surprisecake

I don't know any official numbers but a 2013 Yale MEMer told me that there are around 20 students under the age of 25 in her cohort of 140 students. Depressing odds.

@Aayushi- Definitely apply to some safeties but don't disqualify the top ranked universities either. A killer SOP can go a long way. @cunninlynguist- I wouldn't be so pessimistic about Duke. It looked like SNRE and Nicholas are pretty even with admissions because a couple of people I know (including myself) were deciding between the two this year. SNRE hiked their tuition this year while Duke threw modest scholaships at all the intl students so the choice was pretty simple for me! I don't know any official numbers but a 2013 Yale MEMer told me that there are around 20 students under the age of 25 in her cohort of 140 students. Depressing odds.

I'm probably off about the US students' GRE scores. I've mostly talked to international students and I don't know one person who scored under 1400 during my application season. FES's "typical student" profile is really misleading IMO, they reject close to perfect GRE scores for the sake of work experience. UCSB values fit more than anything. It seems like a 1400+ score is just a qualifier :/ Indiana couldn't even fill their MSES incoming class this year! I don't know what the hell happened there.

Hi aayushi! My scores were GRE 1420 Quant 680, Verbal 740, TOEFL 116, GPA 7.7/10 (although this was pretty irrelevant since they have no idea what my Indian GPA is actually worth). I found my scores were not as important as work and research experience for some schools (I have research ex but was light on work ex, which kept me out of Yale FES). Most of the international students (and otherwise) admitted to the same schools as me had GRE scores in the ~1400s. You'll hear this a lot: a good GRE score can't get you into a school but it can definitely keep you out. Let me know if you want to know anything else about my application season. I will be attending the Nicholas school at Duke this fall!

hahah me too

Got a $10,000 scholarship from duke, $0 anything from SoS. I'm on the 'priority waiting list' for funding. I feel so unloved.

My final decision was between SoS and Nicholas too. I didn't have to stones to accept SoS's offer because they're so new... as much as I love the school. Something that tipped the scales in favour of Nicholas was the weather at Tempe. What did nicholas offer you in terms of scholarship/aid?

I wanted to start this topic but didn't know what to say! I am now 99% sure I will be attending the Nicholas school at Duke for the MEM program. When is everyone going to start looking for housing?

Does anybody know any past or present students at SNRE who have done the Conservation biology field? I have no idea how strong this department is.

So aren't they working out to about the same approximately? I forgot you applied for the MSES/MPA. I'm not considering SPEA because their MSES is not regarded as much as the MPA. Tough choice for you!

Did you get the email from bren saying decisions would be sent out "no later than March 18th" too? Or was that just for MEMs? I don't know anyone else who applied for the PhD but I can't find a singly lonely MEM applicant who hasn't got a decision. Were there any PhD submissions on the results section?

Wait... didn't tuition at SPEA go way up this year? Something like 24 or 26k a year? And Duke was 30k last year, what is it this year? You'd think I know these things by now, but no :|

So apparently everyone on the planet got a notification from UCSB yesterday except for me! I think they forgot about my application. It was my backup backup backup anyway... if no one else but they accepted me, I could always spend 2 years on the beach. Seahawk- I knocked IU out of the running because Duke was just way too high on rep for me to say no. The cost of living difference isn't that large and maybe you could find opportunities to reduce tuition in your second year at Duke? I'm pretty sure i'll be going there regardless of who else may say yes to me.

Heheh I'm sure red-faced, teary eyed potential grad school applicants around the world are being reminded of Japan by their friends and family. I got that line myself thrice