marco_p

It's a very conservative approach, I think. I don't fall under any of these 2 categories and still I'm not planning to take on any debt. And I'm going to SIPA which is notorious for it's frugality. I was lucky to get full-tuition fellowship from the school and an extra scholarship from another source. With these two, I have already secured almost 90% of my overall costs (direct & indirect). During the second year I hope to get an assistantship or another scholarship so I will manage to avoid accruing any debt whatsoever. Of course, I am not sure I will manage to do it, but my point is that WWS is not the only school that can generously assist you financially. So it is indeed possible to graduate debt free from a policy school (I hope!).

I think it is safe to say that you were an outstanding applicant to SIPA. Congratulations. But my point was, realistically, people shouldn't expect this sort of thing to happen to you, much as you did not expect it yourself. I don't think it's unfair to say some level of debt is expected for many MPP/MPA students in this day and age of ridiculous tuition..

It's a very conservative approach, I think. I don't fall under any of these 2 categories and still I'm not planning to take on any debt. And I'm going to SIPA which is notorious for it's frugality. I was lucky to get full-tuition fellowship from the school and an extra scholarship from another source. With these two, I have already secured almost 90% of my overall costs (direct & indirect). During the second year I hope to get an assistantship or another scholarship so I will manage to avoid accruing any debt whatsoever. Of course, I am not sure I will manage to do it, but my point is that WWS is not the only school that can generously assist you financially. So it is indeed possible to graduate debt free from a policy school (I hope!).

It's a very conservative approach, I think. I don't fall under any of these 2 categories and still I'm not planning to take on any debt. And I'm going to SIPA which is notorious for it's frugality. I was lucky to get full-tuition fellowship from the school and an extra scholarship from another source. With these two, I have already secured almost 90% of my overall costs (direct & indirect). During the second year I hope to get an assistantship or another scholarship so I will manage to avoid accruing any debt whatsoever. Of course, I am not sure I will manage to do it, but my point is that WWS is not the only school that can generously assist you financially. So it is indeed possible to graduate debt free from a policy school (I hope!).

It's a very conservative approach, I think. I don't fall under any of these 2 categories and still I'm not planning to take on any debt. And I'm going to SIPA which is notorious for it's frugality. I was lucky to get full-tuition fellowship from the school and an extra scholarship from another source. With these two, I have already secured almost 90% of my overall costs (direct & indirect). During the second year I hope to get an assistantship or another scholarship so I will manage to avoid accruing any debt whatsoever. Of course, I am not sure I will manage to do it, but my point is that WWS is not the only school that can generously assist you financially. So it is indeed possible to graduate debt free from a policy school (I hope!).

Deposit submitted!!!!! See you all in the fall! 

thanks a lot for your great help, it really clarified my last minute reservations I got my J-1 visa today

First, I guess I have a clarification question. What you do mean by "graduate student" instead of "PhD candidate". In Canada, where I'm from, "graduate student" is a general term for both masters and PhD students. But in the US, these terms are almost interchangeable. I just want to clarify---are you entering a Masters program or a PhD program in the US? The 12 month bar does apply to PhD students, but I'm not 100% sure if it applies to Masters students. I am not sure if the US government distinguishes between Masters and PhD students for J-1 status, but it sounds like you already checked this? I know the 12 month bar will apply to me when I finish my PhD student J-1 status. However, the 12-month bar only applies if you've been on the J-1 status for 6 or more months (so if you are only in the US for a short program, it won't affect you).
Second, applying for the Fulbright is not a good reason to take J-1 status from your school. If you do get the Fulbright, then Fulbright becomes the sponsor of your J-1 status, not your school. You will end up getting a DS-2019 and J-1 documentation from Fulbright if you win that award. **However, this is based only on my knowledge of the Canadian-US Fulbright program, and this was from 2012. I also didn't win the Fulbright in the end, but I was shortlisted so they gave me a ton of information, including instructions to get the DS-2019 from Fulbright instead of the school if I happen to be selected. But since my circumstances is different from yours, maybe you should double check with your future school's international office.
If these are true and based on what you wrote, then the real advantage is 0.5 years of AT status, which is nice as long as there is no 12 month bar for you. Although, even if there is a 12-month bar, you can still attend a PhD program in the US on F-1 status, I think. If you are sure the drawbacks aren't relevant for you, then yeah, it does sound like J-1 gives a slightly better outcome!

