plenum123

In for Cornell, Brown, GPPI, SAIS, UCLA. Waiting for HKS , SIPA

Dude, I think you are too much into MBA program. I believe you applied to some MBA programs before and got rejected. Did you even get a chance to interview or get feedback from them though? If not, you are shooting in the dark again I am telling you.

Let's put it this way...I am just a voice of unpretentious reality Honestly too, we should mainly pay for professors, and building maintainence, not luxurious administrations regardless of how talented or desirable they are. "I think they do it because they want another year of classes to educate their students" It's vague with no support evidence. If I am an Adcom, I would ding you right away. ....................................Just saying

They wanna make money. FYI, the president of the university receives around 600,000USD per year, not to mention other employees' benefits, just saying.

Well, a sub 3.0 is rough. A school would take that seriously as if you have a criminal record. If you get rejected from school you applying to, you may need to do some college level course work or certificate and do great (all A's) and get a little higher in GRE.

http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml I refer to this website for loan info.

It depends. After HKS you will have to pay back around 1,300-1,500 USD monthly for your loan(130,000USD) for 10 years if I am correct. Since you plan to pursue higher Ed, will you be able to afford it? Harvard is nice on the resume though.

Hopefully. I got my acceptance letter yet seeing a dime.

I attended HKS admission session in NYC months ago, the HKS rep. stated that you need to apply both school in the same application cycle and get accepted at both school to pursue dual degree (3 years) HKS/HBS. You can finish HKS and then apply but you are not allowed to apply during academic year in hoping to do the joint program. And that would be 4 total years to complete both degrees.

For a government Job, I dont think it matters much from what I looked thru the job posting. ( they ask for experience and advance degree (from anywhere) to jump the salary grade). Private sectors with financial and technology aspects such as Google, JP, Goldman S. (if you are not an engineer), however, restrict candidates to have MBA, JD degree ( from top schools), or CPA. And mostly, they hire students who previously did an internship with them (of course you need MBA and JD from top program to be able to get an internship opportunity).That means MPA career path is pretty limited. But in the future if you need to switch your career choice to private sector and need to get an MBA, Top name grad school would help you in MBA admission process (providing that you have a good GPA from your previous degrees, High GMAT, know how to sell yourself on your resume, and good BS stories). But if you can afford it, it's no brainer to attend the best one.

In for Brown, GPPI, Cornell. Waiting for SIPA and HKS

Wow, I am stunning. If your statement is true, Harvard University is full of narrow minded D-bag people. HKS is considered one of the top programs in the field. If Harvard MBA, HLS students look down at them, other public policy schools would even be worse. In my view, this degradation is rare in reality. For MBA, you compete with students from other fields that's why it's tougher and HBS favors former Harvard students who work in Top bussiness firms than those who got 4.00 GPA from public school and 750 GMAT. MPP is more limited to those who involve in public affairs and that's the reason it's less competitive. To prevent students to use HKS as a backdoor to HBS, they dont allow HKS student to apply after they get admitted. It has to be done simultaneously. If you can get into Harvard HKS, do good on LSAT or whatever test, then you have the "edge" to apply to any Law school and gain advantage I am super sure. And the reason that you would pick other B-school over HKS is that they get paid more statistically and you can land a nice financial job anywhere . Am I right? And Aint these B-school grads who jeopodized our economy and begging for tax money to bail them out? I dont think that they 're that sophisicated after all. All in all Harvard is a great school.

If you have GMAT 700 up ,solid essays and relevant WE it's doable. But MBA candidates seem to have more competitive work experiences with big name companies which allow them to elaborate their stories in essays much better and easier. While MPP/MPA line of work is very flat. You will be competing with engineers, finance folks, and other fields. But Law school is very straight forward. GPA x LSAT. It is true that MPP program is much easier to get in. Even Johnson school at Cornell is tougher to get accepted than HKS by comparing admitting rates. Plus, you can not dual with HBS unless you apply at the same application cycle. And no, they are not smarter than you, you just need to find your theme to properly answer WHY MBA WHY NOW and be sharp during an interview (if you get invited)

There were around 1,729 applicants the previous years. That year I believe they required policy memo too. However, there's only 1 SOP + optional essay this academic year. This would attract applicants all around to try their luck which will significantly increase number of applicants. I 'd say the number would be around 2,000-2600 apps with 18-20% % admission rate.

This is an unknown factor. And that's why they require international students to submit TOEFL in addition to GRE. But definitely 450 will red flag them, keep in mind that you are competing against international students around the world who normally are good in Quan part and definitely have a better score on verbal than yours. But luckily, they will not use GRE to solely judge your credibility.

It seems you hardly adjust to your surrounding even in your own country. After all, life is not just about good job with high pay or good university. You think too much on what you have or cant have. And you think too much on the major you are studying wont satisfy your professional goal. And that's the price you pay for selecting something based on money not "fit". I too is an international student, I got an undergrad degree in US from not-well-known institution but I was working my best to get a six fig job here. I have no problem adjusting and never ever burn the "bridge". I say, chillax, and accept your choices which already have been made, do your best and have fun. The hard part of an adult life is to do what you dont like and be good at it. School will take you certain places, but it's your job to accomplish your goal.

I think atleast 1,300 combined is fine. Then they look into your work experience and academic preparation. Your SOP must be aligned. If you have these elements, you are in good shape. Good luck.

