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Summer Math Tutorial

SIPA offers incoming students an opportunity to brush up on their quantitative skills before arriving in August.  The first year at SIPA is fillled with required quantitative courses that are building blocks in effective policy making and execution.  The summer math tutorial, while it is not required, it will help students prepare for their math placement exam especially for those who have not sat in a classroom in years. 

Admitted applicants who have paid the deposit and confirmed enrollment for this fall were sent an email advising them on how to access the math tutorial.  It is administered online so no matter where you are in the world, as long as you have internet connection, you  will be able to participate.  If you have been admitted and paid a deposit, you can also access the math tutorial on the Welcome Page.

New Student Summer Email Series

During the summer the Office of Student Affairs will be sending an email to all incoming students each Thursday.  The series actually kicked off a little earlier this week.  Incoming MIA, MPA, and MPA-DP students that have paid a deposit should have received two email messages on Wednesday.  One email contained a welcome message along with a reminder to access your UNI (instructions for accessing your UNI are in the message if you have yet to do so) and the other announced the start of the online summer math tutorial and provided instructions for logging in.  You will need your UNI to log in to the math tutorial.

The summer math tutorial is not mandatory, but we highly recommend that all incoming students participate.  There are several core classes in the first year that are quantitative in nature and second year fellowship consideration requires a 3.4 GPA at SIPA.  The summer math tutorial will help to ensure that you get off to a strong start in the fall.

Please make sure to check your email for the messages that were sent on Wednesday.  The messages will come from [email protected] so make sure these messages are not channeled into your spam or junk mail folders.  If you did not receive these messages and believe you should have, please send an email to [email protected] to let us know.

Summer Email Series Up and Running

I am happy to announce, as most admitted students probably already know by now, that our summer email series is officially up and running.  The Student Affairs Office (SAO) will be sending emails each Thursday throughout the summer on different topics and the first messages went out yesterday.  Here are a few things you should be aware of.

First, the emails sent during the summer will be sent to both the email address listed in your admission application and to your Columbia email account (UNI is the acronym we use to describe your Columbia email address).  Do note that once you arrive on campus all official Columbia communications will only be sent to your UNI.  It is easy to forward your UNI email to a personal account so you might want to look into this prior to your arrival if you wish to continue to use your personal account as your primary point of contact during your time at SIPA.  Forwarding is pretty easy and here are some general instructions:

  • Log in to your UNI account here: http://uni.columbia.edu/
  • The next screen you see will have a link labeled “Email Forwarding” – click on that
  • You will be asked to enter your UNI and password a second time
  • On the next screen you see click on the “Forward” option and follow the instructions

Second, if you have questions about your UNI account, please contact Columbia University Information Technology (CUIT).  CUIT is the university department responsible for managing university email accounts. If you encounter any difficulty in creating your email account, please contact [email protected]. For more information about the services that CUIT provides, as well as recommendations for getting started at Columbia via our on-line resources, please refer to the following site: http://www.columbia.edu/acis/welcome/

Third, two emails were sent yesterday.  There was an introductory message as well as a message pertaining to the summer math tutorial.  If you are an admitted student that has paid a deposit to confirm your space and you did not get these emails please send a message to [email protected] so we can investigate. 

IMPORTANT NOTE:  MPA-DP admitted applicants were not sent the math tutorial email because MPA-DP students report to campus earlier than MIA and MPA students and participate in a specialized orientation that includes math review.

Finally, all of the messages that are sent during the summer will be cataloged on the Welcome Page referenced in your admission letter.  So if you are in doubt about what has been sent you may always log in to the Welcome Page to view PDF documents of what has been sent.  The documents are listed on the bottom of the Welcome Page.

Thank you and please read the emails carefully as they contain important information about your enrollment and will help to ensure that your transition to SIPA is a smooth one.

Summer Math Tutorial

Admitted applicants who have paid the deposit and confirmed enrollment for this fall will soon start to receive a series of emails from the SIPA Student Affairs Office.  One such email will concern the summer math tutorial.  The first year at SIPA is filled with required quantitative courses.  Economics, quantitative analysis, and financial management are the building blocks of effective policy making.

The purpose of the summer math tutorial is to give students a jump start on the first year curriculum.  The summer math tutorial will also help prepare students for a math quiz that will be administered during orientation to help make class placement decisions.  Many of our admitted applicants have not sat in a classroom in years and the tutorial is meant to knock some of the mental rust off.  Also of note is that to qualify for second year fellowship consideration, students must have a GPA of 3.2 at the conclusion of the first semester.  While the summer math tutorial is highly recommended for all admitted MIA and MPA students, it is not a requirement.

So if you have been admitted and paid a deposit, hang tight for a little while longer and you can expect to start receiving emails from the Student Affairs Office soon.

"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

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