MIA EARLY BIRD APPLICATIONS IHEID

[su_nayana]

Somehow the people who have supposed to recommend me haven't received the email from the institute. I was sitting here sending them panicky reminders, now I seem absolutely crazy!

 

Is it possible it was because I did not click on the save button? They should clarify things a little bit. I just hope the emails aren't going into their junk folder or something, lol.

[Erminia_LL]

3 hours ago, su_nayana said:

mY RECOS ARE STILL PENDING!!!

 

Could someone please tell me what happens if you click save on the page with the recommendation letters??

Once you click 'save and continue' the first time, the referees you mentioned should automatically receive an e-mail from the Institute. That's how it's supposed to work, and how it actually worked with me. 

Don't excessively worry, though. Refererees' deadline is November 21st, they (and you) are still in time!

3 hours ago, su_nayana said:

yup! How do i do that!!

As far as the title goes, you might want to try to edit your first post, maybe, and then the thread title? I guess you're the only one who can do that, being you the author.

Otherwise, you can contact an admin, who will be happy to both change the title and move the thread in the appropriate section.

[HargunGVA]

On 11/18/2015, 11:57:14, su_nayana said:

Somehow the people who have supposed to recommend me haven't received the email from the institute. I was sitting here sending them panicky reminders, now I seem absolutely crazy!

 

Is it possible it was because I did not click on the save button? They should clarify things a little bit. I just hope the emails aren't going into their junk folder or something, lol.

Maybe you can send a reminder to them , that way they might get an e-mail... or email the admission staff, they are really helpful!

Edited November 19, 2015 by HargunGVA
spelling error

[Erminia_LL]

I asked an admin to move the thread in this section so as to gather other early bird applicants and share the (awful) waiting time together!

[su_nayana]

On 11/19/2015, 8:44:55, Erminia_LL said:

I asked an admin to move the thread in this section so as to gather other early bird applicants and share the (awful) waiting time together!

Great!

 

Man I hope we all make it!

[Erminia_LL]

5 hours ago, su_nayana said:

Great!

 

Man I hope we all make it!

Did you make it with your recommendation letters, eventually? 

[su_nayana]

4 hours ago, Erminia_LL said:

Did you make it with your recommendation letters, eventually? 

Yup!! Whew!  You applied for the MIA course too, yes?

 

I still can't move this thread! Should I start a whole new thread? Also, do you have any idea regarding;

1. How many people are accepted by the MIA class

2. Do we HAVE to wait till 15 Jan or is there a chance we may be informed of their decision before that?

[taeyeon]

26 minutes ago, su_nayana said:

I still can't move this thread! Should I start a whole new thread? Also, do you have any idea regarding;

1. How many people are accepted by the MIA class

2. Do we HAVE to wait till 15 Jan or is there a chance we may be informed of their decision before that?

No idea about the number of people accepted, but I know last year they informed applicants of decisions in late-December. But I also saw that last year, everything from early admissions to scholarship decisions were delayed by a few days/a week and I have a feeling they extended the date to mid-January so they won't be in that situation again.

Isn't the thread already moved to 'Waiting it out'? I don't think you need to worry about it now.

[Erminia_LL]

8 hours ago, su_nayana said:

Yup!! Whew!  You applied for the MIA course too, yes?

 

I still can't move this thread! Should I start a whole new thread? Also, do you have any idea regarding;

1. How many people are accepted by the MIA class

2. Do we HAVE to wait till 15 Jan or is there a chance we may be informed of their decision before that?

Yeap, I applied for the MIA as well.

1. I don't actually know the exact number of students admitted, but statistically the Graduate Institute accepts 1 out of 3 students every year (Master's and PhD together).

2. Hope we'll be informed earlier than January 15th. Before I started my application, I remember quite clearly that the decision notification was set on mid-December for both the admission and the scholarship! However, I believe Taeyeon is right! They don't want to find themselves in the same situation as last year!

And yes, the thread has already been moved to the Waiting It Out section, don't worry ;)

[pubpol101]

On 11/21/2015, 10:39:51, taeyeon said:

No idea about the number of people accepted, but I know last year they informed applicants of decisions in late-December. But I also saw that last year, everything from early admissions to scholarship decisions were delayed by a few days/a week and I have a feeling they extended the date to mid-January so they won't be in that situation again.

Isn't the thread already moved to 'Waiting it out'? I don't think you need to worry about it now.

