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Welcome to the 2014-15 Cycle


Poli92

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Just spoke to an Admissions officer at Davis, and I am on the waitlist.  They are waiting for people to respond to their admittance.  So if ya got into Davis, but have no interest in going there...help a brother out...

 

On a larger scale, this explains the pattern of sending out "waves" of notifications; you admit students you absolutely want, and wait to see what they say.  Depending on the responses from that top tier, you admit (or don't admit) applicants off the short-list.  

 

Makes sense, yes?

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In a similar vein, I'm really confused about George Washington. I got officially waitlisted, but on the results page, they say there is an open house where 35 are invited, 25-30 will be given offers, and the rest will be waitlisted. So I guess that means I'm on the waitlist for the waitlist (behind whoever gets invited but not given an offer initially)?

 

Waitlist.Waitlist.

Edited by NYCBluenose
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Those of you waiting on Chicago -- do you think that the silence is an implicit rejection? In past years, it looks like they released all their positive decisions at once. But also in past years, there were more results posted on this forum.

 

Thoughts?

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Hesitant to attend but would probably attend. Looking forward to visiting day.

Note that it's not just name that provides an edge to top programs. Methods training is better usually, faculty to collaborate with on average are more likely to publish in top journals (note: they also may be less accessible), and your peers will offer more smart people with which to coauthor and share ideas (although maybe they are more backstavbing, who knows?).

Even if you are a smart cookie, it's hard to be very successful surrounded by other dumb cookies and when you aren't given the tools to succeed.

I find it incredibly hard to believe that anyone admitted to a top 25 program is a "dumb cookie", or that anyone teaching at such a facility has trouble getting their works into top journals. Furthermore, given the inherently stochastic nature of the admissions process and people's decision making on where to attend, I'm not even sure how much I buy into the idea that school ranking correlates strongly with graduate students intellectual ability. Maybe as you go further and further down, but to me the idea that a school with a ranking like Wisconsin is attracting appreciably less qualified students than anyone just doesn't seem realistic.

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I find it incredibly hard to believe that anyone admitted to a top 25 program is a "dumb cookie", or that anyone teaching at such a facility has trouble getting their works into top journals. Furthermore, given the inherently stochastic nature of the admissions process and people's decision making on where to attend, I'm not even sure how much I buy into the idea that school ranking correlates strongly with graduate students intellectual ability. Maybe as you go further and further down, but to me the idea that a school with a ranking like Wisconsin is attracting appreciably less qualified students than anyone just doesn't seem realistic.

 

Please don't feed the troll.

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Maybe Testingtesting isn't being a troll. I think s/he just thinks that the degree of program quality curves steeply with the rankings, but in reality it is a gentle slope. 

 

Naw man, this is trolling: |

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I am not including any of the places I will likely get into in these ;) E.g., studying under Gary King at Harvard offers an edge in training I probably would not get under anyone at Minnesota.

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How do you know which programs are top tier/2nd tier/3rd tier? Which rankings do you go by? The NRC? US News? I'm hoping to apply next year and wanted to know how I should be gauging the programs, especially for IR and Comparative. Thanks in advance!

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How do you know which programs are top tier/2nd tier/3rd tier? Which rankings do you go by? The NRC? US News? I'm hoping to apply next year and wanted to know how I should be gauging the programs, especially for IR and Comparative. Thanks in advance!

I believe that most everyone uses US News.  However, you have plenty of time to check out each department individually to see which has the best fit for your interests and to look over their placement history (I skipped anything outside the top 50 or so, but it seems like others barely look beyond the top 10 ;~}).

Edited by fakeusername
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How do you know which programs are top tier/2nd tier/3rd tier? Which rankings do you go by? The NRC? US News? I'm hoping to apply next year and wanted to know how I should be gauging the programs, especially for IR and Comparative. Thanks in advance!

 

I believe that most everyone uses US News.  However, you have plenty of time to check out each department individually to see which has the best fit for your interests and to look over their placement history (I skipped anything outside the top 50 or so, but it seems like others barely look beyond the top 10 ;~}).

