GW Elliott Fall 2016

[ESIAGradStudentSPS16-18]

I only applied to ESIA. That was my Plan A. I had no Plan B, except to reapply next year if I didn't get in. I applied to the Security Policy Studies program by January 7th for fellowship consideration. Last Friday I missed a phone call from a 202 number (DC). I thought it was a wrong number. I have incessantly checked my application page since the day I submitted my application and finally on Friday noticed a link to my decision. I was admitted!  No email yet mind you. 

Saturday I received a call from the same 202 number and it was the Ex-Ambassador of Colombia letting me know I had been admitted.  Shortly thereafter I received the email telling me to go check my application for the decision. 

Realizing I hadn't heard about any funding yet, on Monday I called and spoke with the EA at ESIA who told me they were finishing up the fellowship info and it eould be coming out soon. Sounded like this week., but with the Metro shutdown it may be a delayed by a day or two.  She also said that the "May 1" payment due date is not an inducator of no funding  all letters said "May 1."

I am keeping my fingers crossed for funding. That would be a big help! 

Goid luck all!

Edited March 17, 2016 by ESIAGradStudentSPS16-18

[CakeTea]

On Monday, March 14, 2016 at 2:45 PM, ursusinopinatus said:

Hi everyone,

I'm in the same boat you all are in –I was accepted but I haven't been told anything about funding yet. However, today something weird happened. I got an email from a member of GWU's faculty congratulating me for being accepted and inviting me to go to the admitted student day or to go sit in on a class. That person also said I had expressed interest in working with him/her (unspecified to maintain anonymity), but I never did so! Is this common practice in the US? He/she specializes in the region I'm from, so maybe that's it. Or could it be a simple mistake?

By the way, I made this account in order to post this, but I've been lurking here for a long time now. Thanks everyone and good luck!

Congratulations on your admissions and outreach effort by an educator. I was told that it happens, one can see it as a personal touch to match your interests with a prof in your area. His/her outreach is kinda targeted marketing to convince you that GWU is the perfect fit for you. It is a good sign as not all admitted students get this treatment. There are various levels of outreach by stakeholders: dean > profs > administration > current students/alumni. The aim is to make you enroll as GWU knows that most admits have multiple offers.

[manutdftw]

Yea the Director of the International Development Studies Program where I applied emailed me today and gave reasons as to why I should attend GWU.

But it doesn't really matter since I haven't heard anything regarding funding....

[MKrys]

2 minutes ago, manutdftw said:

Yea the Director of the International Development Studies Program where I applied emailed me today and gave reasons as to why I should attend GWU.

But it doesn't really matter since I haven't heard anything regarding funding....

I got an email like that too today. No one has gotten anything about funding then? I'm tempted to call but I don't think they'll tell me much. 

[CakeTea]

13 minutes ago, manutdftw said:

Yea the Director of the International Development Studies Program where I applied emailed me today and gave reasons as to why I should attend GWU.

But it doesn't really matter since I haven't heard anything regarding funding....

You are correct. Some arguments are fine, but enrollment depends on funding. To quote J MacGuire: "Show me the Money".On another note, are you watching tonight's North derby aka Europa League ManU vs Liverpool? Tough job to overcome first leg's deficit. The scousers are very confident.

[manutdftw]

4 minutes ago, CakeTea said:

You are correct. Some arguments are fine, but enrollment depends on funding. To quote J MacGuire: "Show me the Money".On another note, are you watching tonight's North derby aka Europa League ManU vs Liverpool? Tough job to overcome first leg's deficit. The scousers are very confident.

CakeTea, you are right - it's all about the money for me. 

And I'm at work so gonna be missing the first half But I don't really see us winning as it'll be really tough to come back from 2-0 down. And it's not like we scored a lot of goals or played an attacking game this season anyway...so low expectations!

[CakeTea]

I may sound strange, but I think securing funding (around 30% of class receive 25-100%) is actually more difficult than admissions. Even on this forum with high achievers, there are more admits but fewer people with $$$. 

