2shieh

Rejected from Yale FES... but accepted to UW Evans! Woot

Got my call today too. I'm also a little disappointed in the lack of communication from their admissions office... but I'm still planning on making a visit. Anyone else looking to visit during their open house days?

I don't know... hahaha. UPenn obviously has prestige, but I feel that going to either Indiana or UMich will allow me to have more faculty support in studying my concentration (life cycle analysis). The reason why I applied to UPenn's MES is because they have an international multi-master's program: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/mes Also, I'm not sure what the student demographic is for the UPenn program. The reason why I'm so drawn to UMich's program is because they seem to really create a supportive environment (apparently they do some sort of a camping bonding trip the first few days of orientation) for students. Also, Indiana's faculty and student advisers all seem very accessible in helping you in your career and your classes. They're also the only school that sent cards during the holidays and kept in touch with me before and after my visit to their campus. I'm planning on visiting Penn and will schedule an appointment with the program director at the last week of March. Hopefully this will answer some more of my questions. I just hope I dont get suckered in by how pretty the campus is

I got my response for financial aid today via email. The official form is through the U-M New Friend website.

I applied to Columbia's MS in Sustainability Management and received a response on Wednesday. Good luck to you!

Update! Waitlisted at Columbia and accepted into SPEA's Dual MSES/MPA!!!

Congrats! When did you submit your application?

update! just got accepted to UPenn!! WOOHOO!! this is gonna be a tough decision...

hey researchworks! thanks! i found out via email on monday and got an envelope in the mail the same day. good luck to you!

Hey chenchak! What other programs did you apply to? And what made you choose Columbia? The website also said that they may require an admissions interview... did you go in for one? Thanks! 2shieh

Here we go! Program Applied To (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.): MPA/MEM/other environmental policy and management programs Schools Applied To: Yale MEM, UPenn MES, Columbia MS Sustainability Management, UMich MS Sustainable Systems, Indiana U MPP/MES, University of Washington MPA, UCSB MEM Schools Admitted To: UMich! Schools Rejected From: none yet! Still Waiting: Undergraduate institution: UC Irvine Undergraduate GPA: 3.54 Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): umm 3.7ish? Undergraduate Major: International Studies, minor in Accounting GRE Quantitative Score: 730 GRE Verbal Score: 550 GRE AW Score: 4 gross. Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 3 (by Fall 2011) Years of Work Experience: 2.5 Describe Relevant Work Experience: Current volunteer/intern for a natural restoration area. We're restoring 40 acres of Native American land and removing invasive plants and planting plants that are native to California. I've also been a registered volunteer with an international NGO since high school. More recently, I've been representing the NGO by hosting and organizing events on recycling and sustainability. Professionally, however, I work at an global computer company in their operations department (traffic/fulfillment/sales/product management/accounting liaison)... so not really relevant, although it did make me realize how much unnecessary waste corporations create! Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): Even though I'm from the SF Bay Area, I never considered myself a treehugger, let alone an environmentalist. It wasn't until I took a trip to China and Taiwan that I realized how many awesome things you can do by using sustainable systems. I talked about my transformation, and discussed my added vigor and enthusiasm once I realized what it was that I wanted to do. Writing the SOP was probably the most difficult and tedious process I've had to go through over the past 2 years... so it took a lot longer than I had expected. Don't forget to mention how the resources/faculty/curriculum can help you!! I had to rewrite this part for each school that I applied to, but it really made me realize which schools were best for me in the long run. Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): I had one academic, and two from my volunteer and internship experiences. I compiled a recommender's reference packet with my current resume, a copy of my SOP, unofficial transcript, and writing sample. It seems a little tedious to compile all of these documents, but when your recommender is writing your letter, they will thank you for having these resources. Even if you know your recommender well, I suggest creating this packet anyway. My academic LOR was submitted to a 3rd party folio website, so I did not see how strong of a letter was written; same goes for the LOR written by my supervisor/team leader for my volunteer experience. I did get to read the letter my supervisor from my internship wrote, and it was... bland. And didn't really show how I would grow or benefit from the grad program. He also didn't mention how I helped them on their project. I know I should have talked to him more about the content of his letter, but by the time he sent me a copy, he had already submitted the letter to all the schools I applied to. Lesson learned: maintain constant dialog with your recommender. Other: I visited Indiana U while I was visiting family in the midwest and was still on the fence on whether or not I wanted to apply to the school. After seeing the campus and hearing what the faculty and staff had to offer, I was sold and decided to apply to the program. Campus visits are kinda eh.. to me, but I found this one particularly helpful especially since I was not familiar with the school or the region.

Yup. It was a small envelope.

They mentioned it in the letter I received from SNRE. March 25th apparently... right around the corner!

Congrats, seahawk2k!! Are you going to the admit day in March? And good luck to you, surprisecake! Waiting it out is definitely the most difficult part of the whole process, but I'm sure you'll get some good news soon.

Hey surprisecake! Thanks! I first received an email yesterday morning informing my acceptance from the Rackham school of graduate studies, then a terrifyingly thin envelop from the school of natural resources (even though I got in, I was afraid that it was some mix up... something like that happened in 2005 when Cornell notified for undergrads on their acceptances, only to have them submit a follow up email/letter saying that there was a mix up.) The letter from SNRE told me that I was "recommended for acceptance to the School of Natural Resources" and that I would receive a follow up email from Rackham confirming my acceptance, which I received earlier in the day. My application was completed in Dec, with my LOR's submitted the day before the January 5th deadline, so I was really surprised to have heard back so early. I've been waiting to hear back from UPenn and Columbia for some time now, since both websites stated that the time frame applicants can expect to hear back with an admissions decision is within 3-5 weeks. It's been 3-5 weeks since I completed my application!!! Oh well... I'm extremely happy with my acceptance so far, and knew when I applied that I'd be happy going to any of the 7 schools that I applied to. Good luck to you all! 2shieh