virgogrl56

Did anyone get the chance to attend McCourt's Admitted Student Days last weekend? I wasn't able to make it due to a work commitment and want to know what others thought of it.

Did anyone make it to Admitted Student Days last weekend? I wasn't able to make it due to work and would love to know what people thought!

Really appreciated this forum during applications - thank you all for the help and insight! Program Applied To: (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.) MPP Schools Applied To: SIPA, Harris, McCourt, Elliott Schools Admitted To: McCourt ($$), Elliott ($$) Schools Rejected From: SIPA Still Waiting: Harris (waitlisted) Undergraduate institution: Top-15 University Undergraduate GPA: 3.596 Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): N/A Undergraduate Major: History and Political Science double major GRE Quantitative Score: 155 GRE Verbal Score: 163 GRE AW Score: 5.5 Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 1 Years of Work Experience: 1 Describe Relevant Work Experience: Currently consulting for a non-profit women's organization and interned in undergrad for a Congressional campaign, U.S. Congresswomen, and a large non-profit in their political advocacy department. Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): Got much better by the time I submitted the last application (McCourt). I definitely think the strength of my SOP helped off-set my low Quant score and lead to a scholarships with both of my acceptances. If I had started sooner and had that final product when I was applying to the earlier deadline schools (SIPA and Harris) it may have made a difference in my application results. Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): Very good. They were submitted by my current supervisor who was able to discuss the relevance of my current position and two professors from undergrad who supervised extensive projects I completed. Other: I was very content with the number of schools I applied to and happy that I started researching programs during the summer to narrow them down. It took me three tries for the GRE and still only had a mediocre Quant score, so I hope this is proof to students in a similar situation that you can be successful even with that on your application. I also got a lot of use out of Graduate Admissions Essays by Donald Asher and highly recommend it for anyone working on their applications. He has a lot of good advice about essay structure and ideas along with several very good sample essays from competitive applicants. I'm planning to attend McCourt unless Harris throws a wrench in that plan! Good luck to all and hope to see some of you in D.C. in the fall!

Accepted with funding! Will likely be where I end up going as my other acceptance didn't come with a scholarship. Excited to celebrate tonight! Good luck to everyone!

I was waitlisted for Harris's MPP program yesterday and since it's one of my top choices I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for anything I can do to improve my chances of getting off the waitlist. I'm taking the GRE again next month to hopefully boost my quant score (currently it's 153 and I'm aiming for around a 158) and I'm taking an online intro micro course spring semester (have not previously taken one). Is there anything else worth doing or looking into between now and May? Should I personally reach out to the admissions office expressing my interest? Thanks in advance!

Just got the email - decisions are posted

Did it seem like they were still reviewing applications? Cause then they may not release decisions until after the New Year

Wonder what that will mean for accept rates and class size

I attended an info session at HKS and there was a college senior in my group and the woman leading the session essentially told him that unless he was a really outstanding applicant there was no chance of acceptance (I believe she said only 5% of the incoming class are straight from undergrad). When talking with a staff member at Harris, she said that about 1/3 of their incoming class has 0-1 years of experience, which is the highest portion that I've seen. Most of the top programs are closer to 15% for straight out of undergrad acceptances (SIPA, SAIS, and McCourt are all around there I believe). Not sure what the more mid-tier and specialized programs looks like, but those would probably be more accepting of younger applicants.

The exact same thing happened to me! Part of the reason I wanted to post the update here haha

Received an email about an hour ago also confirming the evening of the 22nd and it seems that they won't be doing phone call notifications, just an email directing to the portal

I got a card too. I think they may have my address from when I requested more information and I've gotten a few holiday emails from other schools I've applied to or started applications for, so I didn't think much of it. It would be odd, though, if they pulled addresses from the applications

Does anyone know how they contacted applicants last year?

Do you think those they don't accept or defer just get emails, then?

Does anyone know how they notified applicants of decisions in the past?

