Pitt GSPIA 2017

[kgallison]

Has anyone heard from GSPIA yet? I was under the impression they were sending out letters yesterday, March 1st!

[impatientlywaiting26]

I haven't heard anything yet either!

[mpamppquestions]

I also haven't received a decision.

[bummerman]

Got an email this afternoon saying I was accepted for the MPA.  Didn't say anything about any funding, anyone else's letter mention funding?

[impatientlywaiting26]

Just got my offer today as well! @bummerman, mine said I'd hear about funding in December - which is clearly a typo, but I don't know if it means I am definitely getting funding or just being considered. I'll update this post if I hear more from them. 

[bummerman]

@impatientlywaiting26 i just re-read my letter and mine said the same thing about funding in december, guess I missed that. hmmmmmmmm...

 

[impatientlywaiting26]

I just got an email with a funding update:

"A common question many students have at this stage is about merit scholarship aid. All students who are admitted to GSPIA are automatically considered for scholarships – there is no special application required. If you are selected for one of GSPIA’s competitive scholarship awards, you will be notified by email before the end of March. (Your admission letter may have been unclear about this and may have stated that you would be notified about scholarships by December, but that issue in the electronic letter has now been fixed.) You will be notified by the end of March, 2017 if you are chosen for any merit scholarship aid. "

[parkjun888]

Just got accepted into GSPIA. WOOP-WOOP!

[kgallison]

Just got my acceptance too! I wish they included funding in their acceptances instead of making us wait.

[parkjun888]

15 minutes ago, kgallison said:

Just got my acceptance too! I wish they included funding in their acceptances instead of making us wait.

I noticed on another thread that you were accepted into Korbel. Congrats! I'm also waiting on Korbel. But, ya I wish GSPIA would include their funding with the acceptance.

[kgallison]

2 minutes ago, parkjun888 said:

I noticed on another thread that you were accepted into Korbel. Congrats! I'm also waiting on Korbel. But, ya I wish GSPIA would include their funding with the acceptance.

I was! I hope you hear soon! Korbel is currently my top because I already live in Denver so I wouldn't have to move!

[mpamppquestions]

I got in too! Even without funding it's certainly a cheaper program than Maxwell or Heinz. From what I gather those are both *better* programs, but I'm not sure how much that is true.

Edited March 7, 2017 by mpamppquestions

[Ingo93]

I just got in today as well. If I get accepted to LBJ and Bush I'll have a real dilemma on my hands. As things currently stand it's a two horse race for me with Kentucky and Pittsburgh.

[Lockxe]

On 2017/3/8 at 3:15 AM, kgallison said:

I was! I hope you hear soon! Korbel is currently my top because I already live in Denver so I wouldn't have to move!

Hey my bro! I am also admitted by both Korbel and GSPIA, with nomination from UCSD GPS. Still waiting for other results. I have not decided where to go

[parkjun888]

2 minutes ago, Lockxe said:

Hey my bro! I am also admitted by both Korbel and GSPIA, with nomination from UCSD GPS. Still waiting for other results. I have not decided where to go

Nice man! Looks like we're all in the same boat. Korbel is my top choice so far, especially for Security studies. At first I was looking at UCSD but after looking at its curriculum, I moved it down a notch.

[Lockxe]

3 minutes ago, parkjun888 said:

Nice man! Looks like we're all in the same boat. Korbel is my top choice so far, especially for Security studies. At first I was looking at UCSD but after looking at its curriculum, I moved it down a notch.

Yeah actually I'm in a dilemma. I would like to improve my quant skills and there are many relevant courses in UCSD. But Korbel is also my top choice, especially considering that they are very generous to give me scholarship...

[parkjun888]

1 minute ago, Lockxe said:

Yeah actually I'm in a dilemma. I would like to improve my quant skills and there are many relevant courses in UCSD. But Korbel is also my top choice, especially considering that they are very generous to give me scholarship...

Unfortunately, the scholarship I received from Korbel was kind of small. UCSD is definitely more quant heavy. A buddy of mine who does NGO work told me that the majority of the first year at UCSD is quant based. While Korbel does not have that many quant based classes, its curriculum focuses very much on analysis and intelligence work. That's my reasoning at least.

[kgallison]

14 hours ago, Lockxe said:

Hey my bro! I am also admitted by both Korbel and GSPIA, with nomination from UCSD GPS. Still waiting for other results. I have not decided where to go

Korbel is a great choice and Denver isn't half bad either! I saw that you are most interested in quant courses. I know for the International Security program you are required to take a least 2 courses in quantitative methods. I'm not sure how in depth you want to go but there are opportunities at Korbel to do so!

[Lockxe]

10 hours ago, kgallison said:

Korbel is a great choice and Denver isn't half bad either! I saw that you are most interested in quant courses. I know for the International Security program you are required to take a least 2 courses in quantitative methods. I'm not sure how in depth you want to go but there are opportunities at Korbel to do so!

Thank you for your valuable suggestion! I will go to see that. Hope you can go to your dream school too!

[KhalifehA]

On 3/9/2017 at 3:22 AM, Lockxe said:

Hey my bro! I am also admitted by both Korbel and GSPIA, with nomination from UCSD GPS. Still waiting for other results. I have not decided where to go

I also got accepted at GSPIA for the MPIA program. I was also accepted to Yale Jackson.

Still waiting on SAIS though.

[mpamppquestions]

I received a $9000/semester tuition scholarship from Pitt, wow! Because I qualify for in-state tuition I'd have very little in the way of debt. I thought I was set on CMU Heinz (speaking of Pittsburgh), but that's a very compelling offer. Even with the good scholarship offer I got from CMU, I'd still owe like 8x more money.

[impatientlywaiting26]

Just got my financial offer as well - super generous!

[akdavis]

I received a pretty good package from GSPIA (full tuition, stipend). Before this, I was pretty set on Heinz (CMU), but at this point I am not so sure. Accepting GSPIA's offer would essentially mean I would't have to take out any more loans, but Heinz is a higher ranked program. Anyone in a similar situation?

[mpamppquestions]

10 hours ago, akdavis said:

I received a pretty good package from GSPIA (full tuition, stipend). Before this, I was pretty set on Heinz (CMU), but at this point I am not so sure. Accepting GSPIA's offer would essentially mean I would't have to take out any more loans, but Heinz is a higher ranked program. Anyone in a similar situation?

This is 100% me. However my scholarship is contingent on maintaining a 3.5+ GPA, and I'm not sure how difficult that is.

[akdavis]

46 minutes ago, mpamppquestions said:

This is 100% me. However my scholarship is contingent on maintaining a 3.5+ GPA, and I'm not sure how difficult that is.

Mine as well. While also working 20hrs a week. I'm not sure how difficult that's going to be. Also, the Heinz scholarship has a 3.0+ GPA requirement and no work requirement, so it is still a good option.  I've decided to not make any decisions until I visit Heinz in late March and GSPIA in April. I want to get a really good feel for both programs.

I also submitted a form to Heinz asking them to review my scholarship because of a better competing offer (as they told us to do). If that comes through, that may make my decision even easier. We'll see.