Welcome to the 2013-2014 Cycle

[lonestarflag]

All things considered, I really don't know how I would be making it through this cycle without this little support group of ours.

[deltaqsquared]

All things considered, I really don't know how I would be making it through this cycle without this little support group of ours.

Same here.

[cupofnimbus]

Anyone claiming UMD willing to describe what their email was like?

[tinkerbell]

Anyone claiming UMD willing to describe what their email was like?

 

Yes please, I've seen some have submitted their results already! Subfield? 

[Cazorla]

Chicago lied.

 

Also, I'm really starting to regret only applying to 7 schools and only applying to one schools outside of the top 20 especially since my POIs at a couple of.programs are 70 or over.

Edited February 19, 2014 by Cazorla

[TheGnome]

The anxiety about grad school decisions is apparently so insurmountable that no one cared about the impending Ragnarok, the Norse apocalypse. By the gods people, we are talking about the appearance of the World Serpent, the end of the world as we know it! By Odin's beard, what has the world become!

 

No? Anyone?

 

*sigh*

[PoliViGuy]

UMD admit here. First of all, my subfield is IR or CP. My email came from the DGS informing me of my admission and asking to set up a time to talk. Attached was the official letter which gave info on funding and how to accept/decline the offer.

 

Hope this helps; let me know if there's anything else I can do.

[astreaux]

By Odin's beard, what has the world become!

By Grabthar's hammer, what a savings...

NO apocalypse before all my decisions are in, dammit.

http://youtu.be/kgv7U3GYlDY

Edited February 19, 2014 by mygrotianmoment

[IRToni]

Just had a really strange, rattling nightmare! Got rejected by Columbia, and got a WL from Stanford for an MA, complete with fake numbers and everything! Soo strange, because it was so very specific (and made up a program that doesn't exist at Stanford, since I was WL at a joint PoliSci/Sociology M.A., which also doesn't make any sense whatsoever for my interests!). Good thing I don't believe in premonitions!

[lonestarflag]

Just had a really strange, rattling nightmare! Got rejected by Columbia, and got a WL from Stanford for an MA, complete with fake numbers and everything! Soo strange, because it was so very specific (and made up a program that doesn't exist at Stanford, since I was WL at a joint PoliSci/Sociology M.A., which also doesn't make any sense whatsoever for my interests!). Good thing I don't believe in premonitions!

Well, I had a dream during my afternoon nap my brother crashed a helicopter in a river in the middle of Houston as he was landing to pick my family up. Good thing my brother made it through 4 years in the Air Force and still hasn't flown in anything a day in his life--he's obviously a terrible pilot. But alas. Dreams are peculiar things.

[cupofnimbus]

UMD admit here. First of all, my subfield is IR or CP. My email came from the DGS informing me of my admission and asking to set up a time to talk. Attached was the official letter which gave info on funding and how to accept/decline the offer.

Hope this helps; let me know if there's anything else I can do.

Very helpful, thanks! It helps to get an idea if they're done or sending a slow trickle. Edited February 19, 2014 by cupofnimbus

[cane14]

Columbia and Yale, don't disappoint us another day!

[jane4jane4]

Columbia and Yale, don't disappoint us another day!

 

Yes!! Someone had info that Columbia would announce "early this week" --anyone with info re: Yale? Last year, they announced results toward the end of February, checking from the results board.

[IRToni]

Columbia and Yale, don't disappoint us another day!

 

Adding Stanford in the mix here! We're also still awaiting the official Chicago blood bath!

[milox]

So it looks like Northwestern official rejections are coming out..

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

So it looks like Northwestern official rejections are coming out..

 

Who posted?

[mv0027]

All things considered, I really don't know how I would be making it through this cycle without this little support group of ours.

I appreciate the thought, but I see a lot of green in your signature   Lets not pretend we are all equally disappointed this cycle. 

