer hour is what this is.

 

Oh, why thank you!  

[clangeroo]

I looked at the results page and it said that some people received a waitlisted e-mail from Irvine already? Blah...I am stressing myself way too much. Best of luck to you!

 

Not to make this situation worse, but they also haven't sent out any rejects yet, so at least some of us are rejects.