Van Gaals conservative ball possession based game is not conducive to scoring lots of goals like in the old days under Ferguson. Whereas liverpool under Klopp is gegenpressing (to borrow Audi's motto: Vorsprung durch Technik), high tempo, multi-tasking game. Klopp named his philosophy as heavy metal football.

[manutdftw]

I don't know why but I thought that Elliott was somewhat generous with their funding. 

Lol @ heavy metal football. It worked in Dortmund but I don't think Liverpool has the type of players for Klopp's style of football. And it's not like they're doing much better in the league than last year anyway. But he's an amusing guy to watch nonetheless. Too bad he'll never dive like LVG

[coffeeandtravel]

9 minutes ago, CakeTea said:

I may sound strange, but I think securing funding (around 30% of class receive 25-100%) is actually more difficult than admissions. Even on this forum with high achievers, there are more admits but fewer people with $$$. 

That doesn't sound strange at all...it's definitely harder depending on where someone is applying. At GW, I would imagine they have a fairly high acceptance rate. If they let in 40% (rough estimate) of the people who apply, the majority of those people are not going to get funding. Now, if we're talking MSFS, I think getting in (acceptance rate of like 20% I think) is more difficult than funding, as I believe they give about 1/3 of incoming students money

[CakeTea]

@coffeeandtravel: After the admissions (GRE, GPA, work, SoP etc), one gets admitted and can see the finish line. Finally there is this huge obstacle of funding that keeps most admits out. Interestingly even with a 50% scholarship at an expensive school, people struggle to make the numbers work. Cost of living in D.C. is high, too.

[coffeeandtravel]

12 minutes ago, CakeTea said:

@coffeeandtravel: After the admissions (GRE, GPA, work, SoP etc), one gets admitted and can see the finish line. Finally there is this huge obstacle of funding that keeps most admits out. Interestingly even with a 50% scholarship at an expensive school, people struggle to make the numbers work. Cost of living in D.C. is high, too.

I totally agree. There's the initial excitement of being accepted somewhere and then the funding offer (or lack thereof) comes and an overwhelming panic sets in. I have about 50% off tuition at one of the schools I applied to and I still don't know how I'm going to make it work. 

Edited March 17, 2016 by coffeeandtravel

[coffeeandtravel]

In related news, I've gotten TWO emails from GW today that set me into a frenzy thinking that they contained funding information...no dice. 

[CakeTea]

Ditto, excitement of admission and 50% scholarship. I still have to come up with $40K for tuition plus CoL. Yet can't make the numbers work on my spreadsheet. Decision will be likely ruled by what I can afford. It is so near and yet so far. Schools know it as they have their yield management tools and historical figures. Government Affairs schools and jobs have a moderate post graduate salary, hence we cannot go into debt as much as business or law school folks.

[MKrys]

21 minutes ago, coffeeandtravel said:

In related news, I've gotten TWO emails from GW today that set me into a frenzy thinking that they contained funding information...no dice. 

Same. They've been very busy with the non financial aid emails. 

[kasbah]

I feel like such a chump constantly refreshing my email...

[Pichichi]

3 hours ago, coffeeandtravel said:

That doesn't sound strange at all...it's definitely harder depending on where someone is applying. At GW, I would imagine they have a fairly high acceptance rate. If they let in 40% (rough estimate) of the people who apply, the majority of those people are not going to get funding. Now, if we're talking MSFS, I think getting in (acceptance rate of like 20% I think) is more difficult than funding, as I believe they give about 1/3 of incoming students money

"MSFS normally receives 800-1000 applications and admits approximately 30-40% of applicants."  (https://msfs.georgetown.edu/admissions/incoming) 

Also received two emails from GW today and refreshing my email/ this site every chance I get. 

[coffeeandtravel]

39 minutes ago, Pichichi said:

"MSFS normally receives 800-1000 applications and admits approximately 30-40% of applicants."  (https://msfs.georgetown.edu/admissions/incoming) 

Also received two emails from GW today and refreshing my email/ this site every chance I get. 

