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Already here, in my 3rd Semester. Great school but Tallahassee sucks.

Caveat: This may or may not help you in your decision because I am in a different program than you. I currently go to the Askew School at FSU and in my experience at the MPA program is that FSU's focus in mainly on quant work but they are slowly incorporating more Qualitative research methods into the curriculum. There are certainly many students I talk to who are interested in mixed-methods research (as I am) and the faculty is listening to these students and moving towards both methods. Good luck in your decision.

Are you considering Masters or Doctorate? I think it's a big difference in terms of expectations for applicants. I have a low undergrad GPA, 3.2 specifically, with no intensive research experience, no working experience (aside from an internship), and a low GRE score. Yet I managed to get provisionally accepted to a Top-25 Masters program (in my field) straight from undergrad. What saved my application was that I had a great Personal Statement Letter that laid out clearly what my goals for graduate study and a career were. I also got strong LORs from my former employer (for the internship) and two great professors. Furthermore, they school could see my the positive growth in my schoolwork from my dramatic GPA rise. The first two years of undergrad was a dumpster-fire of partying and immaturity for me and my GPA for those years showed that. But the past two years I've been almost a complete hermit and concentrated on my studies and my GPA also reflect that. I went from the mid 2s to the mid 3s in terms of GPA. I think that dramatic improvement really helped my application. I

hi agh423, i'm going to be applying to ASU SPA as well. I wish there was more discussion on these forums about large state schools like ASU because despite what some think they are highly ranked.....I attended ASU for two years as an undergrad so my experience would not be much help in regards to the graduate programs. I can tell you that the "party school" reputation is only true for a certain segment of the UNDERGRAD community. Many of the professors at the school are some of the best in their fields (i.e. Lawrence Krauss) and ASU wouldn't attract them if it didn't offer programs with good foundations. Tempe and Phoenix are growing cities that are becoming more dynamic and offer many opportunities for public service internships. Again, I am as new to researching ASU SPA as you are, but if grad schools admissions are anywhere near what undergrad admissions was like then it will not be that tough to get accepted (at least i'm hoping). What is your background? Why are you interested in ASU? What other schools are you thinking about applying to?

I agree with orang_orang......when i first found this forum I was pretty discouraged after reading most of the posts here....It seems the only people who post on this site only talk about the top top tier policy schools like HKS, WWS, etc etc....over and over again....Not only that but it seems like everyone here has tons of volunteer/internship experience at big name places and have 3.7+ GPAs.......After about two or three weeks of being insecure about my own accomplishments and my chances at getting into grad schools I started to put this site and the people on it into perspective and found that the advice on this site needs to be taken with a grain of salt.....there is some useful and interesting info on here, but i find that ignoring the discussions about top tier schools is best most of the time. I wish there were more people on this site who talked about great public policy schools that aren't quite the top tier schools...for instance, reading this site you'd have no idea that Arizona State, Florida State, and Ohio State's public policy schools are all highly ranked....Even schools one might dismiss like CUNY-Barach is a fairly high ranked program.....So i'd encourage anyone reading this thread with a not-so-great-GPA to research schools that fit your interests, budget, location, goals, and personality... and if you're an unregistered person browsing this site worried about jumping in because you're intimidated by all the talk of big name schools, I say start a thread of your own explaining your interest in public policy and schools that you're interested in, and don't be afraid to post your GPA either....i'd love to talk about schools others than the top tier ones with other future applicants with modest academic backgrounds.

