PoliSci 2007-2008 Cycle

[polisciapp]

Also... anyone else heard from Wisc or Northwestern? My status online for Wisc is still pending and Northwestern is unchanged... I am wondering if that means I could be on a de facto waiting list or something?

I wouldn't put too much stock into that at this point. My UW status is unchanged as well, but I don't think it means anything at all. At worst, it means UW hasn't gotten around to rejecting everyone (anyone?) yet.

[Purgatory]

I think university of Wisconsin and UW-Seattle sent out acceptances to int students first. As for NYU, their grad director says that its not yet finished and i've heard also that the final list of names has not yet been circulated. I know... it drives me balmy too when schools release results in waves, I would rather get dinged immediately than be left hanging for days and weeks.

[JordanJames]

I have a feeling that NW has already contacted almost all of its admitted students, and those of us who haven't heard anything have been rejected or on the "waitlist." I haven't heard or seen anything that would indicate they've sent out any rejections yet, but we do know they have contacted accepted students. The past 2 years they've contacted their admitted students on the 13th/14th, and rejected students a week later. I'm guessing the rest of us are out.

[silencio1982]

I know... it drives me balmy too when schools release results in waves, I would rather get dinged immediately than be left hanging for days and weeks.

exactly! i hate having lingering false hopes. i'd rather just know, one way or the other. oh well. soon enough.

someone did post a NW rejection, i guess i was wondering if they did them all at once or in waves. but i guess they probably all update their websites in waves.

[silencio1982]

Oh, i guess that wasn't an official NW rejection. I misread.

[JordanJames]

Yeah, I made that mistake too when I first read the submission. Let's hope I'm wrong and we hear good news from them this week.

[polisciusername]

Hey all,

new to this board. Does anyone know when Duke will finish up all their decisions? I see that some people have been accepted/rejected already.

thanks

[uncapp]

Don't forget tomorrow is Presidents' Day. No mail to hurry home and check.

[polisciapp]

Hey all,

new to this board. Does anyone know when Duke will finish up all their decisions? I see that some people have been accepted/rejected already.

thanks

I have not seen any acceptances. The few rejections seem like outliers. I was informed that Duke should be finishing either this week or next week. To what other places are you applying? Subfield?

[zephyr]

based on the past few years, looks like chicago admitted students should hear this week - last year, they were emailed right after president's day. gonna be a tough one - about 50 students or so should be admitted out of 500 applicants. and i'd bet at least 200 of those 500 are highly qualified. oh boy...

[polisciusername]

I have not seen any acceptances. The few rejections seem like outliers. I was informed that Duke should be finishing either this week or next week. To what other places are you applying? Subfield?

Polisciapp,

This is my application situation.

Accepted: Yale

Rejected:

Waiting on: Duke, Chicago, Princeton, Harvard, UCLA, Northwestern

[polisciapp]

Polisciapp,

This is my application situation.

Accepted: Yale

Rejected:

Waiting on: Duke, Chicago, Princeton, Harvard, UCLA, Northwestern

Well, you have at least one good option. Good luck on the rest. What is your subfield?

[polisciapp]

For those interested, UTexas decisions will be going out this week and next week.

[slickj07]

it's interesting to compare this thread to the 2007 one.

this one is 21 pages, and most people haven't heard from most of their schools yet.

the one for all of 2007 is just 5 pages. i wonder what has caused this discrepancy.

i definitely prefer this more active version, though.

[flyingwalrus]

For those interested, UTexas decisions will be going out this week and next week.

Cool. Thanks for the information.

[flyingwalrus]

it's interesting to compare this thread to the 2007 one.

this one is 21 pages, and most people haven't heard from most of their schools yet.

the one for all of 2007 is just 5 pages. i wonder what has caused this discrepancy.

i definitely prefer this more active version, though.

As do I. The political science who_got_in thread on LJ had almost 1250 posts last year. So far, this year's has 68.

[Quarex]

As do I. The political science who_got_in thread on LJ had almost 1250 posts last year. So far, this year's has 68.

