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Posted

haha I like this person's post:

"Well, I wasn't really expecting this with a 1500 GRE, 3.93 GPA from top ivy, 3 years wk experience (almost all overseas). Lacked quant though. Bummer..."

According to the results page, this person was waitlisted. Waitlisted! Thanks for making me feel completely underqualified and hopeless... lol

Posted
haha I like this person's post:

"Well, I wasn't really expecting this with a 1500 GRE, 3.93 GPA from top ivy, 3 years wk experience (almost all overseas). Lacked quant though. Bummer..."

According to the results page, this person was waitlisted. Waitlisted! Thanks for making me feel completely underqualified and hopeless... lol

Actually, that should give you hope more than anything else. It just goes to show you that adcoms are looking for more than near-perfect stats. Plus we don't know what kind of experience this person has or what the sop is like. Take comfort in knowing that the process is holistic.

You'll find that most students that fill classrooms at even the top schools aren't people with ridiculous scores and gpas.

Meanwhile, the poster will probably get a nice fellowship from another school.

Posted

I agree Console. I know someone that was accepted last year with far lower scores....well defintley not anywhere close to the GRE scores. So no one should be discouraged just yet...you just never know what any school/program is looking for, no matter what they saod. PLUS they don't want all types A's either. They want a good mix of people....this is not to say SIPA isn't looking for bright, leader-potential people....

Posted

You guys misunderstood my post. I'm not discouraged by having much lowers scores, I'm discouraged by having higher schools (i.e. 1600 GRE, 3.98 GPA, Harvard grad). If the ad committees don't accept people based on scores alone, then I'm screwed!

Posted
You guys misunderstood my post. I'm not discouraged by having much lowers scores, I'm discouraged by having higher schools (i.e. 1600 GRE, 3.98 GPA, Harvard grad). If the ad committees don't accept people based on scores alone, then I'm screwed!

I am sure they accept all different types of people- including ones with mainly acedemic credentials...maybe that other student mis-spelled words in the perosnal statement or had a bad reference...it could be anything!

Don't be discouraged!!! No has a clear cut advantage over anyone else. I persoanlly have amazing work/volunteer expirence, pretty sold undergrad/MBA gpa but CRAPPY (and I mean not ivy-league worthy) GRE scores....and I am still hoping for the best!

Posted

Yes, I agree that perfect numbers aren't the typical student that SIPA looks for, BUT I do think that for someone who is younger and is recently out of undergrad, numbers would probably weigh higher than for someone, say, three to five yrs. out of undergrad and with obviously more professional experience. For the latter group, numbers probably weigh less, and the admissions people may be more holistic.

This is my quandary: I feel my numbers are solid but I just finished undergrad two years ago and fear that for an MIA my work exp. is certainly my weakness compared to, say, the avg. SIPA or MIA student. That said, I always thought I had a decent shot at getting in cause I have strong quantitative (economics major with plenty of science and mathematics) and intl. living and travel to balance things out. But competition is precisely what it is because there are tons of people who would be similarly qualified, and who knows what exactly the admissions people weigh and consider?

I just wish I'd get some sort of timeline on when the 2nd rnd. would go out.

Posted

Just an FYI, I browsed over last year's thread on Autoadmit, and it looks like admissions to SIPA at this point may trickle in with some people not hearing anything until the end of the month. The positive news is that people were still getting acceptances. I think it is best for all of those, like me, who are now addicted to the refresh button to mentally prepare ourselves for a late notification and maybe distance ourselves from the SIPA "have you heard yet?" stress. :)

http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thr ... forum_id=3

Posted

I called yesterday and they said they would likely release notifications in pieces over the next two weeks. I appreciate how (relatively) open SIPA is with their admissions process, but at the same time, it definitely adds to the stress levels. Why not just release everything at once instead of staggering notifications over the course of a month? (Shrug)

Posted

To hope4ful from March 7th and any others re: Incomplete application status even with all documents having been received. I applied for the MPA program at the beginning of 2009 and had the same status, too, for more than two weeks after everything was submitted and accounted for after the deadline. I called last Friday to check and a helpful, kind woman in the admissions office checked online and changed the status to "completed". Haven't heard anything back from them yet, but at least feel better knowing that it says 'completed'.

This board has been really helpful for sharing info - thanks guys and hang in :) Best of luck to everyone!

Posted

Hi policygrrl - I spoke with Admissions yesterday after being completely freaked out this weekend that there was something wrong with my application. Apparently, my application is under review, and has been, but I guess there is a computer glitch or something. It still says "Incomplete" but oh well. Thanks for the info though!

I completely agree about being appreciative of SIPA's more transparent application process. In general, I think the school is progressive in terms of organization, but they have my heart so I guess I'm pretty biased. :P

Posted

In all earnest I ask that someone please tell me why SIPA is worth 60k a year of debt. Even with funding the 2nd year (not everyone gets some even in the second year), that seems like a massive liability and I'm not sure what makes SIPA worth it. Please enlighten me =)

Posted
Hi policygrrl - I spoke with Admissions yesterday after being completely freaked out this weekend that there was something wrong with my application. Apparently, my application is under review, and has been, but I guess there is a computer glitch or something. It still says "Incomplete" but oh well. Thanks for the info though!

I completely agree about being appreciative of SIPA's more transparent application process. In general, I think the school is progressive in terms of organization, but they have my heart so I guess I'm pretty biased. :P

Apparently they "misplaced" one of my transcripts and after almost ringing the neck of my old school thinking it was their fault, the lady at admissions called to say they have it...this was last week. So only last week did my file move from incomplete to complete. When I asked her if my file would still be reviews she said yes as it wil will go in with the next batch....

....honestly I don't care at this point!

Posted
In all earnest I ask that someone please tell me why SIPA is worth 60k a year of debt. Even with funding the 2nd year (not everyone gets some even in the second year), that seems like a massive liability and I'm not sure what makes SIPA worth it. Please enlighten me =)

This question requires a personal answer. I value the education at SIPA because it fits my more irregular career interests and gives me more flexibility than other MPA/MPP programs. I have also spoken with people in my intended field and was told HKS & SIPA would be ideal for future hire - well unless I want to go the IR approach which I don't. Whether or not it is worth the huge price tag, it is tough to say. I am working on external funding options (have a small amount secured) and am trying to think creatively for the rest. I might not be the best judge, though, because almost all the schools I applied have hefty price tags.

Posted

This was posted early last month on the SIPA admissions blog:

"Please understand that not all decisions are posted at the same time. I would say that approximately 80% of the decisions are published on the same day. Approximately 20% of the files take longer to process and as decisions are made, email notifications will be sent out."

...which seems to contradict what was posted later in the blog and what we're seeing now. I guess SIPA changed their admission notification process sometime between last month and this month? I'm confused :?

Anyway, I guess I'll just have to wait for the email...

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