Wilson School sees increase in applicants

Of the 156 sophomores who applied to the Wilson School, 90 were selected Friday to join the department this fall, and three were wait-listed. The selection was slightly more competitive than last year when 90 students of 145 were accepted.

A fairly even distribution of applicants expressed interest in problems in education, the environment, health-related issues and international relations, said Stanley Katz, director of the undergraduate program at the Wilson School.

There was also an even split between applicants interested in domestic and international affairs.

The spread of these primary interests among applicants was much the same as it has been in previous years.

"There is no striking difference in the range of special interests suggested to us," Katz said.

Yet of the applicants indicating an interest in international relations, Katz noticed that more students expressed interest in the Middle East than they had in previous years.

While there are no prerequisites to apply to the Wilson School, the admissions committee looks for students who have already taken some courses in the social sciences or those concerning their planned area of study, Katz said.

"We are interested in whether the student conveys a mature sense of what it is to study public policy," he said.

Shawn Sindelar '04, who was accepted into the Wilson School, expressed excitement about the opportunities the school offers to study his field of interest from a broad context.

"One of the benefits of the Woodrow Wilson School is the fact that it encourages a multi-disciplinary perspective," he said. "By that I mean the Woodrow Wilson School requires that students take classes in politics, economics, psychology and sociology, and by taking them you get the global perspective that helps you analyze particular policy issues from a variety of perspectives.

"In today's world, problems are quite complex," he added, "and they require approaches combining different fields and disciplines."

Sindelar plans to study public health policy and to focus on AIDS management policies in developed nations such as Canada and the United States. He plans to compare those policies to policies in developing countries such as South Africa.

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Another potential Wilson School major, Avantika Bhargava '04, said the school will prepare her well for a career mediating relations between the United States and India.

"We can gain social and communication skills through taking a broad base of courses and the policy task forces, which give us hands-on experience dealing with conflicts and formulating policies," she said.

Sindelar and Bhargava both said they plan to apply for the program at Oxford University next year, and Sindelar expressed interest in joining the task force in South Africa.