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Congrats! And wow! Do you know where you'll be attending!? So many choices

Thanks so much! As I really want to the opportunity to benefit from GSAPP's affliation with SIPA and Earth Institute, that's really great to know! Most of the courses I'm interested--based on past enrollment--seem to be very niche electives with low enrollemnt, so hopefully I don't think I'll be intruding into SIPA students' space

Hi, @are we there yet? I'm a SIPA reject but got into the GSAPP... I plan to study urban related issues but also want to take advantage of cross registration option btw Columbia schools (if i go for GSAPP that is), b/c there are many SIPA courses that interest me that are open to cross registration I was wondering how prevalent cross registering btw schools is? do u have any personal exp w cross registration? And how easy is it to do it? can non-SIPA students get spots in SIPA courses with a fair chance? Thanks in advance!

Couple months back I was going through the visa rules in the UK, and jesus was it convoluted.... And this is coming from a person who had to take care (with a help of a lawyer of course) of his and his family's immigration paperwork in the US... The vibe I got from the UK Border Agency was that, basically, "unless you're a doctor or an engineer or a nurse, please don't even dream of coming to the UK." Special schemes for postgraduate degree holders have been closed for years. Even if you're lucky enough to find an organization willing to back you and willing to pay yo more than 20k, your job has to be posted online on the jobplus website. The job posting stays there, and only after no UK citizen takes your job for like a month, you can get started on actually getting a work visa. Australia has a similar scheme, but it's not as a restrictive and the requirements are much lower.... Even the US immigration scheme (which I'm not a big fan of due to my personal exp) allows to get a job if someone is willing to sponsor you, regardless of some bureaucratic rule. I don't intend to stay in the UK forever if I get accepted to one of the schools there, but it'd be nice to have the possibility of working or interning there for a year or two... It's all these restrictions that make me less optimistic about international mobility and cling onto employability in the US...

I did! Rejected tho But I wasn't really expecting to get in, so it's all cool...

Rejected Got a pretty standard, dry form letter...not digging that Congrats to all those admitted tho!!!

Got in! No funding info tho...

If I didn't have worry about reputation in the States, I wouldn't hesitate for a moment about IHEID or any of the other top European unis... It really does make me sad that IHEID has little recognition in the US, despite how excellent their program looks and how much positive feedback alumni give...... And now I got into Columbia for urban planning/IDEV w/o funding... (still waiting on SIPA, LSE, and UCL) I'd love to go to Columbia but not by paying $25,000USD a semester.... Idk what to do.... Also: Did you consider applying to NUS Lee Kuan Yew School?? I heard that program is quite good, tho I'm not sure if it's particularly strong in PE/trade. Seems like a great professional program. It pops on the radar quite often, and I'm sure it'll be greatly respected in SE Asia, seeing as it's in SE Asia haha. I considered applying b/c of there seemed to be a lot of resource econ/water management experts on the faculty, but decided against it cuz I already had over 10 schools that I applied to.

Hey all you SAIS admits! Congrats!!! Just wanted to drop off a tiny bit of info I got from a SAIS professor last fall about funding. Apparently, SAIS has been having some financial problems for the last few years, and the professor told me that the school decided to give out small number of high portion funding (I'm guessing that means more than 50%) to a fewer number of "highly qualified" applicants, instead of spreading funding out among a larger number of people. I'm posting this b/c I'm seeing a lot of people who got little to no funding......... hopefully you guys are all able to find other sources of funding...

I'm also pretty perplexed! I feel like many other people on this thread has had more WE, better grades, and/or are already admitted to LSE and other top tier schools... And I was really, really surprised that I was selected despite my relatively short WE (1-1.5yrs)... I don't mean to rub it in for other people, but I was just genuinely surprised....

@linkth Holy Shi*! You got accepted to so many excellent schools!!!!! How are you even going to decide!!! Congrats!!!

Wow.... just got the email..... right after I got the email from Columbia GSAPP. In at GSAPP. Out at Wagner... Still, congrats to all those admitted!!!!!!!!

So sorry for all those got whiplashed by this fiasco....and those who heard disappointing news today.... I see that many of you have other great schools to look forward (LSE, SOAS, Hertie, UCL, etc), and that gives me hope! And for those still waiting, I'm sure you'll hear good news soon! I wish you both the best of luck!!! As for me , just this morning I got an offer from Columbia GSAPP (NOT SIPA, still waiting)...............but with no funding whatsoever. I was initially overjoyed, and now I'm about to cry after looking at the 14/15 tuition rate...... $25,000 PER SEMESETER They're really properly trying to milk me..... I'm inclined to just say piss off and stick with IHEID....

