Fall 2010 Admission Results

[curufinwe]

Thanks. I´ve been wanting to say that forever. I think it´s pretty obvious that the objective criteria many people are posting here (GPA , GRE and so forth) don´t go a long way towards explaining admission success. That´s good in a way, because GREs are a pretty bad indicator of academic ability, and GPAs are not easily comparable. Other professor´s opinions are probably more highly valued; for example, think of the many many ambitious and hard-working students with low to mediocre intellectual creativity (or even interest), some of which are interested in academia primarily for the career (and the title). An Adcom cannot possibly sort these people out by GPAs and GREs (they are probably even disproportionately good at those), but other professors can (and do). Of course, this does not imply that people that got rejected even though they had good objective stats are always part of this group. But, relationships with professors certainly matter (and their importance sometimes gets diminished in this board, because they are unobservable from our perspective). In terms of research interests, I ´m pretty sure that it pays to be rather specific (and demonstrate proficiency); not necessarily regarding your interest in the future, but at least about some research that you have done before. There is no better way to judge the research somebody will do than by the research he or she has already done (which is, by the way, why the writing sample, another "unobserved" component" of the application that is often neglected here, is probably pretty important).

I have to disagree. I think the fact that GPA's cannot be compared creates the same sort of problem with the recommendation letters. I mean, my x.xx GPA from a Turkish university may not be compared to your (not 'you' per se ) y.yy GPA from a well-known American university. But, in reality, it can be compared. If your university is higher in the rankings, then your GPA is better. With the same logic, when you had the opportunity to work with the professors that the academy knows in the higher-ranked school, I did not. And that causes a handicap with the recommendation letters. So, I believe when adcomms are looking at applications, they do consider where that GPA was earned from. And that is the same source of leverage you 'could' have for your recommendation letters. "Where you went to school" matters significantly.

And the fact that I wouldn't even have the opportunity to attend a top-25 program in the US for undergrad sucks, and puts me in a disadvantaged position.

[interista]

anyone else just receive this email from Chicago?

"We have forwarded your application to our admissions committee in the Department of Political Science, and are in the midst of making the complex and difficult selections from among a large number of highly qualified applicants...The Division of the Social Sciences will release official admissions decisions in early March..."

if acceptances and wait-list decisions went out yesterday, why is Chicago giving us false hope? that's pretty cold...

[brouhaha]

anyone else just receive this email from Chicago?

"We have forwarded your application to our admissions committee in the Department of Political Science, and are in the midst of making the complex and difficult selections from among a large number of highly qualified applicants...The Division of the Social Sciences will release official admissions decisions in early March..."

if acceptances and wait-list decisions went out yesterday, why is Chicago giving us false hope? that's pretty cold...

I just got this as well. It could just mean we weren't in round 1 of acceptances and there are more to come, although the waitlist thing sounds fairly suspect.

[anxiousmike]

I just got this as well. It could just mean we weren't in round 1 of acceptances and there are more to come, although the waitlist thing sounds fairly suspect.

I just got it too. It does seem a bit cold.

[JF16]

anyone else just receive this email from Chicago?

"We have forwarded your application to our admissions committee in the Department of Political Science, and are in the midst of making the complex and difficult selections from among a large number of highly qualified applicants...The Division of the Social Sciences will release official admissions decisions in early March..."

if acceptances and wait-list decisions went out yesterday, why is Chicago giving us false hope? that's pretty cold...

I received the same email, and heard from a prof. that there's no way decisions have been made yet. he's positive, as he does not even know yet.

To those of you who were accepted: was it a formal acceptance? This is terribly confusing...

[interista]

I just got this as well. It could just mean we weren't in round 1 of acceptances and there are more to come, although the waitlist thing sounds fairly suspect.

I think it's a form letter sent out to all applicants in the social sciences division; some history and soc applicants posted info on the results page saying that they received it as well. So it got sent out to the poli sci applicants even though the department had already informally notified admitted and wait-listed students.

[It'sgonnabeme]

I still don't see any decision links on either Northwestern or UVA website. And no reply from both places to my emails. Bummed.

