ghanada Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 hey guys, there is some crazy admin stuff going on with the LEAP program at the moment. I beg you all to not bug Helaine right now just to ask about financial aid. They haven't forgot about you guys, they are doing the best they can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMC_Kid Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 hey guys, there is some crazy admin stuff going on with the LEAP program at the moment. I beg you all to not bug Helaine right now just to ask about financial aid. They haven't forgot about you guys, they are doing the best they can. Yeah, I figured we were all taking turns bugging Helaine I'm getting antsy, but I think this forum helps relieve the anxiousness, at least for me. Thanks ghanada, for bringing the news. Hope the crazy stuff works out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaNg72 Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 Flowers. Lots of them. I'll organize it, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMC_Kid Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 Flowers. Lots of them. I'll organize it, lol. I'm down! jqvu 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaNg72 Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 (edited) Just got a financial aid letter...and I'm a bit surprised/confused..anyone else? And is LEAP scholarship different from "financial assistance"? Edited April 13, 2012 by StaNg72 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjng Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 I actually just got mine as well. And I am very surprised too, because I thought every applicant receives some sort of aid. I would like to know the same thing: is financial assistance the LEAP scholarship? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csp12 Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Received the email as well and feel the same as you do. Does anyone know if the form mention in the email is the form that was sent with the acceptance email? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaNg72 Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Received the email as well and feel the same as you do. Does anyone know if the form mention in the email is the form that was sent with the acceptance email? I don't think that's what it was referring to. I want to say that LEAP scholarship is being handled separately. Helaine is the one that asked for our SARs, something the letter suggests they did not consider...I don't think think we should be too worried, but, like the above posts, I don't think we should bug her about it just yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jqvu Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Hi guys, It's great to see some future LEAPers on this board. Thanks StaNg72 for bringing up the LEAP scholarship. I think the "financial assistance" that the email refers to is the aid in the form of teaching or research assistantships and these are usually for PhD students. My heart stopped when I read that email, but now I think the LEAP scholarship is different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v834 Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 (edited) Oh thank god! I immediately sent Helaine an email because I was so confused. I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one to get that email! Thing is, the autoresponse from Helaine says to contact the guy who sent out that email about financial aid or anything else related to LEAP financial aid stuff, so now I'm not so sure. I really hope that doesn't include the scholarship because I won't be attending otherwise. I suppose we'll see.....ETA: She is out of the office till tuesday, but if I get a response from her I'll be sure to post it here. Edited April 14, 2012 by v834 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghanada Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 yeah, just be patient guys. I'm telling you, there have been some very unexpected events regarding LEAP right now and I have a feeling your financial aid decisions are being delayed. Believe me, the admin staff at BU eng dept is very good and they aren't trying to be negligent. For reference, when I first joined LEAP I didn't hear about financial aid until May so it is only very recently that they have been trying to get financial aid info out "early". Keep in mind that this is a non-traditional program and LEAP doesn't really follow the same type of schedule as other grad programs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bb23 Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Hey everyone, this is my first time posting. I found this forum when I got accepted about a month ago. It's been so nice to see people feel how I do!! Last night, I got that same uncomfortable financial aid email. This morning I realized I should check here before questioning anything and here you all are, feeling the same! Ghanada, thanks for updating us on the delay at the office. Do you know if the financial aid application status email we received from the Director of Graduate Programs would be separate from a LEAP scholarship? Does anyone know when we have to make our decisions by? I asked Helaine in an email once and she just said, we look forward to hearing as soon as possible. I was starting to worry that since I haven't communicated with anyone in awhile that there might be some magical deadline that passes and POOF there goes BU. But then I got the Aid email last night so I guess we still have some time. Flowers sound nice for Helaine! It's going to be piled high when she gets back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leappho2012 Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Hey guys (or gals or whoever), This is my first post also, but I've been occasionally checking the thread since pre-acceptance in order to, you know, get a sense of what' going on. I got the same shitty email— let's be real, the one that says "We're giving you nothing, get a loan," right? i just wanted to make that public here as an attempt to provide comfort, since, It seems quite unlikely that 7 randomly selected leapers would get NOTHING, although I guess it's possible. After getting sufficiently drunk last night and putting this out of my mind, my sober self this morning agrees with the others posted above. That is to say that this email does not seem to consider the LEAP scholarship. On the eng website itself http://www.bu.edu/eng/admissions/grad/financial-aid/ the LEAP scholarship says, in huge letters, "NEED-BASED", below it. And this letter from Mr. Doherty explicitly mentions that we "may be eligible for need-based funding...". Now, the sentence goes on to say "need-based funding such as student loans or work study" with no mention of anything LEAP. However, I have one more point to consider that may settle some stomachs temporarily. I have some friends who applied to engineering PhD programs this season and they all had to MAKE DECISIONS by April 15ish, and many heard of acceptance long before aid offers. Therefore, for the sake of psychological stability, I have chosen to believe (hope) that last night's letter was a blast that went out to every accepted master's student to inform of decisions regaurding NON-need-based funding like the graduate research assistantships, teaching fellowships, and dean's fellowships that most regular master's students are hoping for, because most accepted students need to be making their final decisions this weekend. And according to my friends in BU's math PhD program (was applied math undergrad here), BU takes FOREVER to inform about aid. Long story short— there's still hope for some $$. I could be completely wrong, but the above makes sense to me, so I thought I would share it here. Of course, only more data will resolve this issue. A little "don't freak out" email would have been nice though. It's Marathon Monday here in Boston on Monday, which is why offices will be closed until Tuesday. (That's right, the colleges all shut down for the Marathon every year and students honor the runners by getting wasted early in the morning and cheering them on.) ghanada, I'm curious as to what this "crazy admin stuff" is? I'm imagining something between a person leaving unexpectedly and an all-out riot/ dictator rising power struggle... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leappho2012 Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Oh, I suppose I would also add: If there are any other LEAPers who are reading but not posting, and have received POSITIVE news about aid, please post and put us out of our miseries Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMC_Kid Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Got the same scary letter about no financial assistance. Gosh, this "crazy admin stuff" is starting to scare me too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leappho2012 Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Ok that's just too many people. Either we are right about the misinterpretation or the LEAP scholarship doesn't exist any more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leappho2012 Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Or like 20 clones of Nikola Tesla applied to LEAP too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jqvu Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 anything new, guys? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMC_Kid Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Nothing here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leappho2012 Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 no. assuming that tomorrow (i.e. the next 12 hours) will bring the big reveal from Helaine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jqvu Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 LOL. When she logs into her email tomorrow, there will be a bunch of emails from LEAP students. Is Helaine quick with email? I can't a response from her regarding the class load policy at BU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMC_Kid Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 well, it can take days sometimes to catch up on email if you've been out a week... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v834 Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Bad news guys. I got a response; it's posted below. That decision does include LEAP scholarships. We consider need and merit when awarding LEAP scholarships. We do our best to offer scholarships that provide the most relief for students with need, while helping as many students as possible. Unfortunately, the LEAP budget does not allows us to award aid to every applicant who qualifies. We had a strong applicant pool this year, and the decisions were difficult. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Sincerely, Steve Stephen Doherty, CAS '91 Graduate Programs Director Boston University College of Engineering 44 Cummington Street, Rm. 114 Boston, MA 02215 617-353-9763 ssd@bu.edu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leappho2012 Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Dammit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMC_Kid Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 bummer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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