Welcome to the 2013-2014 Cycle

[jeudepaume]

P.S. and yes, at this point I am desperate enough to look for any sources of information in regard to the admission process in PolSci departments.

[ajaxp91]

Here is for your amusement. An article about "kisses of death" in the graduate application process (in psychology, but still).

http://psychology.unl.edu/psichi/Graduate_School_Application_Kisses_of_Death.pdf

 

"...an applicant included a letter of recommendation from a state senator who was a friend of the family and only knew the applicant as a child and adolescent. The letter said little about the applicant and described the senator’s powerful role in overseeing the funding of higher education in the state."

 

- Thanks a lot, senator.

 

Also, if anybody is interested, I found an article (don't know what year) describing an admission process for Political Science Graduate Program at Harvard. The authors analyzed it from the position of possible improvements in the process, but I have no idea if it was implemented or not. (I'll look for a link, if anybody wants to read it)

 

Is it this old article from 1993?

 

• Bruce, King, Gilligan. (1993). "The Science of Political Science Graduate Admissions." Political Science and Politics (December 1993): 772-778. Retrieved From: http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/gking/files/psgrad.pdf

[jeudepaume]

 

Is it this old article from 1993?

 

• Bruce, King, Gilligan. (1993). "The Science of Political Science Graduate Admissions." Political Science and Politics (December 1993): 772-778. Retrieved From: http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/gking/files/psgrad.pdf

 

Yes! It's that one.

[jeudepaume]

A lot has changed from that time, I imagine. Or not.

[astreaux]

I've lost a lot of sleep over that old article. The way they (or at least Harvard ca. 1993) account for institutional rigor puts most students who attended non-Berkeley public universities at a huge disadvantage.

[zudei]

I dunno. It was meant more tongue and cheek though.

 

If I don't hear back from a school (like ever), I'll ask for my money back. In my book, paying the fees earns my application to right to be given fair consideration and a response. 

 

UC Davis is irritating me a bit. all other unis have waived the TOEFL requirement and i meet their (UCD's) requirements to be exempt as well, but on their application checklist it STILL says they haven't received them and my app is marked incomplete. it was a steep fee as well ($100) so i was kind of hoping that you were serious

[soonsoforth]

This happened to me with a program, as I had only uploaded an unofficial copy of my transcripts and my official copy hadn't been received. My application was also marked as incomplete, and I was vexed.

Contact the department first (by phone or e-mail), explain the situation, and provide your application ID. Meanwhile, try to get your official transcript in as soon as you are able. More than likely they will confirm that your transcripts aren't needed until admission.

 

The response I received from that graduate program coordinator was that my application was already being reviewed without the official transcripts and "That said, should you be offered admission, we will need an official transcript reflecting your Bachelor's degrees. This will need to be sent to [], and instructions can be found here [].  As I said, though, this is not holding up or affecting the evaluation of your application." Pretty standard. So definitely don't worry, but also don't delay in contacting the program staff.

 

on cautiously's advice I called the said department (thanks!- they were very helpful, and said pretty much the same thing). it's been about three weeks since I had submitted the application, but the person I talked to said it's very normal for some part of the application to still appear as incomplete. hope this helps if anyone's in a similar situation!

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

I've lost a lot of sleep over that old article. The way they (or at least Harvard ca. 1993) account for institutional rigor puts most students who attended non-Berkeley public universities at a huge disadvantage.

 

Overall, though, it's not a terrible approach. It's an interesting way to reduce the issues of quantity without arbitrary cutoffs of quantifiable, objective factors.

[aecp]

 

Is it this old article from 1993?

 

• Bruce, King, Gilligan. (1993). "The Science of Political Science Graduate Admissions." Political Science and Politics (December 1993): 772-778. Retrieved From: http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/gking/files/psgrad.pdf

 

The article says the admissions committee consists of about six faculty.  Six faculty for about 700 applications seems rather small.  It means in the initial stages your applications fate is probably dependent on just the 1-2 people who read it before it gets to the stage where the files are read by the entire committee. I am curious as to the current size of the Adcomm.  Any insights?

Edited January 16, 2014 by aecp

[TheGnome]

 I am curious as to the current size of the Adcomm.  Any insights?

 

I am willing to bet that it is still the same. Six sounds about right

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

Will no one be shown mercy today?

 

And why do I cling to the unreasonable idea that although my schools do not typically show much movement until next month, that each day might bring with it news?

[aecp]

I am willing to bet that it is still the same. Six sounds about right

If the size is six and if the application is read by only 1-2 people in the initial stages, then the applicant should be allowed to indicate those 1-2 POIs that should read the application.  Your fate should not be decided in that initial stage solely by faculty whose research interests may be totally different from yours.

[TheGnome]

In an ideal world, maybe. Maybe some schools are doing it in a way that approximates to what you describe, maybe not. In any case, faculty members have an interest in getting the best students that they can. They also have an interest in minimizing the effort and time they need to put into the admissions process. Both are legitimate motives, and the process itself probably makes a lot more sense on the other side of the fence than it does to us.

[veritaserum]

This thread's been moving pretty quickly recently! Just for reference, I checked last year's thread - on they were already on January 31st. We're only at January 16th and we've already hit 39 pages lol.  

[smallworld]

This thread's been moving pretty quickly recently! Just for reference, I checked last year's thread - on they were already on January 31st. We're only at January 16th and we've already hit 39 pages lol.  

 

So, we should assume that the admissions processes will proceed in a similarly accelerated manner, right?

[steedyue]

So, we should assume that the admissions processes will proceed in a similarly accelerated manner, right?

Or, we have a more competitive year and more anxious applicants coming in the thread?

Or, the anxiety of this year applicant is more intensive than that of past year?

Here we got two alternative hypotheses.

[TheGnome]

I want to believe in the second explanation until I get in somewhere. Then I will switch to the first one

[sylark]

Hey, I noticed that there was one spontaneous phone interview from University of Washington posted on the admissions results page, anyone else heard anything?

(I probably need to stop being paranoid!)

[IR IR IR PhD]

JUST GOT A PHONE CALL FROM A TOP SCHOOL'S AREA CODE! I won a free trip on a Royal Norwegian cruise... DAMN IT! 

[BFB]

My OSU application still says that decision is pending. That's not a good sign right? Considering the top applicants are getting interviews? I see the first rejection coming from OSU and I'm already sad.

 

Fellow OSU applicant here. I'm starting to worry too. No phone call nor email yet. 

 

You people….  

 

If I'm not mistaken, some POI's call applicants, others do not. It depends on personal preference (based on BFB's previous comments). Probably not totally out of the running yet.

 

Correct. Some people will get called and won't get in. Some people won't get called (or emailed) but will get in. All in all, more of the people who got contacted will be admitted, it's true, but if you conclude that you're in (or out) because you got a call (or didn't), you're jumping the gun. You'll know when the Grad School sends out notifications.

 

Also, I think I've mentioned it before, but at OSU funding and acceptance are separate processes. We won't know the results of the fellowship competition until mid-to-late February. Sometimes people get disappointed or scared when they don't see any language about funding right away.

[sylark]

Quick question, aside from a few programs, do politcal science phd programs generally not invest in phone interviews?

[jeudepaume]

In 6-7 years...

[TheGnome]

It seems you will be upgraded to a huskie though, so there is progress

[jeudepaume]

True, at least I will be cute.

[wisescience]

Any interview news for Emory yet? I can only suspect the next couple weeks will be quite telling!