LadyinWaiting

Me too! Congrats everyone! It's also nice that their decision deadline is Apr 20 instead of Apr 15, for those of us waiting until the 11th hour to decide. Current Ford students and previous applicants, does anyone have any idea what their merit aid policies are like, eg a few big scholarships, many smaller scholarships, etc? Also, is it possible for non Michigan residents to gain resident status in their second year of the program? As I recall the website was really equivocal on this. Thanks!

Wow! 11 drafts! I'm impressed. As someone who's also a compulsive rewriter, I agree with the above advice. I would also say not to seek advice from too many people, but just maybe 2-3 people whose judgment you really trust, including one in your field if possible. But most of all, there comes a point at which you just have to tell yourself that you've done your absolute best and call it finished. After a while, revisions don't help that much, especially if you're not changing the fundamental content of your statement. Good luck!

I'm guessing a week from today. (Again, managing expectations) Odd that they would send them on a Sunday, right? Maybe the admissions office was working straight through the weekend, evaluating all those policy-oriented baton twirling vids.

There are so many factors that comprise a school's "affordability" that it's hard to gauge from a simple list of tuition prices. If you're looking strictly at dollar amounts, then in the US, generally speaking the cheapest option will most always be the PP/PA school of a public university in the state where you're resident (and there are many excellent options in this category as well). However, I see that you're in India, so if you're a non-US citizen that probably won't help you. At any rate, I don't know if there's a side-by-side tuition comparison of the major programs out there, but one would be easy enough to compile for yourself with a web browser and a couple of hours to spare. I would advise looking at financial aid trends, which are just as important, if not more, than tuition rates. What percentage of accepted students receive merit and need based aid? What is the dollar amount of the average award? Are there opportunities for teaching or research assistantships? Are there special scholarships for international students, or students who match your profile in interests and work experience? How many loans does the average student have to take out? Some schools, like USC, have high tuition but have very generous aid policies and are able to give out full or half scholarships to a large number of students, while others are notoriously stingy. If you're looking for a good deal, the best advice I've heard is to find programs that are reputable, but whose accepted students have average grades and test scores that are somewhat lower than yours. Good, but not "top-tier", schools will sometimes offer great packages to entice students who they know will boost their institution's prestige. Another aspect of affordability is a school's job placement record. How many students are employed after they graduate, and what is their median salary? Many people are willing to go into debt to go to a big name school that has a great employment record for its grads. How much faster this kind of thing will actually help you repay your debt is debatable, but still something you might think about. Anyway, please keep in mind that this is all very subjective and coming from a non-expert. Hope it helps. Good luck!

Yep, this process is definitely crazy-making. Obviously I know nothing about you, but that seems like a pretty bold move. What made you decide to apply only to HKS?

Not necessarily! Going on Arkibarki's post above, it seems like they're doing merit aid in a couple of batches. But yeah...at least from these fora/my experience, it seems that many/most of the merit awards Gtown gives out aren't substantial enough to take much of a chunk out of the predicted $60K(!!) cost of tuition +living in DC projected by their website.

Thanks, blingem and greendiplomat, I didn't even know I could do that. I set up the address, which works fine when I send an email directly from my own account, but the filter's forwarding doesn't seem to be working when I send myself a test email from another account. Might have to go with what greendiplomat suggests. Alternately, it would be great if the email arrived before I went on vacation so I wouldn't have to mess with this. But I'm working on managing expectations... Thanks again!

Oh man, worst timing EVER for my charmingly rustic (read: internet-less) getaway. Would it be too pathetic to have a friend at home check my emails and text me at regular intervals??

Thanks for your answers! Very, very helpful--definitely getting really excited about Duke. I think it's wonderful that all of the students get to have a TA/RAship; that's definitely unique among the programs I've applied to. I really wish I could go to the open house...

I was also wondering about cost of living in Durham. The website says almost $20K; granted I've never been there, but that seems awfully high to me...

Hope they get back to me, soon, too...

Yay, congrats everyone! I was also just accepted with a generous aid package. Waiting on a few more replies, but Duke is definitely near the top of my list.

Man, wish I had been reading this while I was applying. Program Applied To (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.): MPP and MPA Schools Applied To: Berkeley GPPS, Carnegie Mellon Heinz (MSPPM), Chicago Harris, Duke Sanford, Georgetown GPPI, HKS, LSE (MPA), Michigan Ford, Minnesota Humphrey Schools Admitted To: Berkeley ($5K), CMU ($24K), Duke (not sure--acceptance letter assumed I'd be accepted to an external fellowship I'd been rejected from--emailed correction and waiting for them to recalculate), GPPI ($10K), LSE (zilch!), MN (waiting on aid decision) Schools Rejected From: Still Waiting: Chicago, HKS, Michigan Undergraduate institution: Top 10 liberal arts Undergraduate GPA: 3.71 Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): 4.0 Undergraduate Major: English GRE Quantitative Score: 770 (87%) GRE Verbal Score: 730 (99%) GRE AW Score: 6 (99%) Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 4 by this fall Years of Work Experience: 4 + part time in college Describe Relevant Work Experience: AmeriCorps service with low-income youth, English teaching abroad, currently working for women's ed NGO in a developing country Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): I hate writing these things. Still, I think mine was pretty good because I had a strong narrative about my experiences and specific (ha!) career goals. Also I tried to make each one as specific as possible to the school I was applying to. Unlike a lot of other applicants, I didn't "know" I was interested in policy until pretty recently. Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): 1 academic (+1 more for LSE), 2 professional; I know all of my recommenders well and have a good relationship with them. One is an MPP grad from a top program. Other: Congrats to everyone! It's been sort of an up and down process for me as the excitement of getting accepted comes with the realization that even with my most generous aid packages so far, I'll still be amassing 10s of thousands in debt, because I'm basically broke all the time. Is anybody else experiencing this? For those of you who will be borrowing a lot, how do you plan to minimize your debt--TA/RAships, public service loan forgiveness, private sector work, fleeing the country, etc? Good luck for those of you still crossing your fingers for those last decisions...