Shortly after the 2012 application for admission went “live” we published 10 tips to assist with communicating with our office and obtaining information.  For ease of reference all 10 tips are summarized here for easy reference.  Each is a hyperlink to the full entry.  We hope this allows you to obtain information quickly and communicate clearly with our office.

1.   Always use the same email address when communicating with our office – this includes the email you use when you start your application. In addition we recommend NOT using an employer email address and always including your email address in the signature of your message (below your name).

2.  Avoid Unnecessarily Creating a Duplicate Online Application.

3.  Avoid copying several parties on the same email and avoid long emails.

4.  Thoroughly review our FAQ Page.

5.  When leaving a voice mail message speak slowly and clearly, state your telephone number twice, and note your city/time zone.

6.  If you must mail something to our office use a private mail courier and request receipt confirmation.

7.  Check out our student, alumni, faculty, staff interview page.

8.  Familiarize Yourself with Expenses and Start searching for fellowships/scholarships/grants as soon as possible!

9.  Attend an information session or recruitment event.

10.  Subscribe to this Blog.

This is the third entry in our “Top 10″ list for you to consider when communicating with our office and applying.

Number 3 – Avoid copying several parties on the same email and avoid long emails.

Some tips in our list are straightforward but this one is a bit more ambiguous.   Encouraging applicants to use one email address (Tip #1) is straightforward.  When advising to avoid copying several parties on the same email and avoiding long emails, things are a bit less defined.  First the topic of copying several parties on the same email.

I understand the temptation to copy four or five different parties on the same email, but most often this only leads to delays in getting a response. I know my inclination when I see four or five people copied on an email sent to me is that I am going to let someone else answer the email.  The problem?  Everyone else may think the same thing and you do not get a response.

Or, I may want to check with others before sending my response and the result of one email is four or five more emails just to find out who is going to answer.  Therefore, I highly recommend sending your email to one recipient address.  If the person at the address is unable to assist you, rest assured it will be passed on to someone who can assist you.  When in doubt send one email to sipa_admission@columbia.edu.

The second piece of advice, avoiding long emails, is a tough one to explain because I know “long” is relative.  I guess the best way I can put it is that some tasks are better done in pieces or in chunks.  Sometimes we get emails that are extremely long and detailed and it takes a lot of time to dig through them.  If you have multiple questions, it might not be a bad idea to try to break them up into separate emails over a short time period.  This will allow us to respond in a more efficient manner.

This series of “top 10 tips” is an example of what I am talking about.  At first I was going to post a single entry with all 10 tips in it.  Then I thought about my own behavior – I tend to only glance at really long emails in my personal Gmail account.

If I would have put all 10 tips in one entry it probably would have taken you 15-20 minutes to read it and visit any associated links.  I came to the conclusion that it would be more effective and easier to digest if it was broken into 2-3 minute chunks.

This is probably the most ambiguous tip so use you own judgment.  I will say that sometimes people will apologize when they send more than email.  No apology necessary!  This approach might just be more effective.  On the other hand, a separate email for each and every question might be overkill.  Again, use your best judgment.

We do our best to keep up with the volume of inquires our office receives but the reality is that size of our staff and the number of inquiries/applications makes it hard to keep up.  In past years the blog has featured a top 10 list with the intent of helping applicants receive the most efficient service possible from our office.  We know you want answers quickly and we want to do everything in our power to make that possible.

Each year this list is updated in an effort to make communication with our office as easy and efficient as possible.  10 entries will be featured over the next couple of weeks and then compiled into a single entry for easy reference.

In reviewing all of the entries please understand this is not an attempt to  dissuade you from contacting our office, rather the hope is to provide information that will allow you to receive a response as soon as possible and avoid delays.

Number 1 – Always use the same email address when communicating with our office – this includes the email you use when you start your application. In addition we recommend NOT using an employer email address and always including your email address in the signature of your message (below your name).

It is common for people to have at least three email addresses:  personal, work, and school (e.g. an alumni account).

