Floating_Bee

I ended up choosing SAIS IDEV. I got into Harvard MPP (full tuition, no financial aid) and got rejected to Princeton. Anyone think I made a horrible decision saying no to Harvard?

I think there are 5 main ways to think about this.
1. DC gravitational pull or Global Non-Profit Space. 
Both schools are strong for both. However, SAIS has strengths in being connected to the DC oriented think tanks, institutions, and very importantly streams of funding (which I would argue is generally more robust). SIPA is stronger in niche non-profits and non-economically oriented NGOs. 
2. Super Quant vs. Quant
SAIS is famous/infamous for its aggressively quant curriculum. A lot of people go from SAIS to analytical / analytically oriented jobs. Additionally, the analytical rigor of SAIS also gives its graduates an interesting level of career flexibility. By in large, SIPA is less Quant oriented (although you can always sign up for harder quant classes). 
3. Clique Community vs. No Community
SAIS is interesting because it is a self-contained school that does not participate in the DC consortium (so its students can't visit classes in neighboring schools). The culture tends to be clique (or so I have been told) driven and a lot of community interaction (keep in mind I speaking of the pre-COVID experience). SIPA is infamous for having a weak community because everyone has their NYC friends and social groups that they rather hang out with. My friends who went to SIPA pretty much tell me they didn't really make new friends via their program. 
4. Greater University Access
Although SAIS is part of JHU, it really doesn't historically collaborate with JHU's other schools (not that there are that many schools to begin with within the DC area). SAIS does do an amazing job of giving you a lot of academic resources though, but when you don't have a law school, prestigious MBA school, and undergrad - nearby, the scale of resources is less. Columbia as you you imagine has the entire University at your finger tips - however it is like big corporation and cross-discipline collaboration isn't always fluid. 
5. Alumni 
Go on LinkedIn and check where their alumni go - you should be able to see trends. You'll broadly see that SAIS is more DC focused while SIPA has a bit less DC. 

I think I officially have no funding. Checked my letter and it was updated with information about the student welcome portal which was previously not there ( and to add insult to injury, they duplicated the information in the letter about the 2k deposit LOL). 

That's huge! Congratulations! Did you previously have nothing but the offer in your portal? AKA is there still hope for an update if we currently have nothing?

OMFG SAME IT HAPPENED FAM but where that financial aid be though... ?

Columbia has really been in the “wait until the last possible moment to release décisions” mood this year 

They’re fully leaning into these « unprecedented times » lol. This will be the latest they’ve released decisions in a while.

Actually--its usually Monday or Friday. Here's some info I found in the 2020 thread, with additions to include actual day. 
2020: 3/13, 4:36 (Friday) 2019: 3/11, 6:30 PM EST (Monday) 2018: 3/9, 3:43 PM EST (Friday) 2017: 3/10, 11:36 AM EST (Friday) 2016: 3/7, 5:24 PM EST (Monday) Obviously doesn't predict anything, but might be helpful!

Actually--its usually Monday or Friday. Here's some info I found in the 2020 thread, with additions to include actual day. 
2020: 3/13, 4:36 (Friday) 2019: 3/11, 6:30 PM EST (Monday) 2018: 3/9, 3:43 PM EST (Friday) 2017: 3/10, 11:36 AM EST (Friday) 2016: 3/7, 5:24 PM EST (Monday) Obviously doesn't predict anything, but might be helpful!

Actually--its usually Monday or Friday. Here's some info I found in the 2020 thread, with additions to include actual day. 
2020: 3/13, 4:36 (Friday) 2019: 3/11, 6:30 PM EST (Monday) 2018: 3/9, 3:43 PM EST (Friday) 2017: 3/10, 11:36 AM EST (Friday) 2016: 3/7, 5:24 PM EST (Monday) Obviously doesn't predict anything, but might be helpful!

