Columbia SIPA 2017

[Leeannuhw]

I was wondering if anyone knows anything about the difficulty of the proficiency exams, especially towards the ones to waive the Econ and quant analysis core courses. 

I emailed academic affairs and was provided a link to a page I've read over already and the only new information I gleaned from the response is that it's paper/in-person and the Econ exams must be taken during the first year. 

[Merantau]

On 4/12/2017 at 0:13 PM, lanhoang said:

@Merantau Thanks and congrats to you too! Excited that you are also in the HRHP track, hopefully we'll bump into each other in some of the classes. My intended specialization for now is Management (since I hope to learn more about program design and M&E) But that might change - so many interesting things going on in other specialization as well. What about you? 

@ArellaV thanks for sharing your experience. Seems like the system is somewhat rigid and there is no/little wiggle room. 

I also emailed the FinAid office about the appeal amount. From their reply, I got the impression that it doesn't matter the amount we requested, it all depends on the availability of funding (which might be small and incremental). So I suppose you could lodge any number that is within reason. Hope that helps

Happy to meet a future classmate, @lanhoang! I think the TMAC specialization is perfect for me given my professional background, but the Gender and Public Policy and Conflict Resolution ones are also attractive!  I'm thinking of maybe combining some of these specializations as electives. Have you had M&E experience before?  

[Merantau]

On 4/12/2017 at 0:12 AM, nebula said:

Just to confirm, a prospective student at SIPA does not need to complete intro to micro/macro before enrolling?

I think it depends on whether the student in question has sufficient econ background and GRE quant score or not. I never studied economics before, so they required me to take courses prior to enrolling. If your LOA didn't say anything about it, then you're good.

[Greene]

45 minutes ago, Merantau said:

I think it depends on whether the student in question has sufficient econ background and GRE quant score or not. I never studied economics before, so they required me to take courses prior to enrolling. If your LOA didn't say anything about it, then you're good.

Is the foundation class online or in-person?

[Merantau]

37 minutes ago, Greene said:

Is the foundation class online or in-person?

It doesn't matter as long as it's from an accredited university, including community colleges. I'm taking a principles of microeconomics online course provided by UCLA Extension, based on the recommendations from a few people, including someone from this forum. You can check this thread to see other options. 

Do you have to take econ classes too?

  

[ArellaV]

This forum has been of great help during my application and enrolment process at SIPA -not just this discussion thread, but the ones from previous years. So, thinking about those people who will be in my shoes in the next few years, I wanted to leave some useful information:

If you received a fellowship and are considering appealing the decision: DO IT! The worst thing that can happen is that the administration will say no. Email anyone at the financial office (or call) and they will send you a form to fill out.  I appealed mine and asked for an increase of 40% of the original fellowship and was granted the full amount asked. I don't know if there is a cap on how much you can ask, but I didn't want to ask for anything more than 50% of the original amount thinking that such a big amount could almost be discouraging. 

[ironheart]

8 hours ago, ArellaV said:

This forum has been of great help during my application and enrolment process at SIPA -not just this discussion thread, but the ones from previous years. So, thinking about those people who will be in my shoes in the next few years, I wanted to leave some useful information:

If you received a fellowship and are considering appealing the decision: DO IT! The worst thing that can happen is that the administration will say no. Email anyone at the financial office (or call) and they will send you a form to fill out.  I appealed mine and asked for an increase of 40% of the original fellowship and was granted the full amount asked. I don't know if there is a cap on how much you can ask, but I didn't want to ask for anything more than 50% of the original amount thinking that such a big amount could almost be discouraging. 

Good to hear this, @ArellaV! I know that the SIPA financial aid numbers can be discouraging, since the school is notorious for being stingy with funding, but it really doesn't hurt to ask for more. And there are a lot of opportunities in your second year to increase that funding even more with assistantships and paid internships. 

[Merantau]

Congratulations for those of you who got offered generous funding. I wasn't offered any funding at all, and my attempt at appealing for funding failed. So I think I'm gonna have to take the offer from the school of my second choice whose deadline is today. 

Good luck to all of you, and thank you for helping me along the process. You've been all helpful.

 

[lanhoang]

Thanks, @ArellaV, for sharing with us the result of your financial aid appeal! That's awesome and encouraging news, given they say how "appeals are rarely granted". 

Since I haven't heard from them yet, just wondering, did you and @Merantau receive your result via email from the FinAid office? And I supposed that you guys also paid the enrollment deposit before April 15?  Fingers crossed I'll hear back from them soon. Thanks again in advance for your insights! 

Edited April 20, 2017 by lanhoang

[Greene]

On 15/04/2017 at 7:41 AM, Merantau said:

It doesn't matter as long as it's from an accredited university, including community colleges. I'm taking a principles of microeconomics online course provided by UCLA Extension, based on the recommendations from a few people, including someone from this forum. You can check this thread to see other options. 

