Namash Posted April 15, 2013 Posted April 15, 2013 So its 15th. Most of you must have decided which universities you are headed for. I already accepted SIPA MPA program and was looking into housing option. What about others moving to NYC. Any ideas where you will be living and when you will start looking for rooms? So far craigslist mostly just has summer sublets available. I want to move in august and there are very few for that time. I also applied for university housing with a max limit of 1000 for rent which is a big dent on my planned budget but i wont be able to go to nyc to search for a room and university housing seemed like the safest option for the first semester. Any views about the experiences of people with university dorms?
Namash Posted April 15, 2013 Posted April 15, 2013 Ooo i forgot SIPAs decision time is till 19th... most of my other unis needed decisions by 15th so that was my deadline for deciding.
CreamTea Posted April 15, 2013 Posted April 15, 2013 Ooo i forgot SIPAs decision time is till 19th... most of my other unis needed decisions by 15th so that was my deadline for deciding. I've talked to people who lived in the SIPA apartments and most recommend them. If you are international, you have a good shot of getting housing so you should try that
Namash Posted April 17, 2013 Posted April 17, 2013 Thanks creamtea.... i applied for their housing keeping dorm with private room the highest priority, then apartment room n then dorm with shared room.... i got the sense of people prefering apartment over dorm from columbia website. I wonder why? it seems dorm is cheaper and safer and utilities are included in rent....Can anyone give me the name and link to SIPA admitted students FB page if they have any??
CreamTea Posted April 17, 2013 Posted April 17, 2013 Hi, I talked to one of the SIPA students who lived in a private dorm room and she said it was awful. It's co-ed. Their definition of "dorm" is odd. She said that the floor is divided up into 4 sections and each section is enclosed. In her case, her section had 10 rooms with 4 bathrooms. She said that the men (ahem, sorry, I am just repeating) kept the kitchen messy and the sinks clogged. She could her people vomitting in the bathroom all the time after parties. She recommended I apply for a room in an apartment and everyone else I talked to lived in the apartments. Besides, some of the apartments are less than a minute away from SIPA. I was glad I talked to this student as I was planning to apply for dorm too. I lived in a dorm as an undergrad and it was the standard dorm- two rows of rooms with bathrooms at the end and they were super clean, single sex, and housekeeping cleaned the kitchen regularly. Just search SIPA 2013-2015 I am in China so it's hard for me to send a fb link.
soaps Posted April 18, 2013 Posted April 18, 2013 Hi, I talked to one of the SIPA students who lived in a private dorm room and she said it was awful. It's co-ed. Their definition of "dorm" is odd. She said that the floor is divided up into 4 sections and each section is enclosed. In her case, her section had 10 rooms with 4 bathrooms. She said that the men (ahem, sorry, I am just repeating) kept the kitchen messy and the sinks clogged. She could her people vomitting in the bathroom all the time after parties. She recommended I apply for a room in an apartment and everyone else I talked to lived in the apartments. Besides, some of the apartments are less than a minute away from SIPA. I was glad I talked to this student as I was planning to apply for dorm too. I lived in a dorm as an undergrad and it was the standard dorm- two rows of rooms with bathrooms at the end and they were super clean, single sex, and housekeeping cleaned the kitchen regularly. Just search SIPA 2013-2015 I am in China so it's hard for me to send a fb link. This sounds like the standard American dorm experience. This is nothing particular/unique to Columbia. The average age of entrance for SIPA is 27, so naturally no one is considering dorms.
Namash Posted April 18, 2013 Posted April 18, 2013 (edited) dont they separate dorms for graduate and undergraduate students.... i read on the website for engineering part of columbia atleast that the even if the building is the same the floors are separate.... :s maybe i should change my priority list! Edited April 18, 2013 by Namash
bukowski Posted April 18, 2013 Posted April 18, 2013 If it's not too much trouble, can someone please invite me to the google group?
soaps Posted April 18, 2013 Posted April 18, 2013 (edited) dont they separate dorms for graduate and undergraduate students.... i read on the website for engineering part of columbia atleast that the even if the building is the same the floors are separate.... :s maybe i should change my priority list! Yeah, I think you should seriously consider changing your housing priorities. It can't be that much less expensive to live in dorms, and utilities are a marginal cost in NYC. I can't imagine you'll pay more than $50 a month for utilities... even less with more roommates. Edited April 18, 2013 by soaps
soaps Posted April 18, 2013 Posted April 18, 2013 If it's not too much trouble, can someone please invite me to the google group? You need to e-mail the sipa_new address. Apparently SIPA has been having trouble adding people... might be a Google issue.
Namash Posted April 19, 2013 Posted April 19, 2013 hmmm thanks for letting me know guys!!... i changed my preference... What are your views about the I house??... i think the north building is a better bet then the south building but it is expensive so i guess it will only fall in budget if you have room mates splitting the bill... someone i know is sharing a studio apartment in i house and ends up paying total 1050 per month which sounds ok... the challenge will be to find someone you can share the place with :s... so currently all hopes for geting a university housing apartment room!!
