Archive for deadline – Page 10

Application Process Visual Aid: The Big Picture

I often find flow charts and diagrams to be incredibly helpful in understanding processes and procedures.  Sometimes text can be a little dizzying and having information displayed in a visual format can lead to a more clear understanding of the “big picture.”  In an attempt to give applicants a view of the entire application process on a single page I put together a diagram for your consideration.

The diagram includes two different parts.  One part is composed of steps that do not necessarily have an order and it is beneficial to consistently spend time reviewing the information provided.  The second part lays out the application process, as well as what happens after decisions are made, in chronological format.

The screen shot below will give you an idea of what the chart looks like.  To view a copy that you can save and print please click here.

I recommend that applicants print this document and place it somewhere easily within view at home.  It will serve as a reminder of the “big picture.”  By reviewing the document on a consistent basis and utilizing the hyperlinks that are provided you can help to ensure that you are doing all that you can to prepare the best application possible along with pursuing possible funding opportunities.

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Top 10 Tips for Communicating With Our Office

This entry is a compilation of our “Top 10″ list for you to consider when communicating with our office, searching for information, and applying.  10 entries were posted and this entry serves as a single place where you can access all of them in one place.

My hope is that this information will allow you to find answers to your questions as quickly as possible, receive timely responses from our office, and avoid delays.

Click on the individual 1-10 listings to be directed to the original posts that have all of the details.

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

Number 2 – Avoid Creating a Duplicate Online Application.

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

Number 4 – Thoroughly review our FAQ Page.

Number 5 – When leaving a voice mail message speak slowly, clearly, and state your telephone number twice.

Number 6 – If you must mail something to our office, use a private mail courier.

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

Number 8 – Familiarize Yourself with Expenses and Start searching for fellowhips/grants as soon as possible.

Number 9 – Attend an information session or recruitment event.

Number 10 – Subscribe to this blog!

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

Application is Down – To "Go Live" on August 15th

I wanted to let everyone know that each summer we take our application off line for a period of time to perform maintenance and implement changes to improve the process.  Yesterday we posted a message on the application site stating that the application is currently unavailable.  Our goal is to have the application up and ready to go for the coming year on August 15th.

Just because the application is down for maintainence does not mean that you cannot read about the requirements.  I recently completed an update to our application information page.  Please click here to read about the application requirements, deadlines, and program information.  Please stay tuned to the blog as well because I will continue to post detailed information related to the application requirements and changes that we are making to the process this year.

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

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