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Fall 2016 Admissions Cycle


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Got into Yale and SIPA today! Could not be more excited!! 

 

Applied: LBJ - MGPS, Georgetown GHD, Yale Jackson, Columbia SIPA - MPA DP

Accepted: LBJ - MGPS (with fellowship), Georgetown GHD (with fellowship), Columbia SIPA - MPA DP (with fellowship), Yale Jackson (no word on funding)

Edited by isabellewright
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31 minutes ago, isabellewright said:

Got into Yale and SIPA today! Could not be more excited!! 

 

I applied to Yale Jackson and haven't heard back. Are they releasing all the acceptances first, rejects later, or in some other order?

EDIT: 

Everyone: I just called the Jackson Institute and they say that all decisions (rejections, acceptances, wait-list) should have been uploaded to the page. Those of us who have not received a decision need to call Yale's Graduate School (not Jackson) to resolve the technical issues.

If the rejections are auto-generated by GSAS, then it's likely that those of us who haven't gotten anything have been rejected. If not, where the adcoms control the acceptances/rejections, then this problem should have no bearing on our decisions. The rep I called wasn't clear on the exact nature of the situation, so there's no way to tell.

Edited by AAAAAAAA
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Hi AAAAAAA, I am not sure how Yale is releasing decisions. A couple of us who got accepted heard back today, maybe they'll release more information on acceptances in the next couple of days. I would recommend calling them up tomorrow and asking them personally.

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Chicago Harris just sent out an email with the subject "Chicago Harris Notification Updates" and I almost had a heart attack. But it ended up just being essentially "Stop calling our office, we're releasing decisions on Friday." 

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I applied to a stupidly large number of MPP programs and have been accepted to all (still waiting on Chicago), now just a matter of figuring out whether to take on debt for prestige. Also factoring in the ability of my partner to find jobs in a new city.

Narrowing down the list of acceptances:

USC Price - full tuition
Michigan Ford - third tuition, could request more, but the area isn't great for partner's job prospects
Berkeley Goldman - no funding but it's Berkeley
UT LBJ - half tuition, meh
Georgetown McCourt - has anyone received funding offers yet?

My understanding is that, while academic employment is a fairly viable option at Berkeley, the odds of getting a position in your first semester are extremely low, and are still low for your second semester. Does the quality and prestige of the Berkeley program justify the mountains of debt and the often-negative experiences of grad student academic employment? I have some concerns about the focus and reputation of the Price School, as I've heard conflicting things about their social justice cred, placement prospects, etc. But it's hard to argue with that money.

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Guest SIPA_MPA18

Has anyone admitted Early Action to SIPA received an additional letter with a funding offer yet? The funding offers were suppose to be released alongside the regular admissions offers from what we were told in our letters. 

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@wearingsocks For my two cents: I already have one professional degree (law), and I think you should go for fit and funding over prestige. I went to a tier two law school that was the same as my alma mater. Not terribly prestigious, but I did well, and I got great job offers after (I took a job through USDOJ Honors, and I'm now stupidly choosing to leave to do an MPP so that I can start my own non-profit). I've been dealing with these loans for 6.5 years. They are the utter worst, and I don't even have that much debt compared to most law grads. I feel like I made a good decision, because however fancy your degree is when you get it, the reality is that the debt can be a killer, and knowing I can manage this and pay has been worth more to me than a truly fancy degree (and if I didn't have any...my God. I would Scrooge McDuck swim in all of the money I would still have). I also got into Berkeley with no funding, so I'm crossing them off the list (also, I don't want to quit practicing entirely when I'm in school, and CA would mean another bar - they were always in it for me only if I got a full ride). Prestige is an important factor, but as I learned in law school, professional school can depend a lot on what you make out of it. If you hustle and work connections - and every school you listed has them - then you can turn that full funding into something great after. Good luck!

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@obrien_blue I'm definitely with you on the the idea that not being #1 doesn't make a well-regarded school a bad option. In general, I'm interested in the least amount of debt (especially having worked with a public-sector attorneys slowly dragging their way through their 10 years). I also think having secured funding will allow me to pursue the positions/activities I want, rather than need, during my studies. I'd like to feel a little bit better about fit, but am not sure about going out for a visit day if it's more or less inevitable that I'll go there anyway!

Even if it wasn't the straightest path to where you're going, JD+MPP is a powerful combo and it sounds like you're ready to kick some ass.

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4 minutes ago, wearingsocks said:

@obrien_blue I'm definitely with you on the the idea that not being #1 doesn't make a well-regarded school a bad option. In general, I'm interested in the least amount of debt (especially having worked with a public-sector attorneys slowly dragging their way through their 10 years). I also think having secured funding will allow me to pursue the positions/activities I want, rather than need, during my studies. I'd like to feel a little bit better about fit, but am not sure about going out for a visit day if it's more or less inevitable that I'll go there anyway!

Even if it wasn't the straightest path to where you're going, JD+MPP is a powerful combo and it sounds like you're ready to kick some ass.

Personally, I think I'd go out for admit day, just to see. It might ease some of your concerns, and they probably reimburse some of the expenses. I'm hoping I end up with full funding one way or another to one of my places - it would be lovely to really concentrate on the program/school instead of working as well. I've talked with my boss about maybe transferring to another one of our offices and doing the program part time (at NYU, they actually have it set up so you can work full time if you want and go full time, so we'll see), but if I didn't have to do that...I mean, I would miss the money. Money is great. But the idea of sitting in a coffee shop at 2pm on a Tuesday while reading for an econ class and wearing yoga pants and a t-shirt sounds better than straight up hard cold cash for a couple of years. I cannot stress to you the call and power of yoga pants/soft clothes on a Tuesday after years of suits every day.

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@obrien_blue - this is great advice, and the truths you're speaking about yoga pants are A+ great (actually cackled at my desk). Some much needed levity on this forever-Tuesday, in our eternal week of waiting.

Congratulations to everyone on their admits, and good luck to all those checking our email all day while coolly trying to not lose all our marbles!

Edited by shrimps
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@shrimps Glad I was able to make you crack up! I have no idea how on earth I'm supposed to get a darn thing done today at my own desk under these conditions. But I do know that whatever it would be, I would do it much better were I wearing yoga pants. That's a fact. May we all have yoga pants in our futures!

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YESx1000 to comfy stuff, @obrien_blue. I don't have to be dressy for work, and I know I'll still need some professional attire during/after grad school, but I'd love to make a little bonfire out of my least favorite garments when I devolve into studenthood. Good luck to you as well, @shrimps. Hope you get some dough. Or breading? SHRAMP!

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20 hours ago, sp108 said:

Did you get aid?

No. Was told that an aid letter would arrive in the next few weeks. Even with 100% aid, I think I will be pulling out. As this process has dragged on, I've been able to speak with many SIPA grads and my love for the school has diminished significantly. 

Edited by Mr123
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20 minutes ago, Mr123 said:

No. Was told that an aid letter would arrive in the next few weeks. Even with 100% aid, I think I will be pulling out. As this process has dragged on, I've been able to speak with many SIPA grads and my love for the school has diminished significantly. 

Care to give more information on what you made lose your interest in the school and what the SIPA grads said?  I wasn't thinking I would go to SIPA because I heard they never give funding but surprisingly I received funding ($24K total for 2 years) so now I obviously have to give them serious consideration.  I know it's not a lot with the overall cost of tuition and cost of living in NYC but I should atleast consider it.

Edited by sp108
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I got into SIPA in the ESP program and CIPA. Just Chicago Harris decision pending now among public policy programs I applied to. I wonder why I haven't come across CIPA in the forum thus far.

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