Hello all,

I applied to the Master in Development Studies at IHEID for their Nov. 15 deadline. In their factsheet, they stated that they have about 1800-2000 applications annually for all of their programs. They admit around 600-650 of those. In 2015, they admitted 647 out of 1864 applicants. Probably about a bit less than half of those admitted students enroll as the total master's student body is 518. While it should be noted that this includes PhD programs as well, this could serve as some sort of guidance for you all on the selectivity of IHEID. The acceptance rate isn't broken down by Master's or PhD programs.

Looking at the GradCafe profiles, all of the accepted applicants that reported their results have a 3.4+ GPA, with varied GRE scores. On the other side, some with 3.8s or 3.9s have been rejected.

I haven't heard anything on the probability of them informing us of the decisions early, but if they could or if anyone's confirmed with their admissions officers, that'd be wonderful.

And yeah, as stated before by another individual, scholarships seem to be both merit and need based. On their website, they state that it's primarily need (note: need-based scholarships still require a strong rationale on why you cannot find the funding this year), but other documents published by IHEID (I can't recall which ones exactly) have stated that merit does play a substantial role in these scholarships. 

[El pichichi]

The application status changed this morning from "complete" to "under consideration". I'm a little bit excited.

[taeyeon]

Same! I've been checking the follow up module at least like twice a day (purely out of boredom) and just saw that now. For someone who applied exactly on the deadline, that's a bit... scary... haha! Has everyone's status changed to that?

Dang, now I'm gonna get all antsy.

Edited November 26, 2015 by taeyeon

[Erminia_LL]

On 25 novembre 2015 10:52:27 AM, AAAAAAAA said:

Looking at the GradCafe profiles, all of the accepted applicants that reported their results have a 3.4+ GPA, with varied GRE scores. On the other side, some with 3.8s or 3.9s have been rejected.

Hey, would you please give me the link to those GradCafe profiles you mentioned?

 

8 hours ago, taeyeon said:

Same! I've been checking the follow up module at least like twice a day (purely out of boredom) and just saw that now. For someone who applied exactly on the deadline, that's a bit... scary... haha! Has everyone's status changed to that?

Dang, now I'm gonna get all antsy.

Same over here. Checked twice a day till yesterday, and keep doing it, although I know for certain there is nothing interesting to see! 

[pubpol101]

9 hours ago, taeyeon said:

Same! I've been checking the follow up module at least like twice a day (purely out of boredom) and just saw that now. For someone who applied exactly on the deadline, that's a bit... scary... haha! Has everyone's status changed to that?

Dang, now I'm gonna get all antsy.

My application has switched to "under consideration" as well.

1 hour ago, Erminia_LL said:

Hey, would you please give me the link to those GradCafe profiles you mentioned?

 

Same over here. Checked twice a day till yesterday, and keep doing it, although I know for certain there is nothing interesting to see! 

See http://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php?q=IHEID . One was an international economics applicant. 3.8 GPA, solid Q GRE, but lower (148) V score. Many rejected applicants didn't submit their GPA/GRE though. And the I.E. reject didn't submit any comments on work experience--just that "they only accept americans and french people".

[Erminia_LL]

8 minutes ago, AAAAAAAA said:

My application has switched to "under consideration" as well.

See http://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php?q=IHEID . One was an international economics applicant. 3.8 GPA, solid Q GRE, but lower (148) V score. Many rejected applicants didn't submit their GPA/GRE though. And the I.E. reject didn't submit any comments on work experience--just that "they only accept americans and french people".

The I'm not crying, it's just raining on my face comment is kinda hilarious. 

Don't you guys think it would be sort of helpful knowing the real profiles (home institution, GPA, TOEFL score, professional experience, and so on) of those admitted through the last years? Are there any ways to do that? Just to get a sense of what our chances are, you know. 

[HargunGVA]

On 11/25/2015, 3:22:27, AAAAAAAA said:

Hello all,

I applied to the Master in Development Studies at IHEID for their Nov. 15 deadline. In their factsheet, they stated that they have about 1800-2000 applications annually for all of their programs. They admit around 600-650 of those. In 2015, they admitted 647 out of 1864 applicants. Probably about a bit less than half of those admitted students enroll as the total master's student body is 518. While it should be noted that this includes PhD programs as well, this could serve as some sort of guidance for you all on the selectivity of IHEID. The acceptance rate isn't broken down by Master's or PhD programs.

