hudwa

It's a joke man. Jeez, everyone's at their wits end waiting for their SIPA result...

ARE YOU SERIOUS. Why do you toy with me, SIPA, why??

Congratulations!!! After so little sleep, I'm sure it's great to wake up to this news

Could some of the other waitlisted applicants give a rough rundown of their backgrounds so we can all have a good idea of who we're being selected against come June/July? I'll start off: Program Applied To (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.): MPP/MA/MIA Schools Applying To: Yale Jackson (rejected), HKS (rejected), SAIS (waitlist), SIPA (forthcoming) Undergraduate institution: small, public college Undergraduate GPA: 2.29 Undergraduate Majors: International Relations Study Abroad: 3 month volunteer program in South Korea GRE Quantitative Score: 156 (74th percentile) GRE Verbal Score: 164 (94th percentile) GRE AW Score: 4.5 Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 4.5 (graduated 12/07) Years of Work Experience: 4.5 Describe Relevant Work Experience: research associate at Asian foreign policy think tank in DC; editor at Japanese government's premiere language service contractor in Tokyo, worked closely with MOFA, MOD, METI, MOF, BOJ, NPA, Cabinet Office, MLIT, MEXT, MHLW, etc., traveled to international conferences including Beijing bilateral summit, COP15 lead-up meeting in Bonn, COP15 in Copenhagen, Pittsburgh G20, APEC 2010 Summit in Sendai, etc. as part of Japanese government delegations, and edited various government white papers; currently speechwriter at Japanese mission in the US. Languages: English (native), Japanese (professionally proficient), Punjabi (conversational), Urdu (conversational) Quant: Intro to microecon, intro to macroecon, calculus 1, currently taking intermediate microecon; wrote many summaries of economic policy lectures and discussions, and organized closed-dooor discussion group of professionals and academics in Tokyo on economic and policy issues. Strength of SOP: Straightforward, concise and direct. Described my background, my motivations, my career goals, my suitability for the program and the program's suitability for me to acheive my goals. Stayed well below word limits. Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): Professional recommendations were very strong, from past supervisor (think tank director), current supervisor (deputy chief of mission), and former client (trade promotion officer of a European embassy in Tokyo). Academic recommendation with the professor who I stayed in touch with and for whom I wrote my bachelor's thesis.

Waitlisted. SIPA is my first choice, but I had no confidence in any of my grad school apps, so I'm actually pretty happy about this. The June/July schedule really is ridiculous. Now the wait for decisions to roll in from SIPA. Congrats to everyone who got into SAIS, and hang in there for one more day my fellow SIPA applicants!

5:15. Calling it. Everyone please get some rest and prepare yourselves for another day of nailbiting and anxiety. Till then.

Where is dcenergygirl??? She's the one who told us that results would be released today lol

Same here. I (unknowingly) invited him to be my contact since we excahnged emails on an international program. He accepted and checked out my profile. Let's hope that's a good thing for us!

I'm waiting till 5:15 then calling it and logging off this crazy, ulcer-inducing forum.

I didn't apply, but I heard from a friend and saw on the results survey that many have already heard back from SFS.

Does anyone have historical or admissions office info on what time we can expect SIPA's decisions to start rolling in tomorrow?

You've come this far already. Go the distance!!

It's 16:30 in New York right now. That's only 30 minutes guys.

erry3779, keep nailbiting through the night buddy. Even if results don't come in today, make it an epic night of frantic email, forum and results survey updating that you can tell your gradkids stories about. Make us proud

Big congratulations to you guys! I didn't get in, but I'm still hopeful for SAIS and SIPA!

wantgrad, a previous commenter said that his friend, who works with SAIS admissions, told him. Regarding SIPA's admissions statsitics, SIPA does admit lots of sponsored foreign students who don't even ask for aid. I know several foreign government officials who studied at SIPA under sponsorship from their home government, though I know just as many of these types of MA candidates who are at or who went to SAIS. I wouldn't be surprised if there are a greater percentage of government-sponsored MA candidates at SAIS given its smaller size than SIPA and its location.

Least surprising statement of the year.

So for SIPA, the enrollment is 18% of applicants. Which means that the admittance rate is higher than that, since not all of those who are admitted will actually enroll. I remember seeing on a stats sheet for the different colleges and schools at Columbia that SIPA had an acceptance rate of over 40%, but I haven't been able to find that spreadsheet. I've also heard here and elsewhere that SIPA's acceptance rate is quite high compared to other IR and PP/PA programs. Any info on how many applications SAIS receives so we can put the enrollment numbers in a little more perspective?

Oh god I hate admission rates for the schools I applied to. They're so low and scary.

I think you're right. Matt Clemons, their Admissions Director, used to be the Admissions Director at SIPA, and he's a blog and RSS fiend. It sounds perfectly reasonable that he'll say something on the blog before decisions are announced.

Is this a guess or do you have this info from someone who knows? God, this is driving me crazy.

My plan is to let him know as soon as I've sent in a deposit. Then it's pretty much set in stone and you can lead off with "I've just paid my deposit to X school, the school year starts in September and I'm planning on leaving work on X day." That said, everyone has different dynamics with their bosses and coworkers, so you probably know best what your boss is looking for from you, especially if you know him well enough that he wrote you a recommendation. Good luck!

Yeah I'm good too on applyyourself. Looking forward to seeing everyone's results on the results survey, hopefully today.

Rejected. Bad grades (2.29 GPA from a small public college, 156Q/164V/4.5W GRE), but several years of experience in Tokyo with the Japanese government and attendence at various international conferences (G20, COP15, APEC Summit, etc.). Was looking for a more professional program and figured Yale was a long shot anyway. Good luck to everyone!

For real. Frankly, in my personal essay, I didn't write about "[my] commitment to public service and [my] exploration of the world and of [myself]." I wrote about what I did, what I want to do, why I want to do it, and why SIPA and I go together like peanut butter and jelly. It was straightforward, concise and dense. Are they looking for the kind of flowery, self-involved ramblings you find in undergrad applications to Sarah Lawrence and Bennington?