Thanks, Pichichi...that makes me feel better about my chances at MSFS haha!

[kaseyleigh]

6 hours ago, coffeeandtravel said:

That doesn't sound strange at all...it's definitely harder depending on where someone is applying. At GW, I would imagine they have a fairly high acceptance rate. If they let in 40% (rough estimate) of the people who apply, the majority of those people are not going to get funding. Now, if we're talking MSFS, I think getting in (acceptance rate of like 20% I think) is more difficult than funding, as I believe they give about 1/3 of incoming students money

It definitely just varies which programs give students funding based on the student. I do have a good friend that actually favored GW, but went to Georgetown because they offered her half tuition (and GW offered nothing). For some students, I'm sure it is the opposite. Fingers crossed for us to all just get full tuition + stipend..... 

[coffeeandtravel]

19 minutes ago, kaseyleigh said:

It definitely just varies which programs give students funding based on the student. I do have a good friend that actually favored GW, but went to Georgetown because they offered her half tuition (and GW offered nothing). For some students, I'm sure it is the opposite. Fingers crossed for us to all just get full tuition + stipend..... 

Totally...I wasn't trying to rag on GW, I just imagined that they had a higher acceptance rate (but obviously I was misinformed about Georgetown so I'm not pretending to be an expert haha)! My point was that it's pretty difficult to get funding ANYWHERE at all, so those who do should be pretty pumped. All in all, it seems like admissions and, to more of an extent, funding decisions, are pretty subjective, unlike some other masters and professional programs that rely solely on hard data and test scores. So I'm just going to sit here putting positive vibes out into the universe so that all of us on Gradcafe get oodles of funding for GW  

Edited March 18, 2016 by coffeeandtravel

[irapplicant1776]

At this point I feel like no one is gonna give me more funding than American, and I feel good about going there. I just want to hear from GW and Georgetown already so I can make a final decision. The only thing that would be a game changer is if I got the Pickering.

[coffeeandtravel]

8 hours ago, irapplicant1776 said:

At this point I feel like no one is gonna give me more funding than American, and I feel good about going there. I just want to hear from GW and Georgetown already so I can make a final decision. The only thing that would be a game changer is if I got the Pickering.

Ahh I feel ya...I just want to have all my options on the table so I can finally decide! 

[hina234]

1 hour ago, coffeeandtravel said:

Ahh I feel ya...I just want to have all my options on the table so I can finally decide! 

Same here. I know I'll have to take out a bunch of loans regardless but it will be nice to know how much (if anything) I'm receiving from Elliott.

[coffeeandtravel]

1 minute ago, hina234 said:

Same here. I know I'll have to take out a bunch of loans regardless but it will be nice to know how much (if anything) I'm receiving from Elliott.

Where is Elliott on your list compared to the other schools you've been admitted?

[hina234]

6 minutes ago, coffeeandtravel said:

Where is Elliott on your list compared to the other schools you've been admitted?

My choice is going to come down to either SAIS or Elliott.  SIPA is out of the running because it would be just too expensive.  I was offered some funding from SAIS but not enough, and the fact that SAIS didn't admit me to my concentration makes it kind of a bittersweet situation.  I'm holding out hope that Elliott will offer a lot more funding for me to justify picking it over SAIS.

[coffeeandtravel]

1 minute ago, hina234 said:

My choice is going to come down to either SAIS or Elliott.  SIPA is out of the running because it would be just too expensive.  I was offered some funding from SAIS but not enough, and the fact that SAIS didn't admit me to my concentration makes it kind of a bittersweet situation.  I'm holding out hope that Elliott will offer a lot more funding for me to justify picking it over SAIS.

Haha that's kind of how I feel...I would really love to go to SAIS but also didn't get IDEV or much funding. Logically I should go with Korbel. Still waiting on MSFS and funding from Elliott so we'll see. I'd like to make a decision by this weekend but knowing me I'll probably wait till the very last day.