Looking at the GradCafe profiles, all of the accepted applicants that reported their results have a 3.4+ GPA, with varied GRE scores. On the other side, some with 3.8s or 3.9s have been rejected.

I haven't heard anything on the probability of them informing us of the decisions early, but if they could or if anyone's confirmed with their admissions officers, that'd be wonderful.

And yeah, as stated before by another individual, scholarships seem to be both merit and need based. On their website, they state that it's primarily need (note: need-based scholarships still require a strong rationale on why you cannot find the funding this year), but other documents published by IHEID (I can't recall which ones exactly) have stated that merit does play a substantial role in these scholarships. 

Hey there, even I have applied for MDEV! Let's wish for the best result this december-january! Cheers!

[pubpol101]

On 11/26/2015, 7:14:57, Erminia_LL said:

The I'm not crying, it's just raining on my face comment is kinda hilarious. 

Don't you guys think it would be sort of helpful knowing the real profiles (home institution, GPA, TOEFL score, professional experience, and so on) of those admitted through the last years? Are there any ways to do that? Just to get a sense of what our chances are, you know. 

Unfortunately, the Grad Cafe's survey profiles are the best compilation that I can find on the web. Because of the immense diversity of graduate admissions to schools around the world, there are no databases that are even remotely comparable to those that are available to undergraduate applicants in the US like Cappex and Parchment, which though still using data vulnerable to self-selection, have enough data points to give percentage estimates based upon extracurricular activities, GPA, and SAT scores. From what I've found, it's mostly guesswork and extensive searching for me--in addition to the Grad Cafe's survey profiles, I constantly look at posters' profiles in the forum, ask others different perspectives on my own profile, and Google people's CV's when their real names are available, noting what they had done by the year of admission.

Ultimately however, I've recognized that it's virtually impossible for me to get a good data set, and even if I had a solid data set for a bigger picture, it'd be impossible to use it as different schools have drastically different expectations and perspectives. Beyond ruling out schools that are obviously out of reach and schools that we are clearly not interested in, we would serve our applications best by revising our personal statement as its paramount importance is the one thing that has been consistently noted by adcoms of nearly all grad schools I'm interested in applying to.

On this, it seems as though IHEID places much greater emphasis on academic records than US universities. Word is that many more students are accepted without post-undergraduate full time work experience at IHEID than top US schools like Columbia SIPA and JHU-SAIS. I would expect that IHEID's demands for academic rigor and consistency would be considerably higher to maintain its ~30% acceptance rate.

Edited November 27, 2015 by AAAAAAAA

[su_nayana]

18 hours ago, AAAAAAAA said:

Unfortunately, the Grad Cafe's survey profiles are the best compilation that I can find on the web. Because of the immense diversity of graduate admissions to schools around the world, there are no databases that are even remotely comparable to those that are available to undergraduate applicants in the US like Cappex and Parchment, which though still using data vulnerable to self-selection, have enough data points to give percentage estimates based upon extracurricular activities, GPA, and SAT scores. From what I've found, it's mostly guesswork and extensive searching for me--in addition to the Grad Cafe's survey profiles, I constantly look at posters' profiles in the forum, ask others different perspectives on my own profile, and Google people's CV's when their real names are available, noting what they had done by the year of admission.

Ultimately however, I've recognized that it's virtually impossible for me to get a good data set, and even if I had a solid data set for a bigger picture, it'd be impossible to use it as different schools have drastically different expectations and perspectives. Beyond ruling out schools that are obviously out of reach and schools that we are clearly not interested in, we would serve our applications best by revising our personal statement as its paramount importance is the one thing that has been consistently noted by adcoms of nearly all grad schools I'm interested in applying to.

On this, it seems as though IHEID places much greater emphasis on academic records than US universities. Word is that many more students are accepted without post-undergraduate full time work experience at IHEID than top US schools like Columbia SIPA and JHU-SAIS. I would expect that IHEID's demands for academic rigor and consistency would be considerably higher to maintain its ~30% acceptance rate.