Christ, this is turning out to be an epic fu**up...... I hope the email is binding and everyone gets in.....or at least the administration should own up to their mistake...

OMG what's going on with these mismatches between emails and the admission module!!!!!! Why are they doing this!!!

I don't think bothering the admissions office will affect the admission committee's decision.... but who knows.... I'm so sick of waiting............................................................

I didn't know that you could accept and then withdraw.... That may be my last resort as well....

Hmmmmmm.... I see..... I'm sure I'll get rejected, tho I really need to find out so I can set my heart on one program, or at least shortlist the most promising programs.... So long.... but it's better than NYU, the application deadline was in Nov last yr, and they told us "by March 15" and they're def taking their sweet time and pushing themselves all the way to the deadline...I'm inclined to say piss off even if I get in....

Previous schools (name, type): University of California Santa Barbara (Top 40 overall, Top 10 public) Previous degrees and grades: B.A. Sociology / History (GPA: 3.61, Major: 3.9) GRE: 166V, 158Q, AW: 4.0 International experience (countries, reason, duration): International summer school for one session. Not much else, besides traveling. Previous work experience (duration, type): 1.5+ yr journalism experience (for local daily newspaper) 0.5 yr well-known DC think tank Math/econ background: No calc, no macro/micro Only stats for social science, and international political economy course Languages (how fluent?): Korean (Native) English (Native) Portuguese (Intermediate) French (Basic) Spanish (Basic) Intended field of study in grad school: International Development (MDEV) esp. as it relates to urban issues/resource access issues Long-term professional goals: PhD academic working for a R1 uni Or if fortune favors, keep working for NGOs or think tanks Schools applied to & results (funding?): LSE Urbanisation and Development, UCL Bartlett Development Planning Unit (DPU) MSc Urban Development Planning, MIT Urban Planning International Development Group (IDG) MS Urban Planning, UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design MS City/Regional Planning, Columbia SIPA MIA Urban and Social Policy, Columbia GSAPP MS Urban Planning, NYU Wagner MA Urban Planning (International Development), New School Milano MA International Affairs, Stanford Ford Dorsey IPS, GWU Elliott MA International Development Studies, IHEID Graduate Institute Geneva MA Development Studies Only acceptance so far: IHEID Ultimate decision & why: TBD Any advice for future applicants? TBD I leave this for future applicants to similar programs!

I'm doing the same to the LSE for You website and UCL portico website..... I've been checking them constantly....... And now I'm having doubts about my choice of program for LSE.... since it has a ridiculously low rate of acceptance (about 1/8), compared to some other Msc programs.... which had higher rates of acceptance and similar curriculum..... The doubts of my program choice coupled with the long wait is just driving me insane....

But it's also very encouraging to hear additional confirmation that IHEID is a solid school! And also @IRToni: You said many IHEID students intern with IOs in Geneva. I heard it's a really competitive scene. What's your take on chances of getting an internship in the area?

Congrats!!!!

What I meant was that they'll want you to start from the beginning of the program, instead of giving advanced standing and transfer credits. Most academic programs don't really offer terminal MAs anyways. That's really true with any social science postgraduate program....

Congrats!!!!!!!! @adrianmane Congrats to you as well!! And I noticed that you applied to Stanford Ford Dorsey IPS!! Did you hear back from them yet??

It's my understanding that even policy school academics usually have traditional, disciplinary PhDs. I've seen couple that have a policy school PhD, but I don't believe that's the norm. A "old fashioned" poli sci PhD with a optional emphasis/faculty expertise in security studies issue would be ideal for you, I would argue. And the MIT poli sci program seems to fit this mold pretty well. They're well-respected as a poli sci dept, and they do churn out pretty high-profile security studies-related research... KCL's War Studies PhD might be good, too. But I'm not too sure about employment prospect in the US for British PhDs, at least for lesser known schools like KCL. I've seen LSE and Oxbridge PhDs with positions in tier 1 research unis in the US, but haven't seen any KCL grads... But again, this is really not my area. Most poli sci depts do offer specialization in conflict/security studies, and you could prob find a good fit for yourself. MIT's really the only one I know that's solid in reputation and academic rigor. And you may be able to find better advice/info from the poli sci forum One thing to note tho is that such traditional poli sci depts will usually be less flexible/tolerant of "deviant" backgrounds (like law, in your case), and will force you to start from the MA level. This may not be a problem for you, but it could a potential downer, b/c it's at least one or two additional yrs to your studies.