Official HKS Thread

[smerd]

Sure, and in fact I think HKS has as many or more opportunities to take electives than many other programs. I guess my fear is more about the general relationship between students and faculty/administration. Is this experience with curriculum rigidity an anomaly or representative of the overal staff/student dynamics on campus? And if it is representative, how much of a negative is that for a student's experience both in classes and in career placement?

Yeah, I mean, I'm sympathetic because none of us want to waste time in courses that won't help us. But it isn't like Kennedy is hiding the ball either. They tell us upfront what courses we have to take. Going to a school and expecting to have the rules changed because of one's individual circumstances seems like a poor bet.

[IdealThinker]

Hey guys, thought you might want to watch this youtube video posted a week ago. It's Harvard Students celebrating Azerbaijan day, really great cultural dancing.

Shows diversity at its best.

[smerd]

Zourah or other current students want to comment on this?

And thanks for sharing that IdeaThinker--was great! I hear nothing but great things about the student body.

Sure, and in fact I think HKS has as many or more opportunities to take electives than many other programs. I guess my fear is more about the general relationship between students and faculty/administration. Is this experience with curriculum rigidity an anomaly or representative of the overal staff/student dynamics on campus? And if it is representative, how much of a negative is that for a student's experience both in classes and in career placement?

[IdealThinker]

It's a quiet day today here in the Grad Cafe lol

[Soapcase]

Hello everyone, I have few questions: how does the admission system work? Does the adcom admit a more students than the number of seats and has a waitlist over and above it OR does it admit only as many students as the number of available seats and has a pool of alternative candidates, lest someone declines their offer? If the answer is the former, typically how many admissions would they grant for 200-240 seats and how many would they put on the waitlist? Also, are the waitlist candidates rank ordered?

Edited March 13, 2011 by Soapcase

[YLSnKSG]

Hello everyone, I have few questions: how does the admission system work? Does the adcom admit a more students than the number of seats and has a waitlist over and above it OR does it admit only as many students as the number of available seats and has a pool of alternative candidates, lest someone declines their offer? If the answer is the former, typically how many admissions would they grant for 200-240 seats and how many would they put on the waitlist? Also, are the waitlist candidates rank ordered?

Kennedy has an admissions team review applicants. They examine each applicant on the totality of the application and decide who to admit. They also have special pools of applicants from certain groups: PPIA, for example, applicants are highly desired and I hear are considered separately with a more favorable admission odds. Kennedy is no different from any school in that they admit more students than they have seats for. They already know that about 80% will attend, so they know how many admissions they can offer. They also maintain a wait-list. Successful applicants generally have a specific time frame to send in a deposit to secure their seat. if they don't, then their seat is forfeited. After the deadline for deposits are in, you'll generally see a couple of people get in off the waitlist. Then you'll see another couple people get in the first week of school as people who made deposits decide not to come. So in an effort to fill the class, they will pull people from the waitlist.

Waitlist candidates are not ranked ordered, from what I hear. A lot of it has to do with what particular applicant has decided not to come. So if someone from Mississippi decides not to come and you're from Miss, then you might be a good candidate to pull from the waitlist. Another thing that can help is updating your profile with something helpful and letting Kennedy know that you'll definitely come if admitted. Those are two techniques that will help separate you from others on the waitlist.

I have no idea how many people they will admit. I do know that there are ~2000 applicants this year. I assume the admission rate will be between 18-20%. So I think there will be about 360-400 admits or so (edit: actually, the admit rate will probably be about 16-18% now that I think about it). No idea on the waitlist.

Edited March 13, 2011 by YLSnKSG

[fso2k11]

What is PPIA? Also,how do you know that they had 2000 applications? More than last year could be 1800

Kennedy has an admissions team review applicants. They examine each applicant on the totality of the application and decide who to admit. They also have special pools of applicants from certain groups: PPIA, for example, applicants are highly desired and I hear are considered separately with a more favorable admission odds. Kennedy is no different from any school in that they admit more students than they have seats for. They already know that about 80% will attend, so they know how many admissions they can offer. They also maintain a wait-list. Successful applicants generally have a specific time frame to send in a deposit to secure their seat. if they don't, then their seat is forfeited. After the deadline for deposits are in, you'll generally see a couple of people get in off the waitlist. Then you'll see another couple people get in the first week of school as people who made deposits decide not to come. So in an effort to fill the class, they will pull people from the waitlist.

