Kaneisha

Hi sp108, I generally advise my clients applying to top policy schools to aim for at least a 160 on both sections of the GRE, so I personally would advise you to retake the GRE one more time before giving up on it. That said, I know that test prep can be exhausting and time consuming. If you don't have enough time and/or energy to focus on both GRE prep and writing outstanding essays, focus on writing outstanding essays. Best of luck! Kaneisha

Wowee! These are some very brutal reviews. I can't weigh in on how common the experiences are as related by the Insead and LBS alumni above, but I have no reason to doubt they are real accounts from people who are disappointed in their experiences. The best way to get a real deal opinion on what a school is really like is to speak with actual students. You would be surprised by how responsive recent alumni are to outreach from prospective students who would like to speak briefly (20 minutes or less) about their experience in business school. When I was applying, I reached out to current MBA students and recent alumni and lots of people responded and were helpful and encouraging. I found that recent alumni (less than 3 years out) were most responsive as current MBA students are outrageously busy. Best of luck to all of you! Kaneisha

Hi Coasts, An option I highly recommend is HBX CORe. It is a fairly new online program offered by Harvard Business School that covers Business Analytics, Economics for Managers, and Financial Accounting. All of my clients who I have recommended this program to have been accepted into the course and enjoyed it (though it is rigorous). It is currently $1800 for the non-credit cost and $3,600 for the for-credit cost. Best of luck! Kaneisha

Hello again sp108, With your accounting background and your interest into going into public/private sector consulting, I would say that a very "low barrier to entry" way to boost your application (and that might also be enjoyable) is to make yourself available for some free consulting to nonprofits (say 10 hours per month or so). Of course stay within the bounds of not giving any financial and/or legal advice that you are not licensed to give, but I could see you being extraordinarily helpful to small nonprofits (i.e. 10 employees or fewer) with helping them set up their bookkeeping, understanding how to read and create an income statement and balance sheet, increasing the profitability of any income-generating activities they may be engaged in (e.g. say a nonprofit sells an annual calendar featuring photography of kids learning leadership in their urban farm but they aren't reaching their fundraising revenue goals). Doing this type of thing on a volunteer basis will give you some "hey I want to go into public service" (I know that's not quite what you want to do) points as well as give you some non Big 4 Accounting Firm stories to tell in your internship and full-time job interviews. I'm an idea person so I could throw ideas at you all day. The point is that YES, there are internships and/or volunteer experiences you can be doing and they don't have to be structured programs. Structured programs are great, but they can be hard to get into if you have missed their recruiting cycle. When you create your own volunteer experience, you can make your own hours and decide how you want to use your skills, time, and talent to have an impact. Best of luck! Kaneisha

I'm late to the party but I wanted to weigh in anyway since we're now smack dab in the middle of the application season. I WOULD recommend sp108 pursue some international work and/or volunteer experience before applying. As OneLove21 pointed out, people do get admitted without it, but I think international volunteering and/or work experience (I'd say anything over six weeks is meaty enough to "count") would improve your candidacy for school and make you more appealing when it comes time for recruiting. Private sector consulting recruiting (as you probably know already working in the private sector) is very intense and competitive. You want to do anything you can (within reason) to stand out and be memorable to recruiters. Unless your GPA is below 3.6, I would actually prioritize the international work experience over the supplementary coursework. Of course if the international volunteering and/or work is going to significantly disrupt your work life, save it for a time when it won't—such as right before matriculation. Bonus piece of unsolicited advice: I highly recommend the book Case in Point to prepare for consulting case interviews. Best of luck! Kaneisha

Hi Whoa (and hello as well to everyone else), I'm probably too late to weigh in on Whoa's situation. I'm thinking that s/he has probably already made a decision either way considering school has started. For anyone else that is in a similar dilemma, I would recommend two things: 1) Negotiate (respectfully). Let Georgetown know (via email and in advance of the response deadline) that you've received generous funding from Korbel. Attach a PDF scan of the actual funding letter as proof. Let Georgetown know that you think their program is the ideal place for you but that it would be much more feasible to attend if you received more funding. I did this when applying to college, I do it with my clients every year, and it works about 1/3 of the time—meaning the school provides more funding. As long as you don't make any kind of "If I don't get the funding, I can't attend" type statements, you should be fine. I have never experienced (dealing with hundreds of applications) a school rescinding an admissions offer based on a student politely and clearly requesting more aid. 2) Talk to actual Georgetown and Korbel students and alumni about your situation and hear what they have to say. You're doing great by being on this forum, but I'd encourage you to go one step further and contact people via LinkedIn who share your professional and/or academic background and that are students and/or alumni of either of these schools. Imagine how clear the choice would be if you had actual Korbel alumni telling you to take the Georgetown offer—or telling you their success stories of getting the jobs they want after graduating from Korbel. People often create narratives that justify their own past decisions—but enough people are willing to admit when they think they've made a mistake if they think it will help someone else. These are the type of people that are invaluable when you are trying to make this kind of decision. I'd be interested to know which school you chose. I'm the type to believe that all will work out well regardless of what you choose. Kaneisha