We highly recommend that you pick one email address and use it for your application and all communications with our office.  Doing so helps us to research your situation in the quickest and most comprehensive manner possible.  With several thousand people applying, just finding someone’s record can be a challenge.

The first thing I do when I start to research an applicant’s inquiry or question is to plop the email address into my search bar.  If all of the emails are from the same account the process is greatly simplified.

Also, I cannot tell you how often applicants email our office with a question and use a different address than the one on their application.  When looking someone up in our system  I do so by email address.  Thus if you email with a different address than the one you used when applying it takes much longer to pull up the appropriate application record.

From personal experience I recommend against using an employer email address. The primary reason is that if you are admitted to SIPA you are going to leave your employer and your email account will be terminated.  Using your personal email address will avoid complications that can arise when you might request an email address change.  While it is possible to update your email we have several software systems so it can take time and possibly lead to missed communications.

Do not be tempted to use an email address that you think will impress us.  For example you might feel that you should use your work email address because the company name is “impressive.”  Please use the email address that you consider to be your permanent address and one that you check frequently.  It is far less impressive to have to amend your record in our systems over time – consistency is what impresses us.  Plus, we will see your employment history in your resume.

The following are two bonus tips.

First, please include your email address in the body of your email – for example below your name (an email signature with your email address included is highly recommended).  Sometimes emails get forwarded to other parties and only the body gets sent along.  If I just get the body and the header is left off, we have no email address to respond to and this leads to delays while we try to track down email contact information.

From my experience this is a very common problem when people forward me emails from their Blackberry or mobile phone.  I cannot tell you the number of times a SIPA faculty or staff member has forwarded me a message and there is no visible email address.  So, just to make sure, I recommend setting up an email signature that includes your full email address.

Second, make sure to check your junk mail box every now and then.  Every once in a while someone will send me a message and it will inexplicably end up in my junk email.  I recommended that you add our email address to your “approved sender” list and check your junk mail every once in while to ensure our messages are not being sent to where you will not be able to view them in a timely fashion.

I sent out an email today regarding our FeedBurner service that you might have received but wanted to post a blog notice as well.  If you are on the blog and look over on the right you will see a box with the word “Subscribe” underneath.  If you wish to receive blog updates via email you can simply enter your email address and any day an entry is posted, you will receive an email with the content.  The software that provides this service is called FeedBurner.

Late in December the university Institutional Technology Department upgraded our blog software and for a short period of time FeedBurner service was interrupted.  I was informed on Friday that the service is restored and I am sorry for any interruption of service for those that are already subscribers.

As a reminder, you can also subscribe to this blog with an RSS reader.  For me discovering an RSS reader was akin to getting our first microwave back in the 70s.  I remember standing on our burnt orange linoleum floor (probably wearing a shirt with a collar the size of a national flag) staring slack jawed at this giant new addition to our kitchen.  My brothers and I used the microwave non-stop for the first month.  We heated up every consumable item, even if it did not need heating.

McDonald’s take out suddenly did not meet our temperature standard upon arriving home and obviously we needed to heat it up.  We especially had a blast microwaving eggs, although our learning curve meant a lot of clean up inside the microwave.  I am sure our usage of the microwave as a family led the hydroelectric power agency to have to run all turbines at full power to keep up with the demand we placed on the grid.  But I digress . . .

Just like a microwave is part of my daily life, an RSS reader is now a part of my life that I am really glad a friend turned me on to.  Basically you can get news from multiple sites, including this blog, all in one place.  Rather than having to visit a bunch of different sites, you can just visit one.  If you do not know about RSS readers, the following short YouTube video is a great introduction (length of video, 3:44).

I’m suddenly hungry for a Big Mac with an egg on it . . .

Direct YouTube link here.

Along with processing applications a major job these days is answering email.  Email is actually our preferred method of communication because it offers us a digital trail to follow.  While you might be tempted to call, and calling is okay, in the long run an email might be more effective when you have questions regarding your application.

In addition to providing us, and you for that matter, with a traceable communication chain, we can answer emails at all hours of the day and you do not have to wait for us to get back to you via voice mail.  We certainly check our voice mail and respond as quickly as we are able, however on the efficiency scale voice mail is far below email.

