As you can see in the screenshot above, there have been a lot of emails coming our way this week. (Please be patient with us; we’re answering them as fast as we can.) During this process, we’ve noticed that many of you are concerned about the status of your missing materials. To help alleviate some of those concerns, we’re answering some common questions right here.
But first, if you’ve submitted your application by the fellowship deadline, you shouldn’t worry. We’ve received it and your uploaded materials. It’s just taking us some time to process the applications and match up your uploaded records to your snail-mail papers and previously emailed materials. Sadly, there’s no magical solution to this. Our admissions staff actually have to review each application by hand, so it’s taking us a while to match up transcripts, recommendation letters and test scores.
To verify we’ve received your materials, please make sure you regularly check your status page. (You may check your status by logging in to your application here.) It’s your responsibility to ensure we’ve received your materials. While checking your status page, you may have noticed a few Xs on the page. We’ll explain what they mean below.
The first application deadline has passed and the admissions staff is busily processing all submitted applications. A few of the submitted applications are missing a couple of items so they are in our “Awaiting materials” bin until ‘completion’. However, the majority of the applications submitted are complete and have already moved forward for review. Congrats!
But we did notice a couple of applicants mistakenly did not complete all three required essays:
If you are a re-applicant, you will also need to respond to the “Re-applicants Only” essay: How have you enhanced your candidacy since your previous application? Please detail your progress since you .
There is also an optional essay for any applicant who has something more to say about their candidacy. There is no word limit; however, use some discretion and keep it within reason.
Please make sure all your materials are submitted by the indicated deadlines for consideration. If you forgot to upload required materials and clicked the “submit” button — No worries, you may still upload them into your application. If you have trouble doing it yourself, please let us know. You can find a checklist of required admission-related items on our website.
You may track your application status by logging back into your application account any time. Materials submitted and received will be reflected as we process them — this may take up to 10 days. If you are reading this post over the weekend, don’t check now and freak yourself out — there was a glitch in the system today that changed all received materials to “awaiting material” status so if you submitted and you see this in your application status, relax. We got you. The tech team is working on this and will have it resolved early next week.
An application that is (submitted and) complete goes to the Admissions Committee for review. Once an admission decision is reached, you will receive an email to check your account again (this will happen in March); so don’t lose your application log in information.
For now, don’t lose sleep and enjoy your weekend.
"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