Actually--its usually Monday or Friday. Here's some info I found in the 2020 thread, with additions to include actual day. 
2020: 3/13, 4:36 (Friday) 2019: 3/11, 6:30 PM EST (Monday) 2018: 3/9, 3:43 PM EST (Friday) 2017: 3/10, 11:36 AM EST (Friday) 2016: 3/7, 5:24 PM EST (Monday) Obviously doesn't predict anything, but might be helpful!

Actually--its usually Monday or Friday. Here's some info I found in the 2020 thread, with additions to include actual day. 
2020: 3/13, 4:36 (Friday) 2019: 3/11, 6:30 PM EST (Monday) 2018: 3/9, 3:43 PM EST (Friday) 2017: 3/10, 11:36 AM EST (Friday) 2016: 3/7, 5:24 PM EST (Monday) Obviously doesn't predict anything, but might be helpful!

Actually--its usually Monday or Friday. Here's some info I found in the 2020 thread, with additions to include actual day. 
2020: 3/13, 4:36 (Friday) 2019: 3/11, 6:30 PM EST (Monday) 2018: 3/9, 3:43 PM EST (Friday) 2017: 3/10, 11:36 AM EST (Friday) 2016: 3/7, 5:24 PM EST (Monday) Obviously doesn't predict anything, but might be helpful!

Actually--its usually Monday or Friday. Here's some info I found in the 2020 thread, with additions to include actual day. 
2020: 3/13, 4:36 (Friday) 2019: 3/11, 6:30 PM EST (Monday) 2018: 3/9, 3:43 PM EST (Friday) 2017: 3/10, 11:36 AM EST (Friday) 2016: 3/7, 5:24 PM EST (Monday) Obviously doesn't predict anything, but might be helpful!

Actually--its usually Monday or Friday. Here's some info I found in the 2020 thread, with additions to include actual day. 
2020: 3/13, 4:36 (Friday) 2019: 3/11, 6:30 PM EST (Monday) 2018: 3/9, 3:43 PM EST (Friday) 2017: 3/10, 11:36 AM EST (Friday) 2016: 3/7, 5:24 PM EST (Monday) Obviously doesn't predict anything, but might be helpful!

Actually--its usually Monday or Friday. Here's some info I found in the 2020 thread, with additions to include actual day. 
2020: 3/13, 4:36 (Friday) 2019: 3/11, 6:30 PM EST (Monday) 2018: 3/9, 3:43 PM EST (Friday) 2017: 3/10, 11:36 AM EST (Friday) 2016: 3/7, 5:24 PM EST (Monday) Obviously doesn't predict anything, but might be helpful!

Actually--its usually Monday or Friday. Here's some info I found in the 2020 thread, with additions to include actual day. 
2020: 3/13, 4:36 (Friday) 2019: 3/11, 6:30 PM EST (Monday) 2018: 3/9, 3:43 PM EST (Friday) 2017: 3/10, 11:36 AM EST (Friday) 2016: 3/7, 5:24 PM EST (Monday) Obviously doesn't predict anything, but might be helpful!

There are a few hours left for today, let's hope they bring us some good news! I looked at the threads for 2019, and the decisions were released around 5:30pm (for MIA), and around 3pm for 2020 (MPA). Best luck to you and be brave...!

Yeah, I believe its by April 20. The exact language they have is: 
Response Deadlines:
April 20th - Students who have received SAIS scholarship
May 1st - Final Response deadline
Any student who receives their decision letter after the above dates will have 2 weeks from receipt of their decision letter to submit the candidate reply form

It’s 1:10 am in my time zone, but I’m too nervous to sleep. If it’s not today, I’m going to stay up late for the next few days  (hope not).

Working from home definitely makes it harder not to fixate on impending decisions and constantly refresh the portal. Wishing everyone the best of luck! I'm going to try distract myself with all the to-dos I have for the next few hours (days?).

Weirdly, Stanford MIP did release decisions at 7:48pm (I did not get in). 

A weekend of sanity was too big of an ask I guess. I still plan on refreshing for the next 30 minutes.

it’s not that serious. I am also a bit bummed out but like if you’re coming on a forum looking for facts instead of speculation you’re in the wrong place.