Hi CCD2016, I agree with nstets that you should take the classes you are actually interested in. Now that you have taken Calc 1 (B), Micro Econ (A), Intro to Empirical Political Analysis (A), and Stats (B), you've covered your bases for showing academic preparation for the graduate school classroom for top policy schools. Of course take the advanced economics courses if you're super pumped about them but don't take them just to impress the admissions committees. I would put some of that fire of yours toward doing really well on the GRE. Taking yet another course with a professor you really enjoy could actually work in your favor to deepen your relationship with that professor. If for whatever reason you don't end up finishing the Sociology minor, all is well. You can simply list the relevant courses you took on your resume when you're applying for jobs that will want to see those types of classes. I'm five years into my career as an admissions consultant and I would say (as of now) I do not find minors or double majors to be that impressive or overly helpful in graduate school applications. If anything, double majors and minors restrict the amount of flexibility you have in exploring other types of classes that might interest you but not count toward your major or minor. A high GPA (over 3.6) in one major coupled with a foundation of some Economics and quantitative coursework is better than a double major or major+minor and a low GPA. Best of luck! Kaneisha

Hi Eqbalchomsky, Considering how much interaction there is now between the public, private and governmental sectors, I would say that getting an MBA and then later getting a PhD in Public Policy or Political Economy should not be a problem. You will need to convince the admissions committees for your doctorate programs that you are 100% clear on why you want to get a PhD in Public Policy (after having earned an MBA), but this is the challenge anyone applying to any doctorate program must overcome. If you're serious about pursuing a PhD, you should pursue opportunities to do some research (you can be a research assistant to a professor at a local university) and/or get some of that research published in a peer reviewed journal. There are so many people (such as myself) pursuing joint degrees in business and public policy / public administration that you will just fit in with the rest of us. Best of luck! Kaneisha

Skwaat, I can tell you that YES you can get an MPP / MPA and end up in PR / Communications / External Relations at a private company. That's exactly what one of my best friends while I was at Harvard Kennedy School went on to do. He's now a VP of CSR & Sustainability after serving in crisis management roles at the same company after HKS. I interned in the Public Affairs Department of Eli Lilly & Co. as my HKS internship, and if I had worked there after school, I could have easily transitioned into an external relations type role. So yes, it is definitely possible! HOWEVER, I'm thinking something like an MBA with an MA in Communications would serve you well if you're interested in going into the private sector. Johns Hopkins appears to have the ideal program for you: an MBA/MA in Communication. Read more here. If you're not interested in a joint degree, and just want to do ONE degree, I suggest going for an MPA degree that has as many slots as possible open for elective coursework, and try to take as many communications related courses as you can. For example, I did the MPA at HKS, and I was able to take 3 Communications-focused classes: Arts of Communication (a very popular course where you give speeches in front of the entire class on a weekly basis)Writing for Politics and PolicyPublic NarrativeI'm a joint degree, so here are some of the classes I took at HBS that might interest you: Authentic Leadership DevelopmentLeadership and Organizational Development (a core course)I share those classes to show you that it's less about the three letters of the degree that you get and more about the availability of the types of classes you're interested in taking. My overall recommendation is to for something that sounds ultra-tailored to your interests such as the Carey joint degree program above. Best of luck! At least you know what you want to do! So many people are unclear on that part.

Hi Uribee, I'm an HKS alum and I'm with Poliphilo and MaxwellAlum, so no need to repeat what they've said. In addition, you should look at the actual course offerings related to community and economic development at each of your schools. Understand that not all courses are offered each semester, but it will at least give you a good idea of what might be offered while you're there. Also - you should do a quick LinkedIn search using "MPP," "community" and "economic development" and reach out to MPP alums at various schools who are in your field. Talk to them about their experiences. That information is gold. Best of luck!

Hi SP108, I would recommend you retake Principles of Microecon since you took it so long ago and didn't do amazing on the test. Besides that, I think you're set in regards to prep courses for policy schools. I would now focus on getting a high GRE score that will bolster your candidacy. If you're feeling extra paranoid about your actual ability to remember what you learned in those classes, you can retake any of them that you like. Focus on the basic offerings in Stats, Econ, and Calc. If you want to take some extra classes for your own enrichment and to possibly supplement your MPP studies, I highly recommend Accounting and Corporate Finance—just the introductory levels of each. They will help a lot with the more managerial-oriented classes you take while in policy school. Best of luck with your applications! Kaneisha

I wanted to chime in and say that what I most often see when folks with low GRE/GMAT scores don't get in, it's not because of their score; it's often because their essays aren't strong enough or they had a low GRE/GMAT score and low grades and they didn't do anything to mitigate those two things such as writing a persuasive optional essay and taking supplemental coursework. I have to disagree with the comment that you only need killer recs if you're applying to the top 7 ranked MBA programs; I think strong letters (maybe don't have to be killer status) are helpful for admission. I do agree with Quaker13's comment that a high number of letters are written by applicants themselves, which sort of defeats the whole purpose of the letter requirement. Ella Unchanted, how did things turn out for you? If things went well, where do you plan to go? If not so well, what do you think went wrong?

