New Year, New Students / Cohort / PAs!

Our Fall 2019 PAs: Nabila, Steven, George-Ann, Stuart

January always feels like the longest month, and I'm sure many of you feel that way! We're catching up from the holidays, application deadlines keep coming, and work is picking back up.

Here at Columbia, the incoming Spring cohort is on campus for SIPA orientation. The Admissions and Financial Aid office will be closed on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and on Tuesday the entire SIPA community will be back for the spring semester.

What does this mean for you, prospective students?

• The new spring semester will mean two new program assistants adding their voices to this blog! You'll still see posts from Nabila and Steven over the next few months, but they won't be in the admissions office this semester. They brought a great energy to admissions, but don't worry -- George-Ann and Stuart will still be with us this spring, and our new program assistants will be introducing themselves on the blog soon.
• February 5th is our final admissions deadline. While we had our final admissions Q&A webinar earlier this week, you can still contact our office with questions. Remember to use this blog as a resource, and be mindful of other deadlines as we approach February 5th. Common obstacles I've seen for people completing their applications are missing letters of recommendations and the video essay -- so be sure to follow up with your recommenders and submit your video essay!
• Spring class visits will open up late February, so keep an eye out for that email. We wait until the spring semester is firmly scheduled so that students are not still adding and dropping classes and you can have a smoother class visit experience.

Finally, I'm excited to welcome these new J-termers (students who start in January) to SIPA. Thank you for trusting us with your applications, and joining Columbia SIPA is a great way to start off the new year!