gratas

This is pretty funny...I was accepted to the U of T MPP program but rejected from U of T Urban Planning. We are opposites! I guess grad school acceptances don't always make sense

So I'm quickly approaching the deadline for my school decision, and still not sure what I should do. I think my situation might be a bit different from others in the forum, but would really really appreciate any advice...everyone here seems to have done their homework about MIA/MPA programs and I would love to hear what you think. So I only applied to 2 MPA programs - SIPA and LSE - and got into both (to my surprise). Now I am facing the decision of whether to leave my job and attend one of these programs, or not. I have an undergraduate business degree (major in economics) and have been working for a private hedge fund for almost 2 years (basically since my graduation). I really really love the job, but I have always wanted to get more education, and feel that it would be best to get a masters now while I am still young and have some flexibility in terms of my life plans. I am very interested in financial policy (Fed, ratings agencies, etc.) and so SIPA was a natural choice for me in this regard. I really like some of the course offerings in the "International Finance and Economic Policy" concentration, and seems to be a good medium between an IR degree and an MBA degree. I did not want to do an MBA, as I already have an undergraduate business degree. Also, SIPA seems to have great relations with the Fed, and more of a private sector focus in general than the other MPA programs, so I think SIPA is my first choice over LSE. I have already discussed going back to school with my current employers, and they have strongly encouraged me to pursue it - they agree now is the time to do my masters. They also have assured me that my job will be waiting for me upon graduation, if I want it. I guess now I am facing the question: is it worth it to leave a job that I do enjoy, go back to school for two years, and go into a sizable amount of debt (I did not receive any funding from SIPA). On the one hand, I think it would be a great life experience, having Columbia on my resume can never hurt, and I have a guaranteed job upon graduation anyways. So the major risk is the money I will have spent on the degree and the years of work experience foregone. Conversely, it is pretty scary to leave a job and take out a lot of student loans...I guess that is my main hesitancy. Anyways, I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on this! Thanks

found out yesterday as well - in but no funding!

you got an email to check the site?

I'm still waiting, as well..maybe today will be the day?

I am also interested...considering Hertie vs. LSE MPA vs. SIPA at the moment...

The latest on the blog: The Admissions Committee spent several hours in meetings on Wednesday making decisions but very few decisions were sent out yesterday. Once a decision is made, a series of steps must be completed to finalize things in our system. We are in the “rolling” process where as we make decisions we will publish them. As a reminder, we send an email notifying an applicant that the decision has been posted so there is no reason to log in to the system prior to receiving an email. so looks like we should be getting some decisions today after all?

I couldn't agree more!

I am still waiting, as well

The latest from the admissions blog. So now we are up to 75% complete. Still nothing for me yet... I know there are still many applicants anxious to receive an admission decision and the Admissions Committee is moving steadily along. The first big “burst” of decisions that were sent (approximately 65% were sent out last Monday) represented hundreds of hours of review. Even with over 7 weeks of meetings the Committee still needs additional time to complete the process. As I have stated before, a lot of this has to do with the simple act of scheduling. Getting Committee members together is a task in itself. Since Monday of this week we have sent out another 10% of decisions so we have crept up to the 75% mark. We are still deliberating on all three classes of admission offers: admit, waitlist, and those we will be unable to offer admission to. I’ll keep this entry short so I can get back to the file review process . . .

I applied to the MPA - IFEP concentration and have not heard anything yet. Did you apply to IFEP as well? Perhaps that department has not finalized decisions yet, then?

This was in one of the posts on the admissions blog earlier...I believe when they are discussing different "groups" of applications. I'm sure you can find it if you go back a bit in the blog

did you apply for MPA or MIA? I applied to MPA - IFEP concentration. perhaps it has something to do with specific departments? looks like its another ....indeterminate amount of waiting

did you guys get an email telling you to check the system? still nothing here congrats to everyone, though!

Haha yes, but I think we might just be getting a little ahead of ourselves...it probably doesn't mean anything!