Welcome to the 2014-15 Cycle

[AuldReekie]

how many schools is everybody applying to?

 

15 

[esotericish]

whew - quite the lift. I'm doing 12 and working a 50hr/week soul crushing job. i hope this works out. going to be very upset if I don't get in anywhere.

[NYCBluenose]

Applying to 14, after making the mistake of only applying to 7 last cycle.

I know it's a little late to be giving this advice, but if anyone is hesitating about a few programs, go ahead and apply to as many feasible programs as you can. These cohorts are small and shrinking, and your chances will be better that way.

[AuldReekie]

whew - quite the lift. I'm doing 12 and working a 50hr/week soul crushing job. i hope this works out. going to be very upset if I don't get in anywhere.

 

Aye.. it's quite a tedious process. I'm planning a bit of an ambitious cycle trip through the summer and will need to actually start training in the New Year.

 

I don't really want to think about alternatives until after all my applications are in..

[ani11]

how many schools is everybody applying to?

 

5. Interests are very narrow so there were only a few schools I could imagine a decent fit in.

 

I'm now pretty much done and looking forward to a backpacking trip across SE-Asia over Xmas/NY! Good luck to everyone who has applications remaining, see you all in Jan

[AuldReekie]

Inevitable pre-deadline referee drama and mix up over deadlines  . Nice and supportive person, but busy forgetful!

--

Anyone else here applying to Texas A&M?

[ARealDowner]

I'm applying to 8 schools, and even that felt like a lot to apply to/ask of my letter writers...but I also wanted to stay within a relatively limited geographical area, eliminating some West Coast schools I might have otherwise applied to. 

 

Speaking of letter writer difficulties, I have one professor writing mine who's a chronic procrastinator. He missed the Duke deadline by an hour (which I'm hoping won't be a big deal), but as Ohio State's deadline looms today, he still hasn't gotten his in, and with final exams and papers to grade, I'm not sure when to expect him to. Much time has been spent trying to determine where the line is between frequent reminders and outright obnoxious nagging.

[AuldReekie]

I'm applying to 8 schools, and even that felt like a lot to apply to/ask of my letter writers...but I also wanted to stay within a relatively limited geographical area, eliminating some West Coast schools I might have otherwise applied to. 

 

Speaking of letter writer difficulties, I have one professor writing mine who's a chronic procrastinator. He missed the Duke deadline by an hour (which I'm hoping won't be a big deal), but as Ohio State's deadline looms today, he still hasn't gotten his in, and with final exams and papers to grade, I'm not sure when to expect him to. Much time has been spent trying to determine where the line is between frequent reminders and outright obnoxious nagging.

 

Yeah. it's unfortunate that there's no means to make things easier for them. Interfolio would make things much smoother, but very few schools accept it. 

 

Re:OSU. I assumed that this (below) included letters of recommendation?

PLEASE NOTE: supporting documents should arrive within two weeks of the deadline for application

[ARealDowner]

Yeah. it's unfortunate that there's no means to make things easier for them. Interfolio would make things much smoother, but very few schools accept it. 

 

Re:OSU. I assumed that this (below) included letters of recommendation?

 

That's how I took it...I think BFB has also said before in some thread that they're not draconian about the rec writers having their letters in exactly on time, so I'm not terribly worried. I just hope any other school that his recommendation ends up a bit late to is similarly understanding, because I wouldn't be surprised if this is a recurring problem.

[AuldReekie]

That's how I took it...I think BFB has also said before in some thread that they're not draconian about the rec writers having their letters in exactly on time, so I'm not terribly worried. I just hope any other school that his recommendation ends up a bit late to is similarly understanding, because I wouldn't be surprised if this is a recurring problem.

 

We're in the same boat.. 

 

Hopefully it's all ok. I imagine most places don't go near reviewing the applications until the new year, but then again I don't want to give any reason to have an application chucked out early on account of a late reference

[AmericanQuant]

I'm applying to 8 schools, and even that felt like a lot to apply to/ask of my letter writers...but I also wanted to stay within a relatively limited geographical area, eliminating some West Coast schools I might have otherwise applied to. 

 

Speaking of letter writer difficulties, I have one professor writing mine who's a chronic procrastinator. He missed the Duke deadline by an hour (which I'm hoping won't be a big deal), but as Ohio State's deadline looms today, he still hasn't gotten his in, and with final exams and papers to grade, I'm not sure when to expect him to. Much time has been spent trying to determine where the line is between frequent reminders and outright obnoxious nagging.

