cane14 Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I'm right with you. Wisconsin will happen over the next five business days, I bet... Do you think ALL decisions will be that soon? It seemed to me that many admits didn't come out until the first week of Feb last year... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astreaux Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Cane14, I honestly don't know. In 2012, there was a big wave of acceptances on the 24th. 2013 was odd. There are only two acceptances that I can find, and both were notified by postal service a few days later. At least one of those two was international, though. I don't have any insight into their process, but they do seem to be consistently earlier than any of my other programs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astreaux Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I've checked my application status ten times this morning on the Wisconsin site, and it's still "pending." Clearly I'm just not refreshing often enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cane14 Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I've checked my application status ten times this morning on the Wisconsin site, and it's still "pending." Clearly I'm just not refreshing often enough. Haha since it says they only update it once a day at 7am, I usually just check in the morning and then try to tell myself its highly irrational to continue obsessively checking. ajaxp91 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cane14 Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Cane14, I honestly don't know. In 2012, there was a big wave of acceptances on the 24th. 2013 was odd. There are only two acceptances that I can find, and both were notified by postal service a few days later. At least one of those two was international, though. I don't have any insight into their process, but they do seem to be consistently earlier than any of my other programs. Here's hoping they revert back to 2012 policies and tell us in the next few days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmet Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Hey all, I'm a first year at Wisconsin and I thought I might stop by. I remember this time last year being really stressful, so if there are any questions I can answer to relieve some of the pressure I'd be happy to. Good luck to everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astreaux Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Hey all, I'm a first year at Wisconsin and I thought I might stop by. I remember this time last year being really stressful, so if there are any questions I can answer to relieve some of the pressure I'd be happy to. Good luck to everyone. Thanks! How do you like the program so far? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astreaux Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Haha since it says they only update it once a day at 7am, I usually just check in the morning and then try to tell myself its highly irrational to continue obsessively checking. I have tried (unsuccessfully) to use that logic on myself. I guess we're more likely to hear something by email until the status is updated tomorrow morning. Still, I plan to check again in 3... 2... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cane14 Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 The fact that the early ones last year came in the mail causes me to also obsessively check my mailbox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmet Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Absolutely loving it! The first couple of semesters include a good deal of introductory and methodology courses, which help to strike the right balance between diving right into research and getting your feet wet. We have some great teaching faculty here, who take their jobs as educators as seriously as their jobs as researchers and it shows. In my first semester I took two substantive seminars, the first course in the Stats sequence (required) an experimental methods course and the 1-credit welcome to the department course (required). I did not come in with a broad understanding of political science literature, but on the other hand I think I had a better grasp of statistics than a lot of new admits. Neither was an issue. The early coursework brought us all up to speed. I can only give secondhand anecdotal reports about later stages of the program, but later level grad students have similarly positive reports. I think many schools do this, but Wisconsin's workshops and research groups are a major draw. They meet regularly (weekly or monthly depending on the group) to hear a presentation about some current project by visiting faculty and offer comments. Think of them like a really small scale conference. Since a lot of seminar work cetera around the classics, it's a great chance to update yourself on cutting edge research. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
o.j. Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I know this might sound lame, but how do you check the status of your application? When I log on, it just takes me to apply-web and there it only says submitted. Should I be seeing something else? Panic!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strangepeace Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 (edited) I know this might sound lame, but how do you check the status of your application? When I log on, it just takes me to apply-web and there it only says submitted. Should I be seeing something else? Panic!? You need to go to MyWisc (https://login.wisc.edu/idp/Authn/UserPassword) and log in with you netid (first letter of your first name and your full last name) and password. You should have gotten an email after submitting your application that allowed you to activate this account. The email got sent to my spam folder the first time, so check there if you can't find it. Good luck! Edited January 23, 2014 by strangepeace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mv0027 Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 At this point, I'm even checking this forum so frequently that there are no updates...I'm just enjoying cluttering up the board so that future applicants have to shift through more posts to find the good stuff! Pro-tip: If you change the last digit to 99 on the URL for this forum, your favorites will take you straight to the most recent post. Depressing, huh? astreaux and o.j. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xuejia Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Love the pro-tip...thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TakeMyCoffeeBlack Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 At this point, I'm even checking this forum so frequently that there are no updates...I'm just enjoying cluttering up the board so that future applicants have to shift through more posts to find the good stuff! Pro-tip: If you change the last digit to 99 on the URL for this forum, your favorites will take you straight to the most recent post. Depressing, huh? I don't think you're alone... It's especially depressing when I wake up in Central European time and there are only a handful of us conscious. That's why you're likely to wake up with clutter from this guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
o.j. Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 You need to go to MyWisc (https://login.wisc.edu/idp/Authn/UserPassword) and log in with you netid (first letter of your first name and your full last name) and password. You should have gotten an email after submitting your application that allowed you to activate this account. The email got sent to my spam folder the first time, so check there if you can't find it. Good luck! Hey thanks! I didn't apply to Wisconsin, but the tip is useful. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
