SIPA Admission - got it

[JBrodsky]

Got in, but I'm not going to take Columbia over Tufts. Also still waiting on HKS and Princeton. As per usual. SIPA offered no first year fellowship. Good luck to those on the waitlist.

[International_Relations]

Got SIPA MPA. No funding though :-(

Got Fletcher MALD last week and awaiting funding there.

Hope for the best and best of luck to all guys out here.

[fadeindreams]

Day 2 seems to be going out right now (~4:00 CST). Nothing for me yet. Yay?

[Hopster]

Same here, still waiting.

Apparently last year those who received funding were notified on the 17th, who knows maybe those who are still waiting will receive funding!

Good luck to all of you.

[gazelle]

waitlisted!!!

my heart is beating so so so so fast right now, i cant believe i got waitlisted and im excited and shaking!!

[aijoni]

Wait Listed.But doesn't look like its happening for me because it clearly says that those wait listed will not be given funds.

So Syracuse it is for me..I guess.

[JBrodsky]

Many times funding decisions are decided later, so in some cases early notification may not be a plus. For those on the waitlist: I've heard conjecture that SIPA's yield this year will be particularly low. Good luck. :-)

[gazelle]

Many times funding decisions are decided later, so in some cases early notification may not be a plus. For those on the waitlist: I've heard conjecture that SIPA's yield this year will be particularly low. Good luck. :-)

Yield with respect to the number of people upgraded?

[Hopster]

Yield with respect to the number of people upgraded?

Last year on this forum: 4 people out of 55 admitted...

[gazelle]

Last year on this forum: 4 people out of 55 admitted...

Hmmm...statistically speaking though, a LOT of people turn down Columbia due to the cost, so in theory they upgrade a lot of people; the above is to suggest then that they wait list a terribly large amount of people as well (several hundred?).

Either way, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[le_neocon]

I think SIPA works out more well for students are open to working in the private sector also. Going by this forum, SIPA for some reason, after everyone gets their admits or gets rejected, just seems to plummet down in popularity.

Well its the only admit I got till now..so can't say much

[cmnt29]

to anyone interested, i went there (MIA) and can answer questions. (I'll try to be nonbiased but obviously I have one).

Also, i took a quick glance at the tuition stuff, it looks like it is 3Kmore/year than Fletcher or SAIS and a few K less than HKS based on tuition, and then each location has their own cost of living. NY is expensive there is no denying that, but looking closely at the numbers SAIS seems to only budget 3K/year in personal expenses while HKS and sipa budget around 6K. However I just glanced at it, so i'd look into the details of tuition not just the bottom line.

i believe gazelle's claim about the large waitlist is true.

and le_neocon's idea that students are open to the private sector is also true. a large section of the class focuses on econ/finance and goes into banking/finance/federal reserve/risk services and/or consulting. they have a less dc focused crowd than Georgetown, GWU or SAIS, which is partly because of their location and partly because the school is 50% international, whereas the others are less (I think).

As to someones previous mention of the Japanese diplomatic respect for the school, its likely true because the Japanese government sponsors a large number of students there every year so there a large number of alumni in Japan

[Bastille]

If it's of help to anyone, I've found this list of internships from 2007-2008 extremely useful.

http://www.sipa.columbia.edu/resources_services/career_services/current_students/documents/internship_employer.pdf

SIPA appears to have excellent placement in most sectors of the NY job market.

Also, here is a list I have found of what they call "recurring formal" relationships with employers in the major sectors.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/14521270/Recurring-Formal-Programs---SIPA-School-of-International-and

I really wish, though, that these lists were broken down by concentration -- I'd love, for example, to see how the especially quanty people place. I'll bet some adcom at these schools has charts that compare such placement between the MPA schools. Would make these decisions a lot easier.

[le_neocon]

Bastille, good to see you keen on SIPA too. Heres what I found on employment stats by concentration. It doesn't really have the latest data ( only till 2007 ), but could give a fairly decent picture.

http://sipa.columbia.edu/resources_services/career_services/employment_stats/MIA%20Employment%20Data%20by%20Concentration.pdf

[gazelle]

Another question about the wait list...I was reading the SIPA FAQ and last year's post about the wait list process, and it mentioned that they would occasionally meet to review/reevaluate candidates to be upgraded from the waitlist, and then post decisions on the website. Based on this I gathered that they would redirect you to the site just to see if you were either: A) still on the wait list, or accepted off the wait list.