 

If one of your letters is not in and the deadline has passed, (very politely) email the grad administrator and ask if there's anything you can do (other than prodding the letter writer) and when the absolute deadline for the letter is.  

 

If the letter was already turned in late, (very politely) apologize to the grad administrator about the late letter and confirm that it was included with the rest of your application.

[AuldReekie]

If one of your letters is not in and the deadline has passed, (very politely) email the grad administrator and ask if there's anything you can do (other than prodding the letter writer) and when the absolute deadline for the letter is.  

 

If the letter was already turned in late, (very politely) apologize to the grad administrator about the late letter and confirm that it was included with the rest of your application.

Aye. That's my job tomorrow.. 

[cooperstreet]

Just use interfolio. Most schools do accept them. The ones that dont require a questionnaire.

[AuldReekie]

Just use interfolio. Most schools do accept them. The ones that dont require a questionnaire.

A fair number of places I'm applying explicitly said no interfolio. As you mentioned it's probably so that that they can fill in questionnaires..  

[testingtesting]

whew - quite the lift. I'm doing 12 and working a 50hr/week soul crushing job. i hope this works out. going to be very upset if I don't get in anywhere.

amen.  thesis the worst process.  14 applications, 65 hours/week job.  If I don't get into 1 of them, I'm going to be very upset.  

 

Note: Worst thing about this process is the early applications I submitted appear to notify the earliest and also are the most competitive (e.g. Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia)...meaning it's possible that just because of the notification distribution I will receive a lot of rejections before an acceptance - if there is an acceptance.  Although I know the numbers and should ignore the rejections since I had a comparably low chance of admission from these, it does mean that I will probably be in outright panic mode after receiving 6 or so rejections because I'm irrational.  Ughhhhh.

[latinamericanIR]

Finally submitted all my applications! I expect to enjoy the next two months. Then, at the middle of February I'll be stressed again.

[testingtesting]

For those who were looking into political economy in a polisci department: did you notice the massive discrepancies across departments in the level of mathematical rigor? I saw at Duke that you complete the MA economics micro and macro courses for a 1st subfield while at a place like Yale it's not such and therefore real analysis/linear algebra is not expected.

[mattecon]

Anyone else having trouble with Harvard (GSAS) website?  It appears to have been crashed for the last 5 hours and its freaking me out.

[ARealDowner]

Just curious, looking at last years results page (already trying to figure out when to expect to hear back from these places)...how many of you who are applying this year have publications? If so, are you coming straight out of your undergrad or have you been out a few years? I didn't think that was particularly common, at least for those not in a Master's program currently, but I'm noticing quite a few admits posting they had some (plural!)

[esotericish]

I have no publications but am coming from about 2 years of non-academic work after completing an MA in the field.

[NYCBluenose]

No publications, coming out of a year of non-academic work and an MA degree.

 

That said, ARealDowner, I get the impression that the results page suffers from a bit of selection bias. For instance, if you look at accepted students who reported GRE scores, they are almost uniformly high to extremely high. I don't think I saw a single non-theorist with a quant score below 164. Now there's no question that many accepted students will have scores like 164/168, but certainly not all of them. For example, UCSD gives last years average test scores for admitted students as 164/160/5.0. 

Maybe the same process is at work with publications (or maybe I'm just deluding myself )  

Edited December 15, 2014 by NYCBluenose

[esotericish]

I was looking at the admissions statistics for Minnesota, and they had something like 8 of their 20 admitted students last cycle with a verbal score of 161-165 and a quant score at 156-160. Which is very encouraging.

[TheGnome]

The only publications that really matter are the ones in peer-reviewed political science journals that people have heard about. It is extremely rare to see this in an applicant file (though you might try your chance with BFB to get an actually informed answer). I'd say even the majority of ABDs on the job market doesn't have that. If you are one of the few who has a *real* publication, that is great. If you don't, I wouldn't worry about it at all. 

 

Also good luck to this year's hopefuls. It will be over before you know it

[NYCBluenose]

Thanks for that, TheGnome! I remember you from last year. Where did you end up, if you don't mind me asking?

[cooperstreet]

Five in my cohort had publications either before they applied or they appeared shortly after the semester began. Two were chapters in edited volumes, two were co-authored publications in poli sci journals, and one was a single authored peer-reviewed publication in a cognate field. They are bonuses, to be sure, but they are absolutely not necessary or even the norm nor are they expected. I think my cohort is an anomaly.