anxiousplanner

Has anyone had any luck negotiating aid offers this year, given COVID and the overall paltry status of most school's aid offerings? I got a great offer from 1 school that I'm less excited about, and nothing from another school that I'm thrilled about. If anyone has had any success, or has any suggestions, feel free to respond here or PM me!

When I reached out, they shared that any funding offers would've been in the initial acceptance letter. I didn't get any aid, and it sounds like that was definitely the norm.

Lol, finally heard back from USC - in with 25% dean's merit, which basically brings it down to the cost of UCLA by my math (but minus the potential for establishing residency). Probably not a tempting enough offer to consider it, but glad to have all my results back. This year was brutal, and I'm so relieved it's over. To those of you still waiting, hang in there!! Cheering for you. Now onto the next phase - decisions, moving, and actually DOING grad school!

I really wish I could visit, particularly UCLA, but just don't see how it's feasible with COVID since it would require a cross-country flight. My top 2 picks are UIC and UCLA, and while I've spent a fair amount of time in Chicago, I've spent a grand total of 24 hours in LA. If any of the CA people on this thread have opinions/insights into LA, I'm all ears!!

Seems like one or two people got small funding awards in the letter, most of us have not heard anything. I emailed to ask whether funding information was pending, or whether any funding would've been in the decision letter.

I still haven't heard anything from Rutgers re: funding. I was notified of my decision a few weeks ago at this point, 2/23. I was considering reaching out today to see if they had an update on timelines, or whether the silence meant I wasn't getting funding.

In at UCLA!!!!! This was my first choice school, so I'm over the moon.

Same here!! One weird benefit to this horrible drawn out process is that it has really clarified for me that UCLA is my top pick, which is just increasing the anxiety.

Congrats on UIC and the funding offer, that's awesome. I'm seriously considering going there - I'd say right now UCLA is the only school that could knock them out, unless USC gave me TONS of funding (UIC gave me a pretty small aid package, but better than nothing). What appeals to me about UIC is 1) a very strong economic development concentration with a lot of really interesting research into inequality, the racial wealth gap, etc, all of which are my areas of interest, and 2) a really interesting city outside of the school. I know they aren't a top 10 school, but I also think ratings aren't that critical in the grand scheme of things, and that having a match between areas of interest/specializations of the school matter a lot more.

Yeah, this is very much my understanding as well - the website says early March, and when I spoke to Sarah earlier in the week via email, she said decisions should be released within the next week or so. I'm not sure where the May timeline is coming from. Unrelated, but congrats to everyone who just got a UNC funding increase....makes me wish I'd applied there! With funding so hard to come by this year, that's great news.

For anyone else still waiting to hear from USC (@planningfor2021), I caved and emailed them today, and got a response that I should hear back "within a week or so." Who knows if there is any hope to be had there - I'm holding out some hope because I had a minor transcript issue that may have delayed processing of my application, but I'm not optimistic. UCLA has always been one of my top choices, so I'm just crossing my fingers for that result to come in quickly.

Anyone have bets on whether we get UCLA results next week? Historically it seems like they've come out the first week of March, but who knows what that means for this year. I can't handle the wait!! Especially since I'm still also waiting on USC. And to all the posters on debt...it's definitely something I'm weighing carefully, as a planning degree isn't hugely likely to increase my earning potential - if that was my only factor, I'd probably go for an MPP or MBA. But for me, a big part of the calculation is around job satisfaction and potential impact, and doing a pivot into a line of work that I think will ultimately be more meaningful for me. I'm still weighing a few dual degree options (accepted to Rutgers MPP/MURP dual, waiting on USC results), which is more debt but also maybe higher earning potential.

Lol, woke up to a Berkeley rejection - seems like that was a theme last night. Even though it was expected, still stings! I'm with you, @yellowsurf, hoping for UCLA now!

Still waiting on USC here!

I'm in the exact same boat on Berkeley - at this point I'm bracing for a rejection, but I would just like to know! I'm also anxious to get UCLA responses (UCLA is probably my top pick at the moment), and hoping those aren't too delayed because of COVID. Funding is still the biggest unknown for me right now, so far the results I've gotten have either had minimal (as in so little you wonder why they bother) funding or have said funding information is still pending.

Can confirm that Rutgers started sending notifications - got the MPP acceptance yesterday and the MURP acceptance this afternoon. Decisions don't have funding info, that will apparently come in the next few weeks. Still haven't heard from USC or Berkeley (or UCLA, obviously).

Exact same boat here. If the whole year is virtual, that would be a tough sell for me. If it's just fall semester, especially if there is any hybrid whatsoever, that's maybe tolerable. The friends I have who are in grad school this year say it was/is pretty rough to be fully remote, especially from a "making friends/meeting people" standpoint.

Given that they explicitly told us we could reach out if we haven't heard by Friday 3/5, I could imagine reaching out the following Monday - I personally wouldn't do that for a school that hadn't given such a clear deadline, but they were pretty straightforward in their email ?‍♀️. We'll see though. I'm also super anxious about this one!

This was my rough expectation as well, that most schools would release at least the bulk of their decisions by 3/5 (Berkeley for instance said we could reach out to the department if we hadn't heard by then). However, anecdotally, it looks like schools are about a week behind timelines from previous years, so I'm bracing myself to not get more results until the week after that. It also seems like schools might be releasing acceptances in smaller batches than previous years, which could account for the delay. We saw 3-4 Berkeley acceptances a few weeks ago but it seems like lots of people haven't heard anything from them, and UIC seems to be releasing in small batches as well.

In at UIC!!! Thrilled because I'm excited about the school, and was getting really nervous that so many others were hearing back about UIC & Berkeley while I hadn't heard anything. Nice to know I will at least go somewhere next year.

The wait is making me more than a little nutty, so I'm caving and posting here after trying unsuccessfully to stop checking this site. The fact that Berkeley and UIC (two of my top picks) have started sending acceptances is making me pretty nervous, but I'm trying to take solace in the fact that so many others also haven't heard anything. Maybe it's not bad news this year? Age/Gender/Citizenship 28/F/US Undergraduate degree/School/Year graduated BA in Geography / good state school / 2013 GPA - GRE - TOEFL (for Int'l students) 3.4 BA - No GRE Work Experience: 7+ years total, tangentially related to planning. 3 years doing community organizing for a union, 3 years for a small business development program, 1.5 years for a company that builds innovation spaces. SOP tries to make the connection to planning (my interests are in economic development, inequality, & racial wealth gap), but I'm now doubting myself. Letter of recommendations: All former or current managers, no academic letters. Schools applied to: UC Berkeley, UCLA, Rutgers (dual with MPP), UIC, USC (dual with MPP) In: Out: Wait-list: Awaiting: UC Berkeley, UCLA, Rutgers (dual with MPP), UIC, USC (dual with MPP) Results: