Helpplease123

I don't think you need to worry too much about getting new and fresh ideas. It feels like a big deal for us, definitely, I never thought i'd be in a position to decline offers but this happens to schools every year, they are used to people going other places or taking students from programs themselves... As long as you are polite and let the grad school itself know, as well as any POI who made an effort in some way on your application (not just someone you asked some questions though). A brief, "sorry i'm going somewhere else but it wasn't an easy decision, thanks for your help" should be fine. In fact, I would recommend you do this soon, rather than spend a long time trying to craft something more in depth and personal. A program I declined a few days ago emailed me back a lovely message and also mentioned exactly that - letting them know asap makes their lives a heck of a lot easier.

Did you get an admissions packet from Price as well as from the general grad school? It was in that letter.

I just got an email about rsvping for various events - was that the one that should've mentioned funding or is it separate?

Have all my decisions now so thought I’d post a profile! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Program Applied To (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.): MPA Schools Applied To: USC Price, NYU Wagner, Columbia SIPA, UNC-Chapel Hill, UT Austin LBJ Schools Admitted To: USC Price (1/2 tuition), NYU Wagner (haven’t heard about funding yet), UT Austin LBJ Schools Waitlisted: Columbia SIPA Schools Rejected From: UNC Attending: USC Undergraduate institution: Top 10 in the UK Undergraduate GPA: 3.5 (I guess, we don’t get GPAs – 2:1 in English terms) Undergraduate Major: Psychology Last 60 hours of undergraduate GPA: no clue.. Study abroad: Austria (6 months) GRE Quantitative Score: 159 (82%) GRE Verbal Score: 165 (97%) GRE AW Score: 5.5 (97%) Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 4 (I spent 6 months studying abroad and 6 months in Central America after graduating and before starting working) Years of Work Experience: 3 Describe Relevant Work Experience: None of it is “relevant” really, except my current role but I started that after the application process... People here had me panicked about that but it turned out ok! I have 1 year w/e in events, 1 year in management (in retail) and 1 year in an operations type role, also in retail. Languages: English (native), German (advanced), French (average) Quant: Currently taking the following online: stats, Calculus Intro to Macroeconomics , Intro to Microeconomics…had only done stats otherwise and had a C in that from undergrad. Strength of SOP: I thought it was good but then again, reading Gradcafe made me panic as the format didn’t seem to follow what other people had done…Basic structure was: why I’ve become interested in this particular nonprofit field, what I’m doing now that ties in with it, my specific short and long term goals, what skills I need to build still and how the school will help me do that. I feel like I should’ve talked about what I’ve achieved up until this point more but at the time thought I should look more to the future, having said that, who cares – I got in where I wanted to! Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): I was pretty worried about these…had two work ones which I think were probably decent, albeit slightly old (as my most current supervisor mysteriously disappeared a couple of weeks before deadlines…) My academic reference was a big concern as undergrad is very impersonal here in the UK, especially at my very big University in one of the most populated majors. That being said, I decided to ask my professor from one of my online classes to do it and he agreed luckily, even though we’d only communicated via email and I was only half way through the class. I am incredibly thankful to him for doing that, as I obviously needed a third reference and specifically an academic one. My University had said the only information they could write in a reference was already including in my transcript essentially. Other: Had a lot of stuff in my applications that worried me – less strong LOR, no mention of my successes so far in my SoP, almost no quant skills and I horror of horrors accidentally didn’t waive my right to view my recommendations, which posts on Gradcafe also led me to believe would spell my doom! Having said that, I had good GRE scores, decent GPA, I think my SoP was well written and I have quite a unique and specific end goal which may have been interesting to programs. Ultimately I wanted to get into USC and having done so with some funding to boot means I have come out of this experience a very, very happy person!

Seconded...I don't think this admissions result is going to affect where I go (especially after putting us through this painful wait!) but I just want to have all the information so I can make a final decision and move on!