Let us say you call and leave a voice mail.  Let us also say that our phone is ringing non-stop.  What this means is that we will answer the phone as quickly as we are able and we will likely not check voice mail until after or before business hours.  This means that if you call and get voice mail, you are likely to receive a delayed response due to the fact that is impossible to keep up with voice mail when the phone is ringing all of the time.

Unlike the phone, our email box is always open and ready for your message.  Many people in the office can view the same box and it is much more efficient for us to deal with.  Those of you that have emailed us know that we have an auto-response that indicates we will try to respond within five days.  Our goal is to respond must faster than five days, especially during the time around the application deadline.

On this topic, the University I.T. department scheduled maintenance on the email servers for January 3rd.  The message to us stated that systems updates, hardware repairs, and general maintenance would leave email unavailable for extended periods of time on January 3rd.

I am sure it seemed like a good time for the I.T. Department because of the holiday break, but it was not the best time for our office considering the deadline is almost upon us.  So if our response has been delayed we apologize.  We will keep checking for email availability and answer questions as soon as possible.

One more side note – please resist the urge to copy multiple parties on the same email (this is often called “CCing”).  Please only send emails to one address.  Copying multiple parties on the same email can lead to confusion and slower processing time.

This is the third entry in our “Top 10″ list for you to consider when communicating with our office and applying.

Number 3 – Avoid copying several parties on the same email and avoid long emails.

This is not the easiest of the tips in our top 10 list because it is not a easily defined.  When we encourage applicants to use one email address, that is pretty defined.  When we tell you to avoid copying several parties on the same email and avoiding long emails, things are a bit less defined.  First the topic of copying several parties on the same email.

I understand the temptation to copy four or five different parties on the same email, but most often this only leads to delays in getting a response. I know my inclination when I see four or five people copied on an email sent to me is that I am going to let someone else answer the email.  The problem?  Everyone else may think the same thing and you do not get a response.

Or, I may want to check with others before sending my response and the result of one email is four or five more emails just to find out who is going to answer.  Therefore I highly recommend sending your email to one recipient address.  If the person at the address is unable to assist you, rest assured it will be passed on to someone who can assist you.

The second piece of advice, avoid long emails, is a tough one to explain because I know “long” is relative.  I guess the best way I can put it is that some tasks are better done in pieces or in chunks.  Sometimes we get emails that are extremely long and detailed and it takes a lot of time to dig through them.  If you have multiple questions, it might not be a bad idea to try to break them up into separate emails over a short time period.  This will allow us to respond in a more efficient manner.

This series of “top 10 tips” is an example of what I am talking about.  At first I was going to post a single entry with all 10 tips in it.  Then I thought about my own behavior – I tend to only glance at really long emails in my personal Gmail account.

If I would have put all 10 tips in one entry it probably would have taken you 15-20 minutes to read it and visit any associated links.  I came to the conclusion that it would be more effective and easier to digest if it was broken into 2-3 minute chunks.

This is probably the most ambiguous tip, so use you own judgment.  There is no one “answer” and its is very much open to your interpretation.   I will say that sometimes people will apologize when they send more than email.  No apology necessary!  This approach might just be more effective.  On the other hand, a separate email for each and every question might be overkill.  Again, use your best judgment.

We do our best to keep up with the volume of inquires and applications our office receives but the reality is that size of our staff and the number of inquiries/applications makes it hard to keep up.  Last year I posted a top 10 list with the intent of helping applicants to receive the most efficient service possible from our office.  We know you want answers quickly and we want to do everything in our power to make that possible.

The list I compiled last year is still solid but I will update it with a bit of new information.  I hope this list will help you strategize as you communicate with our office, search for information, and apply.  I will post 10 entries over the next couple of weeks and then compile them into a single entry for future reference.

In reviewing all of the entries please understand that I am not in any way trying to dissuade you from contacting our office, rather my hope is to provide information that will allow you to receive a response as soon as possible and avoid delays.

Number 1 – Always use the same email address when communicating with our office – this includes the email you use when you submit your application.

