Nimesis

Congratulations. Its $19,828 per year or $4,957 per semester.

I just wanted to let those of you who are interested know that I just received my official letter from LBJ from John Yeary via email. It included funding information so check your emails... Although I doubt I have to tell people on these boards to do that...

Sorry if this seems harsh, but I've got to be honest. Evans has been the least impressive in terms of this whole application process of all the schools I applied to. They didn't send any emails about notifications pending, and when I called the office they gave me a very very generic "decisions are forthcoming" statement which was pretty irritating. I don't know if it has to do with their tenuous budget issues/battle for independence, but the way they've handled this whole process has been pretty unimpressive to say the least. Is it just me, or did anyone else have a different impression of the school?

As a person who is strongly leaning towards Goldman myself, I agree with what you said about the school being strongly focused on domestic policy. I got that sense both from reading backthreads on these forums and from visiting the program myself, and I also think it was commented on by the current GSPP student who created that thread answering questions about the program. If you were to attend GSPP you'd probably need to develop your international expertise through electives more so than any classes you actually take at Goldman, although as you already know Berkeley has top 10 programs in most other departments so that wouldn't necessarily be a completely bad thing. The other thing you didn't mention about GSPP is that it is extremely quant-heavy, which should be noted on the pros side. I agree that Berkeley would be a good choice for environmental affairs, but I'm not sure its the best choice if you're considering an international career, even with all the positive qualities it has. (location, quantitative emphasis, world class university, great faculty, career services, etc.)

At Berkeleys visit day they were saying you could move around and still be eligible, so I think you are correct.

I was under the impression that all of that info was coming via email. Is that not correct? I emailed him last week and that's what he said so maybe their plans changed?

I felt exactly the same way to be honest. I mean, with USC throwing out money left and right and them having their visit day on the same day as Berkeley's, I'm not sure how UCLA can even compete without giving out more funding. From what I've heard their career services aren't as strong as either Berkeley or USC and their alumni network is probably also not as strong as those two either. I'm not insulting the university as a whole, its a really great school, but I feel like the School of Public Affairs isn't reflecting that greatness with these small offers...

I got a letter from Luskin yesterday and in it they mentioned receipt of a "Luskin fellowship" for like $1,000. I'm not sure if there's any other funding offers forthcoming, but I am assuming that any funding you receive is probably mentioned explicitly in the letter you got already. I don't think anything more will come from graduate division, although I could be wrong.

I just got an email from UT saying that "a decision had been made on my application" and then when I went to log back into the status check system (which earlier said I was accepted), there was a link to download the acceptance letter. Does anyone else who got accepted know where the funding information is? Did anyone get funding? I couldn't find any mention of it in my letter, so I assumed either I didn't get funding or it would be coming later. Anyone know the answer to this?

I also got into the MPAff program. Kind of weird that they didn't send out any notification emails or anything.

To add to this discussion about their recruitment process, I did get a call today from a first year student at Goldman asking if i had any questions. Did anyone else get a similar call?

I called Evans to find out yesterday when they were planning on sending out acceptances and they gave a very generic "decisions are forthcoming" statement which is kind of annoying. I tried to get a better idea of their time frame but they said this week or next week... I'm not sure they've gotten through all of them yet.

Haha that's the modern day version of "walking the line" to the mailbox and seeing your big or small envelope isn't it?

I tend to agree with what you said. I'm sure Berkeley's strongest resources are geared to working in either the Bay Area or maybe in Sacramento. However I also think that most of the top policy schools have a pipeline into DC so I wouldn't let that be a reservation about considering Berkeley or any top program. If you want to work in DC, I'm sure all the policy schools can help you with that. Other than that, geography matters, as OnEdge stated.

