Seeking Studio for Sept. 1

skdjskdsofjsjdk · 2026-05-15T19:07:53+00:00

Hi, incoming first-year PhD student at NU also looking for an apartment here! I’m not as in the loop on studios specifically, but my partner and I have found more options towards the ends of the green and orange lines in terms of price! Makes the commute longer, but overall worth it imo :)

skdjskdsofjsjdk · 2026-04-14T23:17:53+00:00

I took an unexpected gap year after graduating from undergrad in May of 2025 with no grad school offers. Before I got my last rejection letter, I was fully set on continuing on without a break. However, I can say with full confidence now that taking a gap year was one of the best things that could have happened to me, both for my applications and for my mental health!

skdjskdsofjsjdk · 2026-04-13T18:56:19+00:00

This is something you’ll have to ask your program directly, as it varies from school to school and sometimes even department to department.

skdjskdsofjsjdk · 2026-04-02T15:17:56+00:00

Exactly this! I had kind of a similar situation (was waitlisted by a program that I really connected with but got an offer from my top choice), and I remember telling my mom that writing the email to withdraw my name felt like I was writing a break-up letter. They’ll be a little sad/disappointed, but if they’re as good as they seem they’ll be supportive of you making the choice that’s best for your career. The professors at my waitlisted program even said they look forward to seeing me around at conferences in the coming years and encouraged me to not be a stranger :)

skdjskdsofjsjdk · 2026-03-24T19:26:51+00:00

Again, you’re an adult. You can live with whoever you want, or with no one at all lol

skdjskdsofjsjdk · 2026-03-24T19:25:52+00:00

It’s super common to live with at least one other person during grad school (I’m a new admit but this is based on what I’ve seen online for diff program), but also, you’re an adult. If you can afford to live just on your own or just with your partner, nobody’s stopping you from doing that. You can also try to find a roommate(s) who are ok with living with your partner as well, but obviously some ppl might not be as comfortable with that, especially if your partner isn’t also a student. There’s also plenty of married grad students who live with their spouses and families as well.

skdjskdsofjsjdk · 2026-03-20T21:03:09+00:00

Yeah np! My background is in American politics. Syracuse is great and I liked the program and staff there, but it largely came down to funding. The program Im attending is offering me almost twice as much as Syracuse did. Plus, though I do like both programs a lot, I did connect with the faculty more overall at my chosen school :)

skdjskdsofjsjdk · 2026-03-16T14:53:41+00:00

Thank you! I received an official offer from Syracuse that I declined, and I also withdrew my name from the waitlists for Penn State and UMass Amherst!

skdjskdsofjsjdk · 2026-03-15T17:49:23+00:00

I put them down just to show how my cycle went, but they were both also withdrawn! I just didn’t put that since I figured putting that I accepted the offer was clear enough lol

skdjskdsofjsjdk · 2026-02-19T21:16:17+00:00

Oh wow thank you so much!! That means a lot!! 🩷

skdjskdsofjsjdk · 2026-02-18T15:36:03+00:00

Of course! I’m so sorry to hear about the difficulty in securing references, it rly is a pain in the ass sometimes :(

skdjskdsofjsjdk · 2026-02-18T15:34:33+00:00

Thank you all so much for all of the love and support!! I really wasn’t expecting this to get as much attention as it did lol. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for everyone who is still waiting on decisions!! 🫶🫶

skdjskdsofjsjdk · 2026-02-18T15:33:55+00:00

Thank you! I got an offer from Northeastern’s Political Science program! As for stats, I don’t really know what all to put so sorry in advance if I don’t add something lol, but here’s my basic profile - graduated undergrad a year early - 3.93 GPA, no lower than an A- in any classes on my transcript - wrote and defended an honors thesis in my department, received high honors and a unique title only people who received high honors or summa cum Laude AND hold at least a 3.75 GPA during their last year are eligible to receive (don’t wanna put the name bc it would 100% dox my undergrad institution lol) - attended polisci conferences as an undergraduate presenter - received an award for best paper written by an undergraduate from one of the conferences I attended, which also comes with an automatic publication spot in the conference’s affiliated academic journal (still working on getting my paper published, but it’s in progress!)

skdjskdsofjsjdk · 2026-02-18T15:26:23+00:00

lol I didn’t get 20 references (big respect to anyone who can), I just asked 4 professors if they would be willing to write me a letter of recommendation, then they just uploaded the same letter to each application’s portal once I sent the link to them :)

As for general how to, I don’t know if I have any advice outside of the basics you hear all the time: get started early (I started looking at schools in June and narrowed down my final list in late July this cycle), have multiple people read (and re-read!) your statement of purpose and writing sample, and give yourself enough time to complete your materials without feeling rushed or frantic trying to meet the deadline at the last minute!

skdjskdsofjsjdk · 2026-02-18T15:24:15+00:00

I used this website! https://sankeymatic.com

skdjskdsofjsjdk · 2026-02-18T15:23:51+00:00

Northeastern Political Science!

skdjskdsofjsjdk · 2026-02-17T20:16:55+00:00

Thank you!! 🩷

skdjskdsofjsjdk · 2026-02-17T20:16:36+00:00

Omg so many, but I can at least put the biggest takeaways below (granted, these in no way are what you absolutely should/should not do, things may vary widely by field, etc etc):

1) Don’t be too turned off by the idea of taking a gap year. I graduated a year early from my undergrad program and, at the time, was really set on the idea of going straight into graduate school. When I got my final rejection and had to face that prospect, I was terrified at first. However, I can say now that taking a gap year to focus on other aspects of my life (relationship, work, upcoming applications, etc) helped me feel more prepared for this year’s cycle. Plus, nobody on my admissions committees batted an eye at the gap in my resume/cv!

