smerd

Yeah--as a current WWS student, I fully support this view. Lots of qualified applicants, lots of luck. Don't beat yourself up about it. Some large part of it is out of your control.

Got mine on Friday. Full tuition + $22k living stipend each year. Pretty unbelievable!

In previous years HKS has had around a 20% admit rate and WWS' has been around 10%. But who knows what it is this year. Luck of the draw I guess or maybe they're looking for different types of folks at the schools. In any case, both great schools--i'm psyched! Anybody who didn't get in--don't be down on yourself. There's a lot of randomness in this process, and you'll be able to go on to a great career in public service regardless of where you get your policy degree!

Whoa! Straight up rejected! I had my heart set on this program until I got into WWS last week. How random this application process is. Heh, I am having a bit of a "you can't fire me, I quit!" kind of feeling. Congrats to all who made it in!! It is awesome program--you should be proud of yourselves! That's a wrap--Princeton, here I come!

Zourah or other current students want to comment on this? And thanks for sharing that IdeaThinker--was great! I hear nothing but great things about the student body.

Sure, and in fact I think HKS has as many or more opportunities to take electives than many other programs. I guess my fear is more about the general relationship between students and faculty/administration. Is this experience with curriculum rigidity an anomaly or representative of the overal staff/student dynamics on campus? And if it is representative, how much of a negative is that for a student's experience both in classes and in career placement?

To take our minds off the wait for decisions, I'm posting something I just read that is giving me second thoughts about HKS. It looks like HKS students are practically at war with the HKS administration: http://harvardcitizen.com/2011/02/18/hks-administration-leaves-much-to-be-desired/ The line that hit me the most is, "Quite simply, there appears to be a contradiction in an administrative rhetoric that builds us up and the day-to-day experience that leaves students feeling like an anonymous face in a statistical control group." Yes, the Harvard program has tons of resources. But in addition to competing for those resources with 200-250 go-getter 1st year MPPs (double that for the whole program), you'll be dealing with an unhelpful administration. This article makes it sound like HKS is a factory. Isn't there something to be said for smaller programs that provide individual attention and don't treat each student like another nameless face in a crowd? Thoughts on this?

Just fyi, I still haven't gotten that "official" email, which I read to mean that they are still sending those first emails to new admits.

Just fyi, I got the admit email last night but have not yet received the "official" email from the graduate school today.

Good luck to all!! If only I could sleep now....

HOLY DING DONGS BATMAN! I GOT IN! Just got the email!!! HOLY COW!

I got my snail mail packet in the mail yesterday. I didn't get any info on financial aid other than a reiteration of the initial scholarship I was notified about by email in late February. Nothing on need-based aid in the packet. Nice little handwritten note from the Admissions Dean though--classy touch.

Last year they notified on the 15th, but in both 2009 and 2008 they notified on March 11th...which would be this Friday.

Congrats!! In without even paying the fee--that is particularly impressive, especially given the UC's budget problems!

Zourah, you're on the inside--care to help a neurotic brother out? Has there been any notification to current students to prepare to make calls in the next few days? It seems like that normally happens over spring break, which isn't until week after next (I think?). Any intel you care to share?

In 2010, 662 applied and 75 entered, but the matriculation rate is not 100%--they let in more people than enter in the fall. Judging from the mass email that they accidentally CCed to 190 admits (instead of BCCing), I would guess that the admission rate for GSPP is just under 30% (190 / 660). That assumes that they got around the same number of applications this year as last year. Given that they seem to shoot for a 75 or 80 student class size, that would make their matriculation rate kinda low, around 40 or 45%.

Yeah, I would guess the same thing. If you haven't been dinged by email and you got that other email, then I would think you are in. Why would they send an invitation for "newly admitted students" to you if you hadn't been admitted?

It's per year. When they send you your packet in the mail, they'll split your amount between semesters.

Got my acceptance in the mail today too with a small scholarship ($5k)! God that was nerve-wracking! 2 down, 4 to go. Jesus, I hope my heart doesn't just give out over the next week or so...

A couple notes on this: US Federal Government is not all GS schedules. A healthy number of federal government positions are contractor positions and political positions (e.g. special/confidential assistant etc). You have basically one route to getting those gigs: connections. This isn't about the prestige of your school, it's about who you know in that fed agency. Putting aside prestige (and at the risk of sounding like a calculating jerk), I'll put this point forward for debate: the top schools are going to have more hot shots who you will meet and who themselves will be successful in 5 years. Your hot shot classmates are the folks who will help you get ahead in the future. This doesn't have anything to do with prestige of the institution, just the relative awesomeness of the student body. Every school is going to have hot shots, but the more selective the school, the higher percentage of hot shots, and the better network for the future.

My quasi-acceptance email from GPPI was on Feb 8th. In that one, they said they'd "recommend" me to the graduate school, and it also it included a paragraph with the header "GPPI Merit-Based Aid" above the paragraphs "Need based Financial Aid" and "Fall 2011 Open House Dates." The Merit-Based section told me to submit an essay within two days. I got my notification from the scholarship committee on Feb 26. I know they've done this in batches in the past, so it's possible that yours is to come. You might try giving GPPI a call. They've already admitted you, so they should give at least a little bit of info. They work for you now!

I'm in the same boat on the East Coast--no email or snail mail yet. I'm cautiously optimistic. Let's hope Monday brings good news!

Sorry, to clarify: you got snail mail from Berkeley or did you got an email?

Congrats!! Now I wonder if they'll do more rounds of email dinging.... That said, I think it is very good that they stopped snail mailing rejections--that's just mean.

Not that I think I have a great shot, but I figured WWS was a big enough deal to warrant a thread of its own. Looking back at results history: 2008 notifications were on Friday, 3/142009 on Wednesday, 3/112010 on Friday, 3/12 I think this is pretty good evidence that we'll find out next week, likely late in the week. Thoughts on this or other aspects of WWS? I'm personally a little concerned that it lacks a good selection of public management courses (compared to say GPPI or HKS).