This might sound obvious, but in my experience it is common for people to have at least three email addresses:  their personal email address, their work email address, and their alumni email address.

It is highly recommended that you pick one and use the same email address the entire time you communicate with our office and that this email match the email listed on your admission application.  This helps us to research your situation in the quickest and most comprehensive manner possible.  With several thousand people applying, just finding someone’s record can be a challenge.

The first thing I do when I start to research an applicant’s inquiry or question is to plop the email address into my search bar.  If all of the emails are from the same account the process is greatly simplified and I am able to provide information in the most accurate and timely fashion possible.

Also, I cannot tell you how many times someone has emailed our office with a question and used a different address than the one on their application.  When looking someone up in our system  I do so by email address.  Thus if you email with a different address than the one you used when applying it takes much longer to pull up the appropriate application record.

From personal experience I recommend against using your business email address. The primary reason is that if you are admitted to SIPA you are going to leave your employer and your email account will be terminated.  Using your personal email address will avoid complications that can arise when you might request an email address change.  While it is possible to update your email, we have several software systems so it can take time and possibly lead to missed communications.

Do not be tempted to use an email address that you think will impress us.  For example you might feel that you should use your work email address because it looks “impressive.”  Rather use the email address that you consider to be your permanent address and one that you check frequently.  It is far less impressive to have to amend your record in our systems over time- consistency is what impresses us.

I do have two bonus tips.

First, please include your email address in the body of your email – for example below your name (an email signature with your email included is highly recommended).  Sometimes emails get forwarded to other parties and only the body gets sent along.  If I just get the body and the header is left off, we have no email address to respond to and this leads to delays while we try to track down email contact information.

From my experience this is a very common problem when people forward me emails from their Blackberry or mobile phone.  I cannot tell you the number of times a SIPA faculty or staff member has forwarded me a message and there is no visible email address.  So, just to make sure, I recommend setting up an email signature that includes your full email address.

Second, make sure to check your junk mail box every now and then.  Every once in a while someone will send me a message and it will inexplicably end up in my junk email.  I recommended that you add our email address to your “approved sender” list and check your junk mail every once in while to ensure our messages are not being sent to where you will not be able to view them in a timely fashion.

Much of my work life revolves around email.  Email is a great way to communicate, but is also fraught with complications at times.  One such complication is the dreaded “CC” or carbon copy.  This is when you send the same email to more than one address (sometimes three, four, five, etc.).

I will not argue that there is a time and place for “CC,” but I will say that in our office processing it often leads to complications, miscommunication, delays, and duplicate work.  Thus we recommend that you only send an email to one address if you have a question.  Rest assured that we coordinate to try to answer as quickly as possible, but often times the “CC” turns into the classic case of “Who’s on First?”  If you are not familiar with the skit, you can find a video of it at the end of this entry.

Why is the “CC” a problem?   Well if you email me and two other addresses, I might assume that someone else will answer, and they may assume the same thing, and thus no one will answer.

Or, I might have to email everyone who was “CC’d” in order to find out who is going to answer thus giving your original email a multiplier effect.  So if you send the same email to three people, those three people may then reply to everyone else that was copied and before you know it the number of emails has doubled, tripled, quadrupled, etc.

Sometimes I return to my email box with six messages all created by the original “CC” and then I have to wade through them all to make sense of them.  It causes tons of questions to float through my mind and I have to invest time to dig through them.  Did anyone answer?  Who answered?  Was is the right answer?  Do I need to do anything?  Did I miss anything?  Did the applicant get what they needed?

Sometimes after a flurry like this I will have to pick up the phone to call someone because the email chain is out of control.  The person I might need to talk to is in a meeting and then I have to leave them a voice mail or someone has to take a message a place a sticky note on an already crowded desk.  So now the “CC” has led to a voice mail and a Post It Note and the spiral continues to grow out of control.

I hope you understand where I am going with this.  My job and the job of my staff is to get you an answer as quickly as possible.  I know you might think that this is best accomplished with a “CC” but it is actually not.

