MJA87

I haven't heard anything yet but now I'll be repeatedly refreshing my status page! How were you informed? Email, status website, etc..?

I'm an MPP applicant and didn't apply to American, so I don't have a lot to contribute to this thread, but I just wanted to comment on how interesting it is how different schools give out funding. Take Bombaygunner for example. He/she has a really impressive profile and was offered decent funding packages from both Yale Jackson and Fletcher (amazing programs), however wasn't offered anything from American. Then when you look at other results, and there are many seemingly less impressive applicants that get funding offers from American. I wonder if there is a specific metric that they base their funding off of or what? Just something I thought was interesting.

I've had the "Fall 2015 Financial Aid" link for over a month, don't know that it is a sign of anything.

Finally heard back: rejected as expected. Congrats and good luck to those accepted!

Thanks, now I know to expect my rejection email tomorrow

The wait to hear from Goldman is even more frustrating now that I'm expecting to be on the waitlist at best. I'm heavily leaning towards Duke at the moment, but I still have some funding related things to figure out before I make my final decision. My girlfriend recently returned from a trip to Chicago and was really hoping I'd end up at Harris because she loved the city so much, I'm sure it will be good to you.

Sorry to hear that dudeinspace, I have a feeling I might be joining you on that list. Do you plan to pursue admission off the waitlist or go with one of your other many impressive acceptances? Assuming you just heard, it looks like the theory that they're releasing decisions in the order of accepted -> waitlsted -> rejected might prove true.

It definitely doesn't hurt to ask, the worst they can say if you try to negotiate is "Sorry, that was our final offer." Do you mind if I ask when you received your acceptance email from Goldman?

Thanks AJ. I was wondering if you knew anything about the possibility of negotiating with Harris for a higher fellowship/scholarship award. Harris has very high tuition, and I know many of us who were admitted were also offered higher awards at other schools (most of whom have lower tuition costs). Do you know if Harris will negotiate award amounts to stay competitive?

What alternate funding sources are available at Harris? I wasn't aware of any apart from the fellowships they provide and hoping and praying you can land some kind of assistantship.

They certainly have the right to do it however they wan, and maybe it's naive to expect empathy from any institution, but I think it's cruel to do it this way. Especially considering so many other schools (with smaller budgets I might add) are able to do it in a way that is concise and effective, and doesn't drag on and stress people out.

Thanks for calling them, though I don't know who they think that's helpful to. Everyone who applied will know their status before the blog post is made, and anyone who didn't apply probably doesn't care when all decisions have been sent from a program they didn't apply to. Who benefits from such an update? I guess I'm just frustrated from anxiously waiting for so long, hearing about joyful acceptances in the meantime.

That's insane, congratulations!!

In with $11,500 a year. Very thankful, but it's not an option at that cost. A weird mixture of happy and disappointed.

Sorry to debunk your theory, but my last name begins with an A and I haven't heard either.

Big congrats to you naso!! Don't mind me, I'll just be furiously refreshing my inbox. There goes my productivity for the afternoon.

I've heard some pretty negative things from current students as well. Very concerning. Initially this program was my second choice program behind only Berkeley Goldman. However now, after hearing glaringly negative reviews from several current students, I'm not sure how I feel about the program anymore.

Same here. I've been going crazy all weekend checking my email/status page after seeing people getting results on Friday. I put my chances at getting into Goldman at around 25%, and I wont be heartbroken if I don't get accepted. It's an amazing program and my numbers aren't up to snuff, but the not knowing and still holding out hope is frustrating.

In looking at previous years, there doesn't seem to be any pattern in how they release decisions. If you look at previous years there are a mixture of acceptances and rejections on the first day. I'm not taking the fact that I haven't heard in the first hour or so as bad news, I'm just hoping I hear soon.

Man, I almost wish you wouldn't have updated us. Now I'm furiously refreshing my email. I've been expecting to hear back all day and was basically useless at work..

I don't know that the breakdown is as simple as east vs. west, but I do think schools in certain markets think very highly of themselves for geographic reasons. I'll call out GWU, who admitted me with no funding at all even though I got into three higher ranked and (in my opinion) much better schools with ~half funding. I got into UW Evans without any funding any everyone I spoke to there was extremely polite and helpful. I literally got laughed at when I called GWU to get some information related to funding. I'm sure it's a fine program, but I get the impression that if they weren't in DC, most people wouldn't have even heard of them.

Can I ask what you mean when you say "housing and employment"? I've seen it referenced on these forums that Berkeley awards many (if not all?) of their MPP students with some pretty nice assistantships, but I cant find anything to that effect on their website. Does anyone know if that's true or not?

I go this same message, however later in the email it mentioned something about mandatory placement exams for stats and microecon. Did yours mention that? This is the first time I've heard about such a thing, does anyone have any info...?

Unless I get some kind of incredible funding offer from the three programs I haven't heard back from (Harris, Goldman, LBJ), I'll be heading to Duke in the Fall. I'm very doubtful i'll get any funding offers from the remaining three (I wont even get in to Berkeley), so Duke is looking very likely. I'm so excited!

Are finances a concern of yours? Did you get a funding offer from either school? As far a living expenses (rent, food, transportation, etc..) Columbia will be massively more expensive than Duke, so that's something to keep in mind. As far as the programs themselves, Columbia's seems to be more tailored to your specific interest? I wonder how much you could specialize your degree at Duke, maybe it's worth a call to the program.