younglions

A few years ago I applied straight out of undergrad and went 3/3. The only caveat is that I didn't receive funding. Taking a relevant position for a couple years could really help you out financially in the long-term. That said, if the terrible job market precludes this as a possibility, grad school might not be a bad decision. I say apply, judge the financial aid offers, and then make a decision. (haha what obvious advice). Good luck.

It seems like they do send it out to everyone. I heard from one other member of this board, and s/he received it too.

Looks like WWS is losing Marc Melitz to Harvard. There was a good chance that I would have taken a course with him, so that's too bad. Here is the Greg Mankiw blog on the news: http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2009/05/melitz-to-harvard.html

I definitely imagine if you're an under represented minority with good experience and an impressive academic record, you stand a great shot at getting money from HKS (or pretty much any other school). I think this is a good thing--it's always nice to have a diverse class with a wide range of experiences to draw upon. I know that I want my program to recruit the best and the brightest from all backgrounds. Honestly, I thought I had a good shot at full tuition from HKS, but only because they have a Peace Corps specific scholarship. In the end, it wouldn't have mattered, and I'm glad a different Peace Corps alumnus will have the opportunity to enjoy HKS without the huge price tag. Also, I think someone on this board got a full tuition from HKS (maybe sisepuede?) but s/he turned it down for WWS.

I also received a pretty generous stipend, so I don't know how competitive I will be either. Did everybody receive the award letter status check that was sent out today?

If this were the case, my questions would definitely be answered.

Thanks for understanding our bickering--I would be excited in your position too. My perspective isn't so much one of bitterness, rather it's one of confusion. (I'm thrilled with where I will be come August.) It would be quite interesting to hear from the admissions/financial aid office with an explanation of their award process. Anyways, congratulations again on the offer. BTW, I agree with your assessment of the PED courses... I applied for the same concentration myself.

This would make more sense, however I imagine that most Kennedy admits have a ton of unmet financial need. For example, as a a Peace Corps volunteer from a very modest background, I have a mountain of need, but Harvard offered me half of what they offered Don. I'm not trying to say Don isn't deserving of the award--I have no idea what sort of background s/he has--but the very fact that Harvard admitted someone like zourah in the first round indicates they view him/her as a better fit for the program. If additional funds have opened up, I think they should award those who accepted first round offers. I am just confused about the thinking of HKS' financial aid office, that's all. There's a good chance that I'm missing something, and my criticism is completely unwarranted.

Wow, Don, that is great news. However, I must say, the fact that a wait listed candidate gets money over initial admits does bother me. If many of the prominent posters on this board had received that offer, they would have taken their places at Kennedy. Moreover, it seems to me that those first-round admits who actually accepted their offer are probably more deserving of the cash. I think this is a fault in Harvard's admissions department--they're obviously not offering enough money to their first round of admits. I hope you don't take this as personal criticism; it's squarely directed at the HKS admissions team. Also, the fact that wait listed candidates are receiving financial offers suggests that HKS got a much lower-than-expected yield and are now struggling to fill the class. Regardless, congrats on the great offer!

Awesome. Does this mean you'll be heading to Boston? Congratulations!

I don't know how to respond to this. Maybe my original post was a little unclear and there's been a misunderstanding of some sort?

I'd say no. Some of the most popular schools (Harvard, Princeton, NYU, Columbia, UT-Austin, among others) have programs that appeal to both domestically- and internationally-oriented folks. The compartmentalization of information would only hurt discussion, and perhaps more importantly for the site admin, traffic.

Thanks everyone for the replies. Seems like zipcar is a great deal that will allow me to leave my car behind.

Denver University is a private institution. University of Colorado (main campus in Boulder) has a smaller campus in Denver--UC-Denver. Edit: Korbel School is at DU (the private institution).

I didn't see much in your post about career goals. As long as you're not out for one of the "sexier" public policy careers, there shouldn't be any problem with going to a school like ASU or Oklahoma. I have a friend who graduated from the ASU school of public affairs and he is now working in local government pulling in a bigger salary than I expect to for a very long time. I don't know what it takes to get into some of the less-well-known schools you mentioned, but I caution you against setting the bar too low for yourself. College grades are often the result of effort, and not necessarily classroom intelligence. If you can get an above average score on the GRE, you're obviously intelligent, so all it will take is the effort. I recommend you not to just shoot for a GPA above 3.0, but a GPA above 3.5. Also, I would really work hard to get your cumulative GPA over 3.0. The psychological difference between a 2.95 and 3.01 can be huge. Anyways, congratulations on deciding on a career path. Your GPA isn't going to keep you out of a lot of programs, just make sure you can put together a good application package. Good luck!

It's impossible to generalize about the Peace Corps. Even within my country of service, the job descriptions of the various positions varied wildly. You sign up for the Peace Corps, but really, you're signing up to work for a municipality, local NGO, international NGO, business incubator, education system, etc. in an unknown country, in an unknown sector for two years. On my resume, I don't even list Peace Corps Volunteer as my primary job title, but as a subheading. After three months initial language/cultural training, you are basically on your own. The only real contact I had with the Peace Corps was when I filled out my bi-yearly reports and when I led technical trainings for new volunteers. The Peace Corps is merely the entry way. After that you're working for, and primarily responsible to, a development-related organization in a developing/transitioning country. To give an example, my best friend was a PCV in an African country and worked for a prominent microfinance/HIV organization. A little more than a year and a half into service, the organization offered him a full-time position which prompted him to leave the Peace Corps and take it. He is now literally doing the same exact work as before, but has a "Country Program Director" title and earns a real salary. This is just one example, but I know of many others that are similar. If adcoms experience a great increase in applications from PCVs, I'm sure they'll just continue what they're already doing--judge applicants based on the content of their experiences, not on job titles.

