linden

jonpkduq: I don't remember the loan repayment program being as generous as 10K/year, but things may have changed. I think the amount ended up being about $3K after taxes. While the program certainly helps, I would not structure my academic financial plans around the program. Good luck!

Policy_applicant: Did your status change today? (I can only imagine my status has not changed yet because they're trying to decide if they should add a car and a weekly supply of fresh Maine lobsters to my funding package... Ha, ha.)

Many here have made it fairly clear that they will not get into outrageous debt to pursue an MPP/MPA degree. But, would your opinion change if you got into HKS, for example? Are there are any programs that are so respected and well-recognized and that have such unmatched networking opportunities that you would finance your education with loans?

Let's obsess about HKS instead! At least, we've got a chance there. :wink:

I've been thinking... I am not going to obsess about WWS. It's such a long shot for me, why worry?

What confirmation emails from WWS? Should I consider this a pre-rejection?

This makes me think... Anybody care to wager on when we will hear from HKS? I'm betting Friday, March 13 for acceptances, March 16 for (gulp!) rejections. (Although their confirmation email says we will hear back at the end of March...) Wabbitt09, from what I can garner from last year's posts, it seems HKS sent out admit emails all throughout the day on Friday, March 14 and followed up with the phon-a-thon on March 18. As for your chances try this. http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~ssanty/cgi-bin/eightball.cgi :wink: Good luck!

Younglions: Congratulations! That letter has to feel good.

Splic: Congrats! I also think you're among the first at gradcafe to get a generous offer.

Congrats, ebee!

The GWU Trachtenberg School FAQ section had this information about merit aid. "How competitive is the Trachtenberg School in terms of funding? Trachtenberg School funding is quite competitive. For these merit-based awards we review the full application, not just the GRE scores and GPA. We consider your grades, statement of purpose, and letters of recommendation. Many students have some work experience, but it is not a requirement. Those who typically receive awards have GRE scores above the 80 th percentile, and a GPA of at least 3.8. But, these numbers are not absolute and depend on the qualifications of the other applicants for that year." Nevertheless, they have reformatted their FAQ, and that information is gone. Perhaps the criteria stated previously are no longer valid. I would have also thought that early admission translated into increased chances for aid. Presumably schools that do not have rolling admissions can compare all the candidates at once, and I would imagine they would be in a hurry to get acceptances out to the candidates they felt were the best fits. Massive, I also had a quick question. The GWU acceptance said that in a few weeks we would be able to see our admission information online. Are you able to see on applyyourself.com a copy of the letter that was sent to you? Thanks! Hang in there everybody!

Stupid question here for those of you who have heard back from GWU and Georgetown. Have any of these schools set a deadline yet for responses from admitted students? Or do we have until April 15 to respond? After all this work and agony, I don't want to screw this up.

Cornell: These polls are a great idea. They should really be helpful to future applicants.

Hello to you too Dagger! I had been trying to wean myself off gradcafe, to no avail. Have you received any good news? Policy_applicant, like you I am fretting about funding now. (Ha, ha. I am impressed at how quickly I was able to refocus my anxiety!) I did see an interesting post on applyingtograd (livejournal) from an individual who is applying to MPA programs. "I got into one program in a city that is IDEAL for studying public policy and public administration. It's also ranked quite highly. They "regret" that they cannot offer me a fellowship." The poster later on confirmed that the school s/he is referring to is in DC. I thought it was interesting that s/he wrote that the school already confirmed the poster is not being offered a fellowship. It would thus seem that schools are already releasing funding information. I am not sure what program it is, and I might be making too many assumptions. But, this post makes me feel a bit hopeful; at least I have not yet been rejected from funding. I hope this will help you with your nightmares.

Splic: You seem to be a fabulous candidate, from the information I remember from your posts. Maybe the time frame for releasing decisions for international students is a bit different. (I think I remember you're an international student.) For example, last year, I remember reading in some thread on AutoAdmit that the phone-a-thon day for international students was the last day, after domestic applicants had already been called. Schools do seem to be reporting decisions at around the same dates they did in 2008 and 2007. But, I know that the ones that have announced already will continue announcing admissions over the next few weeks. So don't fret yet, especially with your great stats.

