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Attention Public Policy/Affairs PhDs & Applicants!


PolyWonk

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Okay arki, so here is what just happened to me. Interested to see what happened to your application...

 

After emailing admissions, she wrote back asking for my application ID number and date I applied. When I sent those, she wrote back and said THEY DIDN'T HAVE MY APP IN THEIR SYSTEM. She asked if I was positive that I had applied to the Public Policy Phd.

 

I obviously was pretty worried that there is no way my application would get a fair assessment now, and a little bit miffed at the question if I knew which program I had applied to. I sent back a screenshot of my Berkeley Grad Application online profile that said "Public Policy PhD" on it and also sent the receipt for the $80 application fee showing it was received by the deadline.

 

She then emails back saying sorry, they actually DO have my application, and what email should she send the decision letter to. About an hour later I get the form rejection letter from her email address, not from the online application system. Just checked the Berkeley Grad application system, and no decision is posted there.

 

What do y'all think about all this? At best they aren't notifying people when they are rejected and are just kinda dealing with it as they get bothered. At worst they lost my application and when it became clear I was pretty pissed (and would probably ask for $80 back) they just sent a rejection.

 

I am sorry, that sounds like a nightmare. Just as I was about to email admissions (one hour ago) I received a rejection email as well. The online application has not been updated. I don't quite know what to make of it.... 

 

Anyway, happy that this whole process is soon over (the last school I applied to will announce the decisions tomorrow)

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I am sorry, that sounds like a nightmare. Just as I was about to email admissions (one hour ago) I received a rejection email as well. The online application has not been updated. I don't quite know what to make of it.... 

 

Anyway, happy that this whole process is soon over (the last school I applied to will announce the decisions tomorrow)

 

 

if you don't mind me asking, what school, Arkibarki, did you apply to that is releasing decisions tomorrow?

 

I've heard nothing from the last school I'm waiting to hear from for over a week now.

 

Anyone care to explain why schools wait to send rejection letters after acceptances have been mailed to/notified master's students??

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if you don't mind me asking, what school, Arkibarki, did you apply to that is releasing decisions tomorrow?

 

I've heard nothing from the last school I'm waiting to hear from for over a week now.

 

Anyone care to explain why schools wait to send rejection letters after acceptances have been mailed to/notified master's students??

 

According to their twitter account, WWS will release decisions tomorrow. Which school are you waiting for? 

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George Washington. I noticed in the results section that they notified master's students last week- and someone posted that they would do the same for phd applicants on monday. It's sort of crazy that I'm waiting to hear back from them given that I'm pretty sure what the end result will be, but there's something about just seeing the rejection letter that, apparently, I'll find comforting :)

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According to their twitter account, WWS will release decisions tomorrow. Which school are you waiting for? 

Rejected from WWS.  That makes the decision process easier.

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On 3/14/2013 at 9:16 PM, mav1113 said:

George Washington. I noticed in the results section that they notified master's students last week- and someone posted that they would do the same for phd applicants on monday. It's sort of crazy that I'm waiting to hear back from them given that I'm pretty sure what the end result will be, but there's something about just seeing the rejection letter that, apparently, I'll find comforting :)

 

Hi All,

 

Just to jump in. I applied to GWU's PhD program in Public Policy & Administration and was waitlisted this past Monday. I reached out to the graduate program director about what this meant, and in her response, she mentioned that the program accepted fewer students this year (compared to previous years). Not sure if this is reflective of funding issues or what.

 

But I am guessing that means all decisions have been made (and perhaps it's just taking a while for the GAS to upload them) so if you're only waiting on GW, you may be able to get a decision over the phone or email. Good luck to everyone!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks, Carryon08. Sadly, I got my rejection email from GWU last week....from previous searches on GWU, it doesn't seem like they fund many of their phd policy students...not sure why (they seem like they're large and well-funded enough to do so).

 

This thread has been mighty quiet lately....

Agreed! I saw that you were accepted at Delaware---have you visited the school or made a decision yet? I'd be curious, I was also accepted, but won't get a chance to visit. Feel free to PM me!

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To everyone else...has anyone applied and been accepted to the (PhD) Heller program at Brandeis? I haven't seen anything on here (or the results search) about it? [i'm waitlisted and curious about when other folks may find out (and if they won't be accepting their offer!!) since I contacted the department not vise versa.]

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Hey Mav,

I got into delaware they gave me a 16k stipend and tuition waiver. I applied to the phd program in energy and environmental policy. what program did you apply to? I have not visited yet, but I will try. I dont think I will go since the scholarship they gave me is only for 1 year (my contact said that is almost guaranteed that I will get at least that amount every year but i need something a little better than a  almost guarantee).

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I just did a random website check and saw that i got rejected from georgia tech. I guess it doesnt matter how far out of undergad you are or how much work experience you have or if you have a masters degree. They still cant forget about your past in undergrad. I guess i will be going to virginia tech to study industrial engineering, i guess public policy isnt in gods plan for me

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 I guess i will be going to virginia tech to study industrial engineering, i guess public policy isnt in gods plan for me

 

Best of luck to you at VTech! You can come into policy work & policy research from any discipline, and if it's right, you'll make it back! 

