Mal83

The Godfather trilogy...holy mackerel now that's a way to escape. God I love it. The Office House Andy Garcia movies...this man has helped me remain almost sane throughout the application and waiting processes.

I mean I'm not sure how I feel about it either, but the bottom line is I have to do what's best for me because no one else will. I'm sure schools deal with this sort of thing all of the time. There are just too many factors and sometimes deadlines aren't going to mesh. I'll just have to cross that bridge when I get to it.

Wow...that is really strange. I'm pretty sure you are the one that's supposed to decide what program is best for you. Have you called them to get some clarification? I sure would because I also applied to the International Development program and that's what I want a Master's in, but I haven't heard yet. I mean I guess it's much better than a rejection and perhaps if you get in there and decide that it's not what you want then you can switch. But still that's just odd.

This is interesting because I've been wondering what to do if I get an offer from George Washington University at the end of May...that's right the end of May. How am I supposed to do this? GW is my dream school, but I absolutely cannot decline all other offers. Well, just yesterday I received an unofficial acceptance to George Mason (my safety school). I should get my packet next week. And I'm still waiting to hear from American University. Theoretically, even after accepting the offer from either of these 2 schools my decision will be an easy one, should I get an offer from GW, I'm taking it! However I have a big issue with financial aid, I'm dependent on it. Let's say I get into American and I accept, they start the whole financial aid process and I get my loans and they're all ready for me. What happens to that aid if I check out of American at the end of May? I asked over at GW if I'll have a problem getting loans so late in the game and was told that I would not, but I didn't ask what would happen if I have financial aid already from another school.

Just have to ask...would you really turn down both American and George Washington for George Mason? Don't get me wrong, I'm psyched to have finally gotten some good news and I'll be happy to attend should American turn me down, I was waitlisted for GW. What was the deadline for your program? Mine was March 15, I submitted in the middle of January but was told a month and a half later that nothing would start happening until after the deadline, which I found discouraging. I think some departments over there do it on a rolling basis, but mine does not. I don't know if my application was just at the top of the pile or if it was because I was in touch with the coordinator about admissions claiming they didn't receive my letter from the Peace Corps about my foreign language ability (a requirement for global affairs) or what. It was just nice to be at the top this time, I got my waitlist notice from GW back on the 11th, which made for a pretty crappy day and waiting for American was until yesterday getting to be rather painful. I'm still really hoping for acceptance to American but the good news from Mason has certainly taken the edge off. But in your case I wouldn't be too discouraged if you've been accepted to both of those schools.

I'm taking this as a good sign from the Global Affairs program coordinator: "I hope you are doing well! We have just started making decisions and you should receive a very exciting letter in the mail sometime by next week!" And this just after my application being processed 2 days ago! I only emailed to find out when I can expect to be notified of a decision and got that response. They move fast that's for sure, very refreshing.

I just used the number 300 for simplicity's sake, I have no idea how many spots they have.

So they just started looking at the second batch? Man, then those in the 3rd batch are going to be waiting a while still. I feel that if the batches corresponded to decisions then they would have said as much. Admissions has no reason to lie to us. Although we just don't know if there is some sort of quota or cap for each batch or not, I mean if they have 300 spots and accept 200 from the first then the other batches have fewer spots to compete for, but who knows how they do it. When I emailed 2 days ago I was told I can expect to hear from them by the first week of April, I don't know if that person who answered looked me up or not because I didn't specifically ask about my status so I don't know what batch I'm in, early April I think is just when they'll finally have it all done. So I'm trying to relax about it for now since we know that the first batch is done they won't get anything else out for a least a week, and by relax I mean not getting too depressed when I get home and find nothing in the mail. And I also keep reminding myself that April is just around the corner.

I heard from one 2 weeks ago to discover I've been waitlisted and they won't be able to tell me anything more until the middle of May, George Washington University is my dream school so waiting this out will be fun. But I'm still waiting on the other 2 schools: American University and George Mason. I should hear from American within the next 2 weeks. I emailed them a few days ago and they said that decisions are still being made and they're made in 3 batches so just because others getting acceptances now and you haven't heard doesn't mean you should assume it's a rejection. George Mason's Global Affairs program had a March 15th deadline and didn't touch the application until that day hit. They just processed mine yesterday. So just imagine how many more weeks it will take to hear from them. I'm probably looking at late April for this one. But I'm hoping to get into American and then I won't have to think about waiting for George Mason for another month. That would be nice.

yeah, that's a good idea, if you don't make it in you could always ask admissions for ways to specifically strengthen your application. Plus if you do have to apply again next year you might want to choose a safety school. To what specific programs have you been applying to? ID? I know for GW's ID program a background in economics is something they look for. You do have some real positives though, so maybe you can remain cautiously optimistic. I got a C in one of my major classes and it was devastating, I hated the professor and I know he didn't like me and as an upperclassman at a small school you don't really have too many options, so dropping it in exchange for something else wasn't an option. I'm pretty worried about it. Like that letter will send up some sort of red flag. I really don't know how much weight the GREs have, it's different for every school and every program. For some programs it doesn't count for anything and some there's an absolute required score. Then it probably depends on the individual applicant, like a very high score can help to offset a lower GPA or something like that. My scores are just OK, the first time I took the the test it was a disaster, but the second time I did much better, much better being a relatively OK score, although my writing score fits right into these schools' averages. One of my fellow returned Peace Corps volunteers got accepted into GW's Security Policies Studies program last year with a GRE score in the 1000's which is a good 200 points below The Elliott School's average. I don't know what his GPA is but I scored higher on the GRE and was waitlisted. I basically know that if I didn't have the Peace Corps experience I wouldn't have a chance at GW or American so relevant work experience can really push you ahead. Have you thought about PC? With some schools you can do a joint service and Master's degree, American is one such school.

