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Summer Recruiting Events

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

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The blog has been focused mainly on incoming students recently but I did want to take a moment to highlight some opportunities for prospective students to gather more information about SIPA.

Next month SIPA will be participating in five different recruitment events. If you are a prospective student and are available it would be great to meet you at one of these events. Details on each event are below.

First, SIPA is participating in the Aid & International Development Forum taking place in Washington D.C. on June 8th and 9th. The forum is free to attend and you can view the schedule and register by clicking here.

Second, on Monday, June 13th in Washington, D.C. SIPA will join four other policy schools for an evening reception featuring admissions representatives, alumni, and current students enrolled in our programs. The event will be held at the Johns Hopkins Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.

The doors will open at 5:30 P.M. for registration. The main event, featuring alumni and representatives from the schools, will take place from 6:30 P.M. to 7:30 P.M. The event will start with some brief presentations followed by mingling with drinks and light hors d’oeuvres and should conclude around 8:00 P.M.

There is no charge to attend the event, but you must register to attend. You can register for the event by clicking here or by pasting the following address into your Web browser:

http://irgradschools.com/?page_id=3&event_id=76

Third, SIPA will have a table at three Idealist.org graduate school fairs in San Francisco, New York, and Washington D.C. Full details are available via the following links:

San Francisco Idealist.org Graduate School Fair – June 16th from 5:00 to 8:00 P.M. at the San Francisco County Fair Building

New York City Idealist.org Graduate School Fair – June 22nd from 5:00 to 8:00 PM
at Fordham University

Washington, D.C. Idealist.org Graduate School Fair – June 23rd from 5:00 to 8:00 P.M. at American University

Please note that we also host information sessions at SIPA each Monday at 6:00 PM and each Friday at Noon, with some exceptions for holidays. Registration is required and you can contact our office anytime to reserve a space.

Representatives from SIPA travel extensively in the fall and as our travel schedule firms up we will post updates to this blog so stay tuned.

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Categories : Admissions, News

Tags : event, fair, Recruiting, San Francisco, Travel, washington d.c.

New Student Photo Series 2011 – Post #1

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Monday, May 23rd, 2011

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Today the blog kicks of the third annual new student summer photo series. We welcome incoming students to submit photos and details about how to do so and what to include can be found in this entry. It does take us a bit of time to post photos so if you do not see yours, rest assured we will work them into the rotation. Thanks!

This first set of photos was submitted by Cindy Hollenberg, an incoming MPA student. All photos were taken in Guatemala (2009).
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The first two photos attached were taken in a small town (Almolonga) outside of Quetzaltenango (aka Xelaju) at a parade for their annual festival honoring their patron saint.

The Alomonga Queen and her King – note the traditional dress of the Mayan people.

Alomonga parade – little boys show off their “step.” Interesting to note the cowboy flavor (but a formal variety) of these little guys’ costumes.

I worked at a women’s cooperative in Quetzaltenango for a couple of weeks, where I learned traditional weaving. This is me weaving a scarf for my partner. I 32 inch by 6 inch scarf took me about 22 hours to complete – and that was AFTER the women at the cooperative set up the loom for me! Nice ones produced by the women there cost about US $8. They can make one scarf in a day. A big problem with the work is back problems.

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This next set of photos is from Keenan Mahoney, an incoming MIA student.
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Photos from Paris

La Basilique du Sacre-Cœur: Photo of the amazing architecture of the basilica taken from around back, where you’ll typically find yourself separated from the rest of the mob of tourists.

Père Lachaise: Photo of one of the many streets in the very famous cemetery, home to the likes of Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, and the rich and famous of Paris.

Les Jardins du château de Versailles – A quiet spot in the gardens, which is a nice relief from the wall-to-wall people inside the château.

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Categories : Admissions, Columbia University

Tags : art, culture, photography, Travel

New Student Photo Series – 2011 Edition

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

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I do not have a bucket list, but if I did one thing on it would be to take a photography class. I have always enjoyed taking photos, including the “old days” when you had to wait to see your pictures because there was film that needed to be processed.

I remember my monthly ritual of when I lived in Korea. Once a month I would develop photos to send home to my family. There was no Internet and unlike today you could not snap a photo with your smart phone and deliver it to anyone in the world within a matter of seconds. And yes, the walk to the photo lab was uphill both ways too, in a driving monsoon or snowstorm depending on the season.

Each year students from close to 100 different countries enroll at SIPA. For the past few years we have encouraged new students to submit pictures for publishing on the blog and it has been a great success. New students, now is your time. You may submit photos of anything you wish. Travel photos, artistic photos, event photos, photos of yourself . . . anything you wish to share. I will then post them to this blog for all to enjoy.

