Grndhog89

Hello all, So I am in what I think is a predicament. I applied to GMU for their MPA program and have been accepted. However I realized that their Public Policy program is much better, and I initially thought that they were in the same college. (College of Humanities and Social Sciences). It appears that SPP is on its own. So do you think I can just ask them to transfer all of my stuff over to SPP and await a response from them? The deadline is June 1st for domestic applicants apparently. What are the chances that I'll have to redo everything just to apply to the different school? Will they just send my stuff over without much hassle? And are my chances good of getting into SPP if I already got into the MPA program? Any thoughts/experiences would be much appreciated as I am a little anxious over my mistake in which program to apply to. ~Grndhog

Cool. It does, thanks! I have been in contact with him for a while. He said my application is on "hold" and is being reviewed due to some error they had in Feb. that set their whole process back 2 weeks. When I told him its my top choice he said he will "make a note in my file". Sound good/promising? I can share more of my correspondence with him if that helps you give me more insight. Thanks for the response!

Hey all. So I heard from the Director of Admissions at Penn State an update on my application status via email. And I quote: "I checked your file and your review was finished and you are in “hold” status.Essentially, it means your file will be held and reviewed again in two weeks (or less), as final decisions are made." So this essentially means I am wait-listed, correct? Am I interpreting this correctly? Thanks.

Does anyone know anything about Penn State and their School of International Affairs? They're making me very anxious. @Mal83: Yea I like Mason for the reason that its close to DC as well. However I guess this doesn't affect me very much because I have grown up right at its doorstep. But I can see the logic in wanting to go to a school centered around DC. How do you feel about Mason? I feel like its graduate programs are not terrible, but not close to other universities like GW, American, etc. However I still see it as a step above some. Thoughts? And congrats! My Mason package was full of a ton of goodies as I could hear on the phone from my parents the other day.

On a second note I just got my letter of admission to Mason's MPA program today. This is a huge relief because their program actually offers a concentration that is germane to what I wish to do career-wise. Or at the very least it unlocks the doorway to a job in the DoD. So depending on what the last 2 schools say, maybe see you around?

Hey, thanks for the response. I have also resigned myself to the fact that I got rejected from American. Just looking through all the searches in results and seeing all the acceptances tells me there will be terrible few to hand out come this third and last batch. However I may just be projecting my cynical view onto their possibly un-biased process and the fact that we're in the last "batch" could mean absolutely nothing. Who knows. I have been to Mason's campus a couple of times. I am from the area, it is where I grew up. There is nothing special about it to be honest, and the campus is fractured. Overall, Northern Virginia is not my favorite place in the world when speaking in the context of a college town/area. Who knows you may like the feel of Mason's campus, I just know that personally I am not a huge fan.

Has anyone else applied here for Fall 2011 or know if they have started mailing letters out yet? This is probably one of my top choices aside from American U and I can't seem to find anything on whether or not they have started mailing acceptances. ~Grndhog

Hello everyone, I am new to this board. I saw grad cafe when browsing through grad school reply times. I myself am quite anxious about hearing back from graduate schools. I would like to ask you all your opinions on certain matters and if you have heard from any schools. I'm applying for an International Affairs program at Penn State, American U, and GWU, as well as an MPA program in GMU and JMU. I filled out and completed all the applications around late December, but the recommendation letters weren't in until probably the first week of February. I have heard from JMU and GWU (accepted and rejected, respectively). However I am waiting on hearing back from PSU, GMU, and AU. I see during searches that there have been a lot of responses for AU but nothing for PSU's School of International Affairs. I mean nothing, nada. I scrolled through all 14 pages. So I called American and Penn State today to determine the status of my applications. Penn State, the Director of Admissions was out but a lady took down my name and number. My question here is this doesn't hurt my chances that I am just inquiring about when a response will be mailed out, correct? (Note: I did not use any charged words or show any pre-conceptions). When calling American I was told that my letter is on the way this week, and should expect it by Friday or Monday at the absolute latest. Does this late mailing from American mean I was rejected, or is this whole "batch" theory correct? Thanks for hearing me out fellow prospective grad students. It is nice to know there is somewhere to vent my tensions. ~Grndhog P.S. My apologies for the verboseness of my post, but I had a lot to say.