hope4ful

Hi there - did anyone here receive a Evans School Financial Award in their acceptance letter? I just received the email from the Evans Admissions about this and was curious if there were any fellow GradCafe-ers who were honored to be one of the few beneficiaries. Thanks!

Thanks Rose! Yea, that's a great question and if you want I can ask some of my contacts what they think. My quant skills are pretty rusty (I was an Anthro major so my last real math class was 10 years ago when I graduated high school!), so any MPP/MPA program seems highly analytical to me. I know at SIPA you have to take a full year of Economics plus a Quantitative Analysis program. At their information sessions, SIPA boosted that they were quant heavy and was the only program to specifically say that you need at least Micro/Macro Econ or other math courses on your transcript (this was verbally told to me, not on their website). Of course, reading posts on thegradcafe leads me to think otherwise...I guess it is all in your own perspective. Again, I know someone at the State Department and at an international Refugee nonprofit, and would gladly seek their opinion. Maybe I'll see you at the visit days! BTW - I admit that I read through some of your other posts, and if your SO is planning to be in Boston, then that is a huge plus for HKS. MY SO and I did long distance for a year (I was in Boston, he was in Seattle) and it was stressful and I know it would have been worst if we were both poor grad students. Plus, as a couple, you can save a lot on living expenses. Ok, just a practical two cents. Don't mean to butt too much in your personal life.

So, definitely take this with this lens in mind - I was rejected from HKS, but accepted into SIPA with a fellowship. That said, before hearing from either school, SIPA was my number one choice. I too am pursuing a career in Human Rights - for me, I am particularly interested in the rights of Refugee/Migrant Workers. While I understand the prestige and incredibly talented staff/student body at HKS, I feel that SIPA has more to offer for those interested in my field. For instance: **I love SIPA's commitment to multi-disciplinary studies. While many schools, including HKS, offers the ability to take classes at the different associated schools, SIPA has integrated the overall Columbia course offering into their database providing, what sounds like, a seamless view of the thousands of class options. **Human Rights resources - HR Working Group (students), a Concentration on Human Rights, archival research (see below). **The Center for Human Rights Documentation and Research holds the archival records of several donors, including Amnesty International USA, the Committee of Concerned Scientists, Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch and Columbia's own Center for the Study of Human Rights and the University Seminar on Human Rights. Hopefully, you can make it to both open houses to get a better picture. I visited the two schools back-to-back in December and was able to get a good feeling (I was actually kind of turned off at HKS, in particular the one class that I visited was very theory based while I am looking for more practical). If you cannot make it to SIPA, I am happy to ask questions on your behalf. Either way, I don't think you can really make a bad decision as both are great programs. Speaking with professionals in the Refugee/Human Rights field, a degree from HKS or SIPA will take you far! Congratulations!

Rejected as well. Rejections always sting a bit, but I'm more than happy to now accept the 20K fellowship from SIPA. Congratulations again to all of those who got in!

Congrats to all who got in! I didn't hear either, so the wait continues.

While I understand where you are coming from and completely emphasize with how frustrated you are with this process, I really do think that SIPA has systematically sorted through the applications and are reviewing based on common denominators. For one thing, the first round of applicants all received straight out rejections/acceptances/wait lists. While with this second round, SIPA sent out the first set of fellowship offers. Clearly, they had with held those applications so that the fellowship committee could review them, and I am sure that the last 20% are being held because the committees are still undecided (both for acceptance and $$). And honestly, SIPA's job is to recruit the best proposed class for their school, and they wouldn't be such a high caliber school if they didn't give each application equal opportunity. I just received my notification yesterday after not sleeping for two weeks worrying about a SIPA rejection. Best to all of you! I'm really hoping that you'll hear soon!

I wish I could address your questions, but I thought I would reply anyway to show that there are other people on this forum interested in Evans. I can tell you that their Admitted Student Open House will be on April 6 and 7th. For us out-of-state applicants (I used to live in Seattle but now on the other coast), that doesn't leave much time.

This question requires a personal answer. I value the education at SIPA because it fits my more irregular career interests and gives me more flexibility than other MPA/MPP programs. I have also spoken with people in my intended field and was told HKS & SIPA would be ideal for future hire - well unless I want to go the IR approach which I don't. Whether or not it is worth the huge price tag, it is tough to say. I am working on external funding options (have a small amount secured) and am trying to think creatively for the rest. I might not be the best judge, though, because almost all the schools I applied have hefty price tags.

Hi policygrrl - I spoke with Admissions yesterday after being completely freaked out this weekend that there was something wrong with my application. Apparently, my application is under review, and has been, but I guess there is a computer glitch or something. It still says "Incomplete" but oh well. Thanks for the info though! I completely agree about being appreciative of SIPA's more transparent application process. In general, I think the school is progressive in terms of organization, but they have my heart so I guess I'm pretty biased.

Just an FYI, I browsed over last year's thread on Autoadmit, and it looks like admissions to SIPA at this point may trickle in with some people not hearing anything until the end of the month. The positive news is that people were still getting acceptances. I think it is best for all of those, like me, who are now addicted to the refresh button to mentally prepare ourselves for a late notification and maybe distance ourselves from the SIPA "have you heard yet?" stress. http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thr ... forum_id=3

Livinitup - wow, congratulations on your acceptances and funding packages!

Undergrad GPA: 3.6 from a top 20 liberal arts school. Last 2 years GPA: 3.8 GRE: 580V, 730Q, 5.0 A WE: 5 years Waiting: SIPA, HKS, U. Washington-Evan's Rejected: GSPP

Plate, don't give up yet! I completely agree with runaround and linden's comments, just because you got a rejection from GSPP doesn't mean you will get another. One more point to prove this, the applications were completely different. HKS & WWS have more essays, highlighting the fact that they have a different admissions process and criteria. Plus, they will have a better picture of all your great qualities. I also got a rejection from GSPP but am still hoping to get into HKS (I didn't apply to WWS) with funding!

I think what had also thrown me off was the fact that my application was listed as under review, but this is obviously longer than the "normal" 2 week after the time period deadline. I called and left SIPA a message today, hopefully I'll hear something on Monday. Better yet, maybe I'll hear good news on Monday... Thank you for the link!

Wow, good to know. Thank you for the post. Maybe my neurosis will help after all.

I only received an email from Evans on Feb. 26 notifying me that my application is complete, so I'm guessing it will be a while until I hear anything. Does any one have stats on Evans acceptance rate? What areas of study are other Evans applicants interested in?

For those of you who have not heard from SIPA, like me, what does the "Application Status" say on the online application? Mine is listed as "Incomplete", but all of the documents are listed as received so I figure that just means they haven't closed the file with a rejection/acceptance/wait list stamp yet. Of course, I think checking their website constantly and obsessing over every post here has finally made me lose all rational, and now, I'm just confused. Should I be concerned or does your application read the same?