huerita

So what was the result of this?

Was this after you had already accepted? How much had you received initially, if you don't mind my asking? ETA: Congratulations, by the way!

Oh. Well I guess this is a perfect example of YMMV.

I'll add that I asked for an extension for a personal reason that had nothing to do with financing. It was approved within a few hours of me sending the email.

It's very easy to do. Just email whoever signed your admissions letter, be upfront, and ask for a specific date. There's nothing more to it.

Well, here's the thing: no matter where you attend school (undergrad, law, business, teacher's college, IR, etc.), becoming an extremely high profile person has a lot more to do with individual talent, timing, opportunism, and a little bit of luck than not. It's not like any school's career services will funnel people into anchor jobs at CNN (lol). The Harris School, for instance, had David Axelrod come come speak, but I imagine that that was just an appointment in his calendar rather than his self-driven passionate plea to get people to invest in the Harris School, a program he was probably made aware of a year ago when being courted to start the Institute of Politics. These kinds of guest speakers are gimmicks. The only thing say is that the school has enough cred in the speaker's particular field that (s)he and/or his/her aids do not think it is a waste of time or embarrassment to speak there. That's about it!

I agree. This sounds like perhaps they forgot to attach a PDF or something.

When you say this, I assume you mean as a single person living with roommates with no desire to buy a house or have a kid or go on vacation? I don't consider myself materialistic, but browsing apartment ads on craigslist left me pretty nervous. Even going into Virginia or Maryland, one bedrooms were running at least $1200/month.

Well, there's something to be said for self-selection...........................................................I hope

So the consensus on this board seems to be that paying sticker for most of these programs is insane, unless you are independently wealthy. Obvs 120k for an MA in IR is nutso. But what about 70k? I want to start a thread for those of us who have gotten some money, but not amazing fellowships, to gauge everyone's thoughts on whether or not it's worth it to go for these prices (say, 50-90k). I am including COL, of course. I have a lot of friends/family telling me that 70k for a master's is AOK, but I think most if not all of these IRL advisors are in a JD/MBA mindset. Or they are hopelessly naive about finances (i.e. people who are crushed by student debt themselves, usually with impractical degrees). I keep hearing the word "investment" from the former group and the words "great experience" from the latter. Moreover, nobody seems to believe me when I tell them the salaries that we will be facing upon graduation, even in the best case scenarios. How are you supposed to live in DC on 50K/year while making $800/month loan payments? Financially, that would put me in a significantly worse situation than I am in now with just a BA (oh, and I work at a non-profit where plenty of my colleagues have associate's degrees and make within 5k of me, by the way).

FWIW, I've found that Jeremey Edwards always responds to emails promptly, whereas Maggie Decarlo and Rhonda Roseboro are terrible.

Your GPA is great, and your quant background seems pretty good. You should definitely get work experience in your policy area of interest. It can only help, especially for the top schools (they seem to want stellar grades AND experience). Maybe find a way to brush up on your German. Rock the GRE and you should be good to go. Not sure about the transfers, although they do leave me curious seeing as your GPAs are so high (often I think of people transferring due to unhappiness, and their GPAs show it, but that could be my dumb assumption). Do you have a compelling reason for transferring not once, but twice? That's something that could maybe be addressed in an addendum.

Happy Saturday everyone! I'm applying to professional master's programs in public policy/administration. At the end of January, I'm taking a short trip to the city where one of my schools is located to visit friends. I've already submitted the app, and decisions are expected in March. Would it be weird/bad form/inappropriate for me to contact them about visiting the campus at that time? This school is quite far from home, so this is my only real chance to see the campus/facilities. Or am I expected to just sit tight until I hear an admissions decision?

LOL! OP - I can't see why they would be mad. It sounds like a nice thought. I'm trying to think of some nice token gift ideas for my recommenders myself, especially because one is out of state and another is out of the country, so some serious postage could be involved. I thought of chocolate, but I'm hesitant to get people food these days because there are so many allergies/dietary preferences - you can never be sure. If any of you gradcafe-ers have any ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Wow, that's not something I've ever heard! I'd be curious if anyone else has heard/experienced this.