Windmills

I was actually in almost your exact position as well a few years ago as I applied to very similar programs: UT EER, UCSB Bren, U Minnesota STEP, CU Boulder MENV, and IU SPEA, where I ended up. Similar goals and thought process it sounds like too. We can message directly and I can answer any questions if you'd like. It would help to know what you are thinking about doing after graduation and what sector you'd like to work in.

Any suggestions for best housing options in DC for the summer? I received an internship offer that would be just south of the National Mall.

As usual, I can't say I'm surprised by the lack of love for SPEA and Maxwell.

I guess for one the White House Council on Environmental Quality has been doing interviews this and last week. Their application deadline was February 1st.

I figured the type of people on GradCafe who slaved over grad school applications are the same type of people who are similarly invested in internship applications. So I though it would make sense to have a similar application/results thread for internships in federal/state/local government, think tanks, consulting, etc. so we would know if others applied to the same position and have heard back about interviews or offers.

For future reference, in Bloomington, Indiana it looks like you don't need to/can't change your residency or car plates—assuming you're there as a student.

It would help if you specified the program. It doesn't always make clear whether the numbers for a given program are for the masters or doctoral level, but this at least shows the average GRE scores for applied/admitted/enrolled. Not sure about general application requirements.

University of California Santa Barbara's Bren School of Environmental Science and Management University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources & Environment Indiana University's School of Public and Environmental Affairs

I don't think you're going to find a 1 bedroom for $500. It seems at least $600 is more the norm. If you're looking for $500 I think your best bet is to find a 2+ bedroom house or apartment with someone to split the rent. Does anyone know anything about the town houses on Covenanter (undergrad vs grad students, neighborhood demographics, noise, maintenance/management staff, etc.)? They seem nice but more expensive and further away from campus than Fountain or Meadow Park. But the proximity to College Mall and other stores could be an advantage.

I've looked through SPEA's career placements and there are plenty of people who end up working for private companies, but overall does the private sector shy away from MPA/MPP compared to MS degrees? Are private companies more adverse to MPAs than government is to MS's? I feel like if I attend IU for their MPA-MSES I'd be open to public and, maybe to a lesser extent, private work. Whereas if I get an MS I'm more limited, but better suited, to the private sector.

Interesting. I imagine that was a one-off volunteer outing or some event and that her day-to-day work is more applied than working at a farmer's market—or at least I would hope so. I would think they weed out placements that don't provide relevant work experience or skill building and were reviewed poorly by the student in an exit interview. Similarly, I can only assume a placement with an organization like Habitat for Humanity is more on the management or coordination side than the physical labor side.

Is that actually a possible placement? I'm in the same boat where I'm coming from a different field so guaranteed work experience through the Service Corps in a relevant position will hopefully give me a shot at higher profile summer internships, as you said. I just really hope I don't end up choosing IU for their Service Corp and end up getting placed in a job that I'm not interested in and doesn't build relevant skills.

Has anyone else gotten an email from UT's Jackson School with the subject "JSG Profile Created" saying "A Jackson School of Geosciences profile has been created for you. Please login to the profile administration application using the URL below to add more information to your profile"? Funny thing is, I haven't even committed to the program yet.

I thought they represented various areas of study within the program well and the potential for success in those concentrations after graduating. I wasn't particularly blown away or anything, but I did get a good impression from the day about the program and the community and felt like I could be successful and fairly happy there. My only personal issue is that I don't like the small college town feel from what I saw of Bloomington, especially compared to the other, larger cities of other programs I was accepted to. I do think SPEA's program is probably the best program for me—but maybe not necessarily by a landslide, though I have no plans on staying there after graduation whereas I can see myself settling down in another city where I was offered admission.

I was thinking the same, but my impression from Experience Day was actually that the internships students did were actually more valuable for their future career than the Service Corp work experience.