lbruneetoile

Re: Humphrey, after all that stressing I also got my funding email tonight. I received the HHH Public Leadership Awards Scholarship and a non-resident tuition waiver, for a full value of $36,524 over two years. Which is pretty much a full ride aka totally mindblowing and thrilling. I now have some pretty tough decisions coming up!

Program Applied To: MPP, MPA Schools Applied To: Humphrey (Minnesota), LBJ (Austin), Goldman (Berkeley) Schools Admitted To: University of Minnesota, UT Austin Schools Rejected From: Waitlisted at Berkeley Still Waiting: None Undergraduate GPA: 3.65 Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): 3.89 Undergraduate Major: Political Science GRE Quantitative Score: 152 (48th %) GRE Verbal Score: 164 (94th %) GRE AW Score: 5 (93rd %) Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 3 Years of Work Experience: 3 Describe Relevant Work Experience: 3 years at a DC-based nonprofit focusing on campaign finance reform where I moved up the ranks from an executive assistant to senior comms associate. I currently draft all external comms, including op-eds and manuscripts for senators, ambassadors, etc, and help with the strategic visioning of the organization. Was a research assistant for 2 years in undergrad, presented original research at political science conferences, and have been acknowledged in 20+ published works, including 3 books. Was also a White House intern, and a fellow at a prestigious think tank. Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): I was not confident about my SOPs after submitting them, but with the benefit of time, I think they did a good job explaining my personal theory of change and what I would get out of the programs I applied to. Clearly described my vision for post-grad school work and how I could contribute to the school's community. They were all too long though (curse you, schools with no word limit!). And my personal history statement for Berkeley was pretty vapid; for whatever reason, I didn't even think about a much more compelling angle that I used for Minnesota. Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): Not worried about these at all. My boss wrote one, and he and I conferred on what he would say and how he could strengthen the weaknesses of my application (namely my quant score). The other 2 were from undergrad professors for whom I was a research assistant. One is currently the chair of the department and I'm sure he wrote a strong letter. The other was from my mentor who also attended Goldman (and since I got waitlisted, he sent me an email with a lot of expletives in it about how pissed he was lol). My letters were the strongest part of my application Other: I wish I had a better quant score, and I'm pretty sure that was my downfall with Berkeley. I have As from undergrad in stats and econ, but just cannot do math standardized tests for the life of me (and I underperformed my practice test scores in quant by 10 points...sigh). Sadly I didn't have time to retake the test and just wanted to be done with the whole thing anyway. I was surprised to be even be waitlisted, and probably wouldn't have attended unless they gave me a lot of funding. Very pleased with these results, and I got strong funding from UT Austin (and some personal outreach by the Dean, which is very flattering and makes me feel like I would do well at the school).

Wtf. That's not a good look for potential students who need to make decisions ASAP.

Has anyone heard from Minnesota Humphrey re: funding? They said the deadline was the 15th so hopefully that comes today or tomorrow, but my decision pretty much hinges on what (if any) aid I receive from them. Argh, I thought after getting admitted I wouldn't have to wait anymore!

So I was accepted to the UT Austin LBJ school for public affairs a couple weeks ago. And I got a call from the Dean of the LBJ School this weekend, but I had to let it go to voicemail because I was out of the country (curse my non-international data plan!). Any idea what she would want to chat about? I want to make sure I don't sound like an unprepared goober when I call her back...

I got a call from the Dean of the LBJ School this weekend, but I had to let it go to voicemail because I was out of the country (curse my non-international data plan!). Any idea what she would want to chat about? I want to make sure I don't sound like an unprepared goober when I call her back...

Well, I got waitlisted. A little disappointed but that's better than I expected so I'm still pleased. I have other good options and I have to let the other schools know by April 15th, whereas Berkeley won't let me know if I'm in until May and that's before I know anything about funding either. Alas alack.

Based on previous years, Goldman (Berkeley) should be sending out notices starting today...

For anyone else who was wondering, the on-campus admitted students open house is March 28.

When I went back and looked over the results page from the last few cycles, and March 7 is what kept popping up. That's this upcoming Monday...So probably this weekend or that Monday is when people will start hearing back.

I got a phone call from Humphrey last Wednesday, and then my online application status was updated the next day. I applied on January 15th, if it helps.

Howdy there. I just received my acceptance letter (with funding, wahoo!) to LBJ so I'm pretty pumped. Still waiting to hear back from my stretch school (Goldman) but UT is definitely my top choice. My (sort of dumb) question: does LBJ do an open house for accepted students or anything? The email I received was pretty light on details and being able to visit the school with others from my potential cohort would be really handy in making my decision. But I can't find anything like that on the LBJ site! For former/current students, does LBJ hold any events prior to the April 15 notification deadline for accepted students?