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@mrs12 I'm so sorry to hear that. I'm disappointed that you're not able to interview for something that you're deeply passionate about this year. :\ And your optimism is in the right place! You're a very young and so far accomplished person, and you'll go far beyond this moment. For sure.

Wow. This is amazing!!! This is some great data aggregation. Thanks!

Nothing yet. Maybe it won't be today.

For its "prestige," Fulbright doesn't really provide a lot of money. It's a bare necessities type of grant, though it comes with a lot of connections professional opportunities during the grant and post-grant.

@mrs12 I actually didn't tell anyone I was applying to graduate school, and didn't really get any mentorship/help on choosing programs. I just looked on the U.S. News rankings (I know, that's not the best way, but it was a good starting point) and then researched more about the top ranking programs. I don't think any program would serve me badly, so I gave it a go by myself mostly. However, I did ask for a lot of help from previous fellows, some mentors, and the writing center at my school. And I think @srahsrah response may have been for another topic? Since looking in their basic biography on the left side they're in a Psych PhD program which is different, and I'm not sure if NSF funding would play into Rangel/Pickering.

Tomorrow may be the day for Pickering! *fingers crossed* for @mrs12 and everyone else who's applying this round.

About government jobs, I feel you. It's difficult to get because there's such a high number of applicants out there and competition is brutal. I'm coming up my third year after my Boren and (fortunately) I got a fellowship that will allow me to work with USAID right after graduation so that's how I'll be fulfilling the requirement. Without the fellowship, I honestly wouldn't know what to do or where to start.

One of the staffers said they have an internal deadline around March 23rd to the 25th, and will notify people shortly after. I think they may say April 1st to give them some breathing room in case it takes slower.

It sounds like SAIS gave you some funding, and that SIPA and HKS haven't responded to you yet. Let's say that all of the funding amounts are the same--where would you go? And what went into the decision? I was originally 60%/40% HKS to SIPA, but now I'm 95% HKS because they made the experience so personal for me. SIPA was much more impersonal, which is expected since they have a much bigger class size. NYC sounds like it'd be really fun to live in, but I don't think Boston/Cambridge area would be completely horrible, especially because there are so many other universities there (Tufts, MIT, BU). I'm still going to see what HKS will provide in terms of funding, and we'll see if my decision wavers.

I just received an email telling me that I received some funding for the year. $56K over two years. Did people get an email too?

@loveglove Did you request a travel stipend? They had an option on the portal for you to type in your name. And I wouldn't be too quick to think that this means no money in terms of tuition.

I'm going to visit the campus on April 7th, 8th, and 9th to get a feel for it. But at this moment I am 95% sure I am going. The enrollment fee is $750 (not as steep as SIPA's $2,000) and I definitely cannot just pay that on a whim, so I emailed the financial services office and the director of admissions to see if they can waive it for Payne Fellows. They said not at this time, so I just asked MaRaina (the Payne's Program Admin) to give them a call. It's worth a shot! This year I only applied to two schools (actually, when I applied to public health programs I also applied to two schools) and I was blessed enough to get accepted into both of them. I was comparing the two, so I called SIPA to ask about a couple questions I had regarding their program. I asked if there are services for multi-cultural/disadvantaged students, if they have a travel stipend for students to come visit for Admitted Students' Day, and what advantages does SIPA have over HKS. And essentially they said, "[no, no, and we have great students and staff]." To be fair, Columbia SIPA does have a high international student population so the first and second question may not apply to them as much. HKS was so sweet also to send me a letter with a handwritten note on the bottom, so that definitely helped seal the deal for me. Haha, I have a soft spot for personalized handwritten notes. @chethedoctor What programs would you be applying for with Payne?

Wow. That experience seems horrid! It doesn't seem like they're keeping you in the loop at all, and that they are inconsiderate of the applicants' time and energy. When I send emails to my graduate programs they respond almost immediately or in a couple hours at most, and so I'm surprised that they would take months at a time to notify people when the application has rolling admissions. However, I would say that maybe there's something that is distracting them away from your application. Maybe they are receiving an unprecedented amount of applications or maybe they're waiting a little bit longer until other schools release their admissions results first. In either case, I would take this as a sign that their team is not very efficient and I would reconsider going even if you get interviewed and accepted. Do you have other options?

