AddSmith

I wanted to return to this thread in case it could help ease the anxiety of a future applicant.

I checked in with CMU Admissions and Financial Aid to see if my funding would be affected, and they assured me it would not be. Their general stance seems to be that life happens, and what they really care about is that everything on the application is true at the time of applying. My award may be rebranded, but the sum of my aid should remain unchanged. 

I found out right after I enrolled at Heinz that I would not receive the AmeriCorps Segal Education Award if I left three weeks early to attend grad school. I resigned from my AmeriCorps position almost immediately to earn more money, and my supervisor was incredibly understanding. I'll post updates if anything with CMU arises as a result of that, but at this point I'm feeling assured that I made the right decision for me financially.

I feel like a current student can answer this better, but from my experiences with friends in a variety of CMU undergrad and grad programs, it's mostly for undergrads. Friends in PhD programs don't seem to stretch themselves out due to CMU culture. At the same time, all the students I met this weekend had their hands in so many jars, and I felt the need to commit to some organizations quickly as a result of the weekend as well. They really pushed involvement outside of the classroom in sessions. 

Thanks, OP, for taking the obvious one!
It may be more helpful to start a google sheet like they have on the philosophy board, where people put the name of the school and their award (including 0 values, for frequency calculations).

CMU has a pretty all-encompassing list that includes JL Land and Sterling as two top companies! My friends in Pittsburgh use Walnut Creek and love them, as well.
 
Shadyside and Squirrel Hill are quiet with minimal undergrads, and have plenty of dog-friendly housing! That's where I'm looking at right now, due to my dog probably coming with me as well! From when I lived in Pittsburgh for undergrad, Shadyside was always the place that my friends in graduate programs lived.

@lackey, you're still killing it! Look at all the places you got into straight out of undergrad! You'll do great no matter where you end up. 

UPDATED! I'M INNNNNN! 
 
 
OMGHGHGHGHGH

Unless you can pay for this degree out of pocket, I'd strongly urge you to wait out the year, improve your application, and apply again. 

Hi guys, I'm in! Just got the mail!
 
I'm guessing the admits are coming in batches, depending on as and when our applications were complete. 

Guys...I am in! Just received mail. Official mail will come in a day it seems 

@UrbanPolicy&Development and @anmanya, last year the first batch was the first week of March, then third week, so possibly next week for y'all?

No. Ugh, tomorrow probably. So annoyed right now.

I'm a first-year here at Heinz. I didn't do QSSP, but a lot of my peers did. It seems like a short but somewhat rigorous course. I heard that most people went out together afterward daily. That means it can't be too bad. It also sounds like it was a great way to get to know people. Let me know if you have other Qs. It's great here.
Also! -- The econ and stats courses were challenging for me, especially stats, and I got placed into higher courses. That means QSSP would have been really helpful as a refresher.

To retain sanity while waiting (partially for HKS but also a few other schools I’m really pumped about) I have tried to plan a lot of fun activities for the next week, and when I am forced to be by my computer or have idle time, I either listen to an awesome audiobook or set a timer for 20 min to an hour. Until the timer goes off I’m not allowed to check my email or touch my phone or visit grad cafe. It’s helped me stay calm and concentrated on my life despite a lot of uncertainty! I have found that I otherwise feel so overwhelmed that even if a decision comes and brings good news, I still have an inexplicable anxiety that feels permanently lodged in the pit of my stomach hah. 
Good luck to everyone else who feels like they are sometimes going to tear their hair out and remember that (insert dream school name here) is just one of many ways to achieve your goals!! 

In with 50%! I may have cried tears of joy opening my email!

Everyone seems going crazy at this stage. don't forget to try astrology too.

I am also very curious to find out whether I will spend almost two years in New England or not but just to bolster my crazy ass theory: I do not think that we will receive results next week, yet hope to be wrong.
The hints:
1. For the last few years, they have always released decisions on the second Wednesday of March. That would be March 14 this year.
2. It is not uncommon for HKS to release that late. In fact, they have released as late as March 18 within the last six years (see the admission blog's archive).
3. There is a specific sequence of posts on the blog before they release results. It begins with an introduction to the three categories (not admitted, waitlisted, admitted) and takes at least three posts, i.e. days. As of March 1st, they still have to begin this countdown of blog postings, which starts at least four days prior to decisions day (D-Day) and began last year (results released on March 8) on February 27.
4. They are not that fast. Last year, it took them 96 days to read, assess and decide from the applications deadline to D-Day. That would mean a release on March 11 (today is the 86th day since closing of applications), ceteris paribus.
So, I feel and share your pain and anxiety but we shouldn't get too excited for a release next week when D-Day could very well be two weeks away.

Never review your application after submitting!

Someone said that she was accepted via phone call yesterday, and the admission officer told her that all the decisions will be released....
I really can hear my heartbeat.

The envelope with decision documents is live, but nothing is in it, but this seems promising for today or tomorrow! 

The envelope with decision documents is live, but nothing is in it, but this seems promising for today or tomorrow! 

I called yesterday and was told that the admission office is working on the decision this week and we should expect to hear from them "later this week", at the worst no later than "early next week". 

The envelope with decision documents is live, but nothing is in it, but this seems promising for today or tomorrow!