As a member of the Admissions Committee, I finally have a chance to breathe after long days trapped in conference rooms and even longer evenings and weekends strapped to my home office desk. So I’m spending my “down time” to address some looming questions I get every year, which drills down to “what do your applicants look like?” Don’t shake your laptop in frustration, but the truth is there is no hard-and-fast rule on SIPA’s “ideal” applicant. And I wouldn’t want there to be one. The Admissions Committee values diversity in all facets because that diversity makes for more dynamic and interesting conversations both inside and outside of the classroom. We want you to learn from both your professors and your peers!

However, I know no one’s ever satisfied with that answer, so I went data mining in our application system to give you an insider’s look at our applicants and their behaviors. Here’s a backstage peek of our Fall 2017 MIA, MPA and MPA-DP applicants.

This first chart doesn’t seem to change each year. It shows a timeline of when everyone submitted their applications for review to the Fall 2017 term (full-time students only). If you remember this year’s deadlines, it’s easy to tell where the spikes in applications occurred. The application went live in mid-August 2016 and they quietly trickled in for the Spring 2017 deadline (Oct. 15), and the Fall 2017 early-action deadline (Nov. 2). Then they skyrocketed in time for our scholarship deadline (Jan. 5) and the final application deadline (Feb. 5). As you can see, everyone is a fan of procrastinating, and thus, waits until the last minute to submit their application for review. I understand the reasoning behind it, but it can be a real challenge for everyone in the Admissions Office when so many applicants wait until the end and want their hands held from someone in our office (did I mention there are only five of us for all of you?). So do me a favor: if your friend applies to SIPA in the future, encourage them to turn in things well before the deadline. Thanks. 🙂

Never surprising is the fact that most of you said you want to be considered for fellowship (1/blue = yes and 0/green is no). So that’s why our scholarship/fellowship deadline is a month before the final application deadline; and why we can’t consider anyone for aid past the deadline. The Admissions Committee needs the extra time to review everyone’s materials and make decisions. While awards can go up to full tuition and fees, the average award for incoming students is half tuition and fees; but that can vary depending on how strong the applicant pool is. So if you’re still researching funding sources, check out our External Funding database today and browse the SIPA Funding page for insights into the average awards for assistantships (which are only available to second-year students).

This chart gives you a sense of the applications by degree program, which reflects that of the class size in general. The MIA/MPA programs are larger, around 425-450 students combined, and there’s another 50 for the MPA-DP program.

Another question I’m often asked is which concentration is the most popular. My answer is they’re pretty evenly split among the six degree programs, and this chart supports that for the most part. The next question I’m asked is if your odds of admission increase or decrease with a program’s popularity. The answer: absolutely not. I’m never comparing one applicant to another. As long as you’re qualified, put your best foot forward, and apply by the application deadline, your application will be reviewed and you’ll have an equal chance of admission.

With advancements in technology, I can actually link the application system to the blog and easy tell who has visited the Admissions Blog this year.  So when applicants call or email me asking for advice about something they read on the Blog, I can just access their account to get a sense of which articles they were reviewing so I can better assist them. (Creepy or cool?!) While digging through this tracking data, I found it interesting to see that when I break down our applicants by concentration they closely mirror that of the ones who have visited the blog. I like to interpret it as meaning the blog is so popular that everyone is reading it! (OK, so it’s not an exact link, but you get the hint.)

A couple more questions I get are about if there’s a particular track applicants can travel to increase their odds of admission. Of course it’s a “no” but to put that in perspective I wanted to share a look at how many applicants are Peace Corps and Armed Forces members. Both designations are a sliver of our overall pool, and no one should ever feel obligated to pursue a path that isn’t for them. However, we recognize the importance of creating a diverse class so we are slowly increasing these figures in order to help these communities have access to an advanced education.

Speaking of diversity, you’ve also probably heard us discuss our large network of more than 20,000 alumni from 150 countries, and we’re not kidding. In fact, just looking at our applicant pool it’s easy to see just how far we reach. This year, our applicants called 152 different countries home:

Lastly, decisions will go out in mid-March 2017 on a rolling basis. I can’t give you an exact date, but I can tell you we’re finalizing the review process as I type out this sentence. There are checks and balances in place that the Admissions Office has to do by hand to ensure accurate results, so please be patient with us. As soon as your admissions decision is ready we will email you the news. Just be patient. And good luck to all of our applicants!

[Modified Photo Courtesy of CreateHER Stock]