If you simply email one person or address, the person answering that either will or will not know the answer, and if they do not know the answer they will forwarded it to the person who does – simple as that.  No out of control email chain that leads to delays and time spent researching.  You want an answer quickly and we want to provide an answer quickly so we ask that you choose one email address to help us out.

Now enjoy the video =)

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year and provide a bit of insight into what faces our office on Monday after our office was closed for the holidays last Thursday and Friday.  As I type this it is late Sunday night and I just could not resist taking a peek at the Office Email Account.  Since we closed the office on Wednesday we have received close to 400 emails and although I did not check our voice mail box, it is a safe bet that it is full and needs to be cleaned out.

Upon returning to the office on Monday my staff and I will do our best to respond to all of the email and voice mail, and I am pretty sure our phone will ring constantly and we will be visited by every express mail courier known to man on Monday and Tuesday.  On top of all this, history shows that over 1/3 of applicants each year submit their application within 72 hours of the deadline and we will be printing thousands of pieces of paper in the coming week.

I am sharing all of this to give you an idea of the pace of activity in our office around the deadline and to provide some advice.  While we do take our deadline seriously, we also understand that there are sometimes extenuating circumstances and the crush of inquiries around the deadline does not always mean that we can respond right away.  Knowing this, we will work with applicants who we believe have made a good faith effort to submit their application and all of the associated documents by the deadline.

My number one piece of advice is that if you have a question or concern, please email sipa_admission@columbia.edu.  We are able to respond to email in a much more efficient manner and it also provides a sort of paper trail for us to follow (I realize emails are not paper, it’s just an expression that old people like me who went to college when there was no Internet are attached to).  Emails are much easier to track and respond to than voice mail, we can answer email any time, not just during business hours, and you can send an email any time regardless of what time zone you are in or what continent you might be on.

We appreciate your patience and look forward to reviewing your application.  If in doubt about anything, make sure to submit Parts 1 and 2 of your application by the deadline (January 5th) and if you have concerns about anything please send us an email.

The Internet has become a daily staple for most applicants to SIPA and obtaining pertinent information about our program and available financial aid is something that is best done on a consistent basis. RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is an easy and convenient way to have news and information delivered to you without having to repeat searches over and over every time you want to look for new news.

RSS feeds are most commonly used through either an RSS reader or through a news feed that provides new information to you in the form of email. RSS readers are free and many email providers (such as Google’s Gmail) build RSS readers into their user interface.

All you need to do to receive news as it is updated is to add an RSS enabled Web site to your reader. Each time you visit your RSS reader you will be able to see if new information has been posted. There is no need to visit every site over and over to find out if there is new news or updates.

You can subscribe to this blog by both email and through your reader. To subscribe by email simply add your email to the FeedBurner subscription box in the right margin near the top of the page.

If you are not familiar with RSS technology the following short YouTube video is a great introduction (length of video, 3:44).

Direct YouTube link here.

This is the fourth entry in our “Top 10″ list for you to consider when communicating with our office and applying.

Number 4 – Thoroughly review our FAQ Page

When it doubt about something my recommendation is first to check out our admission FAQ page.  Don’t get me wrong, we love to answer email and help people out, but we also feel bad when we get backlogged and are not able to respond within the time frame we would like, and the question is clearly answered on the FAQ page.

Thus it is a great idea to familiarize yourself with the FAQ page.  I recommend setting aside some time to try and read the whole page in one sitting.  Also, we try to update the FAQ page frequently.  If we find that lots of people have the same question, we try to add it to the FAQ page.  Thus don’t be surprised if we direct you to the FAQ page when you email us with a question.

While we do answer all emails sent to our office, you might find the answer more quickly if you perform some quick searches (CTRL-F in most browsers) on the FAQ page.

This is the third entry in our “Top 10″ list for you to consider when communicating with our office and applying.

Number 3 – Avoid copying several parties on the same email and avoid long emails.

I understand the temptation to copy four or five different parties on the same email, but most often this only leads to delays in getting a response. I know my inclination when I see four or five people copied on an email sent to me is that I am going to let someone else answer the email.  The problem?  Everyone else may think the same thing and you do not get a response.