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I just did a random website check and saw that i got rejected from georgia tech. I guess it doesnt matter how far out of undergad you are or how much work experience you have or if you have a masters degree. They still cant forget about your past in undergrad. I guess i will be going to virginia tech to study industrial engineering, i guess public policy isnt in gods plan for me

I'm with you on the undergrad grades - mine aren't as good as I would like, and I think it was a factor that eliminated me from a few schools.

 

Best of luck to everyone who will be attending next year!

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a little bit of a silver lining, Ga tech accepted me for the masters program, they are looking for funding for me but I think i might have to rock with Virginia tech

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  • 3 weeks later...

so where is everyone going? in other news CMU is still "reviewing" my application. I asked VT for an extension on if i will accept or not because I am waiting for cmu.

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  • 3 months later...

How bad is "bad" when it comes to undergraduate GPAs and PhD applications? 2.99 and below? 2.75? :blink:

 

Aren't the AdComs only supposed to look at the last 60 hours? 

From what I hear they do only look at the last 60 credits, I thought if I had a masters and 5 year work experience in the field would help. I feel like research experience trumps work experience any day. I did get into a MPP program at Georgia tech though. I deferred though because CMU wanted me to sit in on a class to see how i performed before making a commitment. So that is what I will be doing in the fall.

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  • 2 months later...

Hi all!

I am new to this, so kindly excuse my ignorance. 

 

I am from India, and am currently pursuing my MBA from an AACSB accredited B-school here, down south. Prior to this, I did my B.Tech in civil engineering post which I worked for a construction company for 8 months. During my graduation, I had started a coaching institution to train students for engineering and medical entrance examinations, and ran it successfully for 17 months. My acads are decent, and I am interested in pursuing a PhD in Public Policy, but I don't know how I should approach the same. I am looking for an international exposure. 

I would be grateful if someone could answer the following queries:

 

1) Kindly let me know what kind of profile is preferred by the best schools in the US.

2) I would not be able to afford the high fees, and am looking for scholarships/stipends. Which are the schools where the stipends are decent?

3) Is MPP necessary for getting into the PhD programme? 

4) What else can or rather should I do to improve my profile? 

5) If I applied for a fellowship under the a foundation say, Teach For India, would that counted as relevant experience? 

6) I went through the MPP programme details of Woodrow Wilson Princeton, and got pretty excited about their MPP programme. How competitive is the programme? What should I do to get in there?

Looking forward to the answers! Kindly bear! Thanks!

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  • 2 months later...

Is anyone else applying to Policy or IR PhD programs this time around? I feel kind of homeless - this forum is all MPPs, whereas the Political Science forum is all... political science-y...

I am hoping to study education policy, so I applied to a mix of PhD programs in Ed and in PP. For pure public policy program, I applied to Duke (Sanford) and GWU. I also applied for ed policy at UMichigan and UWisconsin, and the Human Development and Social Policy program at Northwestern. Haven't heard anything yet. Good luck to you!

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I am hoping to study education policy, so I applied to a mix of PhD programs in Ed and in PP. For pure public policy program, I applied to Duke (Sanford) and GWU. I also applied for ed policy at UMichigan and UWisconsin, and the Human Development and Social Policy program at Northwestern. Haven't heard anything yet. Good luck to you!

 

Cool, my interest is international environmental policy, so I applied to Duke, UMichigan, UMD, and Syracuse for Public Policy/Public Administration type programs, and then Johns Hopkins and American for International Affairs Programs. I haven't heard anything from anyone either.

 

I'm very nervous - I took a major shot in the dark in terms of realistic set of schools to apply to, so I'm mentally preparing myself to be slammed with a ton of nos in a month's time!

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Glad to hear there are other folks going through same anxiety.  My interests are in health and social policy and I have applied to mix of policy/pa programs (RAND, UNC, Brandeis, American, FSU) and public health programs in policy (U. Minn, Johns Hopkins).  I have no clue how things will shake out as I am a definite outlier in terms of age (old!) though most of the programs I contacted were fairly receptive to my candidacy.
 
I guess I will find out in the coming weeks!
 
Good luck to all.  I look forward to seeing how others are faring on this site.
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I am interested in international development + business policy.  I applied to a mix of policy (UNC + Duke) and business programs (the only schools progressive enough to do social impact and business research are the top schools - so these 3 schools I basically have zero chance of getting into but had to just go for it).  

 

I keep obsessively checking my applications and re-reading them.  I can't wait until this process is over!  

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For those of you that applied to UNC - I noticed that on the website it says reviews start on Jan. 5 and most decisions made by Jan. 20.  But my application still just says Submitted and does not say Under Review.  What is everyone else seeing? 

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  • 2 weeks later...

My UNC app is still showing as Submitted as well.  I was told to expect to hear re: a decision in February, but that seems like months away. Waiting is not fun...

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