anxiouslywaiting

Thought I would start one up for Fletcher, since fair amount of people have already been admitted and are probably thinking a good deal about the pros and cons (as I am). Pros: -Any academic within IR will probably tell you that Georgetown SFS and Fletcher are the best IR schools, because they focus exclusively on IR, but are still comprehensive within that field (I think SAIS loses a few points there for being so econ-focused) -Great atmosphere, students seem to love it there and have a true sense of community (when I visited they had all come back from a giant group ski trip) -Great network, Fletcher alumni are everywhere and really eager to help grads -Very flexible, you can really build your own education based on your interests and preferences Cons: -People will be angry with me for saying this, but my biggest reservation would be that Fletcher has a "brand" crisis. Once you move beyond IR academics and people who are really in the know about IR schools, Fletcher simply does not have the same name recognition as other schools. I know this from my own experience since I was accepted in December and have since received a lot of blank stares when telling people I was thinking of going there. And this was not just with my family and friends, but also with people in DC who work in IR as well as everyone I've spoken to abroad. This lack of recognition is really undeserved, but it could influence my decision as I want to have people look at my resume and automatically respect and recognize my credentials. -Location. Basically, its not in DC or NYC. -Tufts campus/Medford area are nothing special.

One other issue in terms of my admission at GSPP is that both my undergrad academic work and almost all of my work experiences are in IR, so I wonder if that would hurt me in terms of admission to a broader public policy program. Although I did work for the Obama campaign on domestic issues and did AmeriCorps...

So I've gathered that WWS is the most competitive of the programs discussed here, with a 10-15% acceptance or something like that. Kennedy is speculated to be somewhere in the mid to high 20%s, although may be a little lower with rise in apps this year. It seems Georgetown and SAIS are a little less competitive than HKS (just in terms of admit rate), while SIPA is a little less than those two (acceptance rate above 30%). But what about GSPP? I haven't heard much about that program in terms of how difficult it is to get in. I'm posting my stats below so anyone can comment on me specifically or just in general. We can also discuss other programs which i haven't listed of course. My stats 3.75 GPA (Top 10 School, Ivy League, International Relations Major) 730 V 710 Q Several internships with state dept, foreign policy think tanks, Obama campaign Solid SOP and LORs

Got a response. "We will be mailing our decisions in mid-March." The waiting continues....

I noticed a posting for a GSPP Public Policy PhD rejection. In past years, the PhD decisions came out at the same time as the MPP decisions. Does this mean we might be hearing soon? I emailed them a few minutes ago and hopefully they'll respond. It seems like programs may just be sending out decisions early this year (as with the MALD), perhaps because they know it's a difficult time and they want to give people the extra time to make decisions? Perhaps this is just wishful thinking....

If anyone would like to help me engage in some over-analysis.... I received an email from a member of the WWS admissions staff asking for some additional materials, like an extra copy of one of my transcripts, my grades for the last semester (i am still in school but sent in my first application before my fall semester grades came out), etc. also she asked that i fax everything directly to her rather than to the generic address for graduate application materials. does this mean anything? I learned that one of my friends who also applied and is also still in school did not receive a request for his fall grades. so can i interpret this to mean that they are seriously considering my app? second, i already got into fletcher early notification, but i found it interesting that they handed out some acceptances this past week, before the usual March date. is there a possibility that other schools will do this? just wondering....