Or, I may want to check with others before sending my response and the result of one email is four or five more emails just to find out who is going to answer.

Therefore I highly recommend sending your email to one recipient address.  If the person at the address is unable to assist you, rest assured it will be passed on to someone who can assist you.

The second part, avoid long emails, is a tough one to explain because I know “long” is relative.  I guess the best way I can put it is that some tasks are better done in pieces or in chunks if you will.  Sometimes we get emails that are extremely long and detailed and it takes a lot of time to dig through them.  If you have multiple questions, it might not be a bad idea to try to break them up into separate emails over a short time period.  This will allow us to respond in a more efficient manner.

This series of “top 10 tips” is an example of what I am talking about.  At first I was going to post a single entry with all 10 tips in it.  Then I thought about my own behavior – I tend to only glance at really long emails in my personal Gmail account.

If I would have put all 10 tips in one entry it probably would have taken you 15-20 minutes to read it and visit any associated links.  I came to the conclusion that it would be more effective and easier to digest if it was broken into 2-3 minute chunks.

This is probably the most ambiguous tip, so use you own judgment.  There is no one “answer” and its is very much open to your interpretation.   I will say that sometimes people will apologize when they send more than email.  No apology necessary!  This approach might just be more effective.  On the other hand, a separate email for each and every question might be overkill.  Again, use your best judgment.

We do our best to keep up with the volume of inquires and applications our office receives but the reality is that size of our staff and the number of inquiries/applications makes it hard to keep up.

In an effort to make sure we are able to assist you as quickly as possible, I want to take the opportunity to provide some information on how you can most effectively communicate with our office and obtain information.

Lists are pretty popular for communicating such information and this entry marks the beginning of a “Top 10″ list for you to consider when communicating with our office, searching for information, and applying.  I will post 10 entries over the next couple of weeks and then compile them into a single entry for future reference.

In reviewing all of the entries please understand that I am not in any way trying to dissuade you from contacting our office, rather my hope is to provide information that will allow you to receive a response as soon as possible and avoid delays.  It is our pleasure to help and we look forward to hearing from you.

Number 1 – Use the same email address when communicating with our office and when applying.

This might sound obvious, but in my experience it is common for people to have at least three email addresses:  their personal email address, their work email address, and their alumni email address.

It is highly recommended that you pick one and use the same email address the entire time you communicate with our office and that this email match the email listed on your admission application.  This helps us to research your situation in the quickest and most comprehensive manner possible.

The first thing I do when I start to research an applicant’s inquiry or question is to plop the email address into my search bar.  If all of the emails are from the same account the process is greatly simplified and I am able to provide information in the most accurate and timely fashion possible.

Also, I cannot tell you how many times someone has emailed our office with a question and used a different address than the one on their application.  When looking someone up in our system  I do so by email address.  Thus if you email with a different address than the one you used when applying it takes much longer to pull up the appropriate application record.

From personal experience I recommend against using your business email address. The primary reason is that if you are admitted to SIPA you are going to leave your employer and your email account will be terminated.  Using your personal email address will avoid complications that can arise when you might request an email address change.  While it is possible to change emails in our system, it does require us to do it on behalf of the applicant and we have several software systems so it can take time and possibly lead to missed communications.

I do have two bonus tips.  First, please include your email address in the body of your email – for example below your name (an email signature with your email included is highly recommended).  Sometimes emails get forwarded to other parties and only the body gets sent along.  If I just get the body and the header is left off, we have no email address to respond to and this leads to delays while we try to track down email contact information.

From my experience this is a very common problem when people forward me emails from their Blackberry or mobile phone.  I cannot tell you the number of times a SIPA faculty or staff member has forwarded me a message and there is no visible email address.  So, just to make sure, I recommend setting up an email signature that includes your full email address.

Second, make sure to check your junk mail box every now and then.  Every once in  while someone will send me a message and it will inexplicably end up in my junk email.  I recommended that you add our email address to your “approved sender” list and check your junk mail every once in while to ensure our messages are not being sent to where you will not be able to view them in a timely fashion.