I'm in almost the exact same boat...i have about the same gpa as you do and I've gone to big state schools for undergrad. The main difference is that it sounds like you have some real work experience (i only have summer internships with a non-profit). Having a gpa below 3 is really scary when applying to these schools...i don't expect to get into the top-tiered schools but the usnews rankings helped me narrow down my search for accredited and at least recognizable names. The ranking for graduate public affairs programs go from 1-90 (there are 260+ public affairs programs throughout the nation). So even a school ranked 90th is in the top third of all schools. So I think the ranking can be useful in that regard. A bright spot for a safety school is University of Oklahoma (ranked 72nd) and on their website they say they basically accept everyone who has a gpa over 3.00....if you have a gpa between 2.75-3.00 then you can be admitted on a conditional status...so a 2.8 gpa (with other strong parts of the application) has a very good shot at Oklahoma...i'm putting it down as m first safety school. They are an mpa program but you can specialize in policy, and I assume you could specialize in specifically environmental policy because in their core classes they have an environmental policy course. Anyway you can read all about it on the website: http://www.ou.edu/cas/psc/pa/degree_requirements.html I also think it's possible to get into the bigger state schools with an under 3 gpa and that's why I'm applying to ASU (ranked 25th), FSU (ranked 27th), and OSU (ranked 36th) ....all pretty high ranking considering there are 260+ schools...and they all have broad name recognition across the country. check out NASPAA for a complete list of all the accredited programs. www.naspaa.org I hope this info helps you, again, I have a very similar academic record and also want to go into a similar career. I want to focus on energy and sustainability policy so I am also looking at environmental programs that have a focus in energy.

bump does anyone here have any experience with FSU (Askew school), OSU (John Glenn school), or ASU mpa/mpp programs? Is anyone else here applying to those state schools? What kind of reputation do they have in this field? They rank 27, 36, and 25 in USnews respectively so they must have very good programs even if they're not at the syracuse, HKS, or WWS level....what's everyone think? I'm starting to lean more towards those schools because I think I have a real shot at getting in to a state school and tuition is generally more manageable; i'm trying to keep undergrad + graduate school debt under 100k...more specifically, i'm thinking FSU might be the perfect fit because tuition for in-state is 7k a year and it's an easily recognizable school. Also, does anyone think I could qualify for in-state tuition at ASU since I spent two years there as an undergrad?

I was under the impression that a good number of people went straight from undergrad to graduate school. I've always planned on going straight through undergrad to grad and it's basically the path I think is most useful for me because I pay for my education from federal student loans which you must start paying back after six months of leaving school. If i go straight to graduate school I can defer the loan repayments until after I get my MPA/MPP....and once i get my masters I can expect at least a 45-55k job in my field to start paying back those loans as opposed to a 30-40k job with just a BA. So getting full-time work experience between my undergraduate degree and grad school is just not an option for me personally. I did intern at a non-profit for two summers in a row though, so I think that would count for something in the graduate application process. *I am probably going to apply to 3-4 safety schools to make sure I get into a program.

I plan on concentrating on domestic energy policy and sustainability..although I do want to have the option of bringing my future expertise into international development in those areas.

I'm applying for fall 2010. My initial list of schools to apply to for an mpa/mpp include: indiana-bloomington, nyu, columbia, minnesota-twin cities, ohio state, arizona state, florida state, oklahoma, florida atlantic, gwu, george mason, suny-albany, cuny-baruch i'm starting to study for my GREs too....i'm just waiting for the Barron prep book to get delivered....even though fall 2010 is awhile from now, it feels much closer because applications usually have to go in by january.

