gazelle

I haven't heard anything, but I'm a standard deadline applicant; I did email them about my application status since I never received an email, and they said they were shooting for mid-March to notify standard deadline applicants.

I sure hope so; last year he made that post on February 27th (that post is largely a copy/paste from last year) and decisions started going out on March 4th, so here's hoping!

From an email inquiring about the status of my application, since I never received an email stating as such: "Thank you for your message. Your application is complete and a message has alsobeen sent via our AY system stating this as well. Decisions will start to comeout in mid-March. You will receive an email inviting you to log into ourapplication system to inform you that your decision is ready to be viewed. Ifyou have additional questions, please let us know." Mid-March instead of early March, guys Also I just got my application complete email.

Hmm, perhaps mine just hasn't yet been forwarded to the committee?

SIPA said somewhere (must've been the admissions blog?) that they would actually send you an email when your file was complete and ready to be processed. My application status has indeed shown complete since early January, but I never received any type of actual confirmation email from them. Also to my understanding IR/PS is supposed to send me some type of similar email 4-6 weeks after receipt of all materials, but it's been over eight weeks now. I did email them to make sure they received everything, and they said they did though I still never received any email, and that for the standard deadline applicants the admissions committee is aiming to send notifications in mid-March. I wonder if I should email SIPA just to make absolute sure my stuff has been processed? I'm inclined not to since my application status does say complete and that all documents have been received, but nonetheless they said everyone would've received an email a few weeks ago at the latest...

Will the US Dept of Education and other lenders actually let you take loans just to cover living expenses? I always thought it would only be just be enough to cover tuition/fees.

Could hear as early as late next week, but likely the week after...definitely getting nervous now.

For those of you going into terminal master's programs (e.g. going to have to pay living expenses out of pocket), how are you going to be doing this? Are you going to be working, living off savings, or what? I know they prefer that students don't work while in grad school but that's kind of absurd if they aren't handing out living stipends like candy, particularly if your school is in a location where a car is pretty much a necessity. So how will you fund two years of your life?

Well, since my original plan was and still is to defer for a year, I'm not very worried, though I would like my results. Also, if I were to get rejected from my schools, that would be really unfortunate, but at the same time it would make a lot of things easier looking forward. Most importantly though, I'm agonizing Tuesday in, Tuesday out for the impending i5/i7 updates to the Macbook Pro line. Overall, I just haven't been too stressed about the process since I submitted the applications. I check my email once a day, and that's about it; I don't really check the results search much since I know when my schools notify based on their own websites, the earliest of which will be next month.

Program Applied To: MPIA, MIA Schools Applied To: UCSD IR/PS, Columbia SIPA Schools Admitted To: Schools Rejected From: Still Waiting: UCSD IR/PS, Columbia SIPA Undergraduate institution: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus Undergraduate GPA: 3.12 Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): Unknown Undergraduate Major: Chemical Engineering, Chemistry GRE Quantitative Score: 730 GRE Verbal Score: 520 GRE AW Score: 5.0 Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 2 Years of Work Experience: 2 Describe Relevant Work Experience: Two years teaching in Japan with the JET Program; not "relevant" per se, but relevant in the context of international experience and working towards my goal of a Japan-focused career. Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): Had a really strong, defined one for UCSD, and felt that the SoP, along with the supplemental essays, really gave the admissions committee a pretty comprehensive overview of myself. I feel quite strongly about my UCSD SoP, essays, and overall application, despite it being the first school I applied to. When I sat down to write my SoP for Columbia, I struggled; the format was much different (broken into three questions, with a 400 word limit for describing my background, goals, etc., a 400 word limit to discuss my most significant volunteer experience, and 200 words to tell the admissions committee anything else I wanted. The latter two parts came out well I think, albeit with short word limits, but I really struggled to squeeze everything about my goals, how my background has prepared me for graduate study, people I want to work with, etc., into those first 400 words while still managing to sound strong. I also would've liked to expand a little more on that last 200 word section, as that's really only about two paragraphs of information. Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): One should be glowing from an East Asian studies professor of mine who went to Cornell, one should be pretty good from a history PhD who was my supervisor at my campus job in a demographic research office where I worked for three years as an undergraduate, but in retrospect I think the third one, written by a chemical engineering professor of mine, will be very blah, and I wish I would've asked someone else, although I didn't see the letters so I can't say. Other: I spent two years as an undergraduate volunteering in a Japanese garden, and as mentioned spent three years in a demographic office doing research. My undergraduate program is a top-three chemical engineering program at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, notorious for grade deflation (I got a C in calculus 3, with a final grade of about 82%...), though going into IR, I can't imagine the committees would know either of those facts. Also as an undergraduate I held a graduate student teaching assistantship for two semesters being a lab T/A for general chemistry, which was another step towards JET, and another step towards my goal of a Japan-oriented career. I also took as many East Asia studies courses as I could shoulder on top of my engineering coursework, including beginning Japanese. I also have proficiency in German, as indicated by a proficiency test at my college after two years of study. Between being a T/A and my undergraduate research position, and another job prior to being a T/A, I worked 40 hours a week throughout college to support my mom and myself which forced me to make substantial academic sacrifices. Furthermore, my mom died of brain and lung cancer as an undergraduate at the onset of my junior, and coincidentally most difficult year in the chemical engineering program. Needless to say, my last two years saw a bit of a downward trend. I should also say that I am turning 26 this month, as I was in school for six years because I switched from liberal arts to engineering after 1.5 years, so I graduated with 181 credits.