The Admissions Office has been fielding many calls and emails regarding decisions. We have not forgotten you. We began releasing decisions on Wednesday and continue to release decisions as they become available. If you have not heard from us yet, it does not mean your application is in a better or worse position. It only means that the Admissions Committee did not complete their evaluation of your application yet. We hope to provide decisions for every submitted and complete application by the end of next week. Thank you for your patience. ------------------------ End of next week!!!

Submitted Date: 1/3/2012

I haven't had any emails from them about other courses either...

I'm British too! Half tuition funded by University, half tuition loan from parents... have been saving up for a little while for living expenses but definitely won't be an extravagant two years

I'm not sure how strictly true that is, for example, I went to the highest ranked University in England for my undergraduate degree field (unrelated to public admin/policy/ir) but I would be far more set up for any job in any field, particularly abroad, had I gone to Oxford or Cambridge. I believe that outside of the country in which the school is in, lay prestige can be just as important as how the school is viewed in that field. Also because there are variations in the admissions difficulty or students attending or quality of classes taken outside of your school e.g. working with some of the professors at Columbia business school you're getting access to a whole new, incredibly valuable network...It's probably a personal thing too, going to a generally well known and well regarded school would definitely matter to me but other people would view it as far less important.

In terms of brand name alone (putting any kind of program quality debates aside), Columbia is far more well known and well regarded in Europe and I imagine the rest of the world (excluding the US where I imagine John Hopkins is equally known)...so, I suppose it depends where you want to work after graduating?

Thank you both for the responses! My goal is nonprofit management also, USC seems to have a strong focus in that area but as you mentioned, so does NYU. There also happens to be a professor at both schools doing research in the area I want to go in (not all schools do), so again makes it difficult to differentiate. If I don't get funding from NYU then I think it will be quite a clear decision, so I guess right now that's the thing to wait for... Is there some truth to the statement that they are East/West coast versions of each other? Funnily enough the international employment statistics seem to be higher for USC which surprises me as New York seems like the more international city, I definitely don't want to rule out moving back to London in the future. For quality of life, LA hands down, the weather is a massive draw but it would be easier for family/friends to visit me in New York and i'm sure it would be a fun place to live as well.

From what i've read USC seems to have the more established MPA program and the curriculum sounds amazing - on the other hand NYU seems to be a much more prestigious and well known University. I have a half tuition scholarship for USC but no clue on funding at NYU yet...I would rather go to USC for personal reasons but they both are a good fit in terms of my interests. I'm international so I don't know too much about how these schools are viewed in the US - is there a big difference? Also waiting to hear from SIPA but I suppose if I got in there and had decided on NYU, i'd probably just make the switch. Would really appreciate any thoughts on the two schools! Thanks!

In too!

Congrats!!

I didn't apply for IFP but am still waiting

Yeah the USC funding stuff all comes with your acceptance packet from Price, rather than the Grad school itself - they send one by DHL and one by Fedex, so hopefully you shouldn't have to wait too long between the two.

Definitely sounds like good news! Congrats!! I think I remember seeing this mentioned somewhere else as being preceded by a question regarding a missing document... Did you send in all your financial stuff?

LSE is a brilliant school and well known all over the world... plus long distance relationships really, really suck...

Define normal - maybe us manic refreshers are the majority ... Probably not though...

It's true - I often find myself forgetting that their are other applicants out there who aren't on gradcafe

Very cheesy I know but we're at a point now where although we're still anxiously waiting on some schools, a fair few results have come up. I just wanted to say how impressive everyone here is with all their admits and funding, at really great schools! So although now it's stressful waiting for the last few decisions and making choices about where to go (because lots of people here are lucky enough to have that "problem" ) Also need remember how well we did getting to this point, congrats everyone - I think we're going to rule the world one day!

Well in that case it's probably lucky we aren't after the same "opportunities"...

I haven't yet... but there are quite a few people who have

With submission status: not submitted underneath that?