HKS 2015

[202>916>773]

Rejected. Good luck to all who applied!

[economixed_policy]

I'm in!!! Don't think I've been this happy in a very very long time. All the best to all of you!

Edited March 11, 2015 by economixed_policy

[jxmp]

Accepted!!! I'm so excited! Good luck to everyone  

[lennoxRU]

Admitted to MPA/ID!!!! previous 21 applications failed!

[Fall2015]

Waitlisted... 

 

To those who have been waitlisted and accepted, do you have any advice?

 

 

[Thandiwine]

Admitted to MPA/ID!!!! previous 21 applications failed!

what do you mean previous 21 applications failed?

[gradjm]

do they provide feedback on MPP ding?

 

the only program I applied to after spending countless hours researching, talking with people, aligning recommender. V strong recs, though don't think it matters.

 

In any case, the only thing that makes me mad is all the work I put into their ridiculous financial aid application. I applied to six fellowships (essays, letters of rec) for nothing.

+1

[jolene76]

In for MPP. Deep breaths.

[gradjm]

In David King's post,"right people"/"will come"  means HKS too concerned about their yield protection? hope that doesn't make them rule out candidates based on individual "hunch" whether someone will attend or not.

 

  We want our process to be transparent so that we get the “right” people applying – and so that folks whom we admit *will* come once we’ve said “yes.” 

 

 

Seriously it's a little troubling to hear judgments being made about candidates based on posts on some forum or google results.
 

 

Harvard faculty are exceptionally involved in reading these files, weighing backgrounds, puzzling over letters and essays, and Googling applicants,

 

 

Hi everyone.  Today’s the 11^th, and our internal target has been to get decisions (all of them) out tomorrow, the 12^th.  We’re aiming for today, though, because we want to get these to everyone as soon as possible.  That’s especially important for  international students, because they have to begin getting the paperwork in order to move here for a year or two.  Please know that staff (and faculty) have been working extra-long hours to get things done right. 

 

Responding to the thread above: as for admission rates, yield rates, and so on, I don’t think anyone from any school is going to give you specific numbers.  And as I said the other day,  speculations about our admission rates are way off.  It’s difficult to get into Harvard, period, but we don’t want some applicants thinking, “Oh, I’ll never have a shot there,” just because their test scores and GPA weren’t stellar.  Especially in the MC/MPA program, we’re looking for someone who has been doing good work – work in the publc interest – and who’ll work to make the world a better place. 

 

You-all should take a look at Matt’s blog at HKS admissions.  We want our process to be transparent so that we get the “right” people applying – and so that folks whom we admit *will* come once we’ve said “yes.”   

 

On admission rates and yields – again without specific numbers – you need to see things from the school’s perspective.  Every school – including HKS – has a budget projection based on enrollment.  Putting our PhD program aside, we have a budgeted number of students in our four programs.  Look here: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/about/history/hks-facts

 

In rough numbers (though not the real, unpublished numbers) the programs are expected to bring to campus this fall, about 210 first year MPP students, about 210 MCMPA students (about 85 of these might be Mason Fellows), about 75 first year MPA students, and about 70 first year MPA/ID students.  The number of applicants to each program differs, and the admissions rates in each category are different.  Is it “harder” to get into one program over another?  No, not from our point of view.  From our perspective, each program is looking for a different kind of student.  Each program has a separate culture, too.

 

Admitted students can petition to defer their acceptance for a year.  As Matt will tell you, deferrals are not guaranteed, and they may not be extended beyond one year.  In considering our yield rates, then, we have to make several calculations.  There’s the yield of admittted students from this year, and there’s a yield rate for the deferrals from last year.  Each program has separate calculations for yield rates in both categories. 

 

Then there’s the “melt” rate.  There will be some students who tell us they’re coming and who send in a deposit, but then don’t come.  There aregood reasons for backing out, including finances, family circumstances, work and visa concerns, etc.  Each program has an estimated melt rate, and each one is different.

 

Take the MCMPA Mason program as an example.  The numbers I’m going to show you are MADE UP (because we don’t release the real numbers), but it’ll give you a sense of things. 

 

Assume that our target number for admissions is 85.  Assume that there were 30 deferrals from last year’s group of admitted students.  Assume that we expect a melt rate equal to 5 admitted students.  How do we get to 85? Figuring in the melt, we’d  aim for 90. If our models suggest a 50% yield on deferrals, then 15 (of the 30) students would come from there.  And if our models suggest a 75% yield on the fresh admits, we need to admit just enough students to get up to the remaining 75 (90-15).  We’d be looking to admit 100 fresh applicants, because 75% of 100 is 75.  And if we happened to have had 400 fresh Mason applications, then we’d be admiting 25%.  Remember, THESE NUMBERS ARE MADE UP, and our admission, yield, and melt percentages vary year by year and program by program.  In this example, though, given a budgeted target of 85 students, we’d expect 15 to come from the 30 deferrals (a yield of 50%), we’d expect 75 to come from fresh applicants (a yield of  75 percent of 100 new admits), and we’d expect a melt of 5.  So, 15+75-5=85.