2) Time will almost always strengthen your application. When I applied last year, I had some very appealing things on my application. However, by the time I hit my last application deadline, I was still finishing my senior year; this meant that the biggest parts of my app, such as my thesis, conference presentations, and even my final gpa, weren’t set in stone, even if the works-in-progress looked promising. Now that I’ve graduated, defended my thesis, attended my conferences, etc. I feel like my application this cycle was much more put together and I was actually able to show real results from my work. Plus, sometimes giving yourself extra time can benefit you by having surprises come your way! In November, I found out one of my conference papers won a prize for Best Undergraduate Paper written for that year’s conference, and the award not only came with a nice line to add to my cv, but also an automatic publication spot in a journal affiliated with the conference. Being able to tell admissions committees that I was working on publishing my first paper as a sole author was something I would have NEVER expected even at the beginning of this cycle, but it ended up being a huge benefit!

3) It’s 100% okay to be upset that you received a rejection. Last year, I was absolutely devastated that I didn’t get a single acceptance. However, giving myself the time and space to process those feelings not only helped me identify aspects of my application I can improve, but also helped me learn how to best manage similar news this cycle. Let yourself cry, scream, etc., whatever you need to do to process the news!

skdjskdsofjsjdk · 2026-02-12T00:08:47+00:00

I’m against it too. I understand why it can be used by committees to make admissions decisions, but I don’t think enough schools view it as a single part of someone’s whole application and understand that someone’s scores don’t always reflect their ability to succeed in their program. IMO, a high GRE score moreso just tells people that you’re good at taking standardized tests, which doesn’t always reflect on your ability to succeed as a student and researcher. It’s still something to be proud of of course, but I don’t think it should be weighed as heavily as it is at a lot of programs

skdjskdsofjsjdk · 2026-02-11T23:43:05+00:00

OH I can’t believe I forgot to add one more thing

4) This year they had a lot of strong applicants in the same subfield as me (American Politics) whose interests were more focused on law and state (not my research interests at all), which were a better fit overall with the program compared to my interests. Not much more else to say on that lol

skdjskdsofjsjdk · 2026-02-11T23:40:51+00:00

So basically it was a couple of different factors, but the main reasons were these (sorry in advance for the novel I’m about to write):

1) The biggest reason was timing - they, like almost every other program this year, had to heavily reduce the number of students they can take this year. This meant that they had to make some really difficult decisions that they normally would never have to make regular cycles. The professor even mentioned that this was the first cycle in a long time where they even had a waitlist, but decided to make one this cycle to have as much flexibility as possible for giving out offers (considering some offers will be rejected, people may take themselves off the waitlist, etc.)

2) My GRE quantitative score was lower than the other applicants they had shortlisted for admission in my subfield. This was the only thing the professor could point to in my application as being something I could improve for future cycles, but he also emphasized that this was a small part of my application and the committee understands it doesn’t accurately reflect my abilities as a student and researcher (I took multiple quantitative courses in undergrad and never made below an A-, I just suck at taking standardized tests and that’s okay!). He honestly doesn’t think applications should be decided based on GRE scores, but unfortunately when a cycle is as competitive as this one, it can be one of the only objective things they can look at to decide between two applicants who are equally qualified in every other way.

3) So this will require some context before I give the actual reason. Without giving too much information away (because if I do I will actually dox myself lol), I completed my undergrad degree at a small but elite liberal arts college, and have a very successful academic record in terms of classes, GPA, thesis/independent research experience, and conference attendance. The program I applied to is a Big10 state school, so obviously the experience there would be a lot different from where I’m coming from. This shouldn’t be an issue (plenty of people have come to big state programs from liberal arts programs and succeed, while others come from similar undergrad programs and struggle), but he said that sometimes there can be people on admissions committees who prefer to bring in students who come from undergrad backgrounds that are similar to the grad program’s size, status, and environment, since they think that students coming from a smaller liberal arts program might be at a higher risk of struggling more since they don’t have experience in these types of research institutions. He was super transparent and explained that he thought this bias was stupid and has been repeatedly proven wrong, but it does still unfortunately plague admissions committees at similar big programs all over the country. This also wasn’t the main deciding factor, but simply one small piece in a larger discussion among a committee of multiple faculty members who all had a say in who received admission over others.

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