PolicyGrad92

Thanks Traumerei! Can you tell me a little bit about second year funding? What percentage of students applying for it secure it? And how much is the average funding offer? Is full funding an unrealistic hope? The importance of networking independently is a key learning I'm taking away from this forum. However what I am worried about is the fact that I'm a younger student. (2 years out of undergrad)- is that a disadvantage in any way? Considering the fact that I am an international student, I have to create a network from scratch. I'm just worried I'll get lost in the hustle especially since my peers will be more experienced with these kind of things. To the other SIPA admits with confirmed enrolments : Did any of you get a revised first year funding offer? I got a mail which said I didn't secure funding on top of what has been offered.

Hi there. I met Dean Janow, and she said that since 2013, financial aid has increased by 30%, which is a big achievement for the school. She said they have also changed their previous policy of only giving second year funding to splitting the funding across two years since they believe the first year requires more assistance for international students to settle down etc. It may be possible that the continued reputation of SIPA as a stingy school is changing gradually. That being said, the financial aid appeal offer is only applicable IF you received some funding with your acceptance letter (as far as I know, please correct me if I'm wrong) No news from the office yet on the appeal yet. The deadline was April 15. If you have accepted your offer, you can try emailing them requesting an extension to fill the form. Nothing to lose right? Best person to talk to is David Sheridan, he has been great with the entire process Best of luck!

I would love answers to all 4 too, is there a current SIPA student here? There was one way back in December.. How many of you guys here are learning towards SIPA? Or have definitely made the decision to go to SIPA? I definitely want to, it's a great fit for me, but I have money on my mind (yes I'm singing the song in my head, except that I change the lyric)

I have no outreach from Fletcher. Too much outreach from SIPA, I'm confused!

What if you want to work in development in South Asia? Are you saying Fletcher has better networking opportunities than SIPA, and SAIS despite the schools being in New York and DC? Can you explain this? I'm struggling to decide too. Except I'm leaning towards SIPA over Fletcher because it's a better fit for what I want to do.. I feel at the end of the day that's what matters? Funding being the overriding factor of course.

Don't know if anyone has the answer to this. In some places I have read that they anticipate this scenario and offer funding in such a way that yield adjusts for the surplus funding offered. But in many instances I have read about a particular named fellowship becoming available when a student is not enrolling and this is given to another student who has expressed strong interest in attending the school with more funding. Any one has any insight to this? How does one discuss this with the Office?

Anyone here knows if the International Fellows Program decisions are out as well? There one guy on the results page who says he got "international fellow" - assuming it's the IFP.. anybody knows otherwise? Can anyone also explain this - so they give funding offers with a margin of how many will not come. So if a person with a funiding offer does not enroll, they cannot give those funds to someone else? Is that a myth?

Hi there, I'm on the SIPA or Fletcher dilemma boat as well. I did not apply to SAIS. I'm leaning towards SIPA, but can change depending on funding. I have a $35k offer from SIPA and $26k offer from Fletcher. How do I figure this out? Onthepath - full funding from SIPA is PHENOMENAL. Congratulations!

Totally agree here - I really want to go to Fletcher. and I can't afford it with my current offer. But I am still queasy about talking about other funding from other universities in a conversation.. it's an internal problem I guess. I've never heard of such conversations in my country so I guess that's why I'm feeling odd about this. I'll figure it out.

Hi guys, I'm glad that I am not the only one feeling this way.. I am in a reflective mood these days, as I expect many of us are.. so I hope I don't bore you with this post. HKS was the dream - I spent two years planning my application, and I was proud of my essays and my recommendations were truly humbling. I completely agree - the process itself was an education - I probably understood myself much more over the past few months. I guess I became overconfident. I was admitted early to Fletcher and SIPA and I felt optimistic - well, now it seems I was dreaming. I was very clear as to what I was looking for from my graduate study - and while all 4 of the schools I chose to apply to (WWS being the 4th ) were an amazing fit for me - particular HKS courses and professors attracted me more- making it the dream. I only applied to 4 universities - because they fit my profile the most.. To be truly honest, I am not really upset about HKS - probably because I have these admissions in hand - I'm looking for closure. I thought my application was solid - why was it not? I just want to know for my peace of mind... I am 22, I am from a developing country in Asia, and I graduated college in 2013, and have been working in research assessment projects across my country with national and international government organizations. I was being ambitious with my applications this year, and I am secretly extremely proud of the acceptances. I think the 4 universities that i chose to apply to will all take me to the same place - what I want to do, what skills I want to build on, and how to define my niche to make a difference to society. I don't think HKS, WWS, SIPA and Fletcher can be compared beyond a point - actually, extending this beyond myself - all of us chose universities to apply to for a reason -they are all exceptional, they fit our profiles. I think all of us should be thrilled about the "Yes"es, understand the "No"s and be happy! Sorry for the slightly abstract paragraph above. Provided I get funding to go - I cannot afford it with the partial scholarships from SIPA and Fletcher- I am definitely going to be learning a lot at an exceptional university. I'm excited. And no, I'm not saying this just for the sake of saying it. I've been thinking a lot about all of this. Am I disappointed about HKS? Of course I am. When you put your heart into something, it's an emotional battle when you don't succeed. But does that make me less happy about my acceptances and my future prospects? Of course not! I don't know if this post helps anyone, I just wanted to get this out of my system..