 

Some of you will find out, presumably today, that you’re on a waitlist.  As with every other school doing admissions right now, a waitlist is an insurance policy against poor “yield” and “melt” estimates.  If Matt’s team has read the tea leaves correctly, we won’t go to the waitlists at all.  Each program, of course, has separate waitlists, and it could be that we end up drawing on one waitlist (MPA/ID, for example) but not another (MCMPA).  As a faculty member, I can appreciate the pressure that Matt’s team is under, because I want his yield and melt projections to be exactly right.  The school doesn’t want to be “under” on students, but faculty absolutely don’t want to admit too many.  All things equal, our faculty would rather have smaller, not larger, classes.  All things equal, we’d rather spend more quality time mentoring fewer students than spreading our time across too many superficial partnerships.  So Matt’s team is caught between the budgeted needs of the school (“Hit your targets, Matt.”) and pressure from faculty like me (“Hey, Matt, get me the very best students, but not too many of them.”)  I’ll admit right now that, as the chair of the MPA and MCMPA admissions committee, I’m sometimes put too much pressure on Matt and his team to get me the very best applicants – but not too many of them.  I suppose Matt has a constituency with you-all, too, the prospective students.  He has to encourage the “right” students to apply while being realistic with everyone else.   It’s a tough job.

 

Which brings us to today.  You’ll get an email.  For the overwhelming majority of applicants, the email will not be good news.  And to you-all, I’m really sorry.  You tried, and we tried, and we took your applications very seriously, and if you’re in one of my programs, please know that you can email me on my harvard account and I’ll walk you though how the committee read your file.  For some of you, you’ll learn today that you’re on a waiting list, and you might be tempted to lobby to get your name “moved up” on the list, but as Matt has explained in the blog, that’s not how things work.   And for some of you, you’ll get great news… and we do hope you’ll come.  Indeed, we’re *expecting* you to come. (Ok, we’re expecting N*YIELD%-MELT to come.)

 

Thank you-all for your patience throughout all this.  HKS gets a tremendous number of applications.  I don’t think any policy school in the world comes close to the volume of applications that we handle.  And unlike most other policy schools, Harvard faculty are exceptionally involved in reading these files, weighing backgrounds, puzzling over letters and essays, and Googling applicants, checking for plaigarism, and so on.  I’ve been on the admissions committee for 20+ years, and I think our facultyserve on the committee because we really love the process.  The volume is overwhelming.  It’s exhausting.  And on days like today… the outcome is also kinda thrilling.

 

Good luck to you-all.

 

 

[johnchristian]

IN for the MPP program. I'm just so, wow... no words.

[pluckyduck123]

Admitted to MPP this morning!

[gradjm]

Can applicants post their numbers, background, softs, other factors that led to your result, admission decision?

Decision: accept/WL/ding

GPA:

GRE (Q, V, W):

Background:

Softs:

Other factors:

[ajak568]

Admitted for MPP but will be turning it down, so good luck to the wait listed candidates! There's a spot for you!

[wb2603532]

Admitted to MPA/ID!! Definitely going there. Was my top choice. Hope it works out in terms of financial aid

[chelaylay]

Admitted to MPP! So now we (or at least I) get to agonize over for the next three weeks over whether or not this will be a financially feasible option...anybody want to trade the names/make recommendations of all the random external scholarship programs they're applying to to pass the time? I'm pretty sure there's more money out there based on my ethnicity than on the fact I want to work in public service which kind of blows my mind...

[jxmp]

Admitted to MPP! So now we (or at least I) get to agonize over for the next three weeks over whether or not this will be a financially feasible option...anybody want to trade the names/make recommendations of all the random external scholarship programs they're applying to to pass the time? I'm pretty sure there's more money out there based on my ethnicity than on the fact I want to work in public service which kind of blows my mind...

 

I'm with you! Would you attend HKS without funding? 

[Nippon12]

I'm with you! Would you attend HKS without funding?

Personally speaking, I would not.

Don't get me wrong: the Harvard brand recognition and network is incredible. It would be a huge honor to attend with the best of the best, too.

But possibly over $100k in debt for a policy degree? That's an INSANE amount of debt for someone entering into the nonprofit or public sphere. And the fact that it's non-dischargeable is CRUSHING in the event something goes awry.

I just couldn't justify it! It would set me back on buying a home, starting a family, retirement, etc., etc.

But hopefully all the funding packages make it so we don't have to worry about that!

Congrats to all the admits! You earned it!

Good luck!

[paxi]

Admitted to the 2 year MPA!

[lantzuh]

Didnt get in  Not even waitlisted.  

 

I got into WWS so I am happy with that.  Harvard was my 2nd top choice.

 

 

Congrats to everyone who got in!  I hope we can meet in the future!

[kooyah]

Looks like I'm out.

 

Shout out to the HKS adcoms for a spectacular example on school admissions transparency. Very well done. *claps circularly*

 

Good luck to the admitted and I wish you the best in your endeavors!

 

 

 

As a result, I'll be enjoying the free ride to Goldman. YEEEEAAAAHHH!     

[december1219]

waitlist for MPP....Finger Crossed 

[JohnJ88]

Happy for all of you who were accepted. I was rejected, but I still have 2 great schools to choose from. 

 

My hat's off to the HKS admissions people for their candid, insightful posts. 

[BondForAmerica]

Waitlisted for the MC-MPA.  That's ok with me.  I'm happy that there is still a possibility.  

[ReinventOneself]

For those that were not admitted, there's an excellent blog post up today by Matt Clemons:

 

Admission Decision Feedback

http://hksadmissionblog.tumblr.com/post/113424470968/admission-decision-feedback

[PeterQuince]

Has anyone applied for fellowships with the Center for Public Leadership?

 

The website says that finalists will be invited on March 14, 2015 to interview next week (at least for the fellowships I'm looking at), but that seems like a tight turnaround (even to schedule a telephone interview). Does that mean finalists are informed earlier than this Saturday and only receive interview information over the weekend, or that finalists aren't notified in any way until the 14? I know there hasn't been much time for the selections committee(s) to review materials, so I recognize the time constraints on all ends.

 

Does anyone have any experience? Many thanks!