fadeindreams

A few thoughts: -Many schools consider last 60, roughly the last two years of a degree, and in major GPA to have a higher weight than cumulative. Consult with the schools you're going to apply to. I recommend you calculate your cumulative based on your entire academic record, last 60 (rounded up, could be 61, etc) and within major GPA (typically calculated focusing on junior and senior level classes that defined your major). -If the schools are looking more at cumulative, then realize that they will calculate every credit (transferable and non-transferable) that you've ever attempted. Your cumulative, just by assumption and eyeballing it from the information you've provided, is most likely around a 2.7 (?). Some schools, mostly elite/ranked publics, will not consider a student if they do not meet the cut-off GPA. For many schools this is a 3.0. You should ask before you apply. -Private schools, by and large, are usually more willing to consider students for admission based on an overall picture. They will consider outstanding candidates that had difficulty in their first few years, for instance. -Be aware that funding will be VERY hard to come by. It's just the nature of the game. Funding is more academically weighted/merit based than admission. While an ad-com may want you they may not be willing to show it with money. Just my thoughts based on my own academic (2.97!!!! SERIOUSLY!) and professional (as a recruiter/admissions staff employee at a major public) experiences. I got into my first choice February 16th. Those of us with spotty undergrad records can still get in with great résumés, LORs, SOPs and GREs.

I think they were planning on terraforming. Maybe it's part of their proposed dissertation research....

Probably because they want to send them on Friday right before closing time. Ostensibly this would allow angry students to calm down over the weekend. That or they would like to keep all of their options open. So long as they don't pass out a rejection they can always reach out later! Well, that or they are pressed for time and they need to get acceptances out as early as possible in order to compete with other schools for their preferred candidates. They figure that the rejections can afford to wait.

My wife and I both received our acceptances on Tuesday of last week (~2/16). I applied for GTFEI and she applied for Int'l Admin. Right now it's the only notification we've received so far (1 of 4).

First, some disclosure. I was born in Fayetteville. My father is a graduate of the College of Architecture and he spent the better part of my childhood working on projects associated with the University of Arkansas (renovations, new buildings, etc). I myself am a graduate of the UofA. I have a deep love for Fayetteville and the UofA. I was looking at this forum for information about moving to Denver for grad school. I saw this thread and couldn't help but join in. I'd love to answer any questions you might have. I just thought you'd might like to know what sort of bias I have first. @acup313 - There is divided opinion on Sweetser and Lindsey as far as management companies go. I'd avoid them if you are going to simply be renting a house. They own a great majority of the apartments in Fayetteville. Check out fayar.craigslist.org for some apartment listings. Clearly that's not completely representative of Fayetteville but it'd be a good start. I currently rent a house that is 10 minutes walk from campus. I pay $610 a month with water included. Total bills (gas, electricity and internet, but no cable, run about $110). The house I rent is managed by an employee of the UofA that uses it as a second stream of income. It's an early 20th century house (1930's maybe) with some neat renovations but what appears to be the original hard wood floor (that's a plus to me; maybe not to you!). It's about 1500 sq feet with two bedrooms, a separate dining room and a laundry/utility room that is almost as big as a bedroom. Oh and it has a garage and storage shed. Yeah, and I'm only 10 minutes from campus on foot. Neat huh? I figure you have a few options when looking for a place to live that is reasonable and managed well with a good location. Most of the houses around the UofA are rentals and most of them are owned by individuals, though an individual may own 6 or so houses of course. You could: 1) come to Fayetteville and stay in an extended stay hotel. There are two within a 5 minute commute of the UofA. 2) You could make a buddy at the UofA who would help you look for a house before hand. There are plenty of houses around. In fact, due to the whole real estate bubble there are dozens still up for rent today even though it's the middle of a school year. It wouldn't have been that way 10 years ago. @nrunyan - Great post! I'd like to add that there is a WONDERFUL bike trail system that runs through the city. You can bike from the UofA to the main shopping area, what residents will call the "Mall" (creative, I know), in 30 minutes. I wouldn't recommend relying on it but it is a nice ride. Here's a map - http://www.accessfayetteville.org/government/parks_and_recreation/documents/maps/2009_Master_Trails_Plan__11x17.pdf. Walking on campus is fun because of the Senior Walk - http://campusmaps.uark.edu/322.php. @solefolia - I would also add that it is consistently rated as one of the top place to live in America by publications such as Money magazine. I love my city, so I'm inclined to agree with them! @porkchoppie - For stuff to do around town, to kinda see what community does exist for the 20 and 30 somethings, check out http://www.fayettevilleflyer.com/. As I said, I'd love to answer any questions anyone has. I'm biased but I'll be honest with you as much as possible. Feel free to PM me.

@hamster - Yeah, that's more of a product of the program you are applying to. Excellent clinical programs are super picky. I currently work in recruitment/admissions at a university with an outstanding clinical program. I have been told to be willing to tell students who inquire about the program that they might not have much of a chance of admission when they present me with a low GPA/GRE. My undergraduate GPA was just under a 3.0 (2.98 to be exact). It might stop some people from getting the opportunities they seek but I'm ornery so for whatever reason it hasn't stopped me yet. I keep expecting it to stop me sometime... Actually, I figure early March should give me one denial to an elite school. Their loss. I already got into my first choice. My point is not hubris (no, really, I promise!), instead it's that if you're confident in your abilities there is always a way to sell it with confidence and choice wording. This is especially true when it comes to professional programs as opposed to academic programs. Stellar work experience can overcome a great deal. Best of luck to everyone!