At least you don't have to wait until March or even April.

2 more months? Ugh, that's a long time considering it's already been 2.5 since I finished my apps.

No idea, they don't say other than that they will contact you 4-6 weeks from the receipt of all materials, presumably to tell you your app is complete. I sent all my stuff in in November, but one letter didn't get in until just after the New Year, so it's been about 5.5 weeks since they got my stuff but still not a peep. Early deadline people are getting results now, but for standard deadline I have a feeling it will be a long time.

I missed your question there, my mistake...I only applied to two programs--UCSD's IR/PS for an MPIA, and Columbia's SIPA for an MIA. Still hopeful!!

Same with me on the verbal section--I was consistently hitting around the 600-650 mark during practice tests, and then the real test ended up being a 520, and boy was I pissed. But, I took it 8 days before moving to Japan in July of 2008, and thus couldn't retake it a second time...poor planning on myself for not taking it the first time in June so that if I needed to retake it I could take it again in July due to the once-per-calendar-month rule. I was also apprehensive about taking it a second time for fear my quantitative wouldn't be as high, and I didn't want to risk getting a bad score there and having the scores average; in retrospect now I know that most schools pick and choose the best scores from each section, so that was a bit disheartening as well. Some days I wish I would've stayed in liberal arts, where I was a comfy 3.8x two years into the honors program. Ah well, such is life.

Yep, I was a 3.12 with 730Q/520V/5.0AW. I am worried about the not-so-mythical GPA/GRE cutoffs, but I have seen people admitted to Columbia SIPA with 510V and a 3.2x GPA. Thus, I know I clear the GRE cutoffs (I was worried about the verbal score), but the GPA I'm not so sure...I have a feeling the cut is 3.2 which is a shame, since I've seen nobody with a sub-3.2 admitted.

I'm assuming youre going for MPP programs, OP? I'm applying from Japan, and the only thing that I find disappointing about the time difference is that when I wake up and see nothing in my email, like now, I know there is next to no point in checking it at all for the rest of the day. I would rather be awake while the adcoms are, so I can check my email everyday, all day. It gets a little boring seeing nothing day in day out in the morning and knowing it will be like that for the next 24 hours, my time.

I think you're going to see an influx of people here with 3.5+ GPAs and 1400+ GREs telling you they have "lower" GPA/GRE scores. Not meant as a slight to those people, but this site is filled with people who have pretty impressive profiles. Me on the other hand, I have a 3.1 and a 1250 GRE, doh.

What is your top choice school, and why (and of course what field are you going for)? For me, I only applied to two schools, both of which are great for international relations MAs--Columbia's SIPA and UCSD's IR/PS. Since I want a career related to Asia, I've set my sights on UCSD for the most part as my top choice since UCSD's School of International Relations and Pacific Studies is the only Asia-specific program in the country, but lately I've been dreaming of a degree from Columbia since that also will open a lot of doors for me and my career, not to mention I'd rather be in NY than San Diego. It's a toss-up really. You?

Ahh, OK, sorry, my mistake. Let the groveling continue.

According to the results search, someone was notified today via email from the program director that they were accepted to the MPA program.

Chemical engineering/chemistry double major to an MA in international relations. I hope they like that diversity, coming in as a chemE

Ugh, good point, I see that now...it just says we will be notified, but I guess I took that to mean we'd be notified with a decision but perhaps not. No, I haven't seen any rejections, just two acceptances thus far.

Yeah I'm a standard deadline applicant, but since the site cites 4-6 weeks to hear back that puts me in a position to hear back any day, but I'm skeptical. I'm originally from Minneapolis, but I'm living in Japan these days teaching with the JET Program.

Anyone else heard back yet? I'm surprised they were posting results as early or earlier than the 30th of January. Looking at past years, I get the feeling that there is a large gap between the priority deadline decisions and the standard deadline decisions, despite the site saying that decisions are given 4-6 weeks after receiving all of the materials; as it stands it is now more than four weeks since I submitted my materials, but with what the site says that means I should hear anytime between now and the next week and a half, but that puts me pretty much in with the priority deadline crowd. Assuming they get applications daily from the time of the early deadline to the time of the final deadline, then there should really be no lull--once they finish the early ones the standard ones should start coming out right after and continue for some time. I hope to get a decision soon!