loveglove

It's Wednesday where I am, so hopefully decisions will be out by tonight for me. However, with SIPA's lack of fellowship aid, I'm now doubting how much HKS/WWS will even want me. :[ Just trying to prepare myself for the worst.

I emailed them and they told me they will be processing my FAFSA within the next week. I'm not sure if sure if this means that they will just suggest how many loans I should receive or whether they will actually offer me aid.

I applied early action and there has been no update since my acceptance. Can't find any hyperlinks or "unread" statuses in my December acceptance letter. I hope they didn't forget me

Has anybody gotten financial aid info?

Haha, I love how they added this to the side of their blog: "Have 2016 Master's Application Admission Decisions Been Released? No" They must be so sick of us.

First time. Applied for SAIS and SIPA early action, just waiting for SIPA money and other schools. Good luck on finding!

Thanks for the informative response!

Thanks!

Fingers crossed for Wednesday! This is incredibly nerve-wracking. Also, I'm a bit confused about this part: "Third, we do not rank the waitlist and the Admissions Committee will not accept any additional documents from those placed on the waitlist. The Admissions Committee does not conduct interviews or take appointments with those on the waitlist. Waitlist candidates are reviewed based upon the information provided by the admission deadline. Thus we cannot provide information on one’s “place” on the waitlist as there is no ranking system. The list is reviewed as a whole if and when we have seats available." How exactly do they make decisions about who gets off the waitlist if it's not ranked? Any ideas?

I have my fingers crossed for you! Only a few more days until we all know. Where are you getting the syllabi?

Oh no! Fingers crossed for you. Is there anything in particular that made you nervous? I'm starting to get nervous as well. Cheers and good luck to everyone!

Unfortunately, I would have to agree with everyone else that it would be seem redundant and raise a few eyebrows. Would you not have the option to make your IR degree in Cambridge more quant-heavy? Or apply directly to a masters degree that is already quant heavy? SAIS accepts a good number of people straight out of undergrad with strong stats, which you seem to have (about 20-30%).

@marco_p: @shrimps is absolutely right. SAIS and SIPA tend to value international exposure a lot more. HKS and WWS seem to put a bigger emphasis on public service, especially WWS, while you can find many SAIS and SIPA grads tend to go to the private sector as well, especially SAIS. SAIS and SIPA also accept more people without work experience, which make up 20-30% of their incoming class (it's worth noting that few of these get $$, though), so I'm guessing HKS and WWS are stricter about their incoming students having work experience (exceptions exist, of course). There are also overlapping qualities that all schools look for, such as the ability to articulate your plan/goal, quantitative experience, etc. In short, most qualities that would make you a good fit for one school would be a plus at another, but the way in which each of these qualities is weighed varies.

Getting into SAIS and SIPA vs. getting into WWS or HKS is a whole other ballpark--the type of students they look for is a bit different, so it's not a given at all. I'm from the U.S. but currently in China. EDIT: Where are you from ?

Early March... now instead of patiently waiting until mid-March without freaking out too much, I'll be obsessively checking the website starting midnight on March 1st. lol

Great suggestions, everyone! Thank you!

Could anybody recommend resources to review quant skills and econ?

Trying not to keep my hopes up too much in the very possible case of rejection... but it would be a dream to get in. Also applied for ID but I don't think concentrations matter much anyway?

I got an email saying there was an update in my application. I logged into my application, and there was a link to the update there. Once I clicked the link, I saw my acceptance letter. Good luck!

I applied Early Action so I'm already in. Good luck guys!

Yup, SIPA!

As I wait for my remaining decisions, it's starting to dawn on me that I've been out of school for a while and I worry I will be out of practice by the time I start my program in the fall. Would anybody have any recommendations in terms of books, practice exercises, or anything else that you think would be useful for someone before they start their masters? Thanks

I'm on a similar boat (American abroad for a while), so I may be biased, but this is how I think about it: If you're already abroad, unless you have a very specific goal (Singaporean-American relations for instance, and doing the dual degree between Columbia and NUS), I would say being back in the US a while. It's hard to transition directly back into a job in the US and a two-year masters is the perfect time and experience not only to transition (personally, academically, culturally, etc.), but to make extra contacts back home and position yourself in a way where you're as desirable at home as you could be abroad.

Based on most of what I've heard in each of these programs, they seem to be a bit fluffy, but each also has its own specific benefits (smaller community, certain concentrations may be benefitted, language study, networking abroad, etc.) If you haven't done a lot of networking in the field, haven't had the benefit of a Columbia/SAIS/etc/-like education, or have already been abroad already for a significant amount of time, then it might be worth your time to just do 2 years in a US institution. Also, remember you can always spend a summer abroad interning and some programs offer short-term exchanges to do consulting projects and the like. With an IR/MPP degree you may also have the opportunity to work abroad after graduation. Ultimately it depends on what your goals are and what your network/profile already looks like.

Here's a very helpful post on the SIPA blog about their admissions timeline: http://admissionsblog.sipa.columbia.edu/2015/12/03/when-youll-receive-your-admission-decision/