heregoes

A note from a Wagner Masters grad: Within each class of graduates there's tremendous diversity as to who looks hard for jobs while in school,attends networking events, builds contacts through professors and outside the school (you dont want to be competing with your entire graduating class for the same pool of jobs) and who does not and that is reflected in who has a job at graduation. The real value of a career services office is teaching you how to be effective at the tasks that constitute the pre-employment employment search and maintaining a good database of alumni who are committed to advising and helping students. At this stage in the game, there are no placements. Finally, all data the earnings data for all schools is self-reported (I get yearly emails asking me to update my work & salary info). As for the low employment rate, this is not an easy time in the public policy job market. For all these reasons, I would think that the weighting of a career services presentation should be relatively low compared with a lot of the other (both good and bad) attributes folks are describing.

anyone still waiting? I'm waiting on 2 schools. i hear harris should be any day now.

It's a little nuts but I'm a doctoral applicant so the process is less well organized. It's still not my favorite thing.

Any news?

I spoke with them on Friday and they let me know that my decision had not yet been made. They said they were working through the PhD apps and had done the first round of Masters admits.

that stinks, esp after all the waiting. good luck with the others!

A few, it seems mostly rejections. I'm still waiting too. I caved and emailed them earlier in the week. Has anyone else received any general updates?

I think Wagner said something about April. I still have 3 schools to hear from but in order to deal with my nervousness I am trying to think about what I'd do if I didn't get in anywhere. Anyone else pursuing this line of thought?

I'm a few years out of Wagner (not yet five) but here are my thoughts: Much of how you approach the professional world whether its the way you present yourself to future employers, the specific interests you develop, or the connections you make will be a function of the masters program you went to. For instance, most of my Wagner friends who did domestic work ended up taking their first post grad school job in New York. That being said, the more you do to connect with interesting people in and out of your program, the more options you'll have. If you have your heart set on something then there is a good chance you will be able to figure out a plan to work towards it. If you're looking at people who have great jobs that you'd like to have and notice they all went to a few very select schools that are not like your school start looking out for great summer opportunities or network with professors at other schools through professional associations, conferences, etc. I know I'm repeating a point made by other posters but this aspect of the professional school experience cannot be emphasized enough. The short version is that each school has its path of least resistance but ultimately you determine what you do.

I'm a Wagner MUP grad. If I remember right admissions are rolling so there's a pretty wide range of time when they're sending out decisions.

I got the same email from Harris. It's my top choice and I'm doing everything I can to just take a lot of deep breaths btw now and then. I think Ford had said at some point that they'd be sending PhD decisions out closer to the end of the month. I know they have a pretty small program so they may be a little overwhelmed. Any other news?

I applied to Harris, (top choice) Kennedy, Heinz, Ford & Wagner. Just got my rejection from Kennedy this week. Not expecting to hear anything from anyone for at least another 2 weeks and getting anxious.