Waitlist candidates are not ranked ordered, from what I hear. A lot of it has to do with what particular applicant has decided not to come. So if someone from Mississippi decides not to come and you're from Miss, then you might be a good candidate to pull from the waitlist. Another thing that can help is updating your profile with something helpful and letting Kennedy know that you'll definitely come if admitted. Those are two techniques that will help separate you from others on the waitlist.

I have no idea how many people they will admit. I do know that there are ~2000 applicants this year. I assume the admission rate will be between 18-20%. So I think there will be about 360-400 admits or so (edit: actually, the admit rate will probably be about 16-18% now that I think about it). No idea on the waitlist.

[YLSnKSG]

What is PPIA? Also,how do you know that they had 2000 applications? More than last year could be 1800

Public Policy and International Affairs. It is a program for college juniors at Berkeley, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon, etc. PPIA members often get favorable admissions odds, full tuition +20k stipend (10k per year) from what I've heard.

HKS has student groups. Someone I know is in a State specific student group at HKS and admissions shared with the group how many from X state applied and what the percentage they were of total applicants. So then I just did the math. Obviously, it isn't exact, but that's around what it is.

[Soapcase]

What do you mean by admission rate? And how is it 20%, if hks people think that 80% students will join? Shouldn't the admit rate be 80%?

[IdealThinker]

Soapcase, seriously, it's an estimation. YKSL is not psychic. lol. We're all waiting for the outcome

[Soapcase]

Soapcase, seriously, it's an estimation. YKSL is not psychic. lol. We're all waiting for the outcome

Oh no, i understand. I am just trying to figure out how the system works. Just curious

[IdealThinker]

Sure. Have you applied this year too? Or just deciding to apply?

[The Other Cheek]

YLSnKSG, have you heard anything about admission odds in favor of Teach For America corps members? I've heard TFAers get grouped in a different (more favorable) pile for consideration for certain grad programs, but am unsure if HKS is one of them.

[LadyinWaiting]

Midwest + Deep South + sparsely populated western states for the win! Yes? Yes? Maybe?

Waitlist candidates are not ranked ordered, from what I hear. A lot of it has to do with what particular applicant has decided not to come. So if someone from Mississippi decides not to come and you're from Miss, then you might be a good candidate to pull from the waitlist. Another thing that can help is updating your profile with something helpful and letting Kennedy know that you'll definitely come if admitted. Those are two techniques that will help separate you from others on the waitlist.

[YLSnKSG]

YLSnKSG, have you heard anything about admission odds in favor of Teach For America corps members? I've heard TFAers get grouped in a different (more favorable) pile for consideration for certain grad programs, but am unsure if HKS is one of them.

i've also heard that TFAers get preferable admissions at some schools. I'm not sure if HKS is one of them, but I do know that HKS has a strong TFA alumni presence on campus.

I didn't do TFA, but if you know someone at HKS who did TFA, I'm sure they'd give you the scoop.

[YLSnKSG]

Midwest + Deep South + sparsely populated western states for the win! Yes? Yes? Maybe?

lol! I'd say Yes! Yes! Yes!

[Status]

Hey Guys, this will give some of you an idea of HKS admission rates and application pool starting from page 64 of the link below

http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic210038.files/DiversityCommitteeBriefingBook.pdf

What do you mean by admission rate? And how is it 20%, if hks people think that 80% students will join? Shouldn't the admit rate be 80%?

[Soapcase]

Sure. Have you applied this year too? Or just deciding to apply?

Yes, I have applied for the Fall 2011 class. You too, I am guessing?

PS: I still don't get what admission rate is (I am not looking for the stats as much as the definition)

EDIT: @status- thank you for the link. The document makes an interesting read.

Edited March 14, 2011 by Soapcase

[YLSnKSG]

Yes, I have applied for the Fall 2011 class. You too, I am guessing?