 

I've recently accepted that I'm likely to go to a second-tier school, so I'm all anti-ivory now  

 

Tinkerbell, I still believe! 

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

I appreciate the thought, but I see a lot of green in your signature   Lets not pretend we are all equally disappointed this cycle. 

 

I've recently accepted that I'm likely to go to a second-tier school, so I'm all anti-ivory now

 

Tinkerbell, I still believe! 

 

What does second tier mean to you? I think we all have different definitions, interested in hearing what others think.

[astreaux]

Yes!! Someone had info that Columbia would announce "early this week" --anyone with info re: Yale? Last year, they announced results toward the end of February, checking from the results board.

 

Yale had two waves of offers last year-- one that was early in February, and a second, smaller one late in February. The first wave (ditto previous years) appears to be by unofficial POI email. The second is by a blast email that directs applicants to the website. Unless they've changed things, I would expect the first offers to come in a maddening trickle.

[cupofnimbus]

I appreciate the thought, but I see a lot of green in your signature   Lets not pretend we are all equally disappointed this cycle. 

 

I've recently accepted that I'm likely to go to a second-tier school, so I'm all anti-ivory now

 

I'm staring down a solid red cycle and, even though I was directed to this forum pretty late in the game, it has been a huge help the last couple of weeks. A select few of my friends have even dipped a toe in this river, and the rest think there's no chance I won't be admitted anywhere, which makes explaining that I'm being rejected (so far) universally pretty awkward! I'm disappointed, of course, but a tiny community of support from people who are running the same gauntlet is just as nice for me as it is for lonestar.

 

As for the second bit, believe! I am hoping like crazy that I get some good feedback on my application so I can pull off a better one next year, but I've seen the data and it's not hopeless for people who go to "second-tier" schools, particularly if you frame your expectations a little differently. The tenure system is struggling and adapting to see opportunity in different places can afford you satisfaction and success beyond what you might expect from a "second-tier" institution.

[milox]

Who posted?

 

Two rejections already via ApplyYourself. But weird that they're rejecting without sending out acceptances for CP, for instance. (As far as I know nobody has claimed acceptances in the comparative subfield)

[anxious2151]

My application status for northwestern just says submitted :/

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

Two rejections already via ApplyYourself. But weird that they're rejecting without sending out acceptances for CP, for instance. (As far as I know nobody has claimed acceptances in the comparative subfield)

 

You can count me among the rejections. It could be that none of their CP admits are on gradcafe. 

[Cazorla]

Can someone please link to where the Northwestern decisions are posted.

[mv0027]

As for the second bit, believe! I am hoping like crazy that I get some good feedback on my application so I can pull off a better one next year, but I've seen the data and it's not hopeless for people who go to "second-tier" schools, particularly if you frame your expectations a little differently. The tenure system is struggling and adapting to see opportunity in different places can afford you satisfaction and success beyond what you might expect from a "second-tier" institution.

 

Ok. So I'm a little jealous of lonestar.

 

I would actually call my future school (assuming I get the funding I'm hoping for) third-tier. There was a paper (posted here) about how 4 schools get about 50 percent of the hires. I would call that first-tier. The rest of the top 15 (I dunno, maybe 20), I would count as second-tier. Think schools like UCSD. I've known lots of student their over the years there, and it is crazy how low their confidence in finding a gig afterwards is. When I told them I wanted a PhD, about 70 percent would tell me not to do it there (I still applied though). 

 

All the rest, I'll call third-tier. I plan to go a third-tier myself. In all honestly, I think of these are "do-it-yourself" programs. They will offer up all the resources and opportunities required to conduct world-class research, but it is totally up to me to get through it and make my research something the intellectual community values. I'm going because I'm a big believer in myself and still believe academia is one of the few career paths that still offer enough intellectual honest that good research is what matters, not institution (though a good institution is a much safer ticket in). So, I may not go to Harvard, but I plan to bust my butt to make sure my dissertation is as good as a graduate from that, or any other, program.