Any current or former MAs in Public Relations/IMC here? Looking for some feedback

[CFBrown]

Here's my situation,

 

I've been applying to start graudate school next fall to study public relations/integrated marketing communications, and I'm trying to get a better idea of what type of financial aid I could get offered (if any). I've applied to some of the top masters PR/IMC schools in the country including:

• USC Annenberg
• Medill School at Northwestern University
• Newhouse School at Syracuse University
• Boston University
• Georgetown University

Here's what I think I have going for me:

• 3.64 overall GPA - not from a top tier school though
• Active in campus leadership, earned awards/honors during undergrad
• Three years of work experience in my desired field

What I'm concerned about:

• Mediocre GRE scores - 150 Verbal Reas., 145 Quantitative Reas., 3.5 Analytical Writing
• Haven't lasted at any of my jobs for an entire calendar year

Could anyone who's either been in a similar situation (test scores/GPA wise), attended one of these schools or attempted to tell me:

1. Do I have a decent chance at getting accepted?
2. What type of financial aid do these schools offer?

[avocadoze]

Have you heard anything from USC yet? I was recently admitted, my stats are a ~3.2 GPA, 152 Verbal, 154 Quant, 5.5 AWA for the GRE, and a ton of experience on campus. My transcripts are super messy and I actually almost failed out at one point during my sophomore year, but I think a very strong personal statement and letters of rec helped me.

[CFBrown]

Have you heard anything from USC yet? I was recently admitted, my stats are a ~3.2 GPA, 152 Verbal, 154 Quant, 5.5 AWA for the GRE, and a ton of experience on campus. My transcripts are super messy and I actually almost failed out at one point during my sophomore year, but I think a very strong personal statement and letters of rec helped me.

 

I haven't, but I talked to someone in admissions the other day and they told me I should know something next week. Actually, the fact that you've heard something already makes me pretty nervous..... But still, congratulations to you! When I went to the open house in November they mentioned there's a threshold they look for specifically with GRE writing scores. You definitely killed it!

[jltomato]

I saw that you have been accepted to Syracuse, so congratulations!

 

Syracuse funding for Master's students is relativity limited. Their main source of "funds" are teaching assistantships and research assistantships (I have done/am currently doing both). Sometimes, NH will offer you a TA-ship (the official title is "Instructional Associate," or IA) in the acceptance letter. These are 1-year long assistantships. However, once every semester, they also post several TA opportunities for the coming semester (so Spring 2014 would post job listings for Fall 2015), which are open to all the Master's programs in Newhouse (so it gets competitive). TA-ships (IA-ships) come with 9 credits tuition remission and I think the pay currently is $16.25 an hour (an IA is expected to work 20 hours a week, but it ranges from 11 to 28 depending on the week).

 

Research assistantships are also available, but don't offer tuition remission. Some PR professors do research, so that could be another financial route (although it would act more as a financial buffer).

[CFBrown]

I saw that you have been accepted to Syracuse, so congratulations!

 

Syracuse funding for Master's students is relativity limited. Their main source of "funds" are teaching assistantships and research assistantships (I have done/am currently doing both). Sometimes, NH will offer you a TA-ship (the official title is "Instructional Associate," or IA) in the acceptance letter. These are 1-year long assistantships. However, once every semester, they also post several TA opportunities for the coming semester (so Spring 2014 would post job listings for Fall 2015), which are open to all the Master's programs in Newhouse (so it gets competitive). TA-ships (IA-ships) come with 9 credits tuition remission and I think the pay currently is $16.25 an hour (an IA is expected to work 20 hours a week, but it ranges from 11 to 28 depending on the week).

 

Research assistantships are also available, but don't offer tuition remission. Some PR professors do research, so that could be another financial route (although it would act more as a financial buffer).

 

Thanks for responding! Yea, I've read most of that information on the Newhouse site as well. However, in my acceptance letter they stated that they would have financial aid awards determined until the end of this month. Based on your experience, are these positions based solely on merit or do they only involve an interview?

[jltomato]

Thanks for responding! Yea, I've read most of that information on the Newhouse site as well. However, in my acceptance letter they stated that they would have financial aid awards determined until the end of this month. Based on your experience, are these positions based solely on merit or do they only involve an interview?

 

So as of now, this means they've given all the financial aid offers they can. Once they hear back from people (if people have accepted/rejected Newhouse's offers), the school may have some to give, although I anticipate this won't be very many. If you decide to attend, your next chance to get awards would be July. They didn't do interviews for my applications, so I'm assuming it rests largely on your materials. This might not be true for all departments though. There are PR IA-ships, but they are very limited. The largest two departments offering would be communication (COM) and television, radio and film (TRF). From what I remember, there were about 40-50 non-TRF IAs (COM, PR, etc).

Hope this information helps! Let me know if you have any questions.

[avocadoze]

I haven't, but I talked to someone in admissions the other day and they told me I should know something next week. Actually, the fact that you've heard something already makes me pretty nervous..... But still, congratulations to you! When I went to the open house in November they mentioned there's a threshold they look for specifically with GRE writing scores. You definitely killed it!

 

It's natural to be nervous! I applied in mid-December, too, so I think that's why I found out so early. When did you submit your application?