Lud, I wouldnt surprise. In the application package they ask "how will you pay for tuition?" It is a good school (IVY !) but I only doubt their job recruitment program. Early this year I encountered one gentleman who works in one private sector which I was contacting. his role was to assist me filling out a basic form and that's all he did. During process we shared some laugh and stories. So that I knew he was from SIPA and still WAITING for his "dream employers" to notice him and it's been couple years. He picked the job because he needs to put food on the table for his family (I respect that).

drt309, That is exactly what I meant, everybody will write similar theme, just like you did. mmal123 stats are similar to most ppl in the forums (assume that all accurate). So, unless mmal123 can pour pixie dust on the essays , or mmal123 need exceptional career path to standout, and I assume that mmal123 has never worked in the "real" job before, after working couple years he/she may realize what they really want to study before throwing in another 50K a year. But mmal123 stats are good enough for most school if he/she decides to apply, but for competitive schools it will be pretty tight. Again, if you have time, money and energy to spend it on the appliction package, go for it. But if you are not in a hurry and want the best suitable place for you and your goals, better plan carefully to solidify your theme. mmal123 needs to seriously think of his goals ( you want to "study" and then worry about other stuffs later?, or you want to "work" on something and that you need to "get" the degree to help you apply knowledge + wisdom + exp + passion to get to the goal? In this economy, to obtain a position after graduting is pretty intensive without experience, especially MPA/MPP/IR where other relavent majors could perform the same tasks. It's true that school reputation will get you somewhere (uncertainty factor), but experience is the prime factor. It's better to do the entry level while you are young. well, this is just my op anyway and this is the beautiful part of the free world, sharing op hope it is useful.

soapwater, Please note that MPA at WWS = MPP at Harvard so it's 6% not 19%. Again, this is the fact for particular year and WWS is the most competitive. And you will have a comfortable shot at GPPI. I expect that the application numbers for HKS will increase dramatically this year because there's only 1 main essay + reputation of the H. In it, to win it....

It depends on school you applying to. Some schools you can self-report the scores on your own and after you admitted, you then need to send an official scores to the school. Some schools need official score right away. You can send whenever you want to, they will keep it in file. But it is your responsibility to check whether they have received it or not. And they will throw your file away after certain times (years).

"And because we have an emphasis on statistics and economics, we’re always looking to see what an applicant’s appetite is for those courses and disciplines. Probably 75 percent of the applicants meet that requirement, so the admissions process shifts towards candidate’s commitment towards public service" http://www.princeton...ssion/graduate/ Whether there's cut-off or not, the stat implies that you want to be near the average GRE leauge (providing that you have an ordinary background; couple years of work .) The ave. GRE of admitted students = 163V + 159Q. And they pay attention to your academic background before anything else, if they dont screen people out in doing that, I dont think they read your stats for their self pleasure No! that doesnt mean you have to match the numbers, but 148Q, that "soapwater" got, is questionable (if you put HKS and WWS in the same caliber) and YES! the higher give you chances, numbers dont lie. Though the VDO link I provided was from 2009, the sample size (quality, number of applicants) should fluctuate +- 10%. Good scores + related qaun courses will not get you the spot, but bad scores and non-quan will definitely ruin your chances big time, it's no brainer. Surely, EXP and other aspects will count as well as others mentioned above (but after you pass the academic requirement) and YES you can try applying whatever scores or background you have I am not against it. It only takes SOP, LORs and couple bucks.

For top and/or ivy schools (HKS, WWS, GPPI, SIPA, and etc.) you are competing against people who gets similar or higer GRE than yours, same GPA range, good undergrad intitutions, and experiences. Plus, everybody will be a super hero who saves the world on a daily basis in their essays and reccomendations. For safe schools, you definitely have a chance.You should try though,only bad thing are it takes time to write essays and ask for reccomendations, worse thing is to get denied, worst is you have to write EXTRA essays if you decide to re-apply the following years. Application process is not fun at all. P.S. there was once I see a senior kid asking WWS Adcom at admission session ;What are my chances if I apply right after I grauduated? and I quote " Yes, it can be done, but it will be VERY chanllening thing to do" How important is the GRE? ; "We realize that the GRE is the only a snapshot of your performance, it may not reflect your true ability, BUT it's not a rocket science, you can study and it 's VERY important." If I were you, I would not rush and ruin my good profile with an OK essay. Work couple years , do a little better on GRE and apply. If you are still skeptic, please see student bio at WWS website. those who applied and accepted right out of college are former WWS undergrad only.

Whether there's a cut-off score line or not, no one should give up their hope in applying. IMO, the total score combined 1,300 (Old system) should suffice for most big name schools. You can take a look at GPPI or CIPA program for the sources. Anyway, keep in mind that WWS, and YALE average GRE is around 1400 combined (Old system), so 750+650, 800+600, or which ever combination you like to pick, so HKS should fall in the same competitive catagory. But International students may not need to do exceptionally well on Verbal since all schools require TOEFL score. Unlike MBA program, MPA/MPP programs dont need you to interview with them. So it comes down to GRE, GPA, QUAN, WORK EXP., LOR, SOP. And sad but true, most applicants on the forum and WWS website seem to have the same range of GPA and GRE scores. So the cutting edge woud be ESSAYs and work exp. I am sure. It's the game that the least mistake you make, you win. P.S. from WWS brochure I picked up at the Adcom session in NYC, 0% of students who got GPA lower than 3.00 got in last year. More than 50% of admitted students had 3-4 + years work exp. More than 60% of admitted students got 700 Quan in GRE (old system) And I watched the VDO link on WWS website, they said that application pile will get screened out 25% before they would read anything , HKS may do the same, dont you think? http://wws.princeton.edu/coverstories/templeton_interview08/ @ 1.00 and on hope it helps!!