greendiplomat

Oh, maybe the MESc results are going out first? Or maybe just the rejections? (Trying to think of reasons to calm down and get some work done... my mid-day freak-outs are whittling away at my co-worker's patience... haha).

I haven't gotten any notifications, but I'm assuming the decisions are posted here: https://apply.environment.yale.edu/apply/. Anyone care to confirm?

Me neither! The optimist in me is hoping that maybe they're sending the unsuccessful applicants their notification first, but the application basket-case in me is stronger. Ergo, Freaking out. bsgrok and Zach Green, what degree did you apply to?

Since other schools have threads, I thought I'd start a general thread on LSE admissions decisions and the ensuing discussions of whether to go. Also, anyone want to claim the freshly posted admit to the MPA in Public and Economic Policy? How many weeks did it take after the 4th email? I ask because my file was passed on to the same MPA program after my first choice program couldn't make their mind up in the 8-week period...

Couldn't have put it better myself. People need to be aware that while publications like US News can conceivably put together rankings for undergraduate programs (which are measurable through easily accessible metrics such as yield, selectivity, GPA, and freshman retention rates), it's harder to quantify the merits of specialized graduate/professional programs, which depend upon the factors that MYRNIST mentions, not to mention that these rankings completely gloss over some program's strengths in specific policy fields.

Hmmm... don't know I'm happy I can stop pulling my hair out and be productive this week, or if I'm disappointed that the wait continues...

Oh, my original post divulged where I went to school, but then I decided to conceal it (and thus the confusing phrasing in some areas). I meant at my undergraduate institution. Edited. Maybe I should have had you read over my SOP for similarly unclear language?

A bit tardy to the party, but before we start getting responses... Program Applied To (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.): various degrees focusing on international climate policy / environmental economics. Schools Applied To: Columbia SIPA; Harvard HKS; LSE; Princeton WWS; Tufts Fletcher; Yale joint FES/IDE. Schools Admitted To: -- Schools Rejected From: -- Still Waiting: All Undergraduate institution: Top 5. Undergraduate GPA: 3.3 Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): 3.5 Undergraduate Major: Economics; Environmental Science. GRE Quantitative Score: 800 GRE Verbal Score: 710 GRE AW Score: 5.5 Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 2 Years of Work Experience: 2 Describe Relevant Work Experience: 2 years doing policy analysis / economics research at a leading environmental NGO, publishing research relevant to my field and representing the organization as an NGO observer at UN meetings. Relevant internships throughout college. Languages: Fluent Japanese and French; intermediate Spanish. Quant: Econ major, incl. math through Linear Algebra. Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): Since this is the second time I’m applying, I had a good 2 years to think about what to write and how to frame it. Overall, I think it was a strong essay, though, in retrospect, I think I spent a bit too much of the word limit on my background, which didn’t allow me to demonstrate the extent to which I had researched these programs. Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): 2 econ professors, one with joint appointment w/ the policy school and the other with whom I did my senior thesis, plus one from a former Managing Director at my current workplace. Two of them showed me their recommendations, which were surprisingly glowing. Other: Bumpy record in some key intro courses due to personal reasons, but I submitted a supplemental statement expressing my belief that I made up for that by excelling in upper-level economics classes. Applied straight out of college to the policy school at my undergraduate institution and got in (which is why my list is admittedly a bit reach-heavy).

Only prompt because I also want someone to confirm my hunch!

I also had a similar scare, since the admissions application was due 5pm EST. Looking through all of the financial aid correspondence, etc. that we've received, I'm not seeing any indication of time, so I'm assuming it's midnight.

Here are the latest two data points: 33.9% admitted for Fall 2011, down from 37% the year before. The Yale Daily News also has an article from 2010 that has the admit rates since 2000, which indicates that the steepest admissions rate was from 2009 at 31% (I think these include all master's programs). Also, MGJR, remember that all schools admit more students to their programs than they have space, since most applicants apply to multiple programs and might not accept their offers to FES. In light of this, 200-300 is likely the number that they admit, not that apply!

I wish, but I think they ask all applicants to fill out fellowship applications specifically so that they can release financial aid info with or soon after admissions results. Otherwise they'd wait for admissions results to be released and then ask admits to submit applications.

