Welcome to the 2016-17 cycle!

[jazzmintea]

6 hours ago, Hates_Goats said:

Yea, I am not feeling super confident about my odds.  I still see pending.  My only hope is the terrible system that is OSU's portal.  And the small number of late acceptances last year.  All-in-all, not much hope left for this one.  

Mine's still pending too. Already losing hope... :'( 

[dagnabbit]

Just got an e-mail - I'm in at UT Austin! First acceptance, it's great to know that I'll be somewhere this fall. It's a really, really good feeling. I had sort of ruled it out after seeing a bunch of admissions go up on the results page, so the e-mail came as a surprise. Don't lose hope, everyone still waiting for news! It's just the beginning of the cycle.

Fellow Austin admits, I hope I see you all in March!

 

P.S. For what it's worth, my application status still has not changed on the UT Direct website. It was implied that official letters/funding offers would be worked out over the next couple weeks, though full funding was promised.

 

Edited January 27, 2017 by dagnabbit

[Kenga]

7 minutes ago, dagnabbit said:

Just got an e-mail - I'm in at UT Austin! First acceptance, it's great to know that I'll be somewhere this fall. It's a really, really good feeling. I had sort of ruled it out after seeing a bunch of admissions go up on the results page, so the e-mail came as a surprise. Don't lose hope, everyone still waiting for news! It's just the beginning of the cycle.

Fellow Austin admits, I hope I see you all in March!

 

P.S. For what it's worth, my application status still has not changed on the UT Direct website. It was implied that official letters/funding offers would be worked out over the next couple weeks, though full funding was promised.

 

Congrats!

[StrengthandHonor]

51 minutes ago, dagnabbit said:

Just got an e-mail - I'm in at UT Austin! First acceptance, it's great to know that I'll be somewhere this fall. It's a really, really good feeling. I had sort of ruled it out after seeing a bunch of admissions go up on the results page, so the e-mail came as a surprise. Don't lose hope, everyone still waiting for news! It's just the beginning of the cycle.

Fellow Austin admits, I hope I see you all in March!

 

P.S. For what it's worth, my application status still has not changed on the UT Direct website. It was implied that official letters/funding offers would be worked out over the next couple weeks, though full funding was promised.

 

Congratulations. It's a great feeling, to know that you've got somewhere to go!

 

[changeisgood]

2 hours ago, dagnabbit said:

Just got an e-mail - I'm in at UT Austin! First acceptance, it's great to know that I'll be somewhere this fall. It's a really, really good feeling. I had sort of ruled it out after seeing a bunch of admissions go up on the results page, so the e-mail came as a surprise. Don't lose hope, everyone still waiting for news! It's just the beginning of the cycle.

Fellow Austin admits, I hope I see you all in March!

 

P.S. For what it's worth, my application status still has not changed on the UT Direct website. It was implied that official letters/funding offers would be worked out over the next couple weeks, though full funding was promised.

 

Nice, dag!  Just ignore that ugly-ass orange and you'll be fine.  Oh, and mind the cow poop (and I don't mean the philosophy dept. :P).  Seriously, though, congrats.  It's a great school.  I chose to apply to A&M instead, just personal and academic preference, so you're not competing with me anyway.

[sharklotte]

Hi, folks. Long-time lurker, first-time poster. Not sure how helpful this is, but I know that the Berkeley admissions committee is meeting in the middle of next week. Whether they will send out some acceptance notifications before then or not, I'm not sure – but I think we can interpret the mid-week meeting as an indication that at least some decisions won't be made until that point. Best of luck to everyone! (And damn those Stanford trolls from last week – they really got my nerves up!)

[RevTheory1126]

2 hours ago, dagnabbit said:

Just got an e-mail - I'm in at UT Austin! First acceptance, it's great to know that I'll be somewhere this fall. It's a really, really good feeling. I had sort of ruled it out after seeing a bunch of admissions go up on the results page, so the e-mail came as a surprise. Don't lose hope, everyone still waiting for news! It's just the beginning of the cycle.

Fellow Austin admits, I hope I see you all in March!

 

P.S. For what it's worth, my application status still has not changed on the UT Direct website. It was implied that official letters/funding offers would be worked out over the next couple weeks, though full funding was promised.

 

YES! That's killer, dude! Congrats. Hook 'em horns

[dagnabbit]

Thanks so much, everybody! @changeisgood - ha, I will admit I'm not a big fan of the color scheme, but it would actually be a step up from my current undergrad institution. Good luck on TAMU - I'm glad I won't be competing with you, as this website seems to attract really strong applicants.

 

[4Realist]

Hey all - new to posting on here and this is my first time applying to PhD programs. Does anyone have a clear grasp of how decisions roll out? If a number of students are admitted (as is the case with UT Austin), should those of us still pending prepare for a rejection? Or do most schools roll out admits piecemeal? Just trying to make sense out of this mysterious process...

[cellec]

After some serious nail biting, I got an email from UT about an hour ago--I'm in for Methods! 

My status hasn't changed either on the site and I was surprised the email came so late at night! Thanks for putting up with my questions!

[gc_user]

3 hours ago, sharklotte said:

Hi, folks. Long-time lurker, first-time poster. Not sure how helpful this is, but I know that the Berkeley admissions committee is meeting in the middle of next week. Whether they will send out some acceptance notifications before then or not, I'm not sure – but I think we can interpret the mid-week meeting as an indication that at least some decisions won't be made until that point. Best of luck to everyone! (And damn those Stanford trolls from last week – they really got my nerves up!)

