Environmental Management and Policy 2021

[chaparralcountry]

Hey! Since there have been similar threads for the past several years, and I didn't see one up yet, I thought I'd make this year's iteration 

Where is everyone applying to or waiting to hear back from? 

Edited January 14, 2021 by chaparralcountry

[tiaki]

Hi, thanks for making the topic! I've applied to Duke Nicholas, UCSB Bren, UMich SEAS, and Yale SE. I'm fresh out of undergrad (class of spring 2020) so I'm not exactly optimistic on my chances of being admitted this year, but it was worth a shot! Nicholas and SEAS had priority deadlines to hear back sooner but I did regular, so I likely won't get any results until March. 

I'm curious about what backgrounds/environmental interests other applicants have. I know business-focused MEMs are by far the most popular, but there were far more people in the YSE info session for their environmental justice specialization than any other I attended at any school. 

[YRDSL]

I submitted to UW-Evans two days ago and am currently working on applications to the MPA programs at CU Denver and Oregon, as well as Oregon State's MPP program. I'm also gonna be coming fresh out of undergrad (Sociology), but have worked as a whitewater river guide for six summers now and have some research and teaching experience. Ideally, I'd like to work on adapting wildland and water policy to respond to climate change and other threats. 

Edited January 17, 2021 by YRDSL

[ICDI]

Hi! I'm fresh out of undergrad (spring 2020 graduate) and have applied to UCSB Bren, UMich SEAS, Yale School of the Environment, ASU School of Sustainability, Columbia's MA in Climate and Society, Loyola University Chicago (application was free). Would have stopped there in the US but I also have a UK citizenship so have applied to Oxford (pipe dream lol), Edinburgh, and Kings College London. 

Majored in Environmental Studies at UCSB and am interested in environmental justice/equity, regenerative agriculture, and also environmental communication (mainly humanities focused topics). As for experience I did a field study program during my undergrad and also did a professional writing minor that I focused on environmental/civic communication. Not a lot of school involvement in terms of clubs/memberships/leadership but did volunteer at a local urban farm for a few months, and have been working at an urban agriculture nonprofit since graduation (first as an intern, now in their development dept). 

I was accepted to Loyola, but probably wont attend unless I don't get into anywhere else. Other than that I haven't heard back from anywhere else. Would love to know about other people's interests and where they applied as well!

[tiaki]

Spring 2020 grads unite. ?

My background is science communication and environmental justice. I don't have environmental work experience (COVID decimated the green job market in my city, though I recently started a volunteer assistant position with an environmental health research group) but I have a university research award and publication for an energy policy proposal, and did a number of environmental justice projects. I had solid STEM internships but they weren't environmental. In undergrad I had an interdisciplinary self-designed major that is kind of hard to succinctly explain but involved science communication, sustainability, and history of science courses, and then minored in Earth & planetary science. 

I applied mostly to policy concentrations, but I'm interested in both environmental justice policy, specifically in the field of energy justice, as well as corporate environmental and social responsibility.

[zbd]

Penn State (PSU) B.S. in Environmental System Engineering --> Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH) ScM in Environmental Health.

One publication (not first author); several poster presentation.

Applying for Ph.D. in the environmental field:

1. Johns Hopkins Ph.D. in Geography and Environmental Engineering;
2. Yale School of the Environment;
3. Harvard Earth and Planetary Science;
4. Stanford E-IPER;
5. UC Berkeley Environmental Science, Policy, and Management (ESPM)

No update yet, sadly.

 

[kami25]

Submitted to Yale SE, Duke Nicholas, Columbia SIPA, Chicago Harris and Penn LPS. So far received acceptance from Harris (MPP) with 10k scholarship and Penn LPS (MES).

Waiting for the other schools, fingers crossed!

[0505SACT98]

1. Two years out of undergrad with majors in Environmental Studies and Biology (also completed courses in pre-health). Average GPA with high semester GPA's  in the last three semesters of undergrad. 

2. Opted out of submitting GRE scores because I had the worst at-home test experience

3. Decent work experience in different parts of the world (Israel, West Bank, Andaman Islands and the States)

4. Applied to MPA-ESP at SIPA (accepted with a 10k fellowship) and Yale MEM. Personal statement was focused on explaining interest in the urban specialization. Thinking of applying to the MA climate and society program as well.

 

Can anybody provide any input on how the CU MA climate and society program compares to the MPA-ESP program at SIPA in terms of employment prospects and prestige?

Edited January 30, 2021 by 0505SACT98

[ICDI]

I would also love any insight into the CU MA Climate and Society program ^ compares to the management programs (YSE, SEAS, Bren). 

Anyone else starting to wonder about decisions? 

[tiaki]

For decisions, someone told me that Michigan SEAS is expected to release decisions next week, and if that's accurate then I'm guessing based on timing in previous years that Duke Nicholas will as well. YSE almost certainly won't before March. No idea if SEAS and Nicholas will do all results at once, both priority and regular applicants, or stagger it.