Not necessarily. It could also mean that they realized that they could get the applicant pool cut down substantially in the next week, thereby forwarding less applications to the financial aid office / fellowship committees, allowing for the decisions to be released earlier with aid info. In short, the only thing that we'll get by trying to figure the admissions process out is stress. I'm chilling out for the next few weeks (that is, once I get those fellowship statements in!).

Yep, I think everyone did.

They have the financial aid due date before the decisions are released so that they can give you your funding offer at the same time as or shortly after receiving your admissions offer. That way admits have the chance to mull their choices over considering the price tag. (Besides, if the admissions decision considered the fellowship essays, you wouldn't have two separate applications). Haven't visited the campus beyond visiting Harvard in general when looking at colleges for undergrad, so I second that question. In general, though, I don't think visiting campus affects your chances in any way, unless a program has special evaluative interviews set aside for that purpose.

I think this link will help clear up a bit of the confusion: http://blogs.cuit.columbia.edu/sipa/2011/10/06/top-10-tips-for-2012-application-%E2%80%93-9-tracking-and-communication/ Based on the information provided here, it takes up to 3 weeks after the deadline for them to print out the applications, and then manually confirm that all the necessary materials are there. In short, don't stress.

I think you've dug up last year's thread there, Aryousef. The should be the one for this year (though nobody has results on that thread yet). Also, congrats if you're posting this here because you got into the PhD program at GSPIA!

Mind shedding light on what this "other one" is about?

Since the previous rankings in 2009 had Yale in 12th, I'm assuming it similarly narrowly missed the top 10. Does anyone know if they have the full ranking (i.e. in tabular format that doesn't allure readers with pretty pictures) yet, like they did in past years?

I think "second-tier" has negative connotations that the original poster isn't intending. From what his post and others following suggest, this thread is about high-quality programs that aren't as difficult to gain admissions to. Basing our discussion on that definition of high-quality and (relatively) lower-selectivity programs, I think GW (Elliott), American, Denver (Korbel), and UCSD fall into that category. I would probably add UChicago and Syracuse to that list as well. To focus this conversation on your seeking advice, cowboy, what area of IR are you interested in? A great way to ultimately choose among the safeties that we provide would be to find a school that's not as selective but happens to be strong in that particular area (e.g. UCSD for the IR of the Asia/Pacific region).

Because IPS is just a program within Stanford's graduate school (as opposed to a separate school as in most other IR programs) and therefore doesn't have a separate admissions office, I think that applicants are supposed to follow the instructions provided on Stanford's general Office of Graduate Admissions (took me a while to figure this out, too):

You're right to note that the 2nd question is to let the Admissions Committee get a glimpse of where your interests lie and how you'd be as an international/public affairs professional, the former option being for people more interested in being manager/entrepreneurial types and the latter for policy analyst types. As for the 3rd question, I'm interpreting this as a space for people that want to explain or otherwise make up for any weaknesses in the application, and that they're making this a part of the application to let everyone have the same number of total words (1000) to express themselves as a candidate. If you don't have anything that really comes to mind with regards to what you want to write here, you might as well just use it as an opportunity to spend 200 words elaborating on something that you couldn't do elsewhere in the application due to word limits.

I tend to disagree. Yes, when applying to jobs, you only list the positions relevant to the posting, but when you're weaving together your various academic and professional experiences in a narrative about your career as a whole, I think it's better to exceed a page to give the admissions committee a more complete picture than to leave parts of your career out to fit an arbitrary standard. Just to name a few programs to which I'm applying that echo this opinion: Columbia SIPA: Yale FES: In short, yes, keep it at a reasonable length, but it just seems unwise not to include relevant information because you're afraid of exceeding the 1-page tradition that's more applicable to job applications than to graduate school applications to begin with.

Come on, guys. Just delete the accidentally hyperlinked period at the end of the URL, or, alternately, follow the suggested link and Ctrl-F for "analytical essay".

Some people might be able to answer this, but give that I'm not too familiar with NASPAA, mind sharing which schools in particular you're looking for? We'll probably be able to give more pointed advice that way.