hudwa

Whatever. I'm abnormal, crazy pants, borderline catatonic, whatever you wanna call me. Alls I know is I wanna go to SIPA and this ambiguity is killing me. My stomach was doing somersaults last night waiting until my projected second batch release time (freaking 1:00am) and then forcing myself to refresh one more time before passing out at 1:30. My body is so done with this week, having to juggle work and grad school anxiety. I am hoping and praying that all of us hear back from SIPA tomorrow, that we all get in, that we all get fully funded plus stipend and that when we do waltz onto campus, we all celebrate because all that refreshing paid off.

Maybe it's going to be another 1:00am release time like the first batch? Last year the first batch went out at 6:00pm, and then subsequent releases came in spurts. But there's not much time left in today...

To add to the external funding sources point, a significant number of SIPA students are sponsored by their company or government, especially foreign civil servants. Like greendiplomat mentioned, they were not courted, they are simply attracted to SIPA for the location and SIPA likes them because they bring diversity of experience and professionalism to the student class. I know that sounds like it was taken from a brochure, but this is what I've heard from current and former students. On top of saving fellowship and aid money for those of us without external funding, the sponsored foreign students do add to the educational experience just by being there and taking part in student life.

There is one lady working in admissions who is particularly flaky. I called because I was having a technical problem with something on the online application, and after I describe this very mundane issue, she bursts out laughing, then composes herself and transfers me to someone else. I have a feeling energypolicy23 got her on the line lol

Thanks for the information and encouragement, guys! It is very much appreciated. Knowing that the decision has been made and they're just making sure everything is perfect before they release the results actually sets me at ease. The time for prayers is over. We'll all know if those prayers were answered soon enough.

I think you're right, HDPFDan, for whatever reason it takes them a couple of weeks longer than other schools, but they don't want to lose people who get caught up in the excitement of a SAIS, HKS, WWS, etc. offer of admission, possibly with funding. So, like any good seller, they keep you on the hook for as long as possible. I don't blame them for it either, but I'm going to talk to somebody about whether I can sue the SIPA ad com for the ulcer I am most certainly contracting right now waiting for my SIPA decision.

Bump.

More insight from Matt Clemons regarding how they review applications, which I refered to earlier, and which might help us understand why we haven't heard back yet: http://blogs.cuit.columbia.edu/sipa/2011/02/16/admission-decisions-piles-of-files/ "Pile #1 is representative of applications where there is unanimous agreement among Committee members. I would say that about 60-65% of applications fall into this group. Pile #2 represents those where the reviewers of the file did not entirely agree and they have asked for additional review by a Senior Member of the Admissions Committee prior to making a final decision. Approximately 20-25% of applications fall into this category. Pile #3 represents those who the readers believe should be considered for first year fellowship awards – approximately 15-20%. These files take longer to process because they have to go through additional rounds of meetings by the Fellowship Committee."

Did some historical analysis. Here is the late, great Matt Clemons' (he's not actually dead, he's just head of admissions at HKS now) blog entries during decisions season 2011: http://blogs.cuit.columbia.edu/sipa/2011/03/ Seems that 65% of decisions were sent out in the first batch on Monday March 7, after which another 10% were released by March 14, and the rest were completed by March 21. That means they took two full weeks to roll out all of the decisions last year. Guys, we may be in for a long, long wait.

Yeah, a previous poster said that he applied at the last minute and heard back in the first batch. I'm inclined to the theory that applications fall in three groups: 60-65% easy yes or no decisions, 20-25% are on the fence and require more deliberations, and 10-15% are considered for funding which requires more meetings. I heard that these results are released in that order, as they are decided upon. This explains why nobody has been offered funding yet, and it makes sense that my application is a little controversial since my undergraduate transcript is a total disaster, but my work experience is quite good.

I generally stay away from saying "you should/shouldn't go here" because everyone is different, but bottom line, unless you want to work in Europe or somewhere in the developing world, or you want to get a PhD, do not go to LSE. I have heard many horror stories from LSE graduates who came back to the States and found that their very high quality education was essentially useless when it came to getting a job. The network is very thin here and the degree simply isn't reognized like it is in other parts of the world. You seem to know all of SAIS's strengths, but you need to understand the very serious weaknesses of LSE in the US job market upon graduation.

This was already discussed a few posts ago. Let me give you the short answer: US News ranking = astonishingly stupid, Foreign Policy magazine ranking = much more accurate. See post #414 of this thread for more details.

It says accepted on March 15. Frankly, I can't help but obsess over one guy reporting his decision. This is my first choice school and I've been rejected and waitlisted by all the others.

First batch came out at 1:00am yesterday. So of course, last night I stayed up till 1:30 hoping for a repeat - no beans. UPDATE: As of 10:50 EST, results survey shows one international student accepted to the MPA program. I'm keeping my eyes peeled in case this is the start of the next batch.