Interesting. You would assume that the word spreading about thegradcafe.com since last year might explain the discrepancy--but obviously your LiveJournal example does nothing to indicate that "greater awareness" played a part there. Well, as we know, momentum is everything, and if people expecting to see a really popular LiveJournal thread came to find a relatively small amount of discussion, they might have looked elsewhere instead of starting it themselves, and ended up someplace like here.

So, since things are a tiny bit slower here than they have been the last few weeks, let me propose this only partially selfish query: who here is applying for a Political Science Ph.D./master's without a prior degree in the subject? Have any of us gotten any outright acceptances yet? I cannot help but wonder if admittance to the M.A. might end up being as good as it gets for me, but maybe other people have already found that to not be the case?

[uncapp]

For those interested, UTexas decisions will be going out this week and next week.

Thanks for the info. How did you find out?

[polisciapp]

Thanks for the info. How did you find out?

I called.

[polisciphd]

Interesting. You would assume that the word spreading about thegradcafe.com since last year might explain the discrepancy--but obviously your LiveJournal example does nothing to indicate that "greater awareness" played a part there. Well, as we know, momentum is everything, and if people expecting to see a really popular LiveJournal thread came to find a relatively small amount of discussion, they might have looked elsewhere instead of starting it themselves, and ended up someplace like here.

So, since things are a tiny bit slower here than they have been the last few weeks, let me propose this only partially selfish query: who here is applying for a Political Science Ph.D./master's without a prior degree in the subject? Have any of us gotten any outright acceptances yet? I cannot help but wonder if admittance to the M.A. might end up being as good as it gets for me, but maybe other people have already found that to not be the case?

I don't have a degree in Political Science. My BA is in Asian Studies and my MA is in Security Policy Studies (albeit from an International Affairs School).

[Canadianpolsci]

Anyone know when Columbia will start sending decisions? Based on previous years my guess is next two weeks, up until first week of March. Sound right?

[JordanJames]

So I've been getting calls from an "unknown number" and they haven't been leaving messages, I finally was able to pick up the phone this time and a man with a British accent talking from a cell phone while obviously outside asked if I was Ammar. I became very excited thinking that this might be someone from a grad school. I said yes and then the phone disconnected. They didn't call back, which I'm guessing means that it wasn't a school, so I've come to the conclusion that somebody is really trying to mess with me (only my mother and girlfriend know that I'm applying to grad school). This whole process is so aggravating, I think I'm just going to stop carrying my cell phone, stop using the internet and stop checking my mail.

[Peter]

Thank you for your comment on the Davis/UVA question. As for the previous inquiry---

I had a BA in English, actually--and when I went though the first round of PhD applications that wasn't enough. So now I'm picking up an MA in POLS and applying to PhD programs from there. And yes, now I have some outright acceptances. It was worth it to me to get the MA first to try for a better ranked PHD program than I could have been admitted to w/an unrelated BA.

For what it's worth I think schools are looking for a commitment to the field (hard to show w/out a related degree), a demonstrated potential/history as a researcher (i.e. understanding what you're getting into w/a PhD program), decent GRE scores, and frankly, a big-name school for your undergrad. I didn't have that last one, but I think that if I had, it would have really helped...

Just thoughts...

[ShamPain]

So, since things are a tiny bit slower here than they have been the last few weeks, let me propose this only partially selfish query: who here is applying for a Political Science Ph.D./master's without a prior degree in the subject? Have any of us gotten any outright acceptances yet? I cannot help but wonder if admittance to the M.A. might end up being as good as it gets for me, but maybe other people have already found that to not be the case?

I got my B.A. in Economics, with specializations in International Trade & Financial Economics. I did pick up a minor in Poli-Sci, though. I had a great GPA (magna cum laude) and pretty good GRE, great LORs, and came from a mid-range (i.e. not great) state school. So far I have only received one notification: acceptance + funding to UNC.

In my case, having an Econ B.A. might actually help me, since I'm going into Intl. Political Economy. I had some research opportunities in Econ that I probably wouldn't've had if I'd been in Poli-Sci. Also, the Econ department at my university is probably stronger than the Poli-Sci department. Much stronger Quant training in Econ than in Poli-Sci also.

[eve2008]

I envy econ majors their math/stats background. It will be a bit painful to play catchup in grad school.

Anyway having any, "Oh crap, I can't believe I'm actually doing this!" moments?