I think, like many other schools, the 22nd is their last day before they close for the holidays. I've seen/heard of other programs use that as a deadline because it limits the angry phone calls from rejected applicants (according to friends who have worked in admissions). Guess it will just be more waiting

I'm also going to be in Chicago on the 15th and may do the same. I was able to do a tour a couple months ago, but it would be nice to check out the area a bit more

Sent in my application last night! The portal was set to Eastern time, which nearly gave me a heart attack, but now just to anxiously wait for results. I'm happy they have one of the quickest turn around times I've seen for early action

Finishing up the last of my essay edits as we speak and hopefully submitting everything tomorrow! The word count is also kicking my butt, but I'm getting close

Would anyone be willing to look over my rough draft of one of my SOPs for an international affairs program? I'll PM you what I currently have and what my concerns are! Thanks in advance!

I have a similar issue that I've been struggling with while working on applications. As a woman, I've been going back and forth about applying to schools with significant problems regarding Title IX and indifference to sexual assault accusations. Two of my top choices dealt with this publicly last year and I am coming from an undergraduate institution with significant problems in this area of its own. For now, I'm putting in applications, but, if accepted, it will be a very long process to determine if it will affect my ability to attend. However, I'm also no longer applying to HKS because of the Chelsea Manning incident.

I took the GRE for a second time the other day and ended up with the same score as my first try (164V/153Q/5.0AW) (haven't gotten AW back, but expecting it will be around the same). I'm applying to Harris, Georgetown MA Security Studies, SIPA, and Elliott and am worried my low quant score will lead to an automatic rejection. I have a strong GPA and graduated with a stats certificate, so I'm confident in my math abilities to pursue these degrees, but I struggle with math on standardized tests, hence the low score. SIPA's EA deadline is Nov. 1st and Harris' is Nov. 27th (these are my top program choices), but I won't be able to take the test again until after those deadlines have passed. Is it worth delaying the applications until the January deadlines if it means taking the GRE a third time to try and get quant higher? Or would it be sufficient enough to explain my background in the application? Thanks in advance!

Looking into graduate schools for Fall 2018 and interested in feedback! Program: MPP with international/security policy focus Schools Applying To: Columbia SIPA, Georgetown McCourt, Georgetown SFS (debating between the two programs and which is closer to my interests), UChicago Harris, UChicago CIR (similar issue as with Georgetown, but the dual-degree through CIR/Harris vs. Harris), HKS, LSE (possibly), UWisc-Madison LaFollette (possibly), USC Price (possibly) Interests: Post-Soviet democratic development, national security (esp. relating to Russia), increasing women's political participation in emerging democracies Undergrad Institution: top 12 US university Undergraduate GPA: 3.596 Undergraduate Major: History, Political Science (received quantitative research certificate in political science) GRE: 164V/153Q/5.0W Age: 23 Work Experience: two Congressional summer internships (one campaign, one DC office), one NGO summer internship (relating to international democratic development), currently working as a consultant for one year at a non-profit (unrelated to academic interests) LORs: two from professors (who I know very well and supervised my research projects), one from current employer SOPs: I need to work a lot on this, but I think the goal will be to really emphasize my specific interests and background Concerns: I'm planning to take the GRE again to boost my quantitative score (it was much lower than the practice tests I've taken in the past, so I'm hopeful it will be better the second time around); my GPA is pretty good, but I had a D the first semester my freshman year in a language class - is it worth writing a statement explaining the situation?; my lack of language experience (fulfilled the undergrad requirement with Italian, but I'm worried that D freshman year [which was in an Arabic class] will hurt me even though my area of focus isn't the Middle East/North Africa); age and only one year of work experience between undergrad and grad school Any insight on programs (especially the differences between the Georgetown and UChicago programs) as well as any other concerns I didn't list would be especially helpful! Thank you!

Hi there! I'm looking at UChicago's public policy programs and I'm confused about the distinction between two of their options. They offer the MPP through the Harris school with a Global Conflict policy area or an MAIR through the Committee on International Relations with the option of applying for a dual MAPP degree through Harris. I'm interested in international policy and have been primarily looking at MPP programs before entering the workforce (likely in either the non-profit or public sector). My initial concerns with the two programs (and why I'm asking for a differentiation) is that the MPP won't focus on international policy enough to be worth it whereas the MA/MA dual degree is more geared towards individuals seeking a PhD program in the future (which I am not). If anyone has some insight into either or both programs from a student or applicant's perspective, that would be appreciated!