How do people get this type of info? Also, congrats to all who've heard positive news thus far!

Edited January 27, 2017 by gc_user

[jazzmintea]

I got an email from OSU that the ad comm recommended me for admission but I need to send an affidavit of support and bank statement before my admission is finalized. Is this a typical letter for international students or does it mean that I can't get funding? Any info will be greatly appreciated! 

Edited January 27, 2017 by jazzmintea

[gc_user]

9 minutes ago, jazzmintea said:

I got an email from OSU that the ad comm recommended me for admission but I need to send an affidavit of support and bank statement before my admission is finalized. Is this a typical letter for international students or does it mean that I can't get funding? Any info will be greatly appreciated! 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but it seems this is an indication that they can't provide funding.

[jazzmintea]

3 minutes ago, gc_user said:

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but it seems this is an indication that they can't provide funding.

I guessed so too. Thanks for the reply! 

[VMcJ]

Yeah, got this email from OSU as well. Accepted without funding. This is like receiving a pat on the back from the girl/guy you wanted to kiss.

[dododo]

I also got the email from OSU. I posted it in the result page, but I believe OSU will send out funding information later. 

It doesn't make sense to me if they send out acceptance without funding. Then it is a joke. Bad joke.

Edited January 27, 2017 by dododo

[tkid86]

Congrats all on their recent acceptances.

I still haven't even gotten an e-mail yet from OSU... hoping to hear something via e-mail today and also hoping that work will keep me distracted enough not to check my inbox and spam folder every half hour.

I couldn't sleep, though, so I got up and sent official transcripts just to get that out of the way so I don't have to worry about it down the road. Here's to early morning productivity?

Edited January 27, 2017 by tkid86

[krapp]

Early morning stress here. Still hoping to hear from Northwestern (or anywhere) before the weekend 

[jazzmintea]

21 minutes ago, tkid86 said:

Congrats all on their recent acceptances.

I still haven't even gotten an e-mail yet from OSU... hoping to hear something via e-mail today and also hoping that work will keep me distracted enough not to check my inbox and spam folder every half hour.

I couldn't sleep, though, so I got up and sent official transcripts just to get that out of the way so I don't have to worry about it down the road. Here's to early morning productivity?

The email was a generic one from the graduate admissions office so I'm guessing the department will be sending emails with more details on funding etc soon. I guess the few who received the  mail are all international students. So, no worries! 

[GradNYC]

21 hours ago, ugurcanevci said:

Also, I've heard that NYU may send out the decisions next week (I'm a master's student here and overheard a conversation). 

Wow!! now the anxiety kicks in 

[GradNYC]

Does NYU update their application portal, like the other schools? 

And is anyone claiming the Princeton post? 

 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2017 by GradNYC

[dagnabbit]

Condolences to all who've received the bittersweet news from tOSU - it seems like they always have some funding issues, which is unfortunate because it's an otherwise excellent program. On the other hand, an excellent program considered you strong enough applicants to admit, so that should at least boost your confidence for the rest of the cycle! @VMcJ, you're on a roll this year! If you don't mind telling us, what changes did you make to your file from last year?

[resDQ]

32 minutes ago, GradNYC said:

Does NYU update their application portal, like the other schools? 

And is anyone claiming the Princeton post? 

 

 

 

 

Princeton is a troll. 

 

And for those who got into OSU, CONGRATS! I would wait until you here from the dept. before panicking about funding (although OSU does give out unfunded offers, so prepare yourself for that). 

[VMcJ]

3 minutes ago, dagnabbit said:

Condolences to all who've received the bittersweet news from tOSU - it seems like they always have some funding issues, which is unfortunate because it's an otherwise excellent program. On the other hand, an excellent program considered you strong enough applicants to admit, so that should at least boost your confidence for the rest of the cycle! @VMcJ, you're on a roll this year! If you don't mind telling us, what changes did you make to your file from last year?

This is astounding me as well. Last year was the absolute opposite. But I did a great deal of changes, it is practically everything new, expect for transcripts, grades and GRE, of course.

To put as simply as I can:

1) My interest last year was Political Theory, liberalism in Latin America. I was focused on political thought and its influence on policy. But programs in general tend to be more harsh on PT for a number of reasons, even more in my case (international student, not originally from social sciences). I shifted to a comparative approach, focusing federalism in LatAm. This is probably the most important "improvement" I did this year.

2) I was really extracareful with fit, and highly strategic when choosing schools. Except for one or two, all programs I tried have more than three professors I'd be happy to work with, not only comparative but methods and theory. Federalism is also a subject studied by many American Politics scholars.

3) I did a new writing sample, concentrated in my subject and trying to convey my preparedness for doctoral studies as well as ideas for research. In Brazil we are required to present detailed projects before acceptance (admission processes are very different here), so I tried to turn this custom into an advantage.

4) Regarding statements of purpose, I presented drafts to a diverse array of people, although not that many. Readers with different academic backgrounds allowed me to spot problems I would not see otherwise.

5) Last year I asked for letters of recommendation from people that knew me and my work in more detail (e.g. my advisor during my Master's Degree in Literary Theory), but two of them were not PoliSci scholars (again, not being from social sciences originally took a toll). Now my three letters are from professors of PoliSci, two of them with PhDs in top US programs.

6) I entered a funded research assistantship supervised by one of my recommenders.

Overall, I did what I could to improve my profile in every way. All of the above were important measures, but I'd say 1, 5 and 6 were the most important given my last year strengths and weaknesses.

[GradNYC]

Thanks and congrats to ALL on their first acceptance and everyone else hang in there, you got this!