My wife and I both are applying for the same four programs for Fall 2010. We are expecting our first child in June! We figure that it's now or never. It'll be difficult but it will be worth it. We were both accepted to the same program earlier this week. Now we know for certain that we will be attending grad school this fall. Just waiting until the end of March for all decisions to be in. Funding, we figure, likely plays an even bigger role in our decision of which school we'll attend than our peers. The school we were accepted to did not provide any funding. All the same, we'd be able to attend if we weren't offered admission elsewhere. We thought that being poor with a newborn would be easier than being poor with a child that would remember it. The two of us work well together and have been together for more than 6 years. We've been poor before (while in undergrad) so we know how to make a dollar stretch. Heck, even now, while well-employed we budget constantly. It's just something we're used to. I didn't answer anyone's questions but I just thought I'd join in. I wish everyone the best in their pursuits.

I think...you...misused ellipses...or...at least maybe...overused...them.... How in...the world am I...supposed...to read...that...?... -William Shatner

Why is it a bad deal in Arabic or an Asian language? I ask because ideally I would take the exam in Japanese. Is it because these languages do not use the Latin alphabet? Not having an oral component makes it really easy, actually. Thanks for the info.

Could a current student tell us a little more about the language proficiency requirements? I found this page http://www.du.edu/ahss/schools/langlit/Proficiency_and_Plac.html explaining the requirement. Is there also an oral component? Is the Spanish sample exam and good example of what we would have to pass to graduate (6 sections; 3 of which are translations and the other three are reading comprehension - http://www.du.edu/ahss/schools/langlit/Proficiency_and_Plac.html)? Thanks.

Under the FAQ in the Careers section of the website there is a guide for part-time employment. You can find that here http://www.finaid.org/loans/publicservice.phtml. The existence of that guide would make me think that part-time employment is not discouraged. However I have no idea how common it is for students to maintain a part-time job. Hopefully a current student will answer your question.

Buttons appeared on the bottom of my page. I can't even begin to convey how excited I am right now... Good luck to those still waiting.

Program Applied To: MPP/MPA/MAIA/MIA/IR - International Policy/Affairs degrees, essentially Schools Applied To: University of Denver - Korbel; Columbia University - SIPA; University of Washington - Evans; University of Michigan - Ford Schools Admitted To: None yet Schools Rejected From: None yet Still Waiting: All Undergraduate institution: Major public research institution (>20,000 students) Undergraduate GPA: 2.98 (freshman GPA was below 2.0 due to a lack of focus/desire in my first program (engineering)) Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): 3.6 Undergraduate Major: History GRE Quantitative Score: 720 GRE Verbal Score: 560 GRE AW Score: 5.0 Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 5 Years of Work Experience: 5 Describe Relevant Work Experience: JET program, teaching English in Japan, for 2 years; International Student Recruiter for a major public institution with over 1000 international students Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): Mediocre for SIPA as it had the first application deadline but I refined it as the process rolled along. I'd say in the end I was still unhappy with my SOP. So, let's just say disappointing and move along... You asked me to be honest! Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): Hopefully excellent. I didn't read any of them so I wouldn't know, would I? All the same, I had a professor who still remembered and respected me from taking classes from him more than 5 years prior, my supervisor from my time on JET and my current supervisor all write letters. The quality of the recommenders was excellent. As for their letters, I'll never know. Scout's honor. Other: Intermediate in Japanese; have traveled extensively across Asia and Europe - backpacked for three months on a tight budget through over a dozen countries; My wife applied to all of the same programs I did so we're looking to find a home together. Her GPA is higher, academic background a bit better (she attended an Ivy League) and her quant is 780.

Do you know if they are sending out denials concurrently with admits? Should we assume that the longer the process goes along the less likely it is that we will receive a positive decision? Any insight is appreciated. Maybe they are just going through the files in alphabetical order? Or processing those that qualified for one of the automatic scholarships first?

My main problem, really, is that Korbel Admissions decided to send us an email in late January saying that application decisions would be delivered in "early February." I think we can all agree that early February is at least any date in the first half of the month. That notification made me anxious to hear the results. Once Valentine's Day rolled around, and it was evident that the results wouldn't be until the second half of February, you can understand that some people were upset. I am not particularly upset. I have worked in college admissions. I know how this all goes. My suggestion to the Admissions crew at Korbel would be that they should notify people that it's taking longer than expected. Directly. Not through a proxy such as yourself. If they could batch email us the first time saying "early February" they could certainly batch email us again saying: "For the Autumn Quarter 2010 intake we received a higher volume of applications than normal. We are trying our best to review these applications in a timely manner. Our goal is to have all admissions decisions done by (the end of February; specific date)." Add something in about being blessed with so many qualified/outstanding applicants and you've got yourself a proper notification, compliments and all. Leaving us on the end of a rope waiting for this long isn't necessary. All the same, I really do understand that the volume of applications at ALL grad schools is up this year. Especially for professional degrees. I'm trying my best to wait patiently.

UGH! So I should stop obsessively checking my status online? I've entered my pin so much it's become the first thing I type when I move over to the numpad for anything (dates, calculations, etc). I still have a sneaking suspicion I won't get accepted but I suppose checking obsessively won't help at all. They wouldn't have put me in this state had they not sent us the email saying "early February" shortly after applying. That would have been a good time to address their increase in applicants! I was looking forward to my Korbel admission decision being a gauge of sorts for my other applications... I think I'll call today anyway. I appreciate the information all the same.

Congrats! I'm still holding out hope that the lack of any news/updates to my admission status does not mean I have been denied. Waiting, waiting, waiting... I hope that, whatever the news, they are done by the end of today. I just want to know whether or not I'll be in Denver next year. If not, I get to wait until March for the other schools I've applied to. If it weren't for my only marginally acceptable cumulative GPA I wouldn't be worried. Has anyone received a denial yet? Denials often go out last...or at least at the university I attended for undergrad!