 

I remember looking at this recently using the distribution of US News scores and grouping tiers by standard deviation. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I remember the top 10 (maybe the top 7-8) as being the top tier, 11-25 as 2nd tier, 25-50 as 3rd tier.

 

EDITED TO ADD: Subfield matters and there's a lot of noise outside of the top tier. If you don't know how well a program ranks in a subfield, you may try to get an idea of how the subfield ranks within the program. I got my MA from a top-50 program, but in a subfield that lags behind the others in publications and resources.

Edited by slacktivist
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How do you know which programs are top tier/2nd tier/3rd tier? Which rankings do you go by? The NRC? US News? I'm hoping to apply next year and wanted to know how I should be gauging the programs, especially for IR and Comparative. Thanks in advance!

Don't just look for the rankings. There are places which may not be ranked at the top, but they are at the top in what they are doing. For instance, if you are fond of game theory, you probably should go to Rochester, despite its being ranked outside of top 10 (in some rankings, it is in top 10, but you can see the point). Moreover, look for placement statistics. There is actually placement ranking of polisci PhD programs, though I don't remember the time span of the data they used in it. Professors can change work place, and it may affect faculty research potential significantly... 

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If it makes you feel better, I'm just as anxious today as I was yesterday (probably more).  Still haven't heard anything.  I ate an entire bag of Doritos for breakfast this morning.  

Yea i've heard absolutely nothing either.  I'm hoping for PITT, Rochester, Vanderbilt, possibly Cornell this week.

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If it makes you feel better, I'm just as anxious today as I was yesterday (probably more).  Still haven't heard anything.  I ate an entire bag of Doritos for breakfast this morning.  

 

 

 

...what flavor?

 

Original Cheese is Tier 1, Cool Ranch is Tier 2, new Xtreme flavors Tier 3 and below.

Edited by slacktivist
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Has anyone else unsubscribed to all of their various email newsletters and what not?  Every time I get an email and it's not from a school I'm applying to I'm like  :angry:  Now at least I get excited/let down less frequently ahaha

Oh, totally.  Every time my email tab hits (1) it becomes a life-or-death emergency; I've spammed and unsubscribed from tons of stuff.

 

Looks like there won't be much going on today though, besides the recent UT Austin acceptances.

Edited by fakeusername
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There is actually placement ranking of polisci PhD programs, though I don't remember the time span of the data they used in it. Professors can change work place, and it may affect faculty research potential significantly...

Are you referring to this: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2303567 by Robert Oprisko? I stumbled upon it the other day and added it to a spreadsheet I have that aggregates USNWR and NRC rankings as well, in order to get as complete a picture of where the schools I applied to line up.

Also, as far as Vanderbilt goes, I asked after my interview when decisions were going to be made, and I was led to believe it would be sometime next week. They did say funding information would come out at the same time too.

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Are you referring to this: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2303567 by Robert Oprisko? I stumbled upon it the other day and added it to a spreadsheet I have that aggregates USNWR and NRC rankings as well, in order to get as complete a picture of where the schools I applied to line up.

Also, as far as Vanderbilt goes, I asked after my interview when decisions were going to be made, and I was led to believe it would be sometime next week. They did say funding information would come out at the same time too.

Thanks -- good to know.  I never got an interview there, and only saw two interviews posted, which seems odd as historically they have interviewed a lot of people.  Naturally i'm thinking the worst!

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Are you referring to this: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2303567 by Robert Oprisko? I stumbled upon it the other day and added it to a spreadsheet I have that aggregates USNWR and NRC rankings as well, in order to get as complete a picture of where the schools I applied to line up.

Also, as far as Vanderbilt goes, I asked after my interview when decisions were going to be made, and I was led to believe it would be sometime next week. They did say funding information would come out at the same time too.

No, I meant this paper: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~gillum/rankings_paper.pdf

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