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Curious...Does anyone know what happens to SAIS scholarship funds that are offered to students who ultimately do not accept? Are they re-offered to those who didn't make the cut previously, offered to those on the waitlist, or are they simply thrown back into the moneypool?

US applicants do not do an interview in the application process and are notified a few weeks before international students because we apply to the DC school rather than directly to Bologna.

I was just about to post the same thing. I had been waiting all week for the package and there really wasn't anything that I didn't already know in the package, and I had to roll my eyes at the pamphlet about how green the campus is when it's inserted in a snail mail package filled with paper that I'm throwing out right away. Also, no funding, which is making my decision much easier.

That's what I did. The e-mail gave me a ISIS ID that I copy/pasted into the login, and on the next screen it asked for a password. "Dear Corey: Congratulations on your admission to The Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies! Your financial aid application materials have been reviewed and you have been awarded financial aid. Hard copies of your award letter and pertinent materials will be mailed to your home address. In the interim, you have been granted access to the school's online system to view your financial aid package. The Johns Hopkins University is committed to safeguarding the privacy of students and their personal information. In an ongoing effort to eliminate Social Security numbers from correspondence, the Office of Financial Aid will use the following unique identification number to communicate with you: ISIS ID: *********"

That's what I'm assuming :\ Oh well.

I also got an e-mail saying I was awarded aid. The system was hard to navigate but when I finally figured it out, all I had received was the 8500 subsidized, 12000 unsubsidized. They tricksed me!

PLUS loans, which can be taken out as much as the cost of attendance - other subsidized loans, count. I'm more than likely taking out 20.5k in Stafford, 35k in PLUS, a year.

Yeah, I'm working on my PNQs now....I took the test in March not expecting to pass but wanting to familiarize myself with the test, but then I passed, so I'm going to continue with the process.

Great. Thanks for the relief.

I just called the SAIS Financial Aid Office and the woman gave me the same message, but when I asked if it was required to send in that additional form she said yes. I'm still concerned that it may be too late, but it's worth a shot.

Wow. Thanks for saving my day! Sarah, I'd like to work in the State department either within the Foreign Service or developing/analyzing policy and intelligence. Mmm vague.

It happens... I actually did the same thing for my undergrad, too.

Schifoan, you are correct. However, when I looked over the financial aid application form, I came to the realization that I had never seen that form before in my life. I avoided saying that in the original message for embarrassment reasons.

I was lucky enough to receive an acceptance letter to SAIS-Bologna, but I unfortunately did not receive any aid. After looking through the cost of attendance budgets, I'm debating whether or not the loans are worth the education. I was lucky enough to come out of undergrad without any debt, but I have very little savings. As I am pursuing public/non profit work, I doubt that I will receive a salary more than $50-55k straight from grad, which is slightly less than the $213k most debt repayment calculators say I need to earn to not be swamped with debt. I guesss my question is this: At the end of the day, how much is this debt going to affect my quality of life? I'm fairly frugal, single (and with no plans to marry/kids in the immediate future), and am perfectly fine continuing to live in communal/college style apartments with a cheap car that's paid off. If I'm not mistaken, I would be able to use the income-based repayment plan to ensure that I'll actually be able to enjoy myself, and after 10 years in public service I can use the public service grant to forgive my interest - of course, the caveat to that is that I have no idea if those plans will still be around in 10 years. My other option is to attend Denver with a 10k scholarship, but the way I see it, a 120k loan isn't going to be drastically worse than a 80k loan, so if I'm going to consider the 80k I might as well tack on the 40k and reap the advantages of SAIS. As an aside, for those of you who attended SAIS, what are the fellowship/scholarship opportunities available for second year students, and are they as cut-throat as some have made it out to be?

After looking over the Bologna option I have become more excited about what it has to offer. I think the experience/abroad/connection factor greatly outweighs the more limited class/professor/internship selection. Any class that isn't offered in Bologna I can always take a semester or two down the line in DC, and it sounds like Bologna has most, if not all, of the required classes for the economic concentration anyway. Moreover, since Bologna students have the advantage of doing a DC *and* Bologna pre-term, I'll be able to get the pre-req econ out of the way while spending my first month in Bologna focusing on Italian, which by itself sounds absolutely fantastic.

Haha! I was so excited about getting in that I didn't even read that I was accepted to the Bologna campus, which I know nothing about. Does anyone know if it's possible to change your location to D.C., or is that going to be set in stone?

Yeah, I can't really justify waiting until May when the other two schools that accepted me (Udenver and JHU) want my enrollment by mid April....oh well.

Waitlisted.

Ahh! Thanks for the heads up. I just checked at and I got in as well. I'm assuming that if it didn't mention funding in the letter then none was offered?

Nothing new for me....here's to hoping they aren't uploading admits / denials separately.

It's a shame. I was offered admission to any of their other programs, which I'm *very* excited about. But I was, by far, most anticipating the MDP program. Now I shall wait for the other programs and weigh my options.

Anyone know what happened to the MDP program at Korbel? Just received an e-mail that reads..."The Josef Korbel School of International Studies is suspending acceptance of new students to the Master’s in Development Practice degree for the upcoming year and will not be accepting students into this degree for the coming academic year. Unfortunately, this means that your application will not be considered for the Master’s in Development Practice program. " That's pretty bumming to me as I was very excited for the MDP program. Anyone know what the problem was?

Program Applied To (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.): MALD, MDP, USFP, and IR Schools Applied To: Fletcher, SIPA (MDP) Korbel (MDP) SIS (USFP) and SAIS (lol) Schools Admitted To: Schools Rejected From: Still Waiting: All Undergraduate institution: Illinois State Undergraduate GPA: 3.62 Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): No idea. in the 3.6 range. Undergraduate Major: History/Philosophy with minors in Sociology /Political Science GRE Quantitative Score: 770 GRE Verbal Score: 600 GRE AW Score: 5.0 Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): Graduated '09 Years of Work Experience: Eh. Describe Relevant Work Experience: 6 months teaching in China, 2 months interning for a international poverty advocacy nonprofit, interning now for a top Democratic Senator (Although I'm doing constituent, not legislative, work), RA for three years on campus, did stints as a research and teaching assistant. Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): Lots and lots of revisions. All of my friends hate me for making them look it over. Repeatedly. And then again. But I'm fairly happy with the way they are turning out. Specificity and fit is the key. Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): Two glowing recommendations from professors I worked close with, professional reference is not as strong because I was only at the internship for two months. Other: If you're banging your head on the desk repeatedly because you don't think you're qualified enough for graduate school, keep on trucking.

Anyone interested in exchanging SoPs for proof reading and editing? I'm normally averse to this but it's almost crunch time and I'm still not happy. I've exhausted most of my options with friends/professors, so a fresh look and perspective would be more than appreciated. Feel free to PM me with your e-mail and I'll send it to you, and I would love to look at yours as well. Thanks

Also, keep in mind that some applications won't let your letter-writers upload their references until you have submitted your entire application. Just because you have everything prepared and organized does not actually mean they do!