Elliott School Financial Aid

[jakels6]

Has anyone received a full financial aid package from GWU yet for MA? Or does anyone know when they might be out? It sure would help in making a decision.

[Cornell07]

I really wish I could figure out what the criteria for who gets financial aid at these schools. I always assumed that part of the financial aid calculus was trying to woo students whose scores would raise the average admissions scores. For example, at GWU, almost all of my stats are in the top 25% for the entering class, yet I was offered bupkis. Perhaps schools are penalizing me for having slaved away at a law firm for a while, doing insane hours for quite good pay, while living like an impoverished grad student and stowing away a decent portion of my grad school education?

[GoIR]

I did get some funding from Elliot(int'l affairs MA). 17K/year, renewable for the 2nd year.

I am an international student(and US resident), coming from a flagship univ of my home country, straight out of undergrad and my undergrad GPA's very high, like 97th percentile. Maybe that's one of the creteria(undergrad GPA). my GRE's not so impressive, and i have no full-time paid job experience though i do have 2 pretty good 6 month internships related to the field i wanna go into.

Hope it helps

[zourah]

I did get some funding from Elliot(int'l affairs MA). 17K/year, renewable for the 2nd year.

I am an international student(and US resident), coming from a flagship univ of my home country, straight out of undergrad and my undergrad GPA's very high, like 97th percentile. Maybe that's one of the creteria(undergrad GPA). my GRE's not so impressive, and i have no full-time paid job experience though i do have 2 pretty good 6 month internships related to the field i wanna go into.

Hope it helps

Yes, but that fellowship was presented with the admit letter, no? I got a similar offer, but it still hasn't come accompanied by a complete financial aid statement regarding the necessary work study/loans I'd need on top of that in order to pay for everything. I'm still waiting for that letter, too.

[Cornell07]

I did get some funding from Elliot(int'l affairs MA). 17K/year, renewable for the 2nd year.

I am an international student(and US resident), coming from a flagship univ of my home country, straight out of undergrad and my undergrad GPA's very high, like 97th percentile. Maybe that's one of the creteria(undergrad GPA). my GRE's not so impressive, and i have no full-time paid job experience though i do have 2 pretty good 6 month internships related to the field i wanna go into.

Hope it helps

I wish it did. I went to Cornell, a school of some repute, (editor's note: I am really sick of the Ivy League fetishism out there. It's a sport's conference for Christ's sake) and got a 770Q, 5.5 W, and 630 V, a 3.61 GPA, plus 2 years work experience and quite a bit of public service volunteer work. I just cannot figure out why none of my schools offered me a cent of grant money when I felt that I offered a competitive applicant profile. Who knows, maybe it had something to do with my SOP? *shrug* :?:

[zourah]

I wish it did. I went to Cornell, a school of some repute, (editor's note: I am really sick of the Ivy League fetishism out there. It's a sport's conference for Christ's sake) and got a 770Q, 5.5 W, and 630 V, a 3.61 GPA, plus 2 years work experience and quite a bit of public service volunteer work. I just cannot figure out why none of my schools offered me a cent of grant money when I felt that I offered a competitive applicant profile. Who knows, maybe it had something to do with my SOP? *shrug* :?:

I think that a lot of it has to do with need, also. I'd like to think my application was strong, but having gotten out of undergrad with some of my parents' savings intact (hooray for merit scholarships!) and then worked/saved the past year and a half, I think that my FAFSA expected contribution hit me pretty hard. At least, I like that narrative better than "well, I guess I'm somewhere in the lower half of the admits..."

Also, given that many schools either don't release or don't promote their test scores much, I doubt these carry much weight. Seeing as they DO tout where their grads end up, I think they're probably trying hard to predict professional success - does this person have a glowing LoR from a boss? Is the essay clearly focused? Can we imagine him/her getting in at State, UN, World Bank...? I mean, I don't know any of this, but I think the stats obsession is far more an undergrad thing.

[jakels6]

Yeah not sure of the criteria, but it varies quite a bit from school to school. I guess each one had certain things they are looking for. I just wish they would send out the whole package. I am going to attend the open house regardless and will most likely end up going to GWU, but I would like to know what type of loans i might have to take out.

[zourah]

Yeah not sure of the criteria, but it varies quite a bit from school to school. I guess each one had certain things they are looking for. I just wish they would send out the whole package. I am going to attend the open house regardless and will most likely end up going to GWU, but I would like to know what type of loans i might have to take out.

I'd start by assuming that any amount you'll need beyond what they've already given you as a fellowship will be loans. $8500 limit on federally subsidized, the rest will be unsubsidized. The admit pack included their basic costs calculation, so you can get a pretty good estimate from there already - and any formal package including work-study or other offers can only look better than what you've already calculated!

[Cornell07]

I think that a lot of it has to do with need, also. I'd like to think my application was strong, but having gotten out of undergrad with some of my parents' savings intact (hooray for merit scholarships!) and then worked/saved the past year and a half, I think that my FAFSA expected contribution hit me pretty hard. At least, I like that narrative better than "well, I guess I'm somewhere in the lower half of the admits..."

