Welcome to the 2013-2014 Cycle

[zudei]

It seems poli sci people are a bunch of chef hobbyists. How many oenophiles do we have hanging out?

 Haha, it's useful when you have little money

 

I've been living home since November 8th because of a medical condition, so I've been kinda saving some for my application fees (international as well). In addition, I managed to score amazing funding packages from my school this year, lived in cheap India for the last couple of months, and decided at the get-go, after talking to one professor that spending 100 US$ won't lower my quality of life substantially at this point, but might make the difference between getting in somewhere with funding, and not getting in at all. I am not applying to schools that aren't a good fit, though, and decided not to apply to any schools I would not be absolutely thrilled to attend (decided not to apply to Wisconsin-Madison).

 

This is exactly how I proceeded as well. I treated it as a constrained optimization prob. Only applying to the places (unis or cities) that I would love + 2 backups (well still good schools but lower ranked than others).

[BFB]

I'm not from a historically underrepresented group, but I did realize (which I didn't last year...) that I'm poorer than poor. Like, my tax return from last year has my income at 20% the poverty level. That and my current limited income from my fellowship scored me fee waivers everywhere I applied that offered them. Truth be told, I applied to a few top 10 Unis that I wouldn't have because they provided waivers (I'd LOVE to go to all of them, I just wasn't willing to put my limited financial resources into such a risky bet).

 

Depending on whether or not this is a family situation, you might also be eligible for a diversity fellowship. Depends on the university and whether or not people know to submit your name. Might be worth asking your DGSes.

[BFB]

 Haha, it's useful when you have little money

 

Richard Olney's Simple French Food is a terrific book, by the way. Some of the best food in the world was devised by people who were hard up. There's a recipe for a potato daube in there (potatoes, garlic, water, olive oil… that's it) that shouldn't be missed.

[BFB]

A lot of my POIs don't sit on the adcoms, I've learned. They've usually told me upfront in e-mails, but not as a warning, simply as a: I'll offer my opinion on your chances, but I don't actually sit on the adcoms. That said, here's why you might fit with our program... You might also want to get in touch with Prof. X.

 

 

Not an unusual caveat. That said, I've gotten emails from POIs that say "I want this person." YMMV.

[zudei]

Richard Olney's Simple French Food is a terrific book, by the way. Some of the best food in the world was devised by people who were hard up. There's a recipe for a potato daube in there (potatoes, garlic, water, olive oil… that's it) that shouldn't be missed.

 

Amen to that. I will check this book out and request my French friends (very politely but persistently) to buy it and then invite me for dinner

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

Richard Olney's Simple French Food is a terrific book, by the way. Some of the best food in the world was devised by people who were hard up. There's a recipe for a potato daube in there (potatoes, garlic, water, olive oil… that's it) that shouldn't be missed.

 

Those are four of my favorite ingredients.

 

What we have here, folks, is evidence that even active academics have time for some simple French food.

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

Not an unusual caveat. That said, I've gotten emails from POIs that say "I want this person." YMMV.

 

I assume that's something you'll seriously take into consideration, then?

 

Of course, I doubt that's something I'll have to worry about (or hope for). I was mostly gauging my feasibility as a candidate with their programs, revealing my weaknesses alongside my strengths.

[catchermiscount]

Those are four of my favorite ingredients.

 

What we have here, folks, is evidence that even active academics have time for some simple French food.

 

You should note that you are getting advice from somebody much further down the culinary rabbit hole than merely "having time."

[TheGnome]

You should note that you are getting advice from somebody much further down the culinary rabbit hole than merely "having time."

 

That said, there is some sage advice in this short op-ed 

[BFB]

Heavens. You people really do do your homework. Though this is probably more immediately relevant.

Edited December 10, 2013 by BFB

[BFB]

I assume that's something you'll seriously take into consideration, then?

 

Of course, I doubt that's something I'll have to worry about (or hope for). I was mostly gauging my feasibility as a candidate with their programs, revealing my weaknesses alongside my strengths.

 

Absolutely. It's always hard to assess fit. When a faculty member says "I want this person," that gets a whole lot easier.

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

Heavens. You people really do do your homework. Though this is probably more immediately relevant.