I have Photoshop so I can re-size the photos as necessary so you don’t have to worry about size. We typically post 2-3 photos per student so I would say the maximum number to send along for consideration would be five.

To participate simply send along your photos as attachments to this address: [email protected]. Do note that it can take a while for us to post them so we appreciate your patience.

Please include the following when submitted your pictures:

Your Name
Your Degree Program (MIA, MPA, MPA-DP)
Where the photo was taken
A brief description of the photo

I’ll get the process started with a few of my own. This photo was taken in the summer of 1994 in Pusan, South Korea. I liked the juxtaposition of the modern, plastic, corporate icon Ronald McDonald and the older gentleman in traditional Korea garb.

This picture was taken in the 50th Street Subway station of the A-C-E line in Manhattan in October of 2004. For a period of months I did a series on discarded coffee cups around the city. I entitled this one, “Separation Anxiety.”

My wife and I recently visited Venice and this was a shot taken from the water bus the night we arrived – Venice is magical both day and night.

Hopefully this gives incoming students out there some inspiration and I look forward to receiving your photos so I can post them to the blog for all to see. Once again, send them to [email protected] with the details listed above.

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Categories : Admissions, SIPA

Tags : culture, photography, Travel

Coming Soon – Summer Photo Series

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

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SIPA students come from all over the world and have done all sorts of interesting things. Many capture their adventures with cameras and each summer the Admissions Blog becomes a virtual art gallery.

This entry just serves as an encouragement to think about photos you have that you would like to post this summer. It is a great way to share something about yourself with the rest of the incoming class.

Below are a few of the photos from last year long with the comments that those submitting the photos added. In May I will send out an official invitation providing instructions to new students on how to submit photos for posting.

__________________________

Lhasa, Tibet. Kids breakdancing in the street. At one point while I was watching these kids break it down two older Tibetan women came by twirling their prayer wheels. They stopped and stared in bewilderment at these representatives of the next, younger generation. A clear sign of an odd cultural gap forming in this traditional land.

Wau Region of Southern Sudan. Children in Southern Sudan finally get a chance to return to normalcy albeit in very basic conditions. The school ground used to be a Church where children now gather under trees to learn. Resources are scarce and teachers lack the requisite training to assimilate newly enrolled repatriated children from neighbouring Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia. It does not deter teachers and children from coming to school everyday with chairs and blackboards in 50 degrees heat – a truly inspiring sight!

Palestinian refugee camp – Sabra and Shatila in West Beirut. This child was one of the tens of thousands of refugees displaced from the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp near Tripoli by a conflict between the Lebanese Internal Security Forces and the Fatah al-Islam militant group. His face was painted as a show of support for “Palestinian solidarity”.

Ghana. I was working as a photographer and correspondent in Accra at the time. My colleagues and I spent a relaxing day on the beach one day and I saw those two local boys playing football, they were truly enjoying it.

This was taken in the early evening at the famous Angkor Wat. I love that you can spot a briefcase in one of the Monks hands.

Namibia – Dune Cartwheel: I try to get someone to take a photo of me cartwheeling everywhere I travel, and this is one of my all time favorites – in the magnificent dunes in western Namibia.

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Categories : Admissions, SIPA

Tags : art, culture, photography, Travel

Top 10 Tips for Communicating With Us No. 9: Attend an information session, tour, or recruitment event

Posted by Columbia SIPA

· Monday, October 18th, 2010

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Updated: March 2016

This is the ninth entry in our “Top 10″ list for you to consider when communicating with our office and applying.

Number 9 – Attend an information session, tour, or recruitment event

While I realize not everyone can make it to New York, if you can visit campus the best way to obtain information is to attend an information session. If you live nearby or are visiting New York attending a session is probably the best way to learn about our programs and how to put together a competitive application. Due to the large number of visitors and our small staff we are unable to arrange walk in appointments. You are always welcome to visit and someone will assist you, however we are rarely able to provide extensive individual counseling appointments. The Office of Admissions is open 9am – 5pm, Monday through Friday, and there are usually current students or admissions officers available to chat briefly with anyone who stops in with a question.

If you would like to attend an information session or attend a SIPA tour, you can see our schedule of upcoming sessions within the Information Sessions or Tour tab on the Visit SIPA website. Click on the information session for the programs that interest you and then register for the date you can attend on the calendar that appears.

SIPA admissions officers also attend recruitment events in the U.S. and abroad. You can view our recruitment schedule on the Visit SIPA website as well. You can find the information within the Off-Campus Events/Recruitment Calendar section. However, you are always welcome to come to the office during business hours and ask a few questions or obtain information.

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Categories : Admissions, Application Tips

Tags : application tips, information session, recruitment, Travel