I'm really curious about how many applications different programs received and whether there was a significant increase over previous years as has been seen in other grad programs. Does anyone know?

[coffeebean13]

10 hours ago, tiaki said:

For decisions, someone told me that Michigan SEAS is expected to release decisions next week, and if that's accurate then I'm guessing based on timing in previous years that Duke Nicholas will as well.

Hi @tiaki - Do you mind sharing where you got that information? They've been fairly consistent about releasing the first batches of decisions the second Wednesday of February for the past few years. I imagine more people applied (and they may have had some deferrals from last year, reducing the number of seats for those applying this round). Hope their established processes allows them to still release decisions on the same timeline. 

[tiaki]

 

3 hours ago, coffeebean13 said:

Hi @tiaki - Do you mind sharing where you got that information? They've been fairly consistent about releasing the first batches of decisions the second Wednesday of February for the past few years. I imagine more people applied (and they may have had some deferrals from last year, reducing the number of seats for those applying this round). Hope their established processes allows them to still release decisions on the same timeline. 

Entirely through the grapevine of another applicant I know, I think they may have contacted admissions but I'm not sure. Second Wednesday is today, so if they follow that trend we'll find out in a few hours!

[coffeebean13]

Yes! Both Duke and SEAS seem to have started to release their decisions on the second Wednesday of Feb with many folks hearing by the second Friday. But this goes out the window if your contact is correct and they are in fact going to release decisions next week...

[ashgabat]

FWIW, I just received admittance to Bren for a PhD. Not an environmental person though, my research interests are much more focused on energy systems, which Bren has a little bit of.

[qrrcl]

Hi all,

I am also 2 years out of undergrad and I have had internship/work experience at environmental government agencies. I am really hoping some funding comes through.

This year I was accepted to Columbia MPA-ESP (30k scholarship) and I am still waiting to hear back from UW Evans, UCSB Bren, and UMich SEAS. I thought about applying to the MA in Climate and Society program at Columbia but I decided not to because I wanted to focus more on the policy side of climate change/environmental issues and I didn't get that impression from the MA program. 

Anyone else just constantly refreshing their emails??

[ICDI]

Well, looks like it'll likely be this week for SEAS/Duke (hopefully)! If so, good luck to everyone!

[qrrcl]

Does anyone know if UMich is affected by the winter storms this past weekend/week?

[YRDSL]

Ann Arbor hasn't had any power outages and the streets are drivable. Michigan handles snow better than states that don't normally get it.

3 hours ago, qrrcl said:

Does anyone know if UMich is affected by the winter storms this past weekend/week?

 

[EscapingBrexit]

Yeah like I can barely get out of my road but the city is fine. Virtual classes continue and so on. Just a normal day in A2 really! Although I stepped outside this morning and it was -22C. Chilly! 

[pabloworldwide]

Hello everyone compulsively refreshing this site

[coffeebean13]

It looks like all bets are off for when they are going to release decisions. Both Duke and SEAS already passed the dates they've sent out decisions in the previous cycles. So.. there could be a systematic delay that would drastically impact/delay the release date OR it's coming any minute now...  

[qrrcl]

Yes, I refresh this site and my email basically every 5 minutes! I wonder what could be the hold up for each university?

Side note: is anyone attending the welcome webinar for Columbia's MPA-ESP program?

Edited February 19, 2021 by qrrcl

[tiaki]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one compulsively refreshing everything! I'm not sure why they're delayed. I was in communication with Nicholas' financial aid people earlier this week and there was no mention of when results will release. They did imply a huge number of applicants applied for need-based aid, so there's that. I don't think that would impact decision releases, though, since in the past they've done decisions and then funding later.

I'm not sure at this point whether I would prefer to get all my results at once or not? If SEAS and Nicholas don't release today, the delay may make it more likely they'll be clustered with Bren. I'm stressed haha

[coffeebean13]

Yes! And, it's weird. I wouldn't have assumed that the number of applicants for SEAS would increase dramatically. I've assumed that the schools who waved their GRE this year (and didn't last year) would see a bigger change, but the number of applicants for a school like SEAS who waived it last year wouldn't change too much. 

 

Also, not to be that guy... but I looked at the 'admitted student' page at SEAS and saw that they have a facebook group for Fall 2021 cohort (with 10 people on it - though only 1 was added this week, so likely admin?). and an admitted student day scheduled for March 19. Can't imagine they release decisions too close to that day, otherwise people wouldn't have put it on their calendar. 

[pabloworldwide]

Just reviewed the email I got when I submitted my Duke app "You can expect to hear an admissions decision by mid-March". Does that mean that they are pushing back by a month this year then?

Looks like we'll have to keep ourselves busy for another month.