CreamTea Posted April 19, 2013 Posted April 19, 2013 (edited) hmmm thanks for letting me know guys!! ... i changed my preference... What are your views about the I house??... i think the north building is a better bet then the south building but it is expensive so i guess it will only fall in budget if you have room mates splitting the bill... someone i know is sharing a studio apartment in i house and ends up paying total 1050 per month which sounds ok... the challenge will be to find someone you can share the place with :s... so currently all hopes for geting a university housing apartment room!! Hi, from what I've heard, I house is okay if you don't mind living in a very small room (in the dorms) and not being able to cook. I asked a SIPA student. She said one friend hated it so much she moved it out and the other ended up loving it. For the apartments, I-house is more expensive than university housing. In fact, someone said that the apartments are unreasonably expensive. I think you have a good shot at university housing- my international SIPA friends got it with no problem. What do you mean sharing a studio? Two people living in one studio? Edited April 19, 2013 by CreamTea
soaps Posted April 20, 2013 Posted April 20, 2013 (edited) Hi, from what I've heard, I house is okay if you don't mind living in a very small room (in the dorms) and not being able to cook. I asked a SIPA student. She said one friend hated it so much she moved it out and the other ended up loving it. For the apartments, I-house is more expensive than university housing. In fact, someone said that the apartments are unreasonably expensive. I think you have a good shot at university housing- my international SIPA friends got it with no problem. What do you mean sharing a studio? Two people living in one studio? The room rates seem accurate for the area. Any other apartment in the area that aligns Riverside Park would be prohibitively expensive for most, and I-House also includes utilities and amenities like gym access in that amount, which makes it more than reasonable by Manhattan standards. Comparing it to Columbia subsidized apartments, it is more expensive, but those apartments don't include the apparent perks of I-house. That said, you can find a much better deal outside Morningside Heights. I've said it twice already but I'll say it again: adjust your expectations for living in NYC. If you expect to be able to afford a studio or 1-bedroom apartment, you're in for a shock. Edited April 20, 2013 by soaps
EduDev Posted May 2, 2013 Posted May 2, 2013 Does anybody know if SIPA or Teachers College is a better choice if somebody wants to go into social policy? TC does have an education policy track, which is related to what I want to do, but I don't know how their program is perceived by recruiters compared with SIPA.
Denisse Posted May 2, 2013 Posted May 2, 2013 As far as I know, Teacher's College is well regarded. In fact, based on my personal statement, I was actually interviewed by a professor at SIPA who thought that the education development track was a better choice for me (also given my past career experiences). I had to explain that I was more interested economic development and policy, but viewed educational development as a tool, and very beneficial for communities in its own right. And I also had no interest in working in a school environment again, which I think the educational development track is more geared for in Teacher's College.
Denisse Posted May 15, 2013 Posted May 15, 2013 This thread seems to have died! Is no one else on gradcafe going to SIPA??!
soaps Posted May 15, 2013 Posted May 15, 2013 Of course. I just think things have shifted to the facebook and Google groups. newdisplayname and sparkleandshinegirl 2
Namash Posted May 16, 2013 Posted May 16, 2013 Have you guys heard from columbia housing. I havent. I was hoping to live on campus... maybe I should start looking off campus more seriously now!
soaps Posted May 16, 2013 Posted May 16, 2013 I haven't either, but we aren't supposed to hear back until this month anyway and we still have half the month to go. Searching for off-campus housing this early won't prove very fruitful. June or (more likely) July are when most things for August open up.
Namash Posted May 16, 2013 Posted May 16, 2013 I asked SIPA and they say that decision are going out since 1st may and will continue till june... a person from fb group says that he applied beginning may and got the decision within two weeks :s... but you are right. nothing for august is available now... will need to wait and see...
circassian Posted March 7, 2014 Posted March 7, 2014 Hi all, First of all, wish good luck to everyone who have applied for Fall 2014. Also congrats to those who already have received an admission offer so far. As a late (and unlucky ) applicant, there's no news for me for now. It'll be kinda resurrection for the thread after almost one year But since only ten days or little bit more left for SIPA's admission decisions, I'd like to ask everyone a simple question: why, or why not SIPA (MPA)? I know, it's a wide one and you'll most likely ask the obvious question, "under which circumstances?". But to simplify, maybe we can at least assume that financial conditions, such as funding, are similar. I'm really looking for your answers. Thx to every one in advance.
tingtong13 Posted March 10, 2014 Posted March 10, 2014 Hey Has SIPA started sending decisions for MPA? I think the answer for why SIPA - for me personally, it has a good human rights focus and has a human rights policy concentration with law. So being a lawyer its exactly what I am looking for! But it all depends on what you are looking for. Why not SIPA - far too expensive without aid.
Gov2School Posted March 10, 2014 Posted March 10, 2014 If past year results are any guide (checking the results search page), SIPA won't send out replies until next week (week of the 17th). Probably because their deadline is so late, it was February 5th for people who didn't want to be considered for fellowships.
dpgu800 Posted March 10, 2014 Posted March 10, 2014 I'm still waiting as well... I remember reading somewhere that the decision is sent out early March, but looking at past results, it's likely that we'll indeed have to wait at least til the end of this week..... Tho I'm expecting to be rejected, it's still nerve wreaking to be waiting for so long......... Hopefully everyone gets good news soon!
samiam Posted March 11, 2014 Posted March 11, 2014 Someone just posted to the results page that they'd been admitted to the SIPA MPA via an email to check the website. Anyone else heard anything?
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