One of the people who got rejected seems to have a really amazing profile which goes;

"

• Very disappointing new. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but I really don't understand the decision. I'm 28 from the so called "global south" middle class family. At 17, I managed to get a scholarship to study in Canada. Then in the US I went to university. I have worked/lived in 5 different countries in the Americas, worked in conflict zones, have working experience with the UN system in NY, bilingual English-Spanish, I have publications in scholarly forum that were even praised by a former UN rapporteur and several professors in US and UK universities. If the want PhDs or people with 7+ years of experience, then they should say it. Otherwise I don't know what you need to be in order to get an education here."

Haha, I don't know about any of you but my profile doesn't have even half of all this. Lets hope for the best though. I hope to see all of you soon! :)

 

[El pichichi]

On ‎10‎/‎8‎/‎2015‎ ‎12‎:‎05‎:‎04‎, unagi said:

Hi El pichichi! Nice to meet you! Have you started to work on your application for IHEID? Do you know if you will apply early decision or the regular deadline in January?

 

I have already submitted my application and according to the IHEID website, it is being assessed.

[su_nayana]

On 11/26/2015, 7:47:38, taeyeon said:

Same! I've been checking the follow up module at least like twice a day (purely out of boredom) and just saw that now. For someone who applied exactly on the deadline, that's a bit... scary... haha! Has everyone's status changed to that?

Dang, now I'm gonna get all antsy.

Yup!! I am so scared now lol. I hope they accept me, it's the only school I have applied to! I'm starting to think it's a long shot though after going through those survey profiles! Why why why!?!?!?  

[taeyeon]

53 minutes ago, su_nayana said:

Yup!! I am so scared now lol. I hope they accept me, it's the only school I have applied to! I'm starting to think it's a long shot though after going through those survey profiles! Why why why!?!?!?  

Haha it's also the only school I applied to! But I looked through all those people's profiles before as well, when I was researching IHEID this summer. Though I don't even come near some of their qualifications, I majored in IR and did a lot of academic extracurriculars related to IR. My GPA's a decent 3.6 and I'm working in my field since graduating this summer, so I figured I have as good a shot as any and applied  Don't underestimate yourself! Obviously the person with the superior qualifications you quoted just didn't appeal to the school for some mysterious reason. Sometimes it's something as little as not demonstrating enough interest in the school itself makes the difference between an acceptance and a rejection...

Also, re: earlier talks of scholarship dates - on the application follow up page, it says "Scholarship (decision available in March)." It's definitely March, so they can send out scholarship decisions along with regular deadline notifications. I'm just wondering what to do in case I get accepted (*knocks on wood*) and have to pay the 1,000CHF pre-registration fee.

[unagi]

Good luck everyone! You all seem to be way ahead of me. I am applying for the January deadline. The IHEID application asked for the financial stuff which took me longer to get so I have just decided to apply for the regular deadline. 

From last year (or the year before...), it seemed like a lot of people who applied for the early decision got their acceptance/rejection pushed back with the regular deadline folks so I'm not sure how it works....it seems like depending on how things go, they can just leave you in limbo until all the apps are submitted. Either ways, I hope you guys get in early and can relax for the upcoming months!! :)

[unagi]

Also I think the main thing they look for is if you're the right fit for the program you applied for. If you have a decent GPA and can show in your statement that the program is for you and will help you attain your goals then I think you will get in. 

[pubpol101]

Has anyone heard of anything for IHEID applicants with backgrounds unrelated to IR/Economics/policy? I'm a development studies applicant majoring in biomedical sciences and graduating after two years of undergrad, so I'm afraid that I'll be at a significant disadvantage here--both in terms of my major and my age. I have a solid GPA (3.75), with writing experiences (HuffPost, The Hill, etc.), policy research (Boko Haram sent to the US State Dept., INESAD epigenetics, etc.), and some development-focused on-campus non-profit work, so I might have something going for me. Obviously, I have zero post-undergraduate full time work experience. However, with their website, they seem to be a bit more stringent on academic background requirements than many of the US schools I'm applying to.

Edited November 30, 2015 by AAAAAAAA

[haru_ko]

Hi guys!
Great to see such a supporting waiting-it-out community here! I also applied to IHEID (MIA) for early decision, and am dying to know the results. 
To be honest, I never had this impression that IHEID is that competitive, since I've been there countless number of times, have a friend who studies there and met her friends studying at the institution as well. (They are all pretty normal people prior to coming here) But you guys are totally making me nervous! How did you guys formulate the motivation letter? I found mine okay when I submitted it but as I think more and more about it, I think it might not be up to standard  
Also, did you guys apply to other schools as well?