I'm on a J-1 visa. Academic Training does not have to be part of your degree requirements. My University's International students page is very clear that the AT employment has to be directly related to the student's field of study (not course of study). There is often confusion because F-1 CPT (curricular practical training) is for employment integral to your degree program. My school might be wrong, but I have seen this explained this way at other schools too. 
I was considering doing some work for a non-profit educational company in town (as an employed instructor) and I talked to my International Office and they said this is okay as long as I am okay with using up my AT training time working there. In the end, it would have only been 3 hours of work per week and the Department of State makes no distinction between 1 month of AT part-time work or 1 month of AT full time work. This work is clearly not related to degree requirements but it is related to my field of study. 
In my opinion, the most useful reasons to apply for the J visa is if you have a spouse that would like to work in the US, because the J-2 can apply for a EAD (this is why I am on J-1 so my J-2 spouse can work). There is also another small benefit, for STEM majors, F-1 OPT is currently 27 months (but it could be 36 months soon) while J-1 AT is 36 months. But I think the second thing isn't a very big benefit, considering the drawbacks of J-1 status.
Here are some drawbacks you might also want to consider.
1. When your J-1 ends, you may be subject to a 12 or 24 month bar before getting another J-1 visa. The exact length of time depends on the two J-1 visa statuses in question. Generally, it's a 12 month bar between a J-1 PhD student and a J-1 postdoc (research scholar) or a J-1 professor position. This means that if you are a J-1 PhD student, then your first postdoc can be on AT. But your next postdoc or other academic job needs to be on an alternate visa status or outside of the US. H1-B is a common option and for some nationalities, TN is another valid option. 
2. Some J-1 statuses require a 2 year home residency requirement. This means you have to reside in your home country for 2 years before you can get onto another status that would lead to immigration. Usually this happens if you are funded by your home government or your field is on a skills list as determined by your country. However, one can apply to get this requirement waived. 
3. Being on J-1 status has higher insurance requirements which might cost you a little bit more money. Namely, it requires that your insurance plan covers the cost of repatriating your remains to your home country just in case. My student plan covers this already and this costs about $100/year for my spouse. So it's not really a huge deal, although it sounds grim.
For us, it was worth it to deal with the extra hassles of (1) and (2) so that my spouse could work. A lot of these issues are only issues if I take certain career paths (e.g., wanting to do academic work in the US only forever). But with at least 5 years of PhD and 3 years of AT, when I was choosing between F-1 or J-1, it was a problem for 8-years-in-the-future-TakeruK, and who knows what could change in 8 years. It's was more important to take care of present-TakeruK (and spouse). 
If you have more Qs about J-1 status, I'd be happy to discuss what my experience has been!

Hello, From what I can read on my University's International Students Office page, J1's Academic Training allows for employment which is considered integral to a student’s academic program. What does "considered integral" mean in practice? Does it only allow the students to be employed when the employment constitutes a necessary part of the degree (i.e. it is degree's requirement) or is it just necessary that this employment will be strictly connected with the academic program? For instance, I will study city management/public administration in a graduate school - would it be possible for me to be eligible for AT after the end of my program (in fields relevant to my area of study, e.g. in city administration or public consulting)? Or maybe J1 graduate students generally do not qualify for AT unless it is their degree's requirement?

You should be eligible for AT. It doesn't need to be an official part of the degree requirements. There are criteria you need to meet like having been in your program a certain amount of time and (I think) showing that the work is related to your studies, but I think that can be relatively loosely defined (caveat: I was on an F-1 visa and OPT might be slightly different). 

I don't think it is very likely. I'm waitlisted too, but also have an offer from SIPA with 100% tuition scholarship so the choice is easy for me
Congratulations to all who got accepted!

I feel you! That works out almost perfectly, then. I know I have a low chance of making it off the wait list, but it still feels nice to know that they could envision us plausibly attending (that's definitely how I'm reading it, haha)!

To be honest I feel like being waitlisted is the best option for me. It's good for my ego as it says that they can live with the idea of me studying there (at least that's how I understand it) and on the other hand it also spares me the temptation of trying to go to HKS, as there is absolutely no way they would give me as generous offer as SIPA

SIPA didn't give me as good of funding as yours ($12K each) but it's still making me seriously consider it!

@marco_p Congrats on also getting the award! 

Thanks for sharing and congratulations to you and @marco_p on the generous offer!

You shouldn't expect to hear from them this week, but I'm quite certain that the decisions will be out around the end of the next week. Last week there was a Q&A session for early admitted students with the heads of admissions and financial aid and they said that we should expect to receive fin aid decisions around March 11th. And since they told us earlier that they will release these decisions together with admission letters I think it's fair to say that there is still at least one more week to wait for all of us.

thanks @shrimps & @loveglove for your insight, especially as it seems that I am not entirely at odds with what the other schools look for. I try not to overthink this whole situation too much and try to wait as patiently as I can for the results. Obviously it is not easy but since I was rejected from HKS last year, I already know it wouldn't be the end of the world. And this year I have already one acceptance in my pocket which really calms my nerves.
Anyway, thanks @shrimps also for your kind words and all the best to you too, I see you are also already accepted to some schools! So the wait shouldn't be very painful for you either