COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog

Professor Glenn Denning, MPA-DP Program Director, giving the keynote address for the One World Festival

Last week Professor Glenn Denning, our MPA-DP Program Director led a public talk at #OneWorldFestival event at Queen’s University, Belfast. Professor Denning discussed how the world can build a sustainable food supply system in a time when an ever-increasing population is to reach 10 billion by 2050. As he put it: “It’s not rocket science – we…

Posted on October 30, 2019 by Emily Tao

“Should I apply?”

I had the pleasure of meeting many prospective students while attending Idealist graduate fairs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle recently. A question I kept getting over and over was, essentially, “Should I Apply?” I’m still not sure how to answer because: You are the only person who knows if this is the best…

Posted on October 28, 2019 by Emily Tao

Why I applied ‘Early Action’

I applied Early Action to SIPA, where decisions are non-binding, in November 2017 to start in Fall 2018. I applied early because, quite simply, I wanted an early decision. More than that, I applied early action because my graduate school journey started way back in 2016. I started thinking about going to grad school in…

Posted on October 21, 2019 by Nabila Mohd Hassan

Application Advice – Asking for Recommendations

You’re filling out your application and then DREAD fills you…….RECOMMENDATIONS. You have to ask other people to tell SIPA why they think you should be accepted into SIPA. Now….. you know you’re awesome but now someone else has to talk about how and why you’re awesome. UGHHHHHH. We here at SIPA have you covered. Simple…

Posted on October 18, 2019 by Steven Reid

Demystified: The Quantitative and Language Resume

One of the most challenging parts of the application process at SIPA is the Quantitative and Language Resume (judged by the amount of questions we get about how to craft it). Although there is a helpful template on our website, it won’t help you know exactly what do put in it, which is what this…

Posted on October 14, 2019 by George-Ann Ryan