 

Ha! This is great. I was surprised when I moved into a house with a bunch of early-20s German men. They all cook, and take it quite seriously! I have few male friends in the US who really know how to cook well, including appealing to the aesthetic appetite. 

 

I have to say, my favorite way to cook asparagus is usually baked with some olive oil, lemon juice and fresh garlic. This also works quite well for grilling.

 

Well, friends, I now have a second goal. Not only do I want to be a successful academic (with, of course, books published by the top academic presses), I want to be a successful cook too (with, of course, books published by... oh, who am I kidding?).

[TheGnome]

Heavens. You people really do do your homework. Though this is probably more immediately relevant.

 

This is a great idea! I see that the post is dated February 12 though, any updates on the book?

[mv0027]

Hello World.

 

I've lurkered on these forums a few years now. Super proud of myself for submitted 6 applications these year! Forums like these certainly helped (with advise, not so much with morale). Thanks!

 

How do you figure out the size of programs? I know you can piece it together from FAQ and a department's website, but generally, what is a "big" program and what is a "small" program? I consider myself a fairly informed applicant (since I'm older and got a masters from a university to which I am currently applying to), but I didn't really think about size much in selected my schools. Having said that, 4 of 6 applications were at public schools, so my guess is that I applied mostly to "big" programs. All things equal, that has to make your chances better, right? From the numbers I've seen, it does not seem that smaller programs get equally smaller number of total applicants!

 

Cheers! 

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

Hello World.

 

I've lurkered on these forums a few years now. Super proud of myself for submitted 6 applications these year! Forums like these certainly helped (with advise, not so much with morale). Thanks!

 

How do you figure out the size of programs? I know you can piece it together from FAQ and a department's website, but generally, what is a "big" program and what is a "small" program? I consider myself a fairly informed applicant (since I'm older and got a masters from a university to which I am currently applying to), but I didn't really think about size much in selected my schools. Having said that, 4 of 6 applications were at public schools, so my guess is that I applied mostly to "big" programs. All things equal, that has to make your chances better, right? From the numbers I've seen, it does not seem that smaller programs get equally smaller number of total applicants!

 

Cheers! 

 

Not exactly sure, other than to see what they advertise. The size of the program in the end probably plays a pretty small role in chances compared to program prestige. If Harvard wants 20 people but gets 600 applicants, their admissions rate is still smaller than a school wanting 10 people but getting only 150 applications. 

 

But in any case, welcome to the group!

[mv0027]

Not exactly sure, other than to see what they advertise. The size of the program in the end probably plays a pretty small role in chances compared to program prestige. If Harvard wants 20 people but gets 600 applicants, their admissions rate is still smaller than a school wanting 10 people but getting only 150 applications. 

 

But in any case, welcome to the group!

 

Sure. But if it goes in the other direction, it would make a big difference. For example, Harvard wants just 10 and gets 600 applicants while Michigan wants 30 but only gets 400 applicants. I'm inclined to think it matters and I should have thought about it more! 

 

You are probably right though, and hopefully it is a wash if you applied to lots of schools. 

 

No joke about how killer the wait is....

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

Sure. But if it goes in the other direction, it would make a big difference. For example, Harvard wants just 10 and gets 600 applicants while Michigan wants 30 but only gets 400 applicants. I'm inclined to think it matters and I should have thought about it more! 

 

You are probably right though, and hopefully it is a wash if you applied to lots of schools. 

 

No joke about how killer the wait is....

 

Oh, I'm sure it can play in your favor, and I hope it does! It's a pretty intensive game of program size, applicant pool, and acceptance yield... I did refer to Peterson's quite a bit to get an idea of competitiveness of programs. It calmed my nerves a bit to see programs that have fewer than 200 applicants, but with an acceptance rate still hovering between 10-20%, there's still a lot of luck to be needed...

[TheGnome]

Just curious, did anyone attempt to calculate the likelihood of getting into at least one school out of the total list? If so how?

[IR IR IR PhD]

Hi all! New to the thread -- so first let me say good luck to everyone! 