@chethedoctor Wow, you must be amazing if you got the Fulbright to the UK! I just checked and the acceptance rate is 3.4%! That's lower than Harvard University's! You're going to be a great candidate and Payne Fellow, for sure. The Qatar Foundation sounds like a very competitive research scholarship, but I believe that they will have a very, very difficult time not selecting you.

Thank you so much! I hope that you hear good news back from the research grant soon. Is it Fulbright? And you know, I love Fulbright, don't get me wrong, but Boren gives you much more money and are slightly less competitive in some countries.

Also, I received a blog comment about a Thailand Fulbright recipient a couple days ago. Though I suspect it was for a research grant and not an ETA. A shout-out to the Thailand applicants! I hope all of you receive good news soon.

I applied three times before getting the Fulbright. It takes a lot of emotional energy, but it's worth it in the end. Keep your head up and be on the look out for other opportunities throughout the year. When I got rejected I thought that my life path was going to drift down to failure, but life is actually working out pretty well. And I am, dare I say it, grateful that I had some time to reevaluate my life without Fulbright those two years. You're going to be a great re-applicant! Don't give up. It just takes a lot of tenacity and strategizing. And we are always here to support you!

@naso I've just bought my airline tickets and I'll be seeing you there! HKS was so gracious to offer me a small travel stipend or else I wouldn't be able to afford the $375 plane ticket on a whim. Also, did people sign up for the Black Policy Conference? I will definitely attend on Saturday after the New Admit Day.

@mrs12 Yes! It seems like most people on this topic have been hearing back good news upon good news, even the seemingly impossible news like @ZebraFinch's Pickering. I am crossing all my fingers and toes for you! As I said before, they have an internal deadline of the 25th, and will be sending results next week. Take a deep breath, go work out, or eat some chocolate cake, and enjoy the rest of the week!

I was talking to the other finalists and it seems like everyone is really into Georgetown and not very many people prioritized SAIS. Also, the Georgetown buildings in D.C. are gorgeous. You should do a site and class visit to both of them and ask current and alumni to ask what their experience was like, and ask what they would want to change about their experience to make it better. Also, have you looked over the course offerings to see if they're what you want? And I second that. If there are applicants who want tips on their essays or interviews, feel free to contact me. I am more than happy to return all the help that I've gotten from previous fellows to future applicants.

Haha, sorry! Thank you so much @ZebraFinch for guiding me through the process. You've helped me achieve one of my biggest dreams! I am entirely grateful for your advice and support here on the Grad Cafe! Have you decided on which school to go to yet? I know you were leveraging your Pickering for some more funding.

There has been quite a number of sub-forums that touches on this subject, and the overall consensus is that: Unless you know (not reasonably believe) that you will be making over 60-80K a year immediately after graduation, it may be incredibly tough to live while paying the $1,200+/month in loan payments. You can defer or put your loans into forbearance, but then it collects interest. You can have Income Based Repayment (IBR) and it will only take a chunk of your paycheck, but it will take a lot slower to pay back all of your loans (if you ever pay it off). If you enter public service for 10 years and make 120 eligible payments and sign up for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, it's possible to have a large portion of the $100,000+ loan forgiven. However, as we've seen with some policies, when there's a different party/president/leader it can change without notice and the government may be at no obligation to honor something that their predecessor agreed to. One caveat: whatever is forgiven will be taxed as earned income in addition to your own income! Here's a great quote from a NYT's article, “Let’s say your debt has grown to $180,000 over 20 years, and by that point, you’re making $120,000,” he said. “If $180,000 is being forgiven, then you’re looking at paying taxes on $300,000 in total income in one year. At that point, you’re over the $250,000 income category, my friend.” In the end, a public service position is not going to rake in the money, so many should think twice, thrice, even four times before getting an MPP/MPA with a crippling amount of loans to support it. Especially if one hopes to have a family, buy a house, and other big purchase items down the road. I want everyone on here to be healthy and happy, and to calculate the future in a dispassionate way.

Super fail. I was trying to rile up some confusion on the Grad Cafe so that I could sweep in dramatically and say that... I got the congratulatory email yesterday at 6:18PM CST! AHH! ? ??

HKS hopeful, I wouldn't say that. But thank you for saying so. I was very humbled at the acceptance, and it was definitely a reach school for me. They made the experience so personal for me, so I wanted to know if other applicants are experiencing the same. And I really hope that you will hear back from HKS to get off the waitlist soon! How are you feeling so far? What are your plans if there's no more space for the year at HKS?