DeadInLongRun

Agreed. I was waitlisted but not invited to the open day, so congrats on being way in front of me LOL. I also think UVA drastically shrank their waitlist size this year because the reports on GC are just way fewer than 2020&2019 levels. And I remember one post from last cycle that mentioned how UVA admitted that they had inadvertently accepted too many people in the first round due to the trickle down/up from other schools, so this year's first round admission number seems a bit on the small side as well.

Based on my limited observation on GC, UVA tends to mass-waitlist candidates and then wait for the offers to trickle down. Can anyone confirm that for me? Debating on whether I should treat this waitlist offer from UVA seriously or not.

I'm currently studying at JHU, am also a student of a prof on the admission committe. The most that I can tell you is that they have finished selecting potential admits and waitlists and if you still haven't heard back from them then it's most likely an IR.

You are right. It seems like either a system-wide thank you note (way to rob it in on the rejs) or one meant for the "diversity group". Either way, a really odd email considering how they've gone radio silence for the past couple of months. Welp, at least this means that they are still working there. Hope we both get in and we can laugh about it later, haha.

I just got an email (after months of radio silence) from UVA's Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs thanking me for applying to UVA and asking me to check out their diversity program and services. But when I go to check the application portal, my application is still in "submitted" status. What does this even mean? Do they send this email to all the applicants or only to those whom have been admitted? This is actually messing up my head because I still haven't gotten an admit yet and I'm feeling quite desperate. Somebody help me! :torn:

Thank you very much for your replies, Prof. Startz and Bayes! Considering my undergrad shortcomings and graduate work, it indeed seems that my best chances of getting admitted to a top-tier school are in an IR PhD. I guess I would have to satisfy my interest in economics by applying to a school with both a decent economics and an IR programs and take the econ classes at their econ department (The big five come to mind). Cheers.

Hi there, hope 2020 has been good to everyone so far. New aspiring "economist" (hopefully) here looking for some general guidance. Here is my profile(expected as I still have two semeters and a summer ahead of me before the application season): [TABLE=width: 600] [TR] [TD]Type of Undergrad[/TD] [TD]B.S. MathB.A. Japanese [/TD] [TD]Top-30 public university in California[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Undergrad GPA[/TD] [TD]Overall 3.12/4[/TD] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Type of Grad[/TD] [TD]M.A. East Asian Studies (Finished)M.A. International Relations (Expected 2021) [/TD] [TD]Top-100 public university (full funding)Top-3 IR school in the U.S. [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Grad GPA[/TD] [TD]EAS 3.8/4IR 3.7/4 (as of now) [/TD] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]GRE[/TD] [TD]151V, 167Q, 3.5W[/TD] [TD]Went into the exam blind without one minute of studying in 2016, will probably retake and do expect better score[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Math Courses[/TD] [TD]Calculus I,II,III B Intro grp theory B+ Intro linear alg A+ Intro complex variab C- Intro Discrete Math B Adv Linear alg C Methods of analysis A Intro to abstr algb C Intro real analysis C+ Mod eucl & noneucl I,II A- Intro real analysis C+ Intro diff geometry B+ Abstract algebra C+ [/TD] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Econ Courses(Grad-level)[/TD] [TD]Statistical Method A Microeconomics A- (Taking now, expecting A-to A) Macroeconomics International Trade Econometrics Game Theory (Taking in Fall) International Monetary Environmental Economics Adv International Trade Public Finance [/TD] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Letters of Recommendation[/TD] [TD]Academic Dean/Former State Dept economist (Strong) Researcher at a DC-based think tank whom I worked for during internship(Mediocre) (Still looking for one more)[/TD] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Research Experience[/TD] [TD]Two Chinese local EPA Internships DC-based think tank Internship [/TD] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Teaching Experience[/TD] [TD]GTA at first M.A. school (EAS courses)[/TD] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Research Interests[/TD] [TD]Public Finance, International Monetary, Environmental Economics[/TD] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Concerns: My undergrad credential is simply abysmal--too many bad decisions made due to my naivete. How much would my undergrad grades hurt my chances? How much would my MA grades help? Should I reuse my old GRE scores? Comments: What I want from this post is to get a general sense of where I would most likely be admitted to. Right now my mind says somewhere around Penn State (~top 30), but my body says Cornell/Brown/Rochester(top-15 to top-20) :distracted:. Nevertheless, these are just my unrealistic, irrational guesses. I would really like to get my foot planted so I can plan my application strategy accordingly. Thanks in advance, cheers!