taeyeon

To everyone asking about the Picciotto residence applications, IHEID's Housing Administration literally just sent out an email Choose your options wisely, guys!

Hey everyone, and congrats to all those who finally received their admissions! I'm with @kotsa on applying to all possible residences while you can. Worst case scenario is that you get accepted into all of them and have to pick and choose your favorite! Weirdly enough, I just saw that fully booked notice on RUI and am wondering when they're gonna send out their residence decisions...

CSTB's recommendation letter requirement is really throwing me off tbh. It just feels funny asking my parents to recommend me, their child, to live somewhere... Meanwhile guys, I contacted the IHEID Housing Administration to inquire about Picciotto residence. They stated that they give preference to non-scholarship students, as the scholarship students are already receiving a form of aid from the school. So while I'll try applying again, I won't hold out any hopes for it. I wish this was clearer back then Anyhow, I asked for the deadlines and it seems they updated their page here! Hope this will be useful to all the newly admitted students who will be joining us on this thread next week.

Hey guys - just wondering if any of you have heard back from residences yet? Yesterday I emailed RUI asking when I will hear back about their decision, only to get a response saying they never received my application! So I sent it again through email rather than online. If any of you guys also applied through the web page and haven't heard back yet, I suggest writing an email! Kind of frustrating to realize I've lost nearly 3 weeks waiting on nothing...

@AAAAAAAA Woah, you're a rare one then! But there are several of us here from Asia as well, so I don't think it's the location factor. One of the female-only residences advised me to apply to the shared rooms alongside the single rooms, because the latter is where all the competition is. I think you likely got the room because you went for the shared option!

@moni I've seen several ads on glocals! You should try that. Also, Airbnb seems like a decent option as well for temporary housing, if you can find a reasonable offer... also feels a bit more reliable than Craigslist ads. @ARadiata My sentiments exactly. But here I go, already applying to a few of these residences... some of them do look very nice though! And I guess abiding with regulations is a good way to restrain yourself from bad habits

@moni Congrats and welcome! I agree with @kotsa, it seems applying to several residences at once will be our best bet. I kind of regret not listening to the IHEID student I met with last month, he urged me to apply to all housing but I really thought Picciotto would work out since we're just on the first round of admissions - and look how that turned out! If you wait until the March application round, you'll have to race against all newly admitted students to obtain housing, not just the current smaller group. It seems that it's never too early to apply for housing. For instance, I think on RUI's site it said they received applications in February-March for the fall semester. Also @Mangrovia, I have no idea about when they give responses or when you'll have to confirm by... I imagine you'll have a very short deadline to confirm as in this case, demand greatly surpasses supply. However, it seems that a delayed response is better than a quick one. I already got rejected from UniGE's own housing (not the Cite one) yesterday - though admittedly, that was to be expected. A question to the girls on this forum - is anyone considering the female-only residences? I'm kinda concerned they would have stricter regulations than a regular residence. And for the non-religious, are you considering residences that are affiliated with certain faiths? As an agnostic, I'm afraid I would feel like a fish out of water

@Mangrovia If it's a challenge to find housing by April, we might just need to rely on your in-person presence! So far I've applied to RUI, which was actually my first choice, and Cité Universitaire. Now I regret not applying to either of these places first alongside Picciotto... Cité Universitaire's registration process confused me at first because I couldn't see IHEID in the list. Then I realized it's available in the Faculty section after selecting master's level, haha. UniGE's own residences (here) seem great and affordable to boot, but it says IHEID students will be given least priority since we've got Picciotto

Yep, this makes zero sense... really does make you wonder if there was an allocation process at all. Or perhaps we're understanding the scholarship criteria wrong and they're allocating the rolms to people without scholarships? I hope we can get back an answer within March from wherever we'll be staying. If only renting on your own wasn't such a hassle, I'd almost suggest some of us get together and rent a flat rather than rely on student housing. Is anyone else put off by how Swiss student housing insists on cleaning your rooms and changing your linens? I'd be fine just doing that myself without worrying about someone poking around in my room.

