MSW11

I would ask for more. It never hurts to try. At an info session, the Asst. Dean of Admissions for University of Michigan said never to hesitate to contact the school about your financial aid offer. They deal with this stuff all the time, as awkward as it may seem, I think you should ask. $7,000 isn't that much. I would be curious to know what you do when you have a good offer, but are curious to know if you can get more...not that I have an offer yet, but i would wonder about that myself.

I'm sorry, I meant scholarships and grants, the free stuff, which I'm all about. I think they have three awards that people can apply for. Other than that, from what I found out, there is nothing else they offer other than loans. For an out of state student - that's no good. I was thinking of applying for one of the tuition/research fellowships. I think the deadline is April 1, so I'm not going to rush into that. I should hear back from most of the schools by then and have a better understanding of where I stand. Do you know something I don't know?

My application as a whole came along pretty well. I used a lot of what I had already put together for other schools, but my GRE scores, well, let me just say, I'm confident in saying that they are probably worse than yours. Maybe if we all have bad scores, we'll all get in! I applied to University of Washington too, but they don't offer any aid to their students, and since I'm out of state, I don't think I would want to pay full tuition. Lucky you.

How did things wrap up? I applied also. I wonder when they will start sending out decisions...end of february/early march?

SUNY-Albany is about $13,000 per year for out of state students, and about half of that for in-state. They are also ranked 12th by U.S. News & World Report. I find that interesting since they rank NYU at 22. I haven't heard much about Albany's program, but they also have a particular scholarship in the second year that interests me, so I have applied and would consider their program over some of the other schools that might cost me $25,000 + year.

I think my material was received around December 20 or so, but I didn't receive any kind of email, so two weeks ago I called to find out if they received all of my material. They checked it in the system and it was all there, so they pushed it through to have it reviewed. I think this happens periodically - maybe weekly. I might try calling to find out if it was received. After that they said 4-6 weeks, but I heard back two weeks later.

Got my first admit today - to Boston University....have no idea what the financial aid package will look like though - in the mail.

UC Berkeley is very fast with updating their files! I submitted my app one day and mailed off my supporting documents the same day - I think it was the very next day (or day after) that I received an email from the department advising me of having received all of my materail...just waiting on GRE scores. Hopefully, they start reviewing as quickly as they start putting the files together....

I just got all of my application material in during December. Some schools have updated their websites, while others still show some material as missing. Overall, I feel good. I'm not too anxious - yet, but I certainly would like to get at least one early decision. I'm mostly concerned about what kind of funding is available. While I feel I have a good chance of being admittied - I feel it could possibly vary, and it may be a more expensive school that I gain acceptance to. Anyone apply for the eary app deadline at Michigan? I'm curious to know when decisions are expected... I see someone has already received a decision from one school...when was this application submitted?