All the MALD posters abouve - when you say 25k funding are you saying across 2 years or for 1 year? What I mean is - I have been offered $13,000 each year for both years - making it $26k. Have you got 25k per year? If so, that's awesome! Let me know please. I'm not really convinced about "pitting one university against another" and negotiating funding - does it actually work? Don't the AdComs see right through it?

I called all fine. They are super sweet back there at the Office Btw - verbatim " decisions will be out very soon so keep an eye out for your email"

I call them on their busiest day? I am an EN admit - I emailed the Associate Director of Admissions who had emailed me back then. Aaaaaah. Why now. This looked fine in Feb when I had checked.

I wish they did offer feedback. I was personally invested in the HKS application. I can't really figure out what happened - this post doesn't help me much - the points they have here were all covered in my application.

Guys, I just had a small nervous attack. On the system - when I displayed my scholarship application form - "Are you applying for scholarship aid from The Fletcher School? " was blank - no yes or no displayed. I hope this is a display/technical glitch. Do any of you have the same thing displayed?

Thank you David! This was brilliant. I think it is great that HKS is attempting to reach out to applicants in different ways! Gradcafe is a refuge for many of us, and this is the absolute best kind of communication we can ever expect from our potential schools. Can we please get these posts pinned? I don't know how this works though. The only issue is my evening (international applicant) will be spent refreshing my inbox and checking the portal. Today? Yikes.

Hi, have been off the forum for long. I got an application update yesterday, offering a 34k funding offer across two years. I'm not sure if the amount will help me much though, fingers crossed for remaining universities. Looking at the posts here, it seems a lot of us got funding, congratulations all! And congrats to all who got accepted. I was an early decision acceptance, and I have not got a UNI yet.. On this forum, I've read a lot about how Fletcher takes a personal interest in the accepted students and how SIPA is impersonal. I on the other hand have got frequent mails from SIPA, with a current student as well as an alumna working in similar fields emailing me personally and putting me through to relevant people at the school. I have zero news from Fletcher since the acceptance. This is interesting! Any one else seen this different practice? Any idea if the International Fellows Programme decisions are out as well?

Did anyone attend the webinar today? I missed it, please PM if you did!

I'm applying too. I have just 2 inputs on your questions.. 1) It doesn't seem as if there is a save button, so looks like you have to submit in one go. 2) I'm eligible to unfortunately very few scholarships - 5-6. (International applicant) so I'm applying to all of these.

Are there any early admits on this forum? Quick question - do we have any other form/application to fill out for School or Univ funding? I'm a bit unclear.

Hi there, I'm in for Fletcher as well. I applied to HKS, WWS, Fletcher and SIPA. As the SIPA acceptance came much earlier than expected, I took a decision to not continue (and not to submit) my applications to Cornell CIPA and SAIS... I'm still not sure if that decision was a good one.but for what I want to do, both these schools have lesser opportunities than SIPA and Fletcher. I'm an international applicant from a developing country, so funding will play a major role. Now there is a long wait for funding and other decisions- trying hard for all external scholarships that I am eligible for as well. Congratulations to everyone who got in! And fingers crossed for all the rest.. March is a long way away..

Thanks guys! I'll do just that.

Yep that's what it means. I also think it means that it gets more competitive in the later months. A friend of mine had applied to LSE (which also has rolling admissions) mid Jan last year, she was informed that only 5 seats are available. So competition for those 5 seats, was obviously fierce.

I have 2 reference letters sent by post...they aren't reflected yet - hence worried.

A nervous question here. Has anyone received the "Application is complete" update from WWS yet? It has been 17 days since the deadline and I have no news.