However, just out of curiosity, do they start to whittle down the wait list by reevaluating some people and then flat out reject them on the site once they know they don't need as many people on the wait list? Or is it such that once you are on the wait list, you will either get upgraded or just stay there until the end of time?

[crossingfingers]

got the acceptance e-mail on March 4th! No Funding

BUT STILL very happy!

[zourah]

Another question about the wait list...I was reading the SIPA FAQ and last year's post about the wait list process, and it mentioned that they would occasionally meet to review/reevaluate candidates to be upgraded from the waitlist, and then post decisions on the website. Based on this I gathered that they would redirect you to the site just to see if you were either: A) still on the wait list, or accepted off the wait list.

However, just out of curiosity, do they start to whittle down the wait list by reevaluating some people and then flat out reject them on the site once they know they don't need as many people on the wait list? Or is it such that once you are on the wait list, you will either get upgraded or just stay there until the end of time?

Not speaking about SIPA specifically, usually you stay on the wait list either until you're admitted, you remove your name because you're not willing to wait any more, or it gets to be early August. Generally, schools won't make that final round of apologetic emails until they're absolutely certain they've got their fall class squared away, which will be late summer.

[greendiplomat]

Not speaking about SIPA specifically, usually you stay on the wait list either until you're admitted, you remove your name because you're not willing to wait any more, or it gets to be early August. Generally, schools won't make that final round of apologetic emails until they're absolutely certain they've got their fall class squared away, which will be late summer.

From what I understand, that's not what they do at the undergraduate level, if that means anything. I understand that the nature of admissions are different between the two but I'm assuming waitlist strategies are essentially the same.

What usually happens is that they'll send one round of emails right after the May 3rd response deadline for admitted students once they have a better idea of how many people are accepting their offers.

For example (and note that I'm pulling these numbers completely out of thin air), if they have 600 acceptances and 50 on the waitlist for a 350-person class, and if 345 happen to accept their offers, they're not going to keep all 50 on the waitlist for the remaining 5 spots. Usually, they'll accept 5 from the waitlist, deny maybe 25, and ask the other 20 whether they'd like to remain on the waitlist should any of the 5 decline their offers. Rinse and repeat.

Again, the numbers aren't representative. I'm just trying to illustrate that they probably won't keep everyone if they know that they're not going to take a certain number of them.

[ferro]

I received the admission email to the MPA DP (SIPA Masters of Public Administration in Development Practice)

I am excited because I love their curriculum and the internal attention they are giving to this program: only 25 students, directed personally by Jeffrey Sachs, fall 2010 is the 2nd cohort, etc.

However, I received no funding, I'm afraid that my International fulbright award won't be enough because international students cannot borrow in the US...

[Hopster]

Anyone got any reply today?

[cnreves]

Anyone got any reply today?

Not me...still waiting.

[PeteZahut]

Accepted via email on 3/4. Didn't get any funding. Will go to April open house event but unlikely to attend due to cost (85-90k for two years!!!)

Leaning towards Syracuse/Maxwell at this point, but may fall back on Albany (Rockefeller) due to economic/financial concerns. If I didn't already have a JD (and the associated loans attached), SIPA would be a no-brainer. Alas...

Good luck to everyone!

[keondraismyrealname]

i got my acceptance this morning around 10:30 am EST to the MPA in Development Practice program. no funding but SUPER happy to have been accepted. it was the only program i applied to. high risk for high reward.

[Hopster]

i got my acceptance this morning around 10:30 am EST to the MPA in Development Practice program. no funding but SUPER happy to have been accepted. it was the only program i applied to. high risk for high reward.

congrats!!

[LeeLeeLove]

Hi all and congratulations to everyone who's been accepted!

I'm waiting to hear back on my MIA and am DYYYYYYYING.

Did anyone write the adcomm to request their status or was everyone patient enough to wait for the e-mail? I don't know if I can wait any longer, but don't want to be the first schmuck writing in to beg for a decision...