David_King Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 The fellowships can be confusing here, because HKS is so decentralized. Some of the “centers” have their own fellowship programs, which they administer on their own – and most of their decisions are made by the end of March. Those decisions are then reported to the Financial Aid and Scholarship committee (which covers the whole HKS), and they’re factored in when the rest of the aid is handed out. Here’s how I think about the various research centers (though I’m mostly familiar with the Carr Center on Human Rights). Centers have been raising money for specific fellowships. Some of those fellowships are limited to select countries, some to types of backgrounds, and so on. The Carr Center can help pay for *one* person who has a significant Human Rights background. As you-all have mentioned in the thread above, the Center for Public Leadership (David Gergen’s baby) has some especially great fellowship programs. http://www.centerforpublicleadership.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=361&Itemid=185 Dubin, Gleitsman, Zuckerman, and so on. Each of these fellowships has a separate selection committee. Some of the fellowship programs interview applicants – but some don’t. I don’t personally know which ones do or don’t, and things seem to be a bit different every year. There are other fellowships available through the centers. The Ash Center, for example, has some programs – but they tend to focus on post-docs. http://www.ash.harvard.edu/Home/About/Fellows-Scholars Likewise for the Belfer Center – a great place for post-docs. http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/fellowships/ And there’s some actual fellowship money avaialable for one student through the Shorenstein Center (media), and a few others. But CPL’s the big player – and David Gergen has been doing a tremendous job bringing in sponsors. Please keep in mind that most fellowship programs approach their task as if they’re putting together a portfolio of fellows. They want an interesting blend of backgrounds, expertise, and personality types. There’s really no way that an applicant can guess what “role” they’re being considered for in the portfolio. Anyway, after the Centers have made their choices, the rest of the Financial Aid & Scholarship thing happens. Here’s a more-or-less full list: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/degrees/sfs/prospective-students/fellowships-scholarships/domestic/hks And there are some Scholarships that are country-specific or region-specific, and so on. Here’s a list of those: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/degrees/sfs/prospective-students/fellowships-scholarships/intl/hks-affiliated You won’t actually apply for many of these scholarships. Take the “Stokey” Fellowship, for example. Edith Stokey was a beloved faculty member here, and she had a special relationship with and care for Sri Lanka. If we have a terrific student from Sri Lanka, the Stokey money will go there. It’s all a very complicated process – and it gets “centralized” only during the third and fourth weeks in March, when the Centers forward their choices to Financial Aid – and the rest of the scholarships are distributed piece by piece. It's important that you get information through your MYFAID account - because the Financial Aid office is really swamped these days. For someone like me, it’s heartbreaking to hear from students who can’t come because we don’t have enough aid. We didn’t land our top three “human rights” Mason Fellows last year because we couldn’t give them enough money… and that’s really terrible for everyone. We become psychologically invested in *you* when we read your applications, and you become psychologically invested in HKS when you get in. To have all that fall apart because of money is just terrible. I’m sorry that it’s so stressful for you-all. ReinventOneself and David_King 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
economixed_policy Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 David - thank you once again for your insightful post. This helps clarify how the system work. I agree: the thought that one might have to forego a place at HKS because of money, or accept an offer of place at other schools (also because of money) is an uncomfortable one. This is why, I'm sure, all of us are waiting anxiously for the first week of April. I hope all of us are able to make it one way or another. Good luck everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GradSchool'15 Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 The fellowships can be confusing here, because HKS is so decentralized. Some of the “centers” have their own fellowship programs, which they administer on their own – and most of their decisions are made by the end of March. Those decisions are then reported to the Financial Aid and Scholarship committee (which covers the whole HKS), and they’re factored in when the rest of the aid is handed out. Here’s how I think about the various research centers (though I’m mostly familiar with the Carr Center on Human Rights). Centers have been raising money for specific fellowships. Some of those fellowships are limited to select countries, some to types of backgrounds, and so on. The Carr Center can help pay for *one* person who has a significant Human Rights background. As you-all have mentioned in the thread above, the Center for Public Leadership (David Gergen’s baby) has some especially great fellowship programs. http://www.centerforpublicleadership.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=361&Itemid=185 Dubin, Gleitsman, Zuckerman, and so on. Each of these fellowships has a separate selection committee. Some of the fellowship programs interview applicants – but some don’t. I don’t personally know which ones do or don’t, and things seem to be a bit different every year. There are other fellowships available through the centers. The Ash Center, for example, has some programs – but they tend to focus on post-docs. http://www.ash.harvard.edu/Home/About/Fellows-Scholars Likewise for the Belfer Center – a great place for post-docs. http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/fellowships/ And there’s some actual fellowship money avaialable for one student through the Shorenstein Center (media), and a few others. But CPL’s the big player – and David Gergen has been doing a tremendous job bringing in sponsors. Please keep in mind that most fellowship programs approach their task as if they’re putting together a portfolio of fellows. They want an interesting blend of backgrounds, expertise, and personality types. There’s really no way that an applicant can guess what “role” they’re being considered for in the portfolio. Anyway, after the Centers have made their choices, the rest of the Financial Aid & Scholarship thing happens. Here’s a more-or-less full list: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/degrees/sfs/prospective-students/fellowships-scholarships/domestic/hks And there are some Scholarships that are country-specific or region-specific, and so on. Here’s a list of those: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/degrees/sfs/prospective-students/fellowships-scholarships/intl/hks-affiliated You won’t actually apply for many of these scholarships. Take the “Stokey” Fellowship, for example. Edith Stokey was a beloved faculty member here, and she had a special relationship with and care for Sri Lanka. If we have a terrific student from Sri Lanka, the Stokey money will go there. It’s all a very complicated process – and it gets “centralized” only during the third and fourth weeks in March, when the Centers forward their choices to Financial Aid – and the rest of the scholarships are distributed piece by piece. It's important that you get information through your MYFAID account - because the Financial Aid office is really swamped these days. For someone like me, it’s heartbreaking to hear from students who can’t come because we don’t have enough aid. We didn’t land our top three “human rights” Mason Fellows last year because we couldn’t give them enough money… and that’s really terrible for everyone. We become psychologically invested in *you* when we read your applications, and you become psychologically invested in HKS when you get in. To have all that fall apart because of money is just terrible. I’m sorry that it’s so stressful for you-all. Thank you so much David. This is very helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_King Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 One quick thing as I sit in my office today and hear the prep-work for the new building outside my window... the Kennedy School is going to be a construction site for the next two years. It's kind of exciting (and energizing), but it'll also mean some disruptions. There's talk about adding five minutes between classes so students can get from place to place with the courtyard closed next year. Here's an overview of the plans: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/news-events/publications/hks-magazine/archives/winter-2015/where-does-inspiration-emerge And here's an updated infographic: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/ocpa/pdf/HKS_Facts_Current.