They grant admission to more students than they have available seats. Most IR/Public Policy schools get away with tendering offers to in excess of two/three times the amount of students they expect to enroll. This is true for almost all programs except a small handful (WWS, HKS, and Georgetown MSFS being the most extreme examples that come to mind). It's just a calculation primarily based on historical trends. The HKS yield is going to be substantially lower than that of WWS. This isn't necessarily a reflection of WWS having a stronger program, but WWS having a much larger funding purse. If you count the people who decided on WWS but chose to defer for one-year, the MPA program had an 84% yield this year. That means a maximum of only 16% of those admitted decided to attend another school. According to Petersons, a recent Harvard MPP class had a 59.6% yield. With the poor economy, I imagine this rate will only drop as prospective students are likely warier of Harvard's massive price tag. I don't think you should give up on the HKS waitlist. Good luck!

Anybody have experience with the zipcar service? What do you think about it? The prices, the cars, the convenience? What do you like most? What can be improved? Is it worth the setup and annual fees if you are an occasional driver? Any insight into zipcar service in Princeton would be especially appreciated.

Alright, maybe you're right... but i think you're confusing his judgment on people who take specific actions (catcalling) with a judgment of their manner of speech and what that says about them. I'm not Cornell07 though, so I can't say exactly what he meant. I can only infer meaning from what he wrote. I don't see any judgment passed in the first post. That's how a lot of working class people talk in the region! This is an admittedly bad example, but just listen to Matt Damon and his pals in Good Will Hunting--I'm pretty sure nobody would conclude that Damon's character is a stupid idiot, nor his sharp-witted friends, based on their Southie dialect.

Seems to me that Cornell07 was just trying to replicate the working class dialect of the Northeastern United States. You're the one who called them absolute idiots.

HKS doesn't require responses until tomorrow... so it will be still be awhile until that information comes out, that is, if it does.

I applied for the Old Graduate College and asked for a single or double without walk through. Anyone know when we will hear?

Linden (and NebBronco too, but linden has been a regular around here for a long time) - Sorry to hear I won't have the pleasure of having you as a classmate next year. I'm sure GPPI, traveler06, and policy_applicant will treat you well. I guess this means that you and your husband won't have to do the long distance thing? That's a great consolation prize. Wow, 78% yield--that's insane. It represents a big jump up from the last few years. Good thing WWS predicted it and admitted a smaller class this year. It seems like the bad economy has encouraged those who may have been lost to peer schools in the past to follow the green.

Of course if you look at one specific metric, you'll be able to find MANY schools that are better than Princeton. For example, American SIS is a MASSIVE program; as a result, they are able to offer a greater breadth of courses than Princeton. However, I can almost guarantee you that the average Princeton course offers students a greater depth, more rigorous training, more active learning (can't be anonymous in a small class/program), and a higher quality of class-discussion (amazing peers). Of course, there will be some exceptions. I was accepted into SIS right out of undergrad, and now that I've had a few years of experience, I can confidently say that I wouldn't be thrilled to have my 21-year-old self as a classmate. It should also be noted that Princeton allows students to shape the course schedule. If students are interested in a topic, they try to find a way to offer a course on it. Also, don't forget that a masters degree is just two years of your life. While a great many of SIS students get good jobs after graduation, and a good deal even find their "dream jobs", there's also a great many who graduate to find their degree doesn't give them much of a competitive advantage. At Princeton, most people graduate into their "dream job." I'm not trying to say that Princeton is the best. (Although for my interests, I personally think it is). However, I think the characterization that WWS doesn't offer an IR student much is flat wrong. Of course, for some people, a full ride at SIS/GW/SAIS/SFS/Fletcher, etc. is going to be a better option than a full-ride at WWS. What graduate school you attend is a very personal decision. Also, I don't find anything wrong with the idealism that shines through in the MPA student bios, as long as it is grounded in reality. Idealism should not be conflated with naivety, nor should it be treated as negative word like some tend to regard "elite" or "intellectual". In fact, I demand that all my public leaders are idealistic, elite (as in of the highest quality), and intellectual.

I opened this page really excited that you may have gotten some good news linden. Sad to see that you haven't (yet?). Honestly, I think that post is probably from a troll. Generally the results page is not used to emphatically announce that you have turned down a school. Although I could imagine a person turning down Princeton in favor of Harvard--in fact there is a poster on these boards who made that decision last year--I'm hesitant to believe that this particular person even had Princeton as an option. Maybe I'm wrong, but the post just seems a little too juvenile to be believable. On the other hand, if the poster had announced his/her decision in the context of alerting those wait listed at Princeton, I wouldn't question its veracity. Then again, I have no idea why someone would post untruths on the results page, so in the end I have no idea what to think. The wording does seem to imply that the WWS acceptance came long ago. As for the waitlist, so far there haven't been any announcements made to those of us who accepted our offers regarding what the class size will look like. I also think there might be a little bit of lag in between the April 15th deadline and when they will know if they need to consult the wait list. Decisions are sent into the graduate college, not WWS, and I imagine the GC received a rather large volume of mail last week and will take awhile to sort it all out. Anyways, I hope the final decision works out for you.