Same here, @kotsa. I'm kind of surprised honestly, cause I'm assuming that I can't apply for the same option next time so I'm already searching up other housing options now. Also, they still haven't replied to the email I sent 11 days ago... wonder what's going on over there @RoyaleGVa Welcome! By 'long back' do you mean back in January? It's been barely a month but seems a lot longer.

@Kate_rina I can understand you feeling torn with another great offer, but I agree with what @ARadiata said. The full scholarship will always be a better choice in the end, because being worried about your finances can put you under enough stress to detract from your studies. Believe me, I was also a Boutmy scholarship recipient but the pressure to remain in the top 50% of class in order to continue receiving my scholarship was only detrimental to my mental health back then. I haven't seen as clear-cut requirements for maintaining IHEID's scholarship so far, which could be either relieving or alarming... I would say go for the Eiffel scholarship if you can (I'm guessing that means forfeitting Boutmy) and make sure you know what the academic requirements are for it. If you can get the Eiffel scholarship, results should be out by the end of March and you'll still have plenty of time to make up your mind about the schools without also paying the housing deposit for IHEID. Although if you do end up at IHEID, trips to Paris shouldn't be too much of a hassle... I've got a lot of friends to visit there, so I'll be your travel buddy! On a side note: Admissions is still taking ages to get back to me, but what I've got in response from last week's email is that the original copies of all our letters should be sent out this week.

Hi @Kate_rina! Congrats on your admission as well. I'm concerned about what you said regarding how slow they're being with emails... I've never actually emailed them until the financial aid notification, and that took over a week to get a response (which was no longer needed by then). I replied back within an hour with another question and still nothing!

Hey guys, glad everyone's confirmations are working out. Through a strange coincidence, I was able to meet up with a second year student at IHEID this week. It was great getting an insider's perspective on things, and especially regarding housing applications he recommended that starting soon would be the best idea. Apparently student residences take ages to give out decisions and that can delay visa applications. Also, despite the Picciotto residence being so close to campus and hosting GISA on the first floor, it's further away from stores/restaurants/entertainment than other residences. It seems like most residences' monthly rent includes utilities as well which is a giant relief

I'm probably talking to myself here, but - I paid the pre-registration fee and just got the "Confirmed" status and the admission attestation. Now to wait for housing decisions and to start stressing over visa applications!

Wow, confirmed status sounds so... confirmed I'll be there by the end of this week. I just got my money converted to CHF today, need to find some time between work to go deposit it. @kotsaNot sure about the others, but considering that for the IHEID dorms there are about 10 floors and 200 something students, about 20 people per floor seems like an educated guess? I dunno.

So this is a little about myself that I previously wrote in a message to someone else. I lived/studied in the US as a teen, graduated high school in my home country, then had an incomplete year at Science Po and graduated college here with a bachelor's in IR. I've been working in an international organization a month since I graduated. Previously I did a summer internship within a ministry's Department of International Cooperation. During my free time I volunteered for TEDx events, did lots of freelance translations and research. At college I founded and led our first Model UN club. I've also organized/participated in a lot of MUN conferences, and established a social venture with a group of friends. My GPA is 3.6, I wrote my thesis on non-state actors and... yeah, can't think of much more to add right now

@ARadiata Sounds like some great options to me! However things turn out, you'll end up at a good school @Chaska Congrats and welcome to the thread! I'd say the choice is up to you since, as you said, transport could drive up costs. Other dorms are cheaper but also lack stable internet connections and such from what I've read. In the past I've opted for alternative dorms to the university's own and it was far less enjoyable than the university's own option, plus it's a new building and all! @kotsa and @Mangrovia I also thought the level meant the floor... There can't be differences in the standards of the room, right? Though it's ridiculous to charge an additional CHF 100 just for having an elevated view, especially considering it's not even the top floor (I'd say that's probably the couples/2-bedroom apts.)

@kotsa I know, that's why I'm concerned about it too. But I'll wait until after I pay the pre-registration fee to start fretting over visa specifics... And whoops, I stand corrected! Just got the email now. I'm just wondering how many tenants the kitchen/living area is shared between, but I just submitted all my options as well. Though it may not be the cheapest solution, it'll be literally across the bridge from IHEID and makes life that much easier, so I hope you can be admitted in there as well @Mangrovia!

