Vulpix

Penn posted on its admissions blog that doctoral candidates should still be hopeful!

Anyone know when FLAS decisions are usually made? I can't find information for my respective schools, but I imagine it's after decisions but before you have to commit (like last week of March/first week of April). It's going to be a hectic and stressful decision-making time!

Congrats to whoever posted on the results page about IEDP! I'm heavily leaning toward Penn and would love to chat about it, PM me

I applied to two schools' FLAS. One I have already been accepted to, the other the jury is still out. I assume it works the same as a merit scholarship based on your application anyway... if I'm rejected, no FLAS, if I'm accepted, maybe FLAS. I'm not sure how the FLAS committee communicates with admissions, and if it happens that they wait for decisions before reviewing FLAS applicants....

The crazy thing is that even with the FLAS $33K, and a small merit scholarship from my program, I will still need to fund $26K out of pocket. Outrageous. (Yet here I am, shouting "take my money!" ) I'm hopeful because I've heard from a current FLAS recipient that the FLAS committee at Penn looks favorably at students in my program, as they awarded 3 FLAS to my program this past year. Considering there are only 30 students in it, and half or more are international students who would be ineligible for FLAS, that's a very high percentage accepted.

Healthy Dose of Realism: I was told by Columbia University that for PhDs, it doesn't even matter if you're their dream candidate with perfect scores and ideal experience, some years they simply CANNOT accept you for a variety of reasons, usually related to which professors are eligible and willing to take on doctoral students that year, funding, or similar research interests. Unlike undergrad/masters where there is a "class" to fill, it's much more like you are applying to a job, but the job listing is nebulous, might already have been filled (even if a better candidate comes along), or the job listing may not even be available despite what the website says. These factors, like someone else said, have virtually nothing to do with YOU. Reassuring Comment: It's normal to get rejected from 2, you still have 5 more to go. You were really smart to apply to many programs... it breaks my heart to read about people here who applied to 1 or 2 dream schools and now it's like, now what? You will find an opportunity somewhere and you can never predict. My friend applied to 10 schools and got into Stanford and Yale, but was rejected by Ohio State and Rutgers. It's just a totally different, much more unpredictable world than all previous higher education applications experiences. (Says the girl applying to a second masters and not a PhD. But I almost did the PhD application, which is why I met with professors about my interest in it)

For those who filled out the FAFSA---I'm looking at my receipt and lightly panicking because it was sent to University of Pennsylvania and does not indicate GSE (whereas for HGSE it says GSE on my FAFSA, and TC was a separate entity from Columbia so I know it went to them). Did you send your FAFSA directly to GSE, or is Penn fine?

Anyone else applying for a FLAS (Foreign Language Area Scholarship)? What language/schools did you apply to? I applied to Arabic at Penn and Columbia. I don't have very high hopes as it's quite competitive, Arabic is very popular, and I couldn't get the best LORs at this time of year (didn't want to bother my same amazing original recommenders again who I used for my actual grad school applications, so had to go with my secondary pool of people who don't know me as well). But still, $33K would be a nice stipend! (Although, insanely, only about half the Penn tuition)

Knowing nothing of your field or the respective schools' place in it, I can only offer my opinion as a random outsider whose only connection is that I've also been admitted to Penn for a masters in an unrelated social science. It seems to me that two things could sway your decision toward Penn: 1) Ivy League prestige/reputation and 2) A PhD that qualifies you in TWO areas of interest (Mechanical Engineering), which seems to be an advantage in the long run, although I don't know what your post doctoral aspirations are. I have a friend who studied engineering at Penn and gushed about how amazing the experience was. Quality of life is very specific to your personal needs (sunny SD vs. old Northeast city), cost of living (Philly is relatively cheap, possible cheaper than SD? I'm not familiar with it).

Sorry to hear you've been waiting for so long But I doubt that's a bad sign in any way, most likely just a neutral thing. Some programs are definitely slower than others. It's very possible they weren't going to even look at masters applicants until 2016.... Fingers crossed you hear back soon!

I applied to the MA in International Educational Development. I don't expect to hear back until March, though! At this point they are my 3rd choice unless they give me a scholarship I've visited campus/info sessions several times though, and met with a professor, so I feel like I know the school pretty well.

I applied to NYU IE MA, but I've seen the past that masters applicants don't hear back until APRIL in the past! Seems crazy to me. It's a moot point since NYU is my last choice and I've been accepted elsewhere, but still.... weird that they are so late.

This seems patently unfair though Obviously for masters, everyone has until April to decide, so you can get all your acceptances/rejections first. Are you able to explain your situation to UVA (and frame it from a financial POV and not an "I'd rather go to TC if I get accepted..." POV)?

When I went to TC and talked to a professor during her office hours, she explained to me that they are now providing more funding for PhDs than they used to, which is why it has gotten more competitive. I don't know if that was my-program specific (IED), but I definitely got the impression that PhDs/EdDs can be funded at TC....

Did it say "Ready for Review"? Penn's official wait time is 6-8 weeks, but I found out in 3-4 weeks from the time it said "Ready for Review."

I worked (on a teacher salary, living in NYC) for about 3 years (while also paying for a low-cost public master's program) and saved up about the cost of tuition. I'll be attending a very expensive Ivy, so my savings will cover the cost of tuition, alongside a small merit scholarship, and then I will need to take out minimal loans just for living expenses.

I don't think it should take that long to match GRE scores... mine were matched instantly, and as long as it was through ETS it should go through automatically. A common problem is that there is a name spelling error in Penn's system vs. GRE system. Might want to double check that. Hope they get back to you soon! I submitted my application 11/27 but was missing one LOR, but then once I got it in on 12/13 it was instantly "ready for review."

Yeah, it was 3 weeks if you don't count Christmas break. But each program operates differently and I think pretty independently of each other, plus it's all based on number of applicants and I imagine Ed Policy is slightly more popular than IEDP. But you'll hear soon!!

My program is having a monthly Google hangout video chat for accepted students with current students to talk about the program... cool! Glad they've been in so much contact since hearing back!

I agree that it's way too generic and too long. I would immediately forget whoever sent me this email. One quick reference to something unique or special that you talked about in the interview, thank you, goodbye!

I wonder how many people actually ask Obama for recommendation letters for positions/school Must be exhausting for him, and most senators

Where is this from? Is this specific to HGSE? Of course it wouldn't surprise me if they had an initial round that just eliminated obvious rejections. Even if you say there's no cutoff GPA/GRE, they're likely going to throw out an application with a 2.5 and 140s on the GRE. I just want to know how common it is for a NEGATIVE LOR to be submitted. Like, I'm sure some of them are generic, lackluster, and impersonal, if you can't get one written by someone you know very well, but who submits outright negative LORs? Weird.

I think anything is possible, but I don't think I've seen anyone on this forum with a sub-4.0 AW score on the GRE get accepted to HGSE. If you had a ton of work experience, I think that would make up for it, but being straight from undergrad you're already at something of a disadvantage, so you'd want your scores to be as high as possible to make up for relative lack of experience compared to other candidates with everything.

Just attended the financial aid session online. Some of this information might be interesting to everyone: The maximum grant given is $13,500. This is typically in the form of $10,000 merit scholarship and $3,500 GA. All GA positions are $3,500 split over the course of 2 semester (so that's only $1750 per semester. Definitely money, but it makes me feel less bad about not getting one, if it's just gonna be more stress for not that much assistance) There is also a "Dean's Centennial" $10K grant, given to typically 1 person in each program, that is decided early April.

I do think it's false that getting the masters would "guarantee" your acceptance to the PhD... there are many other factors involved and most applicants have masters degrees....