DefinitelyMaybe

I wouldn't necessarily expect a formal letter. I was thinking that for $75, I should be able to call someone and speak to them or get a quick e-mail. I like your idea about getting feedback on how and when an application was weeded out, though.

Dinali, I completely agree with your post. Belowthree, I do see your point, though, about how giving out reasons can basically be an invitation for a student to argue with you. Plus, if a student felt your reason was b.s., they could make a big stink about it and possibly even pursue legal action (which I'm sure some folks are crazy enough to do ).

They sent a newsletter out today to all the admitted applicants and it said funding offers will be sent out in Mid March and they are making offers based on GRE/GPA, how rigorous your undergraduate classes were, work experience, etc.

East of Eden, great post. I know a few people who attended Brown for undergrad and one who lived in the Providence area for a short time and they all highly recommended that I apply. Their endorsement of the school and city meant a lot to me, as they are persons of color and I am as well. When I was researching schools to apply to, I was extremely turned off by KSG and UC Berkeley. I found them both to be extremely unhelpful, they never had real faculty answering the phones (I don't always want to speak to graduate students), when I did get someone on the phone they didn't know the answers to my questions. It was a huge turnoff. So I chose not to even bother. Grad school is all about the departments and how you get along with them and if they were this disinterested and unorganized on the phone, I wasn't too keen on sending them my money and application materials. Brown was the opposite. I was able to speak to the Department Chair on two or three occasions, he and other staff were helpful, answered questions, etc. I felt good about applying there. I have to be honest: It IS discouraging to see that people are being admitted to Taubman because I sent my materials in in mid-November and have not received a decision yet. It gives me the impression that they are either REALLY on the fence about my application and I'm wait listed without my knowledge or my rejection letter is headed towards my doorstep. lol But the fact that Brown is a new program and isn't on the "end all be all US News Rankings" :roll: didn't matter one bit to me. Whether I am admitted or not, I would still encourage people to consider applying there.

As I sit here waiting for these rejections or acceptances to come in the mail, I've been thinking. Is it considered inappropriate to ask a school you were rejected from why you were rejected? Has anyone ever attempted to do this? If so, were you successful? The way I see it, these AdComs are not looking over my applications for free or as a charity case. All of us have paid pretty hefty application fees, which is hard to do during this recession. If I paid $75 or $100 for you to review my application, then if I'm rejected, I think an explanation for said rejection is the LEAST these schools could do. I haven't been rejected yet, knock on wood, but this got me to thinking. Any thoughts?

I got word from SPEA (Indiana Bloomington) about a week after I sent my materials in in November. They promise a quick turnaround, though, so I expected that. I applied to two other schools who, by the looks of this thread, have begun notifying. I've called them both and they said my applications are still in review. So either they are extremely on the fence about me and are waitlisting me without my knowledge or my rejection letter should be arriving any day now.

Honestly, no. Not in this economy. Even "Haahhhhvuhd" would get a no from me if they expected me to pay for everything with loans. Their "well-respected" name and "unmatched networking opportunities" are no guarantee that I'll have a well-paying job when I get out of school. I know their endowment lost a few billion, but they aren't hurting that much. If they are, they should do like Princeton and admit a smaller amount of students but give them all full rides. If this were an MBA, I would think differently. But for a degree that is primarily for folks interested in working in government or the non-profit sector? It's not worth it, to me. I (hopefully) have a long life ahead of me and I fully intend to travel, get married, buy a house, have kids, all that stuff. I'm not borrowing the equivalent of a mortgage for the name of a school and jeopardize not living the life I want. 100k in loans just to say I went to Harvard...yeah right!

Congratulations! My score was closer to 1000 than 1200 and I still got in! In fact, I even called one of the schools and told them my score and asked if I should retake it and they were like "That's ridiculous! For what?" The GRE is NOT the end all be all. A lower score may take you out of the running for merit aid offered by the school, but it won't override other awesome things on your application. And if a school you applied to DOES place that much emphasis on it, they're a bunch of lames and you shouldn't go there anyway.

That is ridiculous. :| He is insane for turning down a full ride at American, especially since I hear they are ridiculously stingy with financial aid. I borrowed money to go to school, but since I stayed in state and didn't borrow until my junior year, my UG loans are pretty low by most standards (less than $9,000). If I can keep my total educational loans under $30,000, I'll be happy. That can actually be paid off in my lifetime. $100k, though? No way.

I think the original poster is right, though. I'll say this about my own score: It was not above 1200, but I've been admitted to a school I've been interested in for two years, has a great reputation in my field, and is my top choice. And trust, my GPA was nowhere near what the majority of people on this board say theirs is (I had a pretty terrible freshman year and spent the rest of college building it back up). Now, I only applied to three schools total and I haven't received word back from the others, but does a mediocre GRE score mean you won't get in anywhere? Not in the least. You might even get into your top choice. I happen to have made excellent use of my time out of school and I've gotten some awesome work experience that not many grad school applicants can say they've gotten (without being specific). Plus, I took the time to develop a great relationship with one of the grad school faculty members. As a working professional, I didn't have time to sit up and study for this stupid test for hours everyday or pay money equivalent to my rent to take a class. I have a life, thank you very much, plus the test IS b.s. and is not indicative of how successful you will be as a graduate student. I gave it the attention it deserved: the bare minimum. And whaddya know... I'm going to grad school in the fall.

I certainly do not recall us having President's Day off in college. Here I am thinking I can call one of my schools that's been slacking on notifying folks, and they are closed today!

I was accepted to Indiana (SPEA) back in November. I sent all my materials in the day before I went on a nine day Caribbean Cruise during Thanksgiving week. When I got back, I got an acceptance like two days later. Would've had it sooner, but it was Turkey Day. Still waiting to hear from the other two schools I applied to. :roll:

I completely agree with this. The economy is in the toilet right now and will probably still be in the toilet by the time I finish graduate school in 2011. I only applied to three MPP programs, but I have already promised myself that if I receive little to no funding, I'm going to put off graduate school for the time being (I have a pretty great policy job in DC right now and I'm pretty certain I could be promoted). I think it is extremely unwise to borrow $40-$70,000 for a public policy degree, but that's just my opinion. There is more to life than graduate school and there is life after graduate school; I refuse to be burdened down by outrageous student loan payments that will ruin my quality of life.

I was admitted to SPEA back in November about a week after my application was sent in. I've never visited there before, but they have been awesome with their outreach to me as a potential student. I live in DC so I attended their colloquium they have every winter and I really liked the other students I met there. I was talking to one of them about my housing concerns in Bloomington and she took the time to mail me a packet of housing information for the city of Bloomington. I also received a phone call from one of their students who reached out to see if I had any questions. I continue to be impressed by this school! I'm still waiting to hear from two other schools I applied to, but even if they say no, I'm perfectly content with going to Indiana.