Thanks to both replies above...I am not so obsessed with the big name schools that are talked about here a lot like HKS, WWS, SIPA, Wagner etc...i will be applying to a few of the big name places but I make no illusions that my application will be weak compared to some of the applicants on gradcafe. I am concerned about just being at a school with broad name recognition though. That's why schools like Ohio State, Arizona State, Florida State, University of Oklahoma sound more promising to me than FAU and CUNY. In terms of my career goals, I've become really interested in energy policy because of the renewed commitment to addressing climate change and energy independence. I've been following the budget hearings and energy hearings on c-span (weird I know) and I find it fascinating. When I decided on political science as my major I thought that this was the academic track to go down to have some impact on policies but that was before I even heard of Public Administration and Public Policy as academic and career paths. I see myself being involved in evaluation and/or implementation of new energy projects like a new generation of photovoltaic solar panels, analyzing carbon sequestration (because this will be a huge debate in the coming years), geothermal, smartgrid technology etc. I see myself working at DOE evaluating proposals by green energy companies and finding out what impact these proposals would have on specific communities (i.e. wind turbines in the northwest and how zoning laws may or may not have to be changed, or figuring out how low income families could benefit or be harmed by green energy proposals, etc etc etc...). I also want an mpa/mpp degree because I could transition from a federal to state & local government to non-profit to think-tank jobs. With this degree (and a specialization in energy and environment) I could even work in the private sector as a consultant for companies that want or are required to change the way they make, distribute, or consume energy. Also, thanks for that suggestion about minoring in economics, I don't know if I can fit that into my course schedule (it's already pretty full with the two majors) but I think now at the least I will take 2 or 3 courses in economics to get some quantitative skills which I have absolutely zero of at the moment. Thanks for that suggestion. Again, long post. thanks for reading

thanks for the reply...that info about suny-albany really helps because I assumed they were not going to be that competitive...i might take it out of the reach-schools i apply to...and i am definetely hoping that the GRE studying will pay off...i took a practice test and managed a 6 something on verbal 4 something on math with absolutely zero practice (haven't taken a math course since high school either) so i just need to do some GRE prep book problems to get back in the game i think...1300 sounds feasible in my mind

Hello all I'm just wrapping up my junior year in college at a Florida Atlantic University. This is my first year at this new school after having to transfer from Arizona State (due to high out-of-state tuition costs). Over the past two weeks or so I've started to seriously look into graduate school because I finally feel like I have a direction I want to go in terms of a career path. It took changing my major 3 times, 2 schools, and countless introductory elective courses to get to this point but I now feel like I'm on a solid path towards a clear goal. During my ASU days I did too much partying and not enough studying. I was uninspired by school and didn't work hard and as a result I left that school with a 2.4gpa. Which I make no excuses for. Since I transferred I increased my gpa to 2.7 the first semester and I expect it will be 3.0-3.2 this semester because of consistent A's and B's on assignments, papers, and exams. I am currently double-majoring in Political Science and Philosophy which have both helped guide my decision to seek a Master of Public Administration (MPA) or Master of Public Policy (MPP). I will be taking summer courses in microeconomics, intro to statistics, and some more poli-sci and philosophy courses and in the next year of undergraduate study I plan on working hard to keep my gpa above 3.0 Despite the future effort I will put in I am still working off the assumption that I will have a 2.75gpa come application time. I know I can get solid LoRs from 2 professors at this school and 2 great LoRs from a non-profit organization that i interned with for the past two summers. I also am starting to study for the GRE's and plan to all summer and hope to get in the 1100-1300 range. My initial list of grad schools with the MPA/MPP programs that I am very very interested in include...most interested are underlined. Can anyone help me with giving me a clearer idea of my chances of being accepted into this list of schools given what I stated above. Reaches: -Indiana University-Bloomington -SPEA sounds like my dream program -NYU - i was born and raised in nyc and would love to be home -Columbia (does legacy count for grad school?...sister just got her MPH last year) -GWU -SUNY-Albany - -George Mason -my first impression is that their program is much more flexible to suit the students' interest Greater Chance?: Arizona State (since i went there previously do you think that will count for anything?) Florida State (if i got in this would be in-state tuition which could be a game changer) Ohio State sounds like a solid program from a recognizable school Shoe-in? CUNY-Baruch - i never really thought of the cunys as good schools but Baruch is ranked 57th, higher than OU, FAU, and tied with Brown. Florida Atlantic University (school i'm currently in for undergrad) University of Oklahoma -program sounds straight forward and it would be nice to experience the midwest for a couple years If anyone reads this whole thing thanks ahead of time