End vent. Sorry to sidetrack the discussion.

[Ziz]

Yeah, my name gives it away...

Let me know if you have any further questions; or anything I can help with. Which college did you apply for?

I *think* (it was a while ago) that I applied to Lincoln and Merton. I remember pouring through all of the information about the colleges, getting thoroughly confused, and then picking the ones I got the best vibe from. Where did you go?

[brouhaha]

I just got that email as well, even though I found out I was waitlisted yesterday, so I think it's just an automatic email to all applicants. Why do you think the waitlist thing is suspect?

Oh, I don't mean your actual decision- I mean the fact that there are people on the waitlist yet they don't know exactly who's accepted. I suppose some professors and subfields do, but I still don't quite fully understand this process.

[nervouscomparativist]

I have to disagree. [...]

In a way you´re right: If the adcom knows the prof who wrote the letter (and thinks that the prof himself is a smart guy/gal too), that certainly adds credibility to the content of the letter. However, my main point is that GPAs don´t really say anything (even if obtained at a good institution); looking around, I would say it´s true that most smart people have high GPAs, but the opposite is not true. For many majors in undergrad, and especially so for polisci, grades measure effort rather than talent. So while it certainly doesn´t hurt to display effort, a professor saying that you are a really bright kid and have all these great ideas is certainly better, especially when adcoms need to distinguish between many many people who all look really good on paper.

[interista]

My guess would be that certain subfields (theory, comparative) have notified admitted and waitlisted, but others haven't notified anyone yet.

[polisciguy]

you would do the first--as your broad interest, then have the second as your regional focus within the broader research agenda and focus on Islamic culture perhaps as one of your independent variables--my guess is you'll spend the first year or two--maybe more on figuring out how you're going to operationalize "culture"---perhaps you should check out the World Values Survey. Anyways, just my opinion.

Did you guys state your interests in the SOP with details? Or did you just state the general area?

-I am interested in comparative politics, with a focus on regime changes and democratizations. (this is what I did)

-I am interested in democratizations and I plan to focus on the impacts of Islamic culture on the civic culture of the Middle East and its impact on democratization movements in the region.

Which one is more healthy?

[JF16]

That's very confusing because I absolutely received my waitlist letter yesterday and I don't understand how they could have chosen a waitlist before choosing their admits. Also, I'm sure people on this thread are not lying about their admits.

Maybe that prof is out of the loop? When did you receive the email from him/her?

Oh, I didn't mean to be at all accusatory! I don't think the professor is out of the loop, but perhaps he just doesn't want to be the bearer of bad news (?) Ha! In any event, congratulations to the admits. The bureaucracy at these schools is pretty shocking (as evidenced by the bizarre admissions processes).

In any event, the email IS pretty cold if final admissions decisions have been made!

[JF16]

Oh, I didn't mean to be at all accusatory! I don't think the professor is out of the loop, but perhaps he just doesn't want to be the bearer of bad news (?) Ha! In any event, congratulations to the admits. The bureaucracy at these schools is pretty shocking (as evidenced by the bizarre admissions processes).

In any event, the email IS pretty cold if final admissions decisions have been made!

OH, also: I received the email last night.

[Yes]

I *think* (it was a while ago) that I applied to Lincoln and Merton. I remember pouring through all of the information about the colleges, getting thoroughly confused, and then picking the ones I got the best vibe from. Where did you go?

Haha yes I found it hard to decide myself... and I even visited several times.

Merton is the "geeky" college. It ranks high (or top) in Oxford's Norrington table (an internal ranking based on exam performance according to college) and is considered very pushy academically, to the extent that it has happened that people are not allowed to sit their finals if they tutors don't think they can get firsts (i.e. the highest grade available). That said, it is a beautiful college in a quiet but still central location - though I'm not sure where the grad housing is. It attracts a certain type of student (basically those that put their academic commitments above anything else), yet I don't know to what extent this holds for the grad community as well.

