Archive for August 2009 – Page 3

The 2010 Application is Live

My staff did a great job during crunch time this past week and we were able to meet our deadline to make the new application for this year available. We are most excited about the fact that 100% of the required documents and information required to be considered for admission can be submitted on the application site – there is no need to send us a single document via postal mail.

We changed our philosophy this year and rather than requiring official documents from every single applicant, we will only require that official copies of transcripts and test scores be submitted if an applicant is admitted and chooses to enroll. It did not make a lot of sense for us to require official documents from everyone when in the end, required documents are only really necessary for those who enroll.

So, applicants now have the ability to upload academic transcripts and we will allow applicants to self report test scores – official score reports are not required to be considered for admission.

The application is broken into two sections:  Part 1 and Part 2.

Part 1 is comprised of three sections:

  1. Application form (mostly biographical information)
  2. Names of those who will be submitting letters of recommendation
  3. Application fee

That’s it.  Part 1 is quite simple and does not take long to fill out. We recommend that you complete Part 1 as soon as possible so that you become an active applicant in our system and so that the system can send out messages with detailed instructions to those that will be writing recommendation letters for you.

Part 2 will not become visible until Part 1 is submitted.  Part 2 will allow you to:

  1. Upload your personal statement
  2. Upload the two required résumés
  3. Indicate your native language and second language ability
  4. Submit your test scores
  5. Upload academic transcripts

Please note that test scores can be updated anytime in the system up to the deadline.  This means that you can submit Part 2 anytime you like, and come back before the deadline to update scores.

Let’s say that it is early December and you have everything finished, have taken the GRE previously, but will be taking the GRE again in late December. In this example there is no need to wait to submit Part 2.

You can go ahead and submit/upload everything and return later in December to indicate your new test scores.  Do note that once you submit Part 2 the only section you will be able to update is the test score section.  The system will not allow you to update your personal statement, résumé, or transcripts once Part 2 has been submitted.

That’s it.  Be sure to read the instructions on the site carefully and to get started simply click here.  The deadline for spring consideration is October 1st and the fall deadline is January 5th.  We look forward to working with you!

Application Status Update

We have been working hard over the past month or so to get the admission application ready to go for the coming year.  Each year we try to modify to the application in an effort to make the process more streamlined and I am pretty pleased with the changes we are implementing for this year.

If you have been following the blog recently you are probably well informed of the changes we are making.  I thought I would put all the recent entries in one place for ease of reference.  Below are links to the entries where I have documented the changes we are making.

We have already received a few questions regarding our new quantitative/language résumé and we now have a document available with examples/instructions.  You can view the document by clicking here.

We are doing everything we can try to meet our deadline of August 15th to make the application available.  There have been a few bumps in the road so there might be a slight delay, however please remember that you can review all of the instructions needed to get started by visiting our Application Checklist Page.

The checklist page is meant to provide you with the specific information we need while the entries below provide further insight into what you should pay particular attention to in preparing your application.

Stay tuned and as soon as the application goes live I will post an entry to this site with the announcement.

Post #1:  Changes in Process for 2010

Post #2:  Résumé /CV Changes

Post #3:  Transcript Submission Changes

Post #4:  Personal Statement Changes

Post #5:  Test Score Submission

New Student Photo Entry #27

The first three photos today were taken by Oritse Justin Uku, an incoming MIA student.

Farah Province, Afghanistan:  This is a picture of my HMMWV pulling security during a joint humanitarian assistance mission with the Afghan and Italian armies. It took us about 3 hours to get to the village cross-country. The Taliban fled just prior to our arrival. We ended up being out there all day because an IED was found and had to be dealt with.

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Salzburg, Austria:  This photo was taken during the summer of 2007. I was on a tour with a class from business school that took us through Italy, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. I always enjoy visiting Austria. The people are friendly and it’s nice to speak in German again.

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Great Wall of China:  I took this photo in the fall of 2002. A group of officers from my unit in South Korea took a long weekend trip to Beijing, China.

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The next two photos were submitted by Ingrid Nanne, an incoming MPA-DP student.

This is a picture of the teacher to teacher in-service I was interpreting for this summer. I volunteer with Helps International in Guatemala, the organization has an education program in a school they founded in the department of Quiché (a majority indigenous, rural area of the country). The part of the program I was involved with was helping translate between American teachers who were giving the in-service on teaching techniques to the Guatemalan teachers. The picture shows a group of the Guatemalan teachers and the school’s principal during the in-service.

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This picture was taken outside of the school at recess, during a break in the in-service. Many people in the town of Santa Avelina where the school is, dislike having thier picture taken. This is because of numerous and different cultural and personal reasons, but the students at the school have gotten used to them and enjoy being photographed. In this image I asked the boys if it was ok that I took a picture of them, and almost all of them ran off giggling except for that boy who posed. The rest of the boys soon ran back and wanted their picture taken as well.

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New Student Photo Entry #26

The first two photos today come from incoming MIA student Jessica Garrels.

Mai Lafiya in the Dakoro region of  Niger In my first year as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Niger–and before I could really talk to anyone–I decided to stay busy by trying to farm.  Unfortunately, when harvest time came, I realized I was not a very good subsistence farmer (millet, peanuts, hibiscus petals and leaves, beans).

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MyHarvest – Mai Lafiya in the Dakoro region of Niger.

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The next three photos were submitted by Clarissa Baldin, an incoming MIA student.

Where the photo was taken: Gravataí, metropolitan region of Porto Alegre – capital of the province of Rio Grande do SUl, Brazil. Although this is not a “great shot”, it´s something I´d like to share with you because I was very touched. These people are part of a NGO called Corpo Voluntário de Resgate e Socorro. They work from Friday evening until Monday morning every weekend, when they remain in alert state 24h, in groups of at least 6 people per shift, helping on emergencies in the region, rescuing and providing emergency care for mainly car crash victims in the area of Gravataí. They are trained and skilled, theirs services are free of cost and not only the community but also the police and/or ambulances call them when unable to rescue the victims. Constantly struggling for resources to keep theirs work ongoing, they have already assisted over a thousand victims.

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Where the photo was taken: São Miguel das Missões, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. This picture was taken on 26 December 2008, at the archeological site of São Miguel, during my roadtrip from south Brazil to Chile. The ruins are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Brazil. This is one os the remains of Jesuit missions built by the Guaranis and Jesuits during the 17th and 18th centuries.

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Where the photo was taken: Andes, Chile. This picture was taken on 31st December 2008, also during my roadtrip. After 5h queuing to cross the border between Argentina and Chile, we were surprised by this marvellous landscape hidden by the mountains.

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MIA and MPA Orientation Schedules Posted

Mandatory orientation for new students starts on Monday, August 31st.  The schedules have been released by the Office of Student Affairs and I am happy to share the schedules here.  MPA DP Orientation details will be made available during the required MPA DP boot camp that commences on August 17th.

Questions such as the following, and many more, will all be answered during Orientation:

  • When do I register for classes?
  • How do I register for classes?
  • How many courses can I take per term?
  • When/how do I declare my concentration?
  • Are certain prerequisites required for particular courses?
  • Can/should I register for language courses?
  • How do I access career services?
  • Can I use facilities across campus?
  • Who do I talk to/where do I go if I need medical attention?
  • What safety services are available?

Plenty of returning students will be available, there are sure to be events in the evenings that are not part of the official schedule, and faculty/administrators will be available as well.  Business casual attire should be worn during Orientation.  We look forward to seeing new students soon and here are the schedules:

MIA Orientation Schedule

MPA Orientation Schedule

"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

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