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajak568 Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 I turned down my offer from HKS and then got an email about it asking me to reconsider. Someone from admissions offered to give me a call to talk it over. Is this normal? I was deciding not to accept the offer before recieving a funding decision since I had recieved feasible funding offers elsewhere and did not expect much funding from HKS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BR_female Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 No news from Financial Aid yet... I am so anxious!!! Too bad I haven't hedged money for GradSchool... brazilian currency have sunk 35% in dollar terms since I decided to apply - and so did my savings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wcw Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 I turned down my offer from HKS and then got an email about it asking me to reconsider. Someone from admissions offered to give me a call to talk it over. Is this normal? I was deciding not to accept the offer before recieving a funding decision since I had recieved feasible funding offers elsewhere and did not expect much funding from HKS. Were they willing to negotiate your funding offer? I don't think I'll get much funding either . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajak568 Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 Hey wcw, When I talked on the phone, the admissions officer (or, technically she from the diversity board) didn't say anything specific about actually offering me funding, just wanted to know if I was making my graduate school decision based on funding alone. As diplomatically as I could, I tried to state that I literally have no money. I'm not sure if they understand that I'M POOR. That being said, I did turn down HKS before I actually received a funding offer, but that's because, judging from what I've seen and heard, I highly doubt HKS will match a full ride+stipend offer (I mean, their website suggests the exact opposite), and I'm incredibly excited about going to WWS, so I thought. . .why not save the admissions office a little work before they spend time making me an offer I'd refuse? I know that there are plenty of other people who are really counting on that funding offer, so it made perfect sense to me to turn it down so that maybe that spot (and maybe a little funding?) could go to someone else. I don't really think admissions saw the logic in that. I didn't mean to insult HKS (who in their right mind would do that?), I just like to get things moving quickly, and my mind was already made up! That being said, the lady I talked to was super nice. These policy schools admissions offices staff people with great customer service skills. Good luck to ya! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
economixed_policy Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 (edited) Thanks for sharing ajak568 - and Congrats on WWS! Anyone else heard anything from HKS of late? Edited March 27, 2015 by economixed_policy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_King Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Hi everyone. As you-all know, HKS has been aiming to release the financial aid information tomorrow (April 1) by noon. It looks - right now - that we're going to be done ahead of schedule. Look for information to be posted around noon, Eastern Standard Time, *today* - March 31. David_King and ReinventOneself 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ochaliga Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Thank you for the update. fingers crossed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
economixed_policy Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Thanks David! Been waiting anxiously for this. Good luck everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ochaliga Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 did anyone get the email from the financial aid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
economixed_policy Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Not yet *inbox refresh* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ochaliga Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 maybe they are still working on it, this is past 1pm est Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReinventOneself Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 (edited) maybe they are still working on it, this is past 1pm est I am able to log into the financial aid website and see my financial aid information. It appears to have been updated just minutes ago. I have not received any email (yet). CORRECTION: Financial aid email just received. Edited March 31, 2015 by ReinventOneself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oscarsson Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 So, I just went into the MYFAID web and received no financial aid. This just made it way easier to choose Princeton. Good luck you y'all! JohnJ88 and ReinventOneself 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReinventOneself Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 So, I just went into the MYFAID web and received no financial aid. This just made it way easier to choose Princeton. Good luck you y'all! I would do the same thing if I were in your shoes. Good luck to you. I also did not receive any aid, but will be choosing HKS regardless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
economixed_policy Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 No aid here either. Good luck to the rest! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dar19 Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Opened the MYFAID can't find any info on scholarship/financial aid, in fact there was no 'accept awards' tab. It's weird cause I thought everyone who applied will be able to see that tab. Oh well. Need to consider the other schools.. can't afford it :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adnane Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 No aid either. I was really hoping for a CPL fellowship for which I had interviewed. A bit sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pluckyduck123 Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 None for me! Sure makes the decision to attend WWS much... MUCH easier. ReinventOneself 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKAA Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 (edited) Didn't receive any aid either. I know couple of students with similar profiles getting aid previously - I'm not sure why I didn't. Might consider deferring Edited April 1, 2015 by AKAA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelaylay Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 I'm guessing this is a no...but has anyone ever successfully negotiated more funding at HKS after having received some? I was offered one of the Belfer IGA fellowships, which sounds really cool, but it's only $10k a year - barely makes a dent in the overall cost. Worth trying or will I be laughed out of the financial aid office? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
december1219 Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 None for me! Sure makes the decision to attend WWS much... MUCH easier. Can I know you applied MPP or MPA for HKS ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now