PS: I still don't get what admission rate is (I am not looking for the stats as much as the definition)

Admission rate is the percentage of students whom apply that are admitted.

Hypothetically, if you have 100 applicants and 20 are admitted, then the admit rate for the hypothetical would be 20%. I guess admit percentage might be more accurate?

[Soapcase]

Admission rate is the percentage of students whom apply that are admitted.

Hypothetically, if you have 100 applicants and 20 are admitted, then the admit rate for the hypothetical would be 20%. I guess admit percentage might be more accurate?

Understood. Thanks for the clarification

[Quixotic Man]

YLSnKSG, interesting advice for waitlisted folk. Thanks for this. Could you clarify what you mean by updating a profile? Excuse my ignorance, but are you referring to a specific system, like SPARKS, or do you simply mean Informing the admissions office or...? I'm curious in case I end up on the waitlist.

Kennedy has an admissions team review applicants. They examine each applicant on the totality of the application and decide who to admit. They also have special pools of applicants from certain groups: PPIA, for example, applicants are highly desired and I hear are considered separately with a more favorable admission odds. Kennedy is no different from any school in that they admit more students than they have seats for. They already know that about 80% will attend, so they know how many admissions they can offer. They also maintain a wait-list. Successful applicants generally have a specific time frame to send in a deposit to secure their seat. if they don't, then their seat is forfeited. After the deadline for deposits are in, you'll generally see a couple of people get in off the waitlist. Then you'll see another couple people get in the first week of school as people who made deposits decide not to come. So in an effort to fill the class, they will pull people from the waitlist.

Waitlist candidates are not ranked ordered, from what I hear. A lot of it has to do with what particular applicant has decided not to come. So if someone from Mississippi decides not to come and you're from Miss, then you might be a good candidate to pull from the waitlist. Another thing that can help is updating your profile with something helpful and letting Kennedy know that you'll definitely come if admitted. Those are two techniques that will help separate you from others on the waitlist.

I have no idea how many people they will admit. I do know that there are ~2000 applicants this year. I assume the admission rate will be between 18-20%. So I think there will be about 360-400 admits or so (edit: actually, the admit rate will probably be about 16-18% now that I think about it). No idea on the waitlist.

[YLSnKSG]

YLSnKSG, interesting advice for waitlisted folk. Thanks for this. Could you clarify what you mean by updating a profile? Excuse my ignorance, but are you referring to a specific system, like SPARKS, or do you simply mean Informing the admissions office or...? I'm curious in case I end up on the waitlist.

For Kennedy, they allow you to send things in directly by email to update your application. For example, people who did not get their recs in on time were allowed to send in recs to the admissions office directly or update their file after dec. 3 through emails. Sparks won't work, so it would have to be sent via email or directly to the admissions office.

I would only update if something substantial happens - you publish something substantial, for example, or you complete a major project. Something that would add more than a feather to the scale of your admissions odds. Also, if waitlisted, I would certainly also tell them that Kennedy is your first choice and you would come if admitted, if that is true.

[fso2k11]

From this and the previous article in The Citizen, I get the feeling that HKS students get very involved in their department's internal politics. Just this quote from a student committee memo: "We are increasingly frustrated when the everyday realities of the school's research, instruction, and administration fail to match the rhetoric of 'diversity,' 'leadership,' and 'excellence." If I get in & go there, I hope that I'll be too busy getting my degree, working on internships or experiencing Boston to participate in stuff like this. Unless the Kennedy School's management is truly abominable, these articles/arguments/student "insurrections" seem like a big distraction and I definitely don't think this is something that peer public affairs schools are dealing with.

Hey Guys, this will give some of you an idea of HKS admission rates and application pool starting from page 64 of the link below

http://isites.harvar...riefingBook.pdf

Edited March 14, 2011 by blingem

[DCA-John]

There's always people with an ax to grind.

For what it's worth, I visited last year and spent the day talking with MPA/ID students. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the program and spoke very highly of the administration and professors.

[thechairman]

Anyone have any insight about whether applying as a joint degree student increases one's chances or whether they are in the same position as everyone else. I am currently a student at one of the top law schools which HKS has a concurrent degree program with.

not that it really does any good now, just restless waiting for decisions to come out.