 

Initial thoughts please... had to take the GRE very early in December. Got fine scores. Sent the scores out to my top 4 schools all with December 15 deadlines. Will have these applications completed other than scores. 2 of the 4 schools say explicitly they will wait a few weeks for GRE scores to arrive -- safe. The other 2 say ALL material must be received before the deadline. I've contacted the admins of both of these schools with my sob-story -- no responses yet. You think that they'll accept these scores coming in a bit late? I mean they aren't going to start weeding us out until January anyway right... Or did circumstance totally screw me!? Anybody experience this before? 

[upam]

Thought on program size - from what I've seen, the size of the program may (or at least should) relate to available funding. Based on this, some public universities - such as UNC - have relatively small classes and fully fund everyone. Some private universities have larger, fully funded classes. Of course, schools that accept without funding don't necessarily have the same limiting factors.

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

well the gradcafe answer to that is the following formula (disclaimer: I don't actually agree with most of it): 

 

I'm not particularly advanced with probability statistics, but the overarching problem with the whole thing is simply that it relies heavily on assumptions, and takes out all subjective factors and "fit" conditions (necessarily) to turn it into a simpler mathematical question. I think we could devise a formula that could tell any given applicant the probability they'd get into a specific school, but then we just call that the admissions rate... If we were to think this out as that formula attempts (by the way, whatsup with all the semicolons?), the equations would have to provide for "if" scenarios (I'm sure there are mathematical terms, but bear with me). i.e. If [variable] equals [quality] and if [variable] equals [fit]. Which, again, are difficult to turn into exact numbers, but we could probably formulate ranges. 

 

In the end, it's possible that the very best candidate in objective terms (GRE, GPA, research experience, quality of LORs) could apply to schools with terrible fit and get in nowhere, and a middle-of-the-road candidate in those same objective terms might get lucky because of fit. Alternatively, someone could devise a formula determining candidate quality in purely objective terms, and I'm sure that there'd be some correlation between that and admissions success. Based on that data, we might be able to say that [gradcafe user 1] has a 10% chance of getting into a university, whereas [gradcafe user 2] has a 50% of getting into a university.

 

I'm personally hoping my subjective qualities overcome my objective (which is really just GRE Quant), but there's no formula for that.

[IR IR IR PhD]

This is a great question.

 

I received some helpful information from an ETS customer service rep, who told me that score delivery requests are processed on Wednesday and Friday of each week (though this changes for the holidays). Factor in the five day processing time reported on the website, and you should have your answer. 

 

However, this applies to ordering additional score reports after the test via phone/internet. I'm not quite certain if there is going to be additional processing time related to completing your official score report (which can take a while). Maybe someone else can chime in?

I just got word from 1 of the 2 schools in question. The admin said that as long as you self-report, they will accept the scores as long as the certified scores come in before the final admissions decisions are made! Now the question is, will I have the AWA in time... we'll have to wait and see! I will call ETS tomorrow and hopefully get that same ETS customer service rep that helped you out. I will let everyone know what they say in case anyone is struggling with the same issues.

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

Thought on program size - from what I've seen, the size of the program may (or at least should) relate to available funding. Based on this, some public universities - such as UNC - have relatively small classes and fully fund everyone. Some private universities have larger, fully funded classes. Of course, schools that accept without funding don't necessarily have the same limiting factors.

 

And then there are those universities that aren't good enough (say, top 10) to offer everyone funding, but are prestigious enough that they still get ridiculous numbers of apps and only offer funding to about 50% of the incoming class. 

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

I just got word from 1 of the 2 schools in question. The admin said that as long as you self-report, they will accept the scores as long as the certified scores come in before the final admissions decisions are made! Now the question is, will I have the AWA in time... we'll have to wait and see! I will call ETS tomorrow and hopefully get that same ETS customer service rep that helped you out. I will let everyone know what they say in case anyone is struggling with the same issues.

 

I asked this of a school to which I'm re-applying. The grad program director told me that the Uni should still have my scores, but it doesn't matter because they don't need to see an official report until they're offering me a spot.

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

Just curious, did anyone attempt to calculate the likelihood of getting into at least one school out of the total list? If so how?

 

Another issue (just remembered), is that if all schools use the same criteria, it's likely that many of the same people will get offers across the board. That reduces the probability of everyone else getting an offer. So it's dependent not only on how many applications each school gets, but also on how widely the top candidates apply.