The thing I don't like about the savings argument is that, in theory, I might be penalized for being more frugal than other applicants. While I am not suggesting that you or anyone else on this board spent their money like drunken sailors after college, I would be annoyed if a school said that if I had not worked ungodly hours and not saved nearly all of my post-necessary expenses income,I might be entitled to more financial aid because I would "need" it more.

[zourah]

The thing I don't like about the savings argument is that, in theory, I might be penalized for being more frugal than other applicants. While I am not suggesting that you or anyone else on this board spent their money like drunken sailors after college, I would be annoyed if a school said that if I had not worked ungodly hours and not saved nearly all of my post-necessary expenses income,I might be entitled to more financial aid because I would "need" it more.

True, true. I had another point I'd forgotten to include; see edits above.

[jointdegree]

From my understanding and this is not specific to GWU, one does not receive the complete student financial aid package until after the mid-April deadline. The only thing people know before making their decision is whether they received any fellowship aid. Yes, it doesn't make any sense to me as I would want to know if I qualified for subsidized loans before making a decision. But I spoken with current students at each of my schools, and they said the packages come out in May or so. (maybe the financial aid office only prepares packages after they know who is attending? who knows). But it has been frustrating trying to figure out the money situation. It would be nice to get the subsidized loan. All I have to say is that it is not a transparent process, and after reviewing tons of sites and information, I am still in the dark.

[firefly85]

I'm also confused as to what schools are looking for in order to give out scholarships/fellowships. In some cases it may be financial need is a part of it, but I didn't submit a FAFSA and still got a scholarship from American. I did have a good undergrad GPA (3.7) from Johns Hopkins, ok GRE's (620 V/630Q/5.5W), good recommendations (but who doesn't?), and a fairly good SOP (I think...). While I'm still waiting to hear from one school on funding, it all seems like a mystery to me. There are people who got big scholarships to top tier IR schools like Tufts or SAIS and nothing from American, whereas I didn't get into Tufts and was waitlisted at SAIS. I spoke to one of the program directors at American and she said part of the reason they offered me money was they felt there was a good fit between my interests and what the school offers/focuses on. So maybe that has something to do with it. Other than that I really don't know how they make these decision! Cornell, your profile does seem very very strong, I'm really surprise you weren't offered money. I know that's not much consolation, but maybe it will help you in getting funding for your second year.

[ashes75]

From my understanding and this is not specific to GWU, one does not receive the complete student financial aid package until after the mid-April deadline. The only thing people know before making their decision is whether they received any fellowship aid. Yes, it doesn't make any sense to me as I would want to know if I qualified for subsidized loans before making a decision. But I spoken with current students at each of my schools, and they said the packages come out in May or so. (maybe the financial aid office only prepares packages after they know who is attending? who knows). But it has been frustrating trying to figure out the money situation. It would be nice to get the subsidized loan. All I have to say is that it is not a transparent process, and after reviewing tons of sites and information, I am still in the dark.

Yesterday I actualy got an email from Fletcher outlining my funding package (scholarship, subsidized loans, unsubsidized loans, work study). But Fletcher seems to be very on top of its game in terms of transparency and getting information out quickly, which definately makes me want to go there more as I feel like they actualy care about my needs and run a smooth operation.

[Cornell07]

Yesterday I actualy got an email from Fletcher outlining my funding package (scholarship, subsidized loans, unsubsidized loans, work study). But Fletcher seems to be very on top of its game in terms of transparency and getting information out quickly, which definately makes me want to go there more as I feel like they actualy care about my needs and run a smooth operation.

I agree very much with the sentiment. I hold not a drop of hard feeling towards Tufts for rejecting me because at least they have been exceedingly transparent in their admissions process. Heck, they even offer to review your application to tell you how to make it stronger in the future!

[GoIR]

I wish it did. I went to Cornell, a school of some repute, (editor's note: I am really sick of the Ivy League fetishism out there. It's a sport's conference for Christ's sake) and got a 770Q, 5.5 W, and 630 V, a 3.61 GPA, plus 2 years work experience and quite a bit of public service volunteer work. I just cannot figure out why none of my schools offered me a cent of grant money when I felt that I offered a competitive applicant profile. Who knows, maybe it had something to do with my SOP? *shrug*

Hmm, the reason why I guessed the stats mattered was the name of the fellowship(High Honors) - it has a hint of stat-oriented criteria, i thought. My stats are 3.9X/4.0 UGPA in IR, 670V/800Q GRE..Ohter aspects of my profile, tho i have many int'l experiences and interned for the foreign affairs ministry, does not match your 2yrs of work experience, really. Or i guess, maybe they have different criteria for different fellowships, you know? I totally agree to the comment above that stats are mainly undergrad thing and there are a lot other factors to affect grad admissions/funding. maybe some fellowships are for the stat-strong, some are for work-experience strong, some are for overall-fit, etc, etc.

Well, it seems like GWU did not treat you well enough, but their loss.

[jakels6]

Well this is the response I got from the Elliott School about my inquiry into financial aid packages.

"The Elliott School has already notified those receiving fellowships from our office directly. The Elliott School should be sending financial aid packets, complete with loan and need-based aid information from the Office of Student Financial Assistance. I am not sure when these will be sent, but you can contact them directly at 202-994-6624.

Please let us know if you have any additional questions. "

Not much help...