I got the financial aid email at the same time as my admission notification, so I guess it's not a completely uniform system... Though the GISA site isn't updated that often, I feel like the student housing websites themselves shouldn't be too out of date. For instance, Cite-Uni's website says you can rent a room starting from CHF 480. Personally I cook a lot, so wherever I end up residing, I need my own kitchen and not a shared one Really liking the look of the Rothschild rooms, but past experience tells me to go with the uni's own housing if possible. April 5 seems so far away and yet I bet it'll already be that date on the calendar soon. We'll have a lot of questions for you both before and after you go attend, @Mangrovia! This is so exciting. By the way, anyone here need a visa to go to Switzerland? I wanted to start getting my application ready, but I've seen somewhere that we can't apply until 90 days before our intended date of arrival. And considering the process is supposed to take 3 months, that's really cutting it close.

Was student housing information sent out this time last year? I somehow remember it as being in March, along with all the regular deadline notifications. Maybe I'm mistaken, but it's still early so we shouldn't worry too much. @LuciaPantigoso95 I'd recommend looking at the GISA student guide. I'm sure we can get a spot at one of the dorms on there, though I personally prefer the Institute's own dorm and maybe RUI @Mangrovia On the upside, you'll have the advantage of being able to go there in person and scout your accommodation before moving in! Or at least I hope you'll get to, and maybe give us intel as well, haha. Also congrats @ARadiata! I seriously considered MIRPS at first but I'm glad I settled for MIA considering the former is more theory-oriented. What are your other choices? I would say even if you end up getting other acceptances and scholarships, paying the pre-registration fee to guarantee IHEID's offer would be worth it. I just wish it could've been at least half that, but oh well~ I'm thinking I'll start listening to French podcasts or RFI's news segments more often again to improve my listening, and hopefully start working on my grammar again in spring. I can literally speak like 8 sentences in French despite supposedly having a B1 How about you guys? One of my goals while living in Geneva is to finally become fluent in French.

Heya again @Mangrovia I hope the others will be joining us here soon! How're you feeling about paying the pre-registration fee by January 30th? I emailed IHEID asking if an extension is possible just so it's not all a big rush, but if they say no, I'm fine with that too. I mean I did initially agree to paying it on time in the application conditions. Then comes the housing, visa, and French language issues... so much to do! Haha, looking forward to it though.

@kotsa I was accepted into the MIA program. And also, thanks @Maeva! @Mangrovia and @Fedora I hope we'll get to see each other in fall! So are you guys accepting your offers or considering on waiting? This question goes for @AAAAAAAA too. Also I think I've seen last year that those who were admitted created a separate thread to talk about all the things we need to navigate, maybe we should consider that... Meanwhile I hope that those who are still under consideration will get an update in their status, I think if you were deferred to the waiting list it should say so right? Perhaps on Monday you'll hear back! I noticed that my admission letter was actually dated December 18, if only I could've found out back then

Oh my goodness, you guys! I so was not expecting IHEID to drop notifications on us like this when we'd been told it's for next week. I've been traveling to places without internet this week, so I didn't even think to check my e-mail until an hour ago. I've basically been curled up in my motel bed crying tears of happiness (not an exaggeration, I assure you) because I was admitted with a full scholarship! I still need to pay a small portion of the tuition fees, but it's affordable and I'm just... speechless. Here's a virtual high-five to all others who received their admissions! I'm sorry for those who were refused, but I'm glad we were able to be here for each other for the suspenseful wait up until now. And the best of luck to those still under consideration, I'm sure you guys will receive the answers you want in March

Yeah, perhaps Friday would be pushing it... I work for a non-profit organization! Lately we've been announcing a lot of bids and awards, after applications are assessed we contact the winners at the end of the week. It's just rare to have things all set by the week's end and start announcing things on a Monday

January 11th would be an ideal date if they get everything done the week before, but based on the experiences of my current job, it seems more likely that they will work on finalizing notifications throughout the week and send it out on a Friday. Either way, I'm sure that 2nd/3rd week of January should be one full of excitement!