Lincoln is known mainly for it's ongoing rivalry with Brasenose, which is right next door. Brasenose more or less claims that Lincoln is their courtyard. Lincoln is *tiny*. It is right in the centre, probably the most central college, so it suffers a little from size constraints. It is a very cosy place, and has a strong sense of community.

At the end of the day, college choice doesnt matter that much, especially for a grad student. Both colleges you chose have larger undergrad populations (unlike Nuffield, St Anthony's etc, which are pure post grad colleges) so whereever you end up the college is unlikely to be the centre of your life anyway.

[JF16]

Oh yeah, I definitely agree that they should have been more clear. And it's also true that the prof probably didn't want to say something like "well, decisions have been sent out for theory and comparative, so if you're in one of those subfields, tough darts."

Though, if he's on sabbatical or something, he might actually not have a clear idea of their timetable.

He's actively engaged in the admissions committee/the admissions process. Hardly on sabbatical.

Oh, well... who knows?!

[CrimsonBlue]

Just a note: Chicago's Poli Sci Department has gone through lots of bureaucratic BS. The departmental politics there is just really nasty. They are trying to put things together though.

[anxiousmike]

He's actively engaged in the admissions committee/the admissions process. Hardly on sabbatical.

Oh, well... who knows?!

Man, that does seem a bit odd. I guess he just hates giving bad news. Now I'm paranoid that everything I've heard from the professors I've been in contact with is false! They're all lying through their teeth!

[Ziz]

Haha yes I found it hard to decide myself... and I even visited several times.

Merton is the "geeky" college. It ranks high (or top) in Oxford's Norrington table (an internal ranking based on exam performance according to college) and is considered very pushy academically, to the extent that it has happened that people are not allowed to sit their finals if they tutors don't think they can get firsts (i.e. the highest grade available). That said, it is a beautiful college in a quiet but still central location - though I'm not sure where the grad housing is. It attracts a certain type of student (basically those that put their academic commitments above anything else), yet I don't know to what extent this holds for the grad community as well.

Lincoln is known mainly for it's ongoing rivalry with Brasenose, which is right next door. Brasenose more or less claims that Lincoln is their courtyard. Lincoln is *tiny*. It is right in the centre, probably the most central college, so it suffers a little from size constraints. It is a very cosy place, and has a strong sense of community.

At the end of the day, college choice doesnt matter that much, especially for a grad student. Both colleges you chose have larger undergrad populations (unlike Nuffield, St Anthony's etc, which are pure post grad colleges) so whereever you end up the college is unlikely to be the centre of your life anyway.

Hmm that's interesting. I didn't want a grad only college because I think undergrads give more life to the place. I have visited Oxford many times and my friend is a current grad (at Brasenose actually). I didn't ask too much about specific colleges, but just to get a general idea of whether I wanted to go the all-grad route or not. I also looked for colleges that had funding for internationals. Even though chances of getting it are slim, chances of getting it at a college with no funding are nil . Ultimately though, I doubt I will get into any of my choices and will take whatever's given to me (assuming I get in!).

[Ziz]

Oh and by the way, like cpaige I have my gmail open all the time, so I just abotu had a heart attack when I saw "Inbox (1)" and the title 'Grad...' then realized it was a personal message

[curufinwe]

Dammit, who claims the Texas Austin acceptance?? *heartbeat!!

[Yes]

Oh and by the way, like cpaige I have my gmail open all the time, so I just abotu had a heart attack when I saw "Inbox (1)" and the title 'Grad...' then realized it was a personal message

Hahaha I know exactly what you mean! Any email from an unknown person makes me jump as well...

[SBL]

I got the Chicago email too. My guess is that following the decisions released yesterday, they received an influx of calls asking about status, which probably prompted them to send out that holding email as a means to relieve the pressure....on themselves.

Edited February 11, 2010 by SBL

[thatsnotmyname]

Hahaha I know exactly what you mean! Any email from an unknown person makes me jump as well...

Same here! Also off topic- for those of you will Gmail what do you think of Buzz? I'm a little wary still, but it is another distraction from the constant waiting!

[backstreets]

looks like there's a ut-austin acceptance in the results page. this could finally be the day!