o.j. Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 (edited) I was thinking that grad schools could easily tell people who have been rejected very early on. Especially those candidates who are rejected as they narrow the pile, from 400 to 100 for instance. Such a system would allow these candidates to go about their lives and start executing alternate strategies. Additionally, for those who have to wait while the professors trash it out, in 50 per cent of the cases, there will be the sweet reward of an admission. Why don't they do it this way? Edited January 23, 2014 by o.j. mamalik 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallworld Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I was thinking that grad schools could easily tell people who have been rejected very early on. Especially those candidates who are rejected as they narrow the pile, from 400 to 100 for instance. Such a system would allow these candidates to go about their lives and start executing alternate strategies. Additionally, for those who have to wait while the professors trash it out, in 50 per cent of the cases, there will be the sweet reward of an admission. Why don't they do it this way? I've wondered about this same thing myself. The only thing I could think of is that they don't want to throw out any candidates until they are completely sure of their final list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boazczoine Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I was thinking that grad schools could easily tell people who have been rejected very early on. Especially those candidates who are rejected as they narrow the pile, from 400 to 100 for instance. Such a system would allow these candidates to go about their lives and start executing alternate strategies. Additionally, for those who have to wait while the professors trash it out, in 50 per cent of the cases, there will be the sweet reward of an admission. Why don't they do it this way? I've wondered this too. Seems like after the first initial "slimming down" stage, they could let those folks know while members of the admissions committee and various POIs take a close look at the remaining pool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
o.j. Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I've wondered this too. Seems like after the first initial "slimming down" stage, they could let those folks know while members of the admissions committee and various POIs take a close look at the remaining pool. May be they feel that doing so will reveal too much of their admissions process? Also, I wonder if it is just the software and resources also: much easier and efficient to ask the grad co-ordinator to update 50 files in one single update than update 100 of the ones going through and then another 50? Perhaps more chances of human error in this case also? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark-Helmed Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I was thinking that grad schools could easily tell people who have been rejected very early on. Especially those candidates who are rejected as they narrow the pile, from 400 to 100 for instance. Such a system would allow these candidates to go about their lives and start executing alternate strategies. Additionally, for those who have to wait while the professors trash it out, in 50 per cent of the cases, there will be the sweet reward of an admission. Why don't they do it this way? I think it has to do with admin workload. Since we all apply online these days, they have our information in electronic files. From there, they can make "not-accept" the default setting for the files and only go and manually change the state for the ~30 or so applicants that are being accepted and waitlisted. Then they can automate the not-accepted notification for everyone else in the default state. But it would be so nice! (Incidentally, during previous traumatic application cycles, I decided to think of it "not accepted" instead of "rejected." Much more psychologically kind, and probably more accurate to the process as well.) IR IR IR PhD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astreaux Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Absolutely loving it! The first couple of semesters include a good deal of introductory and methodology courses, which help to strike the right balance between diving right into research and getting your feet wet. We have some great teaching faculty here, who take their jobs as educators as seriously as their jobs as researchers and it shows. In my first semester I took two substantive seminars, the first course in the Stats sequence (required) an experimental methods course and the 1-credit welcome to the department course (required). I did not come in with a broad understanding of political science literature, but on the other hand I think I had a better grasp of statistics than a lot of new admits. Neither was an issue. The early coursework brought us all up to speed. I can only give secondhand anecdotal reports about later stages of the program, but later level grad students have similarly positive reports. I think many schools do this, but Wisconsin's workshops and research groups are a major draw. They meet regularly (weekly or monthly depending on the group) to hear a presentation about some current project by visiting faculty and offer comments. Think of them like a really small scale conference. Since a lot of seminar work cetera around the classics, it's a great chance to update yourself on cutting edge research. Is that "welcome..." class Political Science 800? On my pros/cons list, that class went straight into Wisconsin's pros column. It brings order to chaos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TakeMyCoffeeBlack Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I think it has to do with admin workload. Since we all apply online these days, they have our information in electronic files. From there, they can make "not-accept" the default setting for the files and only go and manually change the state for the ~30 or so applicants that are being accepted and waitlisted. Then they can automate the not-accepted notification for everyone else in the default state. But it would be so nice! (Incidentally, during previous traumatic application cycles, I decided to think of it "not accepted" instead of "rejected." Much more psychologically kind, and probably more accurate to the process as well.) This, and the certain influx of e-mails for early rejections, which clogs up their administrative staff and keeps the professors busy at their e-mails at an important time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TakeMyCoffeeBlack Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Congrats to Purdue admits! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmet Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 mygrotianmoment, Yes that's right. I won't lie and claim I loved PS800. You're right that it's important and helpful, but at times it felt more like busywork than anything. For instance we had a week for discussion on earning tenure. Obviously tenure is an important piece of academia, but there are a few pretty big steps between now and then. It was helpful as a way to get to know the cohort and learn some of the norms of the discipline and Wisconsin's department in particular, but I'm also glad to be past it. astreaux 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now