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Coloradical, it says in the letter that there were approximately 900 applicants

Holy crap. I'm in!

Nah, dude. I submitted my application day of deadline and found out in the first round of decision releases. This may just mean you're one of the lucky few being considered for funding. Good luck!

Word. Nonetheless extremely interesting. For me, anyway.

MYRNIST, your take on current admit rates seems pretty sound, but it still doesn't necessarily disprove the ostensible accuracy for the years specified (2006-08).

In at SAIS and SIPA, out at Fletcher. Waiting very impatiently for Georgetown.

Yeah, Georgetown's the only one I'm completely in the dark about now. At least SIPA has said it'd start releasing decisions on the 14th. Ahhhhh

Rejected at Fletcher, but in at SAIS

Ha ha, oh, the irony of consulting this site about what to do when we can't sleep. I'm there with you, erry3779.

Msal, did you apply to any other school using applyyourself? If you forget to log out of one school's applyyourself page and try to log on to another's, an error page will come up.

Thanks, Azrou, erry3779. Sorry to complain, but I've been doing a pretty good job of not talking about grad school apps outside the Internet (it tests my patience to talk about it with people who don't understand this process, anyway). So I feel I must express my anxieties here, among like-minded strangers.

I've held out to this point in one piece, but I'm going bonkers over here with 0/4 decision notifications. I wish I would've applied to GWU/SIS just so I'd have something to work off of right now...

Heh, understood. Just don't want to have false expectations.

Man, this isn't a constructive post, but I just wanted to say that everyone's profile looks great. Looks like it'll be another super competitive year. Good luck all, though I don't know how much longer I can hold out in waiting.

Did SAIS really give that exact date? I know they said mid-March, but can we confirm this is official?

Just out of curiosity, where did you find out about this date? I browsed the results survey and that seemed to be the release date for 2011's decisions. If only all schools kept such consistent schedules...

Big fan of this thread. Don't wanna tempt fate, but: A bottle of Maker's Mark or Knob Creek (or both for immediate consumption) A Nintendo Wii and a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, which I will finally play the shit out of (have held off to save my perhaps illusory sense of productivity) Maybe new tires for my bike

MYRNIST, I'm curious to know where else besides Harvard you think would be worth the astronomical debt. I've applied to a lot of the same schools you have (SAIS, Georgetown, Fletcher, and SIPA), though for international affairs related masters, not an MPP. If anything, you could argue that an advanced degree in IR reduces your scope of employment relative to the more broadly applicable MPP. I think financing my degree is my biggest worry, which is why SIPA will probably be just a distant dream. I've saved up quite a bit of money over the past few years, so I don't think I'll break into a 6 figure debt, but 80k is still nothing to laugh about.

Yup (5 majors, 2 schools). My transcripts are kind of indecipherable without an accompanying narrative Also, "4 jobs over 3 years, can fudge through 3 languages without full proficiency in any, and to top it off, has dual citizenship? Talk about indecisive. Someone get this kid some Ritalin."

Haha, what.

I spent an embarrassing amount of time reading through this thread, and I just have to say, good god. This (sometimes very hilarious/inventive) thread embodies everything I love and absolutely hate about the addictive, anxiety-inducing, misleading, yet extremely comforting resource that is thegradcafe.com. The wild, meaningless speculations... the self-indulgence... the sleep deprivation... the shared crippling anxiety... We're like moths to a flame. So glad to know I'm not alone.

Haha, yes, thank you for clearing that up, Waffle. I don't know why I'm so averse to the idea of contacting the Admissions Office. They're there for a reason

I wouldn't say it's a snub or anything, since the survey asked IR scholars to list five of the best MA programs. Yale's program is tiny and very, very new compared to the rest of its competitors, so it's not a huge surprise that these scholars don't immediately associate it with more established programs. Not saying Yale isn't good at all, just saying there are other more established names/alumni networks.

Thanks for the pointers to both posters. I'll probably just trim the explanations for volunteer work. It really is much harder to be short and crisp than anything else.

Well, I'd tend to agree with mv0027, especially since the Bologna director of admissions specifies the preference for one pagers. The only problem is that I went to 2 schools and have had 4 relevant jobs/5 relevant volunteer experiences, plus the languages/awards/honors heading. The resume I use professionally is one page, but it doesn't include my volunteer experiences. I guess I should just cut down on the bullet points. I try not to go over four, if I reach four at all.