Archive for October 2008

Rolling Admission?

One common question we receive is, “If I complete my admission application early will I receive a decision early.” SIPA does not practice what is sometimes referred to as rolling admission. Rolling admission means that as applications are received, they are reviewed and decisions are sent as they are made.

All applicants to SIPA who submit an application by the deadline will receive a decision around the same time. For example, if you apply for full-time MIA or MPA admission for fall 2009, approximately 90% of our admission decisions will be made available via the application web site by the first week of March. The other 10% are files that for one reason or another require a bit of extra review. The application review process does not begin until after the January 5th, 2009 deadline passes.

Although you will not receive a decision early if you submit an application early, we highly encourage all applicants to complete the process of submitting all required documents as soon as possible. The earlier you complete the application the sooner we will notify you via the application web site that your application is complete and you can rest assured knowing that your application is ready for review by the Committee starting in January.

Admission Application: Document Tracking

In order to make the process of applying to SIPA as simple and clear as possible, we highly recommend that you submit your admission application as soon as possible if you plan on applying for the fall 2009 semester. The reason for this is that as soon as you submit your admission application, we begin the process of tracking the documents needed to complete your file.

To get started you simply need to visit our application site and start your application. The application itself is mainly biographical data and does not take very long to complete. Once you complete the application you will be asked to submit the $85 fee. Once your application and fee are submitted we print your application and create a file for you in our office and begin to track the documents required to complete your file.

Your personal statement and résumé will need to be submitted via the application site as well, but you can return to the application site later to complete this process. Other required documents such as letter of recommendation, transcripts, and test scores will then be tracked as they are received. You can enter the application site at any time in order to see what our office has received.

Each year after our deadline has passed we receive inquiries from applicants who are worried that we have not received documents required to complete their application because they do not show up as received on the application site. We receive hundreds of pieces of mail per day around the deadline and it can take us up to two weeks to track documents on the site.

The sooner you submit your application, the sooner we can get started tracking your documents so that you may see the receipt status on the site. Our admission deadline is a receipt deadline. This means all documents must be received in our office by the deadline date in order to guarantee that your file will be forwarded to the Admissions Committee for review.

If you have not already started an admission application and you are interested in applying for fall 2009, we encourage you to start as soon as possible by clicking here.

SIPA on iTunes

There are many ways to gather information about SIPA. Our web site, this blog, and a visit to SIPA are just a few of the ways.

iTunes is another avenue you can use to obtain information about opportunities available to our students. When you open iTunes, simply type “SIPA” into the iTunes search box and you will find a long list of SIPA lectures, forums, and panels available for download. They are all free and we publish events as they happen so repeat the search on a consistent basis for updates.

U.S. Presidential Candidates Visit Columbia

SIPA benefits from an ideal location. New York City draws many prominent figures and our students have access to unparalleled opportunities to hear directly from those on the front lines of public policy and international affairs. A prime example recently occurred on September 11, 2008 when the U.S. Presidential candidates paid a visit to Columbia University. Their visit was part of the ServiceNation Summit.

In an e-mail to students, Columbia University President Lee Bollinger said that ServiceNation’s mission fit well with Columbia’s interest in public service. “It is entirely fitting for us to become part of this two-day conclave that will bring together so many admired leaders in our country to consider ways to expand the scope and scale of successful service programs throughout the nation.”

You can view video of the event by clicking here. The page you will visit contains videos of many others including Laura Bush, Jon Bon Jovi, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Senators Chris Dodd and Orrin Hatch.

SIPA External Fellowship Directory

Graduate school can certainly be expensive and we highly encourage all applicants to seek external scholarships and fellowships. SIPA does offer fellowships but we also manage a web based scholarship database with information pertaining to external funding opportunities. Many different organizations, philanthropists, foundations, etc. wish to support those pursuing a graduate education and we do our best to provide such information to prospective applicants.

You may view our searchable, RSS enabled database by clicking here.

We encourage you to start searching for scholarships and fellowships as soon as possible. The cost of education can be quite high and the earlier you start to the search process, the greater the possibility that you will obtain funding that does not require repayment upon graduation.

"The most global public policy school, where an international community of students and faculty address world challenges."

—Merit E. Janow, Dean, SIPA, Professor of Practice, International and Economic Law and International Affairs

Boiler Image