I'm not getting a damn thing done at work today. It's been the same for the rest of the week. When will this end??

nouveau.ukiyo, I applied for Japan Studies at SAIS too. What are you doing in Yokohama now, if you don't mind me asking, and what's your applicant pprofile like? Are you applying as an international student? I lived in Tokyo for a few years working with the Japanese government. I got waitlisted, and I was told that SAIS was desperate for Japan Studies candidates, so I'm just a little surprised that another (seemingly rare) Japan Studies applicant got dinged from attending SAIS in DC, though the Bologna program is nothing to sneeze at either. I have a friend who graduated from SAIS in the 90s and spent a year in Bologna, but pursued Japan Studies and now has a successful career as an analyst in Japan.

No word yet from SIPA. I'm giving it till 01:30 and calling it.

The first results began rolling in around 01:00, so I'm willing to stay up till 01:30 tonight to see if people begin hearing back from SIPA. At that point, I'm going to bed, having set a very loud and very long notification sound for my phone should I get the notification email while asleep. Anybody else burning the midnight oil in anticipation of a repeat of last night? Probably you too, Coloradical?

Foreign Policy has a much better ranking available: http://www.foreignpo...asters_programs It's based solely on a survey of opinions of international relations scholars. Though it doesn't talk about public policy programs, and basig the ranking on that one measure isn't exactly scientific, it is a much better ranking than anything US News can come up with. Here it is: 1. Georgetown SFS 2. JHU SAIS 3. Harvard Kennedy 4. Princeton WWS 5. Tufts Fletcher 6. Columbia SIPA 7. GWU Elliot 8. American SIS 9. LSE 10. Chicago CIR

I never said the opportunities were on par, though comparing opportunities is an apples and oranges proposition, anyway. What I said was "high-quality and class-leading". The public policy and international relations graduate programs and Columbia and Harvard are as dominant and respected in their respective fields as their business and law counterparts. The fact that all the schools mentioned (IR/PP/PA, business and law at Columbia and Harvard) have world famous faculty members including Nobel Prize winners and former government leaders, heads of state, judges and prominent businesspeople, I feel completely justified saying that the quality of the education across these three very different types of institutions is about equal. I guess it's easy to let your "rah-rah my MBA eats all" mentality get in the way of rationally thinking through a statement and what it means. But I guess you don't learn how to do that in business school, do you?

A word on why admissions to IR and PP/PA programs are less of a numbers game (and thus more accomodative of applicants with less than stellar academic records) than the big professional grad schools, law, business and medicine. SIPA seems almost proud of not releasing statistics like acceptance rate, enrollment yield, average GRE, average GPA and the like, while taking equal pride in voluminous and easily accessible post-graduation employment numbers. The earlier revelation of less than impressive acceptance rates and the lower than stellar GPA numbers for accepted students that we are now seeing could be the reason; it would take away from the prestige of the institution to advertise 52% acceptance rates and average undergrad GPAs of anything less than 3.8. Another reason could be the nature of the programs and what they prepare you for. By and large, employment in government (in civil service, at least) and NGOs is less about prestige of one's credentials and more about what one has done or what they can prove competence in. Regardless of what a person's scores are, if they have worked their tail off volunteering or doing any other type of work pertinent to a particular NGO, they are better placed for employment there than someone without the requisite experience. But the answer might also be economic. The positions at top IR and PP/PA schools may be in simply less demand than the spots at top business, law and medical schools. If you don't need as stringent a GPA, GRE and work experience regime to choose between students, then there's no need to advertise such statistics or create numerical rubrics. While there's no doubt that an education at SIPA or HKS is as high-quality and class-leading as CBS/CLS or HBS/HLS, why taint the formers' reputations by admitting that it is simply easier to get into those schools than it is to get into the other professional programs, at least from the perspective of GPA, test scores and overall acceptance rate? This was all thought up in the moment while thinking and overthinking any shred of information I could find about SIPA over the alst few months and particularly today. Would love to hear anyone else's thoughts while we all lie in patient agony.

OregonGal, you make a good point. Although the sample size is small, you can still make a comparison between SIPA and the first few accepted applicants from its so-called "peer schools." By that measure it holds up quite well, at least in terms of accepting more students with less than stellar GPA numbers (I don't look too deeply into GRE numbers because how important they are depends on lots of factors like international student status, desired program, etc.). I was trying to figure out a behavioral reason why possibly hidden high-GPA candidates did not report their scores, but I can't think of any; one would think that those with better grades would want to brag, especialyl if that could be done anonymously.

Although most respondents on the results survey don't include GPA and GRE information (I have no idea why; if you don't include that information, your post is absolutely useless) those who did share their results thus far show something interesting. The GPA numbers for most of the accepted applicants are in the low 3's, and several rejected applicants are in the high 3's. It can only point to SIPA favoring extensive work experience over undergraduate performance. This gives me a measure of comfort having an objectively bad GPA but lots of experience with a foreign government while living abroad. I hope some of my fellow nailbiters feel the same way.

Yes, SIPA is my first choice school. After being waitlisted at SAIS, I really hope SIPA comes through. Fingers crossed!

wwsapp, it seems that a lot of updates were made to the results survey before 10:00 EST, but there have been almost none since then. That leads me to believe the results are not "rolling" but being released in batches, with all results in a batch going out simultaneously or in quick succession. I am totally overthinking things, but it's good to know I'm probably not the only one.