bluespark22

No funding for me either. Does anyone know how GW does second year fellowships? Do they decide based on first year grades or do they simply roll over from first year?

Right now, I am leaning towards GW, barring an unexpected/unlikely acceptance to Georgetown (acceptance are done right?). I need help in deciding whether I should go to GW. I am coming straight from undergrad, top school, good but not great GPA and 1400+ GRE. I thought I was a very competitive candidate until my first rejection letter from SIPA cited my age and lack of work experience (only about 9 months of internships) and "encouraged" me to reapply. Since then, I've been worried about my applications and GW is the best program I've been accepted to. As glad as I am for getting into GW, I am wondering if it is the best choice at this point. Another concern is the design of GW's program since I was told a lot of students are professionals who are working full-time and taking night courses. Would it be worth it to decline the offer, TRY (given the depressing job market) to get a job for a couple of years and reapply? Does the difference between the top (Georgetown, SAIS, SIPA, etc) and GWU matter that much? I realize there are definite pros to getting professional experience, but I am having a VERY difficult time finding work in the field as an undergrad (I feel like EVERYONE has a master's nowadays)... Should I just risk being unemployed and living with my parents for a while and try to find a job?

Congrats to everyone who got it! Would anyone mind sharing their locations? Looking at past years, SFS seems to be quite random when it comes to notification day/method. No one received physical mail right?

Back in mid-February, I got an email from SFS because they didn't have the supplemental form on file (the Language portion). I think that's when they checked everyone's apps. Unless you got an email back then, I wouldn't worry about it.

I think I will have to. Otherwise my trip to Asia will be ruined by constant guessing. Who did you email at Stanford to get information?

Ah!!! They do snail mail. Which means that I won't find out until I come back in April. My letter will be sitting in a box for almost a month

Sorry if my post was misleading sky_blue, I haven't heard anything from IPS yet. Judging by last year's schedule though I would say next week will be most likely. Right now, I am just trying to get some info on the program since I will be gone for about a month beginning next week. Such a critical time in terms of notifications and I won't be able to check my status very often

I was wondering if anyone had any experience/knowledge of this program. I applied to it purely on a recommendation from an advisor (I wanted to make him happy since he was writing my LORs) and have no idea about the program. SIPA was my top choice until I received a very polite letter stating that although I had impressive academic achievements, I was too young (I am barely 21 and still in undergrad) and should apply again next year after gaining experience. This concerns me since my other two schools are GWU and Georgetown and both of them have average age of around 26. I believe IPS is a bit easier to get into (?) and looks like my best bet at the moment. Has anyone else applied to the IPS program and have heard back?