I’m often asked what the average applicant looks like. Honestly, there’s no set formula to “getting in” at SIPA. And I mean this literally — no single career, academic background, country of origin or volunteer experience is going to earn you a seat at SIPA. That’s something you have to do on your own as an applicant by playing to your strengths and submitting a superb application for admission. But, I do have some interesting stats to share from this year’s MIA, MPA, MPA-DP applicant pool.
Here’s a glimpse into a few charts from our application system.
The chart Applications Submitted is pretty telling. The Fall 2016 application cycle opened in August 2015, and applications were quietly coming in throughout the early fall. Then you can clearly see spikes in the submission rates right around our application deadlines of Nov. 2 for the early-action round, Jan. 5 for the fellowship round, and Feb. 5 for the final round. What does this mean? Well, you all really do wait until the last minute to submit your applications. (That’s not a practice I recommend our future applicants to follow.)
Not surprisingly, most of you said you wanted to be reviewed for SIPA’s merit aid. (Blue is “yes” and green is “no.”) Thus, that is why our fellowship (aka scholarship) deadline is a month earlier than our general deadline. (And why we do not consider anyone for aid past the deadline.) We need the extra time to review your application and consider for fellowship. Generally speaking, the top third of applicants receive funding, but that can vary depending on how strong the applicant pool is; and while awards can go up to full tuition and fees, the average award for incoming students is half tuition and fees. So if you’re still researching funding sources, check out our External Funding database today.
Here’s a look at the concentration breakdown our applicants have applied to this year. I often get asked what the breakdown of our applicants are by concentration. As you can see from the chart above it’s almost an even six-way split. The follow-up question usually is about the chances of admission increasing or decreasing depending on the concentration selected. The short answer is absolutely not. (The longer answer is it depends on if you’re a good “fit” for that concentration and if you tailored your application to it or not.)
Since we’re on the blog, I decided to share a breakdown of what our readers look like. Thanks to a fancy “stalking” tool that links our application system to the blog, I can easily tell who has visited the Admissions Blog. But wait, this chart is broken down by concentration as well. Great catch! It’s pretty interesting to see that the applicants by concentration breakdown closely mirrors 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.)
When we say our students hail from every corner of the globe, we mean it. This year, our applicants come from 142* different countries. (Depending on who you ask, there are 195 or 196 independent countries in the world today). Our applicants are from:
| 1. Afghanistan | 49. Greece | 97. Paraguay |
| 2. Albania | 50. Guatemala | 98. Peru |
| 3. Algeria | 51. Guinea | 99. Philippines |
| 4. Andorra | 52. Haiti | 100. Poland |
| 5. Argentina | 53. Honduras | 101. Portugal |
| 6. Australia | 54. Hong Kong S.A.R. | 102. Qatar |
| 7. Austria | 55. Hungary | 103. Romania |
| 8. Azerbaijan | 56. Iceland | 104. Russia |
| 9. Bahrain | 57. India | 105. Rwanda |
| 10. Bangladesh | 58. Indonesia | 106. Saint Lucia |
| 11. Belarus | 59. Iran | 107. Saudi Arabia |
| 12. Belgium | 60. Iraq | 108. Senegal |
| 13. Belize | 61. Ireland | 109. Serbia |
| 14. Bhutan | 62. Israel | 110. Sierra Leone |
| 15. Bolivia | 63. Italy | 111. Singapore |
| 16. Bosnia and Herzegovina | 64. Jamaica | 112. Slovakia |
| 17. Brazil | 65. Japan | 113. South Africa |
| 18. British Virgin Islands | 66. Jordan | 114. South Korea |
| 19. Bulgaria | 67. Kazakhstan | 115. Spain |
| 20. Burkina Faso | 68. Kenya | 116. Sri Lanka |
| 21. Burundi | 69. Kuwait | 117. Sudan |
| 22. Cameroon | 70. Kyrgyzstan | 118. Sweden |
| 23. Canada | 71. Latvia | 119. Switzerland |
| 24. Chile | 72. Lebanon | 120. Syria |
| 25. China | 73. Liberia | 121. Taiwan |
| 26. Colombia | 74. Lithuania | 122. Tanzania |
| 27. Congo (Brazzaville) | 75. Madagascar | 123. Thailand |
| 28. Congo (Kinshasa) | 76. Malawi | 124. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia |
| 29. Costa Rica | 77. Malaysia | 125. The Gambia |
| 30. Cote D’Ivoire | 78. Mali | 126. Timor-Leste |
| 31. Croatia | 79. Mauritania | 127. Togo |
| 32. Cuba | 80. Mexico | 128. Trinidad and Tobago |
| 33. Cyprus | 81. Moldova | 129. Tunisia |
| 34. Czech Republic | 82. Mongolia | 130. Turkey |
| 35. Denmark | 83. Morocco | 131. Uganda |
| 36. Dominican Republic | 84. Mozambique | 132. Ukraine |
| 37. Ecuador | 85. Myanmar | 133. United Arab Emirates |
| 38. Egypt | 86. Namibia | 134. United Kingdom |
| 39. El Salvador | 87. Nepal | 135. United States |
| 40. Eritrea | 88. Netherlands | 136. Uruguay |
| 41. Estonia | 89. New Zealand | 137. Uzbekistan |
| 42. Ethiopia | 90. Nicaragua | 138. Venezuela |
| 43. Finland | 91. Niger | 139. Vietnam |
| 44. France | 92. Nigeria | 140. Yemen |
| 45. Gabon | 93. Norway | 141. Zambia |
| 46. Georgia | 94. Pakistan | 142. Zimbabwe |
| 47. Germany | 95. Palestine | |
| 48. Ghana | 96. Panama |
And as always, it is going to take us some time to review all of the applications, so please be patient with us. Admissions decisions will be released in mid-March and rolling thereafter.Alright! Those are all of the insights I have for today. I hope you found this information interesting. While I can’t share any additional details about our application pool at this time, you are welcome to email us at sipa_admission@columbia.edu if you have any questions about the status of your individual application or the application requirements.
Until next time.