Archive for January 2011 – Page 3

Application Processing Update

I thought I would provide a status update on our processing of applications and I would like to start by saying that the Admissions Committee has not started meeting yet.  In short, we have not started reviewing applications for admission, we are still working very hard on reviewing applications for completion. So here is where we stand . . .

We have printed all of the applications submitted.  While this may sound strange to announce, it is a feat in the sense that all told applications probably represent close to 80,000 printed pages of information.  Printing 80,000 pages and then looking at each one to ensure readability and completion takes us a few weeks.  Do remember that just because you submitted a document or information online does not mean it will automatically be tracked as received. This is normal and full details on tracking were covered in this post (please review the post to familiarize yourself with how we track applications).

We have manually reviewed approximately 70% of the application submitted.  This means we have not even looked at 30% of the applications we have printed.  They are waiting patiently in large piles for us to review.  An application that has not been looked at is at no disadvantage in the admission consideration process.  We will start to assign files to reading teams soon and not all reading teams start reading at the same time – some start in January however some do not start until February. Thus we still have a few weeks before some readers will start reading which gives us time to review applications for completion.

I estimate that when we do complete our review of all printed applications, approximately 35% will still be labeled incomplete – which is where the matching process begins.  After we complete our first sweep through applications submitted and printed we will then go back and look to match documents that were not submitted on the application site.  The matching process takes us more time, but again, files completed a little later than others are at no disadvantage.

As we complete our review if we feel we need any additional information we will send out email messages.  Just because an application does not read complete on the application site does not mean we do not already have everything we need – it likely means that we just have not had the opportunity yet to view your application or search for necessary documents that were submitted and filed to await matching.

So, if you have not received a completion email from us at this point in time do not let it be a point of concern.  We have at least 8-10 more business days of work ahead of us in terms of certifying files as complete.

January 17 Office Closure

Please note that SIPA, and the entire university for that matter, will be closed on Monday, January 17th in honor of the National Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday.  We will resume normal office hours on Tuesday the 18th and we will seek to respond to inquiries received over the holiday weekend as soon as possible upon our return.

FeedBurner

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.

Joint Japan World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program

Recently we posted information on a $33,000 scholarship opportunity for U.S. citizens, nationals, or permanent residents.  For this entry we have a scholarship opportunity that has provided an average award of $35,000 a year to nationals of World Bank Member countries.

The Joint Japan World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program (JJ/WBGSP) is a wonderful opportunity for those that qualify and wish to submit an application.  It does require a completely separate application from the application submitted to SIPA and it is available via the JJ/WBGSP web siteThe deadline to apply is March 31, 2011.

Here is a brief description of the basic qualifications needed to apply, see the site referenced above for full details.

To apply for a JJ/WBGSP scholarship under the Regular Program, an applicant must:

* Be a national of a World Bank member country eligible to borrow.
* Be born after March 31, 1971.
* Have, by March 31, 2011, at least 2, preferably 4 to 5, years of recent full time professional experience acquired after a university degree, in the applicant’s home country or in another developing country.
* Hold a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent.
* Be in good health.
* Be of good character.
* Not be a permanent resident or a national of any industrialized country.
* Not be residing in an industrialized country for more than one year.
* Not be an Executive Director, his/her alternate, staff of the World Bank Group (the World Bank, International Finance Corporation, International Development Association, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, and International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes), consultant, or relative of the aforementioned.

Five Business Days

It has been five business days since the application deadline passed and I want to provide an update to give some insight on how things are going.

As a reminder, we print application batches (explained here) and each batch can contain up to 600 pages of printed information.  We have printed 90% of the applications submitted.  Again, when an application is printed and completed is not important – it is important that all documents were submitted in a timely fashion.

We have manually reviewed roughly 50% of the applications submitted, and of those reviewed approximately 70% have been completed on the “first pass.”  By this I mean all of the required documents were submitted on line and printed all at once – thus making it incredibly easy to process.

Those that are not complete get set aside and filed for a “second pass” at a later time.  The reason is simple – we still have a great deal of unopened mail and searching for documents at this time is not a wise use of our time.  We do not penalize applicants that did not submit all of their documents on line, however it will take longer for us to indicate that your file is complete.

Our goal is to manually review all applications submitted as soon as possible and by the time we have done so I believe that roughly 65% will be complete on the first pass.  This will leave us with a substantial amount of work to do on matching documents.

Completing a file using the matching process takes much more time.  We have to comb through thousands of documents that are filed away and this is a very time intensive process.

If you have not received an email noting that your file is complete, there is no need to email our office. Once we complete our second pass, we will start sending emails if something is holding up the processing of your file.  We will contact you so we would ask that you resist the urge to contact us regarding the receipt of individual documents at this time.

Thank you again for your patience and I am extremely pleased with our progress after only five business days of processing – we are ahead of where I had hoped we would be.

"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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