Well, you know it just depends on the total package, if you have no work experience but if you have excellent academics and extracurriculars that are relevant than you just might make it in. And of course your recommendations and purpose statement count for something too. How did you do on the GRE? To where else did you apply? Not that I'm some admissions expert but I've been digging around the internet and forums like this for a while to find as much out as possible and some people who've gotten into top schools have surprising stats. Maybe lower GPAs or not so great GRE scores, but they must have had something to set them apart. You just can't tell until you get that letter, I'm always reevaluating my stats and trying to compare myself to others, despite the fact that there's no point to doing that now. I've also noticed that some who have been rejected by this top school or that one have gotten into American. I'm hoping that's me too. I've been waitlisted by the Elliott School so I feel like at the very least if I'm good enough to potentially earn a spot there than I shouldn't be too far off from an acceptance by American. It's a loose connection, but it's all I have to go on right now. I've also applied to George Mason's Global Affairs program, not exactly International Development which is what I really want, but it'll do in lieu of anything else. George Mason is definitely a safety school, but I'm still nervous because there are just so many applicants that some will have to be left out no matter how qualified. They literally just processed my application so it'll be a good 4 weeks before I hear from them. For GW I wasn't confident but I was hopeful only because I was a Peace Corps volunteer and that experience is directly related to ID. But my undergrad GPA (3.35) and a lack of microeconomics are what waitlisted me, I'm sure of it. I'm slightly, and I mean ever so slightly more confident about American because I believe that Peace Corps volunteers receive special consideration for the ID program. I think in general American is more in tune with the Peace Corps than GW, but I'm still really anxious because like everyone else around here I want to be at one of the great schools and I just have nothing to do but wait while post after post pops up about getting accepted. But if decisions are still being made than we still have a chance and within a few weeks we'll all know for sure.

Maybe the batches correspond to the time your application was submitted and then processed. They always say the sooner you get it in the better. I submitted the last week of December which wasn't all that far from the deadline and one of my recommenders didn't get my letter in until literally 7 hours before the deadline, and I received an email saying that my application was incomplete like 2 weeks later even though it definitely was not, the lady told me it wouldn't push my application back or anything but that could have landed me in the last batch. So who knows, but the fact remains that they said decisions are still being made and I don't have to assume that because I didn't hear last week like a lot of people have already that I'm on the reject list.

This is the response I just got from SIS...."Admissions decisions are still being made and all decisions will be sent via first class mail. You can anticipate hearing from us by the first week in April. Please let us know if you have any further questions." And I specifically asked about the western part of the country...so obviously they're not just mailing in waves but also making decisions. Ok, that makes me feel a little better. Hope that makes things a little easier for those also out here.

I'm also emailing them, but not specifically to ask about my own status. I don't know if I can handle a "oh sorry, you didn't get in" email. So I just asked if all decisions have been made and sent out yet, particularly out west since it seems that almost all of those posting here with decisions are from the eastern half of the country. I just need to get a better handle on when to expect. The waiting is driving me nuts.

You know when I heard that Elliot does the emailing thing I thought that that would be like cruel and unusual punishment because you get that email then you have to go to your account then click the link and wait for it to pop up, sort of like waiting for your GRE scores to pop up on the screen after the test. I do NOT like that. But now, after all of this waiting and reading these posts where lots of people are getting their acceptance packets I actually would like to be put out of my misery. I read somewhere around here that they send them out in waves and from what I've seen so far only one person on the west coast has heard, but it was for some special dual program or whatever. I'm kind of glad the weekend is just about over, things will get going again.

Well my Global Affairs application has finally been processed, although they say they did not receive one of my documents. But luckily this can easily be rectified. It's been so long I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever hear from them. At this point I'll take the little progress that's been made.

Yes, everything you guys are saying has been true for me too, is anyone going for Global Affairs? I submitted my application in mid-January and my personal application page said it would take 4-6 weeks for processing, I was under the impression that meant 4-6 weeks from when I submitted, not from the deadline. At the 6 week mark I also emailed and was told simply that my application would be processed after the deadline. I don't understand why this has to be so painful, I submitted all that time ago and I still don't even know if they have all of my documents. And I also thought it was very odd about the financial aid thing, but even before being set up online, you're even assigned a financial aid counselor. I had a question so I emailed the financial aid office and they told me if I had any more questions to direct them to "my counselor." Strange. It is a very late deadline, don't quite get it, but my theory is that maybe because they're a bit less selective they will have a large number of accepted applicants and don't have to worry much about loosing a few to the more selective and competitive schools. I don't know, but they should have been at least processing as they came in if the deadline is so late or now that the deadline has passed update that message a little....sheesh.

I'm in Arizona, haven't gotten anything yet. I'm anxiously awaiting a thick packet in the mail, although I suppose I could also receive a reject. I was waitlisted for GW and the only other school I applied to was George Mason, which is my backup. Nothing has been changed on my VIP page and there were people in other forums who said they were getting emails. Maybe they're international students? Oh the other thing though is that on the SIS admissions page up in the top right hand corner it says that applications for the Fall Master's class are still being accepted, why would they still be accepting applications? They didn't get enough at this point?