Kartopery

Good luck @Greene! Keep us updated. And I look forward to meeting potentially both of you in the coming months!

Update: After emailing Laura a few times, I got my fellowship award DOUBLED. Thank you so much for letting me know that was a possibility! Haha. My wallet owes you a lifedebt Ironheart.

Awesome, thanks for the info!

How did you go about asking for the fellowship increase ironheart? Did you talk to Laura Piraino, or directly to financial aid?

Program Applied To: MPA Environmental Science/Policy, MS Applied Geosciences Schools Applied To: Columbia SIPA, UPenn Schools Admitted To: Columbia SIPA, UPenn Schools Rejected From: None Still Waiting: None Undergraduate institution: Unversity of Rochester Undergraduate GPA: 3.31 Undergraduate Major: BS Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Minor in History GRE Quantitative Score: 164 GRE Verbal Score: 165 GRE AW Score: 4.5 Years of Work Experience: ~1.5 Describe Relevant Work Experience: Worked as a Summer intern at a local organic farm, learning about organic food growing/watering techniques, and federal GAPS protocol. Also volunteered for a month in Rural Ghana with an NGO (GHEI) to aid in public health and clean water initiatives. And finally spent about a year as a member of the "water quality committee" for one of the finger lakes in Upstate New York. Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): Felt pretty strong. Had it proofread by roughly 6 family members, and one professor. Talked about past experience shaping my decisions etc. And uniqueness of the program (for all schools). Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): All three strong. (Weakest likely from my hydrology professor). One from aforementioned prof. One from manager at organic farm, one from Communications officer at NGO in Ghana. Other: Awarded small fellowship at Columbia SIPA

Thank you! I would say so! And it's actually an MS in Applied geosciences, Hydrogeology program! So a little more science rather than policy based, but I always saw myself going into government and policy in regards to water resource management, so I think Columbia is right for me! Plus, the year long program, and the near guarantee of it being significantly (at leas one semester's worth) cheaper than the Penn program don't hurt either. Also, who doesn't love NYC?

Update: Very excited to let you guys know that I just heard from the assistant director today that I was also accepted to the MPA ESP program! Waiting to hear back regarding fellowships, but I'm definitely leaning Columbia over UPenn. Glad to join you happy people!

The right answer is that it sounds like you're worrying too much. Though Psych programs are notoriously competitive, it sounds like you're a really strong applicant. 3.5 is higher than my GPA, and I've been accepted to Ivy-league (Geoscience) grad programs. Plus your major GPA is obviously very solid. The real way to make sure you have nothing to worry about is dominate your GRE, get good letters of rec, and continue to stack the odds in your favor for the remainder of your application. And don't stress yourself out! You're a good applicant, and let that come through in your personal statement too!

Congratulations Jasmine! Obviously Brown is an incredibly good school and you should be proud of yourself. A quick point of clarity though, I'm applying to Columbia's 1-year MPA program in environmental science and policy as well, so as much as I'm sure Brown's program is uniquely exciting, it's not the only 1-year Ivy MPA! Cheers!

Absolutely go with the other program. This is 4+ years of your life. You got accepted to these other programs, and your letter-writer should understand your desire to attend another school. If they don't, then honestly, I think it's fine to burn that bridge. Clearly that person doesn't have your best interests at heart if they are personally offended by you not accepting the offer to their program. Do what you want. Life is too short to live it on other peoples' terms.

Was your Quant score better on your first exam? Some programs allow you to submit both tests, and then they take the best score for every section. Your 162 Verbal score is great! I would say if your finances prevent you from taking it again, stick with sending both tests, (or just this one if this is an improvement for Q). GRE is just part of the whole application package, and a program like geography, though it involves math, is certainly not as math intensive as some others. Buck up, be confident, and let that confidence come through in the rest of your app.

Congrats Ironheart! That's great news -- I'm hoping to hear back from them soon myself! I just had my final recommender submit her letter today, so much like Sleeplesswithcoffee, I'm playing the waiting game. I know MPA-ESP is rolling decision, so how long did it take you to hear back from them? Trying to weigh this against the program at UPenn to which I've already been accepted! Also, any idea as to whether or not the fact that I submitted my application a while ago, but was waiting on one letter of recommendation, will speed up their review process? Asking for a friend. Haha Good luck to all!