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

Hey everyone! I haven't posted on this feed over the past few months... but I figure that I would put up an update now that the apps are done and the responses are coming in! Applied to: UCSB MEM University of Washington Evan's School of Public Affairs, concentration in Environmental Policy UPenn Masters of Arts in Environmental Studies (School of Liberal Arts and Sciences) Columbia Masters of Science in Sustainability Management (School of Continuing Education) University of Michigan Masters of Science in Sustainability Systems (School of Natural Resources) Yale MEM (School of Forestry and Environmental Studies) Stats: Undergrad institution: UC Irvine GPA: 3.54 GRE: 1280 2 years of unrelated work exp; 8+ years as volunteer in NGO; studied abroad in Beijing Accepted: UMich! No word on scholarships/fellowships so far Rejected: none so far! Gluck to everyone! 2shieh

I'm not sure why my professor doesn't fill out these forms... he told me that of all the letters of recommendation he has written, he never has. But in any case, all schools that I'm applying to (Environmental Policy and Management programs) offer the option of postal mail or an online submission. I just got off the graduate advisor for UCSB admissions and she said that postal mail was fine as long as the the postal code went directly to their admissions office. ... I really can't wait till spring. Thanks for the advice!

Does anyone think that sending the letter of rec through snail mail would work? My professor has done this plenty of times since he is one of the most well respected professors at my alma mater-- should I just take his word for it?

Hi Everyone, Some of the schools that I'm applying to require the recommender to fill out a form for submission. The professor that I asked to write a letter says that it is logistically impossible for professors to fill out these forms and that grad schools will accept letters in lieu of the specific school's form. The undergrad institution I went to has a letter of rec system in partnership with Interfolio.com, and my professor has already uploaded his recommendation. When I submitted his letter through interfolio.com's web service, I got an email back from the website saying that 3 of the 4 universities that I submitted the recommendation do did not accept the recommendation because the form was not filled. Any suggestions how to handle this situation? I'm totally freaking out now!!! Thank you! 2Shieh

Thanks for the advice, newms! I'm currently editing my SOP to be more grad school/future oriented

Hi everyone-- I'm currently working on my SOP, but I'm not sure my SOP will grab the attention of the admissions committee. Here's an outline of what I have so far: 1. Intro Briefly explained why i decided to apply to program (I'm applying to MPP (concentration in environmental policy)/environmental studies and management programs) and touched on my career goals. 2. Talked about my past. I didn't do much research in environmental policy as an undergrad, but did write a few papers on it. I wanted to explain and compensate my lack of research by telling about my volunteer/internship experience over the past 2 years that are related to what I want to study and how my experiences helped me visualize what I wanted in my career. 3. Graduate studies and how that will translate to my career goals Discussed my concentration I hope to study, and ways in which I will take that knowledge and apply it to my career. 4. Why this school? Explaining why I chose this specific program. I'm REALLY afraid that my lack of research/education will turn off the adcomm-- which will probably set me apart from other applicants, but certainly not in a good way. My whole message is while I didn't realize that this is what I wanted to do upon graduating from undergrad, I've done everything that I can do to involve myself in this field (an internship with a city education project on natural area preservation, hosting and participating recycling events, leader in a sustainable products development committee, etc). I'm also afraid that my SOP is way too boring. Any help is greatly appreciated!!! Thanks!!!

Awesome-- thanks for the advice!!

Hi everyone, I'm taking the GRE next Wednesday (Sept 1st) and am going over any last vocab words/ new ones that pop up on practice questions. I haven't really had a chance to take a thorough look through the roots/stems section of any practice books... are they worth studying? Or should I focus on studying as many vocab words as possible instead? Thanks!

Hi everyone, Does anyone know if there's a remarkable difference between the GRE reading comp section and the GMAT reading comp section? Thanks!

I'm applying with a social science background (international studies and accounting to be exact). I quit my job about a month ago and have been focusing more on an internship at a native environmental restoration area that I've had since February and also have been volunteering with the nonprofit that I've been involved in. Are you applying right out of undergrad? Good luck on your apps!