Advice for more MPP programs to apply to

[SDtoMPP]

So this isn't exactly an am I competitive post, hence the new thread. I am looking at MPP programs and have begun applying to the dreams (Berkeley Goldman, HKS), but I am looking for a few programs that would be more of a "match" and less of a "dream". I'm interested particularly in education policy, so any insight on that would also be helpful. Some background about myself:

Undergrad degree: Top 10 public school

 

Major: double major in Political Science- American Politics and Urban Planning

GPA: Overall 3.49. Junior/Senior GPA: 3.7. 

GRE: 163V, 155Q, 4.5W. I took this during college without studying (I know, I know..), so I am currently studying to take it again. 

Study abroad:  Spent a quarter studying in Paris during my sophomore year. 

Years since undergrad: graduated June 2014

Work/internship experience: 2 internships- 1 was a communications internship writing press releases for a research and policy development center focused on social and economic issues, another was as a policy intern focusing on immigration policy at an advocacy group in DC

In college, worked as a high school mentor advising high school students from low income schools applying to college

Currently 2 years into teaching science (Teach for America) in a low income middle school

Coursework: Political sciences courses, urban policy courses, research design, analytical data (SSPS, GIS), calculus, statistics, biology, and currently taking an economics class through Berkeley

Currently enrolled in education classes through a CSU (not my undergrad schools) to gain my teaching credential

Senior research thesis:  Disparities in Public Education and Resource Applicability to Low-Income Public Schools

Languages: Spanish (intermediate), French (basic)

SoP:  I'm not too worried about this. Plan on explaining my purpose for studying education policy through my experience in the education sector

LoR: Very strong professional recommendations. Academic recommendation I'm a little more worried about. Planning on asking my research advisor, but we weren't especially close. He is familiar with my work, though. 

Extracurricular activities: Vice President- student government, 1 year. Was on student government for 3 years. RA 1 year. Sorority 4 years. Executive council of sorority 2 years. Academic Chairman of sorority one year. 

Awards: Nominated as sorority woman of the year, twice. Nominated for the Sue Lehmann teaching award through Teach for America. 

Concerns: Low GPA/GRE. Not a ton of quantitative classes. Only somewhat relevant work experience (relevant, but not directly correlated). 

 

Thanks in advance for any help!

[hopeful88]

UCLA Luskin has some great ed policy faculty and courses (check out Meredith Phillips). It's less competitive than Goldman but still a solid program. 

[hopeful88]

Also, if you want to go into ed policy...there is nothing more relevant than teaching experience :). You just need to show how your thinking has evolved based on your experience at the ground level. So much of the struggle in making effective ed policy is the breakdown between the regulations that are put into place and what actually happens in classrooms. Understanding where things can go wrong is a valuable perspective.

[PeterQuince]

How interested are you in staying in California -- both for school and long-term -- and how set are you on an MPP/MPA versus a policy-focused master's degree from a school of education?

I'm from the other coast but have been hearing a lot of good things about UC-Irvine over the past 4-5 years (education, rather than public polic side of things), although that might be on the basis of their PhD program rather than master's degree-granting programs.