Do you have to take econ classes too?

  

Yes. I want to take Econs courses ahead

[Greene]

4 hours ago, Merantau said:

Congratulations for those of you who got offered generous funding. I wasn't offered any funding at all, and my attempt at appealing for funding failed. So I think I'm gonna have to take the offer from the school of my second choice whose deadline is today. 

Good luck to all of you, and thank you for helping me along the process. You've been all helpful.

 

SAIS? The school you are talking about

[Merantau]

1 hour ago, Greene said:

SAIS? The school you are talking about

No. Fletcher. Not sure yet, though. Money is a major issue.

[Merantau]

5 hours ago, lanhoang said:

Since I haven't heard from them yet, just wondering, did you and @Merantau receive your result via email from the FinAid office? And I supposed that you guys also paid the enrollment deposit before April 15?  Fingers crossed I'll hear back from them soon. Thanks again in advance for your insights! 

I'm not sure what you meant by result, @lanhoang. I only emailed them, and they responded, saying something along the line that I'm not qualified for funding. 

[lanhoang]

@Merantau ah okay, so they didn't send you/you didn't fill in the Award Appeal Form? 

Because for me (and I suppose a lot of others), we were asked to fill in the appeal form by April 15. They said they'd get back to us after that, so that's why I'm wondering about the result of the appeal. Thanks a lot anyway, and hope that you'll figure out this financial ordeal soon

[Greene]

1 hour ago, lanhoang said:

@Merantau ah okay, so they didn't send you/you didn't fill in the Award Appeal Form? 

Because for me (and I suppose a lot of others), we were asked to fill in the appeal form by April 15. They said they'd get back to us after that, so that's why I'm wondering about the result of the appeal. Thanks a lot anyway, and hope that you'll figure out this financial ordeal soon

Yes. I filled a form too. Have you gotten a feedback?

[Merantau]

7 hours ago, lanhoang said:

@Merantau ah okay, so they didn't send you/you didn't fill in the Award Appeal Form? 

Because for me (and I suppose a lot of others), we were asked to fill in the appeal form by April 15. They said they'd get back to us after that, so that's why I'm wondering about the result of the appeal. Thanks a lot anyway, and hope that you'll figure out this financial ordeal soon

Thank you!

[Leeannuhw]

On 4/20/2017 at 3:50 AM, Greene said:

Yes. I filled a form too. Have you gotten a feedback?

I know someone who got a reply for her appeal and was granted it. 

So I'm most, if not all, appeals have been considered and it's safe to say if we haven't heard back yet, we probably didn't get it.

[Vanessa1991]

Did anyone ever hear back  back about the international fellows? 

[ArellaV]

@Vanessa1991, I have not heard a thing. I thought that first year SIPA students hear about it in their SIPA financial package. But perhaps IFP considers first and second year students together and reviews applications after its 04/17 deadline. 

Anyone else applied for IFP? 

[Leeannuhw]

@ArellaV @Vanessa1991 when I emailed Financial Aid about it a couple weeks back, they told me first year IFPs would know along with their fellowship/financial aid package. So if we haven't heard anything back... ?

[Vanessa1991]

8 hours ago, Leeannuhw said:

@ArellaV @Vanessa1991 when I emailed Financial Aid about it a couple weeks back, they told me first year IFPs would know along with their fellowship/financial aid package. So if we haven't heard anything back... ?

on last year's forum some people said they received a letter telling them they didnt get in, which makes me wonder why they havent messaged us?  but if they told you it was released with the fellowship package then i guess its safe to assume its a no? 

[Leeannuhw]

4 hours ago, Vanessa1991 said:

on last year's forum some people said they received a letter telling them they didnt get in, which makes me wonder why they havent messaged us?  but if they told you it was released with the fellowship package then i guess its safe to assume its a no? 

I think it's safe to assume it's a no at this point. 

[anmanya]

Hey, I am planning to apply to SIPA in 2018 but I am opting for a gap year. It is my dream school and I am willing to work really hard for it. I wanted to know about the sort of profiles that get accepted. If anyone would be kind enough to share their profile briefly, I would be extremely grateful.

 

Thanks

[3dender]

9 hours ago, anmanya said:

Hey, I am planning to apply to SIPA in 2018 but I am opting for a gap year. It is my dream school and I am willing to work really hard for it. I wanted to know about the sort of profiles that get accepted. If anyone would be kind enough to share their profile briefly, I would be extremely grateful.

 

Thanks

I suggest perusing the 2017 Results Thread.

[anmanya]

14 hours ago, 3dender said:

I suggest perusing the 2017 Results Thread.

Thanks a lot, I'll go through it.

 I just wanted to know what sort of work experience is the school looking at for its prospective students. 

Edited April 30, 2017 by anmanya