I'm obviously not a current student there, but I went to one of the pre-application visit days at Berkeley and there were a couple of things I noticed. One is that if you're applying to schools like Harvard or other private schools out in the East Coast, I'm sure you're going to be disappointed by the facilities and some of the showmanship in terms of marketing that Berkeley does for its program. I've seen this myself when comparing the three pieces of paper that Berkeley sent in their admission "packet" to the two massive, full color brochures that USC sent in their admission packet. There's no question that Berkeley's facilities and marketing pales in comparison to those top tier private schools for whom they are competing for talent. I'm sure the HKS facilities are world class, while Berkeley's public policy program is basically two houses which looks unimpressive to the outside visitor but kind of encourages a more team/group-oriented, homely feel to the program. However, when you see the quality of the faculty and the actual curriculum of the program, you will see what makes Berkeley's program so strong. They really made me feel like going to their program would give me a strong skillset and allow me to get a better job and help solve policy problems. I was also impressed at their placement rate, which is something like 95% for their grads after finishing the program. Whether their facilities and admission materials are pleasing to the eye or not, Berkeley is the greatest public insitution in the world, and their name means something. Goldman grads are able to land jobs and make an impact in their fields of study, and that's what we're ultimately going to graduate school for. I wouldn't hold some of these minor admission related glitches against them, because you have to realize that Berkeley is a public school and the university as a whole is struggling with budget issues. However, this does not impact the brand of the school and change the fact that the people at the program are some of the brightest minds in the country. These people (both faculty and students) help make Cal one of the best schools in the country, even if its not the prettiest.

I called them yesterday and they said they are going to start sending out acceptances this week. They told me by the end of the week. If you are really anxious you can call them and they can tell you your status. She asked for my last name and more or less told me I was in.

If you don't want to wait for the SPPD packet and you know you got in (so you have nothing to lose) you could try calling SPPD admissions and asking if you received any funding. There's no harm now that you're already admitted. They're not gonna throw you out just for asking a question.

I'm not sure if you're aware of this, because they haven't really announced this in any emails or anything, but there are actually two events for USC. Most people on these boards are talking about the Dean's Merit event on March 25th, but there is another general visit day on April 8th. I'm not sure which day you were referring to when you said you couldn't make it, but I just wanted to let you know that there is another event on the 8th of April. Not sure if it helps you.

Kind of a weird question to ask. Its not mandatory obviously, its just depending on whether you feel comfortable in a particular program. If you don't visit, how are you supposed to know that? In my case, I've already been to Berkeley and liked it a lot, but I've never been to USC in my life and so I'm going to both open houses just to get a good comparison before deciding between the two schools.

For those interested, I called UCLA's admissions office today to ask what their time frame was on sending out decisions, and they said they are finalizing decisions and will be sending out letters and emails by the end of the week.

I really don't think it has anything to do with last names, as my last name begins with "R" and I got an acceptance on Thursday. Right now the only thing that seems consistent is that people are getting rejected via email and accepted via snail mail. (International students are the only ones who seem to be getting email acceptances) Also, if you get an email from them asking for some kind of transcript or missing piece of your application (as I did on Monday/Tuesday of last week) then your chances of getting accepted seem pretty good. Other than that it seems pretty random. If you haven't heard from them via email rejection then I wouldn't get too down. You can still get an acceptance letter in the mail next week.

1 point isn't a whole lot of data, but my admission was received by snail mail, which confirms your theory. It seems like they're doing rejections by email and sending actual mail to accepted students.

After a LONG time of anxious waiting, I got my acceptance packet in the mail today. Pretty excited. No funding offered but I live in the Bay Area so tuition isn't THAT bad as it is. Let me know if you have any questions.

I honestly wouldn't put much stock in what it says on the online page. I got admitted on Thursday but the online status didn't say anything about a decision coming soon or anything. It just had some generic message up there. As far as your chances of getting in, SPPD has a 70% acceptance rate based on last year's numbers. Keep your head up, I'm sure you'll hear good news soon.

I'm not sure if we're going to hear from Goldman this week. Most of the people who heard from GSPP last year got notice in mid-March, which is consistent with what they stated in their email correspondence. Still, it would be nice to hear from anyone who does hear from them before then.