The Home Stretch COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog

The Home Stretch COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog Everyone out there reading might not be familiar with professional baseball, but sometimes I compare the admission time line to a season of professional baseball in the United States.   Professional baseball teams in the U.S. play 162 games over a six month period, up to seven if a team makes the playoffs.   Baseball teams spend roughly half   their time away from home and my work life is similar, although my road season for the most part takes place during an intense period of time rather than month-to-month. I feel like I play many different positions during the season, from catching applications as them come in, to pitching them to the Admissions Committee, and most of all fielding questions from applicants.   From the time our application goes live to day that we ask admitted applicants to make a decision is roughly eight months and we are quickly approaching May 3rd the initial deadline for admitted applicants to inform us of their intentions. You could call this final few weeks before enrollment decision time the home stretch.   I am not certain of the origin of this expression (probably horse racing) but it is often used to describe the end of a baseball season where teams are competing for the final spots in the playoffs the end is in sight. The end is in sight as well for applicants that have pitched their applications to different schools.   It could be a matter of which school to choose or how to finance the school you wish to attend.   I do not want to pressure anyone to make a decision before the date stated in the admission letter, however I do want to encourage admitted applicants to let us know when you do make your final decision.   I know many other schools require responses sooner than we do and you might have already made a commitment. We appreciate you indicating your decision in our application system so that the Committee can take appropriate action.   You can let us know your plans by logging into the application system and accepting or declining your offer. For those that need more time, there is no rush, but for those that have already decided we appreciate a response as soon as possible. If you have decided to attend SIPA we are truly excited, and if you have decided not to attend SIPA this is important for us to know so that the Committee can determine if we need to make offers to candidates on the waitlist.   Whatever happens, it has been a pleasure to work with everyone that applied this year   . . . from my perspective it has been a winning season for sure.   For this blog the season never really ends so continue to stay tuned for more information throughout the spring and summer, and before I know it the travel season will start up once again.