piquant777

App #s seem comparable then to 2008: SFS (MSFS) [2008]: 29% (268/922) SFS (MSFS) [2007]: 26.4% (220/834)

I think it's possible to hang out on campus Sunday and continue living with the hosting student, but that's a good question. If you haven't already, join the Google Group. An FAQ document was sent out today that was pretty useful and comprehensive. The group also includes the email adds of a bunch of current students running the Hosting Program, so I'm sure they'd be good people to ask.

I'd love to go to help me make a hard decision...but it really depends on how much they can subsidize my ticket from across the world at the moment :-/

I am personally meh on SIPA as well, so much so that I didn't apply there. If you look at the thread with admissions rates (granted they are 4-5 years old), SIPA is significantly less selective than the other programs and many view it as Columbia's cash cow. As you've noted, they are not good with financial aid and on top of that, living in NYC is insanely expensive. I think it sounds like Fletcher is a great choice for you, and they offered you some money. Your mom went there so you know what a great community it is. jeewai, did you apply to grad school so that you could "intern, work full time" during it? That seems like an odd priority to have for me, since you're expected to do that before and after school but not during it. I think Fletcher's location gives it the great sense of community that some of these other schools don't have because everyone is running around off-campus stretching themselves thin with being in NYC or DC. Talk to some alums that admissions will put you in touch with; they all have only glowing things to say, especially about the campus community there.

Don't tell them until you yourself are sure. What if you love the job and want to stay? And no, most people keep that kind of information to themselves in job interviews. Unless you're giving up your deferral spot and starting all over again to apply, I don't see why it matters that most people work for 2 years if you're already in somewhere and want to go (in a year).

Congrats on getting to make a really tough choice! I agree that all the alumni rave about Fletcher and everyone there seems to unanimously love it. SAIS is great if you want to network in DC. I obviously can't tell you what to choose but here are a few more obtuse questions that I would ask myself when considering these schools: 1. Is a campus with full facilities important to you? If so, SAIS doesn't really have one as it's just a few branch buildings in DC and most of Johns Hopkins is in Baltimore. You won't have your own gym or lots of fancy facilities, etc. (at least from what I hear from alums) 2. Is writing a thesis appealing or not to you? At Fletcher most of your second year you will be doing this because you have to. If that's your thing, then great. If you'd rather do a practicum project or something less academic, then consider this factor. Most theses are 100+ pages long and involve intense amounts of work. 3. Is it important for you to pick a development concentration? Is development what you actually want to do? If so, you might be at a disadvantage graduating from SAIS but not from IDEV, which will churn out a lot of grads competing in that field for jobs. That's about all I got for now. Hope it helps!

You beat me to it

All that is very well-reasoned, but still stands that I think these numbers are real (as the years in which they were taken were all specified, all 4-5 years back and before the effects of the crisis, as you aptly mentioned). That is, vis a vis the claim that they were just made up. Agree that if schools release the number of total applications, it becomes easier to conjecture their real selectivity today assuming their total capacity and yield have stayed similar since 2007-8. If apps have gone way up, then obviously so has selectivity.

Sure. I have a 3.6 GPA from a top school and above 96% on all GRE sections. I have 4 years of WE, all in the non-profit sector, 3 years in developing countries. I speak two difficult UN languages fluently in addition to English. I specialize in a kind of obtuse region of the world and many of my college internships, extracurriculars and work experiences have related to advancing my knowledge of the region and language. I'm committed to public service and going back to working in development so I think that shone through in my SOP and recommendations. If you would like more specific details or feedback on apps (if I can help in any way), feel free to PM me.

The numbers look very accurate to me and are in line with things I have seen elsewhere. I would guess, according to admissions rate calculation standards and common sense, that the "accepted" numbers would include only those waitlisters that were ultimately accepted.

Wow. That is way more specific and interesting an answer than I had ever hoped to receive. How did you get this? This info should be its own thread.

I'd be interested in seeing real admissions rates for all these schools. I can certainly imagine that schools doctor their public numbers in their favor (i.e. publishing #of applicants vs. #matriculating, without saying how many were accepted or yield). I actually heard somewhere that SAIS and Fletcher admit around 40%; does anyone know if this is true?

Congratulations! Your enthusiasm is infectious, and I think you should go to Harvard Wait and see about funding and then bargain with them if it's not what you want. HKS is a great place and you will rock it there. Way to go!

Hi MYRNIST -- you're making me blush. I never told anyone my stats, but you can ask me offline. кстати, у нас много чего общего ) Congrats on your acceptances too, I'm sure huge funding packages are coming your way!

No - in fact, it's a really smart idea. You should always get some work experience before grad school. 1) It makes your goals for grad school clearer; 2) It makes you infinitely more employable when you graduate. Defer your acceptance for a year and go for it.

Congrats, pete! I'm sure you won't have to turn down WWS Almost everyone gets a full scholarship + stipend, don't worry. The amount of the stipend depends on your previous income, which for most of us is very little. Therefore huge stipends. Hope they give us the info asap! I'm torn, think WWS is my second choice at this point after the Gtown MGHD program, but there's no sweet stipend there (though I was lucky enough to get a full scholarship). I am trying to figure out how to bargain/ask for a match without being really obnoxious...

They sent a ton of emails and reminder emails about three additional fellowships you could apply to. I think they were all for US citizens, so if you are international maybe that's why you weren't notified. I think two of them were related to security studies and diplomatic/government services respectively, and one was an open essay contest.

This happened to me too! I think they copy/pasted the wrong letter to all IDEV admits or something. I've def taken micro/macro.

Woke up to a lot of good news. In at WWS, SAIS IDEV and got the Board of Overseers Scholarship at Tufts and full tuition + 20k stipend from Jackson (?!). Congrats to everyone with these amazing admissions results! If anyone wants to talk about HKS, I took a course there and know a lot of people currently attending, feel free to PM me.

Got into IDEV as well. It's a really great program! Don't want to wait another 1-2 weeks for finaid info, but I guess I can hang in there a little longer

Congrats, everyone! I'm also in at WWS. Went to bed in Asia and woke up with lots of good news! I don't know if I'm going though because I really like the new Georgetown program. When do we get funding info?

MYRNIST, you are like the Simon Cowell of Gradcafe.

That seems like an ironic reply, as USMA didn't even apply to Harvard and got into Indiana. Oh well. USNews rankings seem to be widely used for law and business school, as well as undergrad. I don't know why their Public Affairs rankings are so off...agreed that no one seems to take that particular ranking seriously.

Yeah I'd guess they prob accept twice their target #, def less than 100. I have absolutely no intention of ever getting a PhD and I don't want to spend my masters doing research, so I don't think it's the right program for me (as I said on the Yale thread, I applied to express interest in a joint degree and I think it did help my app at the other school, which I'm still waiting to hear back from). But if academia is your thing then it's great! Too bad Blattman left this year, haha And agreed that SIPA is def not a superior choice, but for much different reasons.