It is true that applications have increased in some academic disciplines. But, you should also keep in mind that the number of candidates who are adequately prepared and have strong applications probably remains steady. Remember, many of these students are applying for advanced degrees because they are unable to get job offers or fear they will not get job offers. But, it takes a certain amount of preparation to apply to graduate school: you have to have a good GPA; in many fields, you need research experience; you have to study for and score well on GREs; you need strong recommendation letters; you need complementary work experience; you need to write strong and convincing SOPs. Many of us have been preparing to apply for years; we focused our academic and professional energies on this goal. I think in most cases it will be clear to admissions committees who the last-minute candidates are and who the serious candidates are. In fact, if you look at the results page, it seems that many disciplines and programs are making their decisions at around the same time they did last year. I know that has been the case with most schools in my discipline. If there were a larger number of strong candidates among the increased number of applicants, probably the schools would not be able to make decisions within the same time frame. Remember also that the economic situation did not start to turn dire until the late summer of 2008. Six months is not enough for most students or professionals to turn mediocre candidacies into stellar applications. Maybe next year's batch of applicants will contain a greater percentage of strong applicants, because those students will have had three semesters to prepare their candidacies for advanced studies. But, my guess is that this year's group of applicants probably contains the same number of strong contenders. Good luck!

Plate: Sorry about the rejection to UMD. It is strange because you seem to be a strong candidate overall and especially for their program. applicant: Here's a thread on chances of admission to Kennedy. viewtopic.php?f=7&t=14557 Good luck!

Those of who think that GRE does not matter or wish it did not matter, should take a look at this: http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/t ... 544.0.html I am not posting this to prove bowdoinstudent incorrect; in his case, it does seem that his GRE scores did not matter. But, it would be a real shame if a future applicant read bowdoinstudent 's post and happily assumed that GRE scores are unimportant. The fact is, it can be an important factor in decisions or, as the information in the link above shows, at least an important factor in deciding which applicants get looked at. And, many schools admit it is also an important factor in their funding decisions. In any case, bowdoinstudent's commment is akin to saying that GPA does not matter because some students get in with low GPAs or that work experience does not matter because some students get in with no work experience. The fact is, you should try to be the strongest applicant you can, because you don't know what portion of your application will tip the scale in your favor.

mims3382: The same thing happened to me this admissions cycle. I spoke to the admissions staff at all my programs, and they assured me that this is very common and that it would not affect my chances at admission. Some of the schools indicated that having more than the recommended number of LOR writers, however, could negatively affect me. What some of them suggested I do (since the recommender wanted to mail the letters rather than fill them out online) was to write a note explaining that the LOR writer was being unresponsive and requesting that if a letter were to arrive from this individual that it should be disregarded during the application review process. I found an alternate LOR writer and submitted explanatory notes to my schools. I've already been admitted to several schools. So, that LOR writer did not hurt me at all. I think you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Good luck! Linden

So, when that acceptance letter comes, will you let others know? Or will you keep it a closely-guarded secret? I am asking this because I am in at one of my top choices, and I am dying to tell everyone. Sometimes, I think I should keep it a closely guarded secret until shortly before I return to school. I work in a very competitive workplace, and I wonder if some of my co-workers might be petty enough to try to sabotage my plans. But, granted, that's also quite paranoid. I would just like to hear what others have to say on this subject.

Actually, I think it would be helpful if more of us posted our stats, including those of you who feel (probably incorrectly) that your numbers are not good enough. It will give us and students who are applying in future years a way to assess how competitive we/they are. True, numbers don't give you a full picture, but they provide a baseline. And it has been helpful to me to read the numbers, get an idea of what kind of people are applying, and determine which programs are reaches and which are more likely to accept me. Moreover, I don't get the sense that many of us are posting our stats to boast, but rather to give others a measure of what kind of numbers and background the individuals who are applying to these programs have. I have many weaknesses in my application. For example, I went to an undergrad institution that is decidedly not prestigious, and I have a very varied work history that is full of stops-and-starts. But, I hope my postings will provide encouragement to a student in the future.

Younglions: Thank you for trying to cheer me up. You are right: They're trying to figure out how to add all those zeros to the end of my funding package. Policy_applicant: Congrats on Georgetown! (By the way, I sent you a PM.)

Ridgey: OTT? Sorry, I am not up on my Internet acronyms. Linden

Okay, this post was premature and has been deleted.

I smell NOPM... I think it's weird a troll would dedicate so much time to writing such long and elaborate messages.