Hi Naso, for the last 5 years or so, admission decisions have come out around the same time, so I'd say yes, you should expect to hear back by Mon Mar 16. I wish you the best of luck and congrats on your admission and fellowship offers so far!

Hi Quietman, GradJM and hdb2376 have give you some great advice. I wanted to chime in and say that I do recommend you take supplementary coursework in Economics and Statistics to boost your HKS application. This will show a higher level of commitment to the MPP program, as well as be great preparation for the classroom. You don't need to take it anywhere fancy; you can take it at a community college or take an online course. I suggest something like Coursera as a last resort (at least for now). I would add that the supplementary coursework is secondary to your GRE preparation; your GRE score is going to matter more than taking extra courses. No, having been admitted to HLS will not help or hinder your HKS admission; the two applications are evaluated completely separately. I've had several clients apply to the HLS/HKS joint degree, but it seems like you're actually only interested in the HKS degree now. In the case that you're interested, I was recently quoted in a U.S. News article with the title "When to Choose a Policy Degree Instead of a JD" (It also has a different title sometimes; I think U.S. News is using some sort of "dynamic titling" software that changes the title, which I suppose is neither here nor there). The article: http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/articles/2014/07/31/consider-a-masters-in-public-policy-for-pursuing-a-law-related-career Also - congratulations on the HLS admission and a second congrats for being courageous and self-aware enough to know you'd rather do the MPP! Make sure you do your research (talk to lots of current students, recent alumni, and alumni 10 years out) when making your final decision on giving up the HLS admission for a chance at the MPP.

Hi Officer05, I'm glad to hear you're a part of The Art of Applying community. Yay! As for your sabbatical, I completely get it. My advice is to just go ahead and focus on MPA/MPP programs at about 5-8 schools and let the sabbatical stuff work itself out. Admission to PhD programs is highly competitive, and the doctoral path is a completely different one than the practitioner path. Make sure you want to get a PhD for real FOR REAL before you commit to a program.

You are welcome! I have been absolutely delighted by some of the "personal" sections I've seen. It's a really nice opportunity to add some "flair" to an otherwise boring-ish document.

Hi Patrick, I don't know that they give out scholarship money with preference for early applicants, but I have two thoughts about the situation: 1) Perhaps you'd have a slightly higher chance of receiving fellowship funding as an early applicant because there are more fellowship funds available at the beginning of the cycle or 2) Perhaps you stand less of a chance of receiving fellowship aid applying as an early applicant since the school is in less of a "desperate" state that early in the acceptance process. They know that you are very interested in their school and thus have less motivation to woo you to their program. These are just intuitive (opposing) thoughts but I wanted to share the two lines of thinking to contribute and open up discussion. I hope I didn't increase any anxiety. (Choose to believe in #1!)

Hi StarkResilient89, (I don't know what your username means but it's cool) I'm not sure which schools you're applying to but if you're applying to HKS, you can easily include this information on their Quantitative / Analytical Resume. You could also do that for Columbia's Quantitative / Language Resume. You'd want to list the class, all the relevant details, and then for completion date, you'd list something like "Will be completed March 2015" (or whenever). I think of it as being similar to when you are currently in school but you still list your degree and institution on your resume and put your graduation month and year as "expected."

Hi Arbitist - Although I know quite a bit about the Cornell MBA, I don't know a lot about the Cornell MPA (I understand they are two completely different programs). What would you say are the top 3 differentiation markers / best points of CIPA? (Besides the people. Everyone says the people, which is nice, but doesn't help me figure out how to help someone decide between one school or another. Except, if it's not the people, I'd like to know why, because that would be pretty interesting). Thank you for being willing to answer our questions during what I imagine is a super-busy (and fun) time for you at school.

I 90% agree with Gov2School. I have to disagree on the point of taking the GMAT and then trying to convince schools that don't take it to accept it, though. That's definitely playing with fire this close to the deadline. You may also come across as not willing/able to follow directions or as if you haven't done your research. If you're just taking your test for HKS, I suggest you take the GRE since that's the score they've been accepting the longest. Believe me, when you're used to one type of score, it's a little mentally challenging to translate to the other way. Of course, they happily accept the GMAT and have conversion tables for comparison, but there's nothing like speaking someone's "native" language (meaning the GRE being their "native" test language—just in case my analogy fell flat.)

Hi Vedamup, no your background won't seem 100% random. You will want to demonstrate a commitment to public service via your extracurricular activities, volunteer work, and leadership in service of the public. Furthermore, you will need to make sure you have a crystal clear career vision. I suggest you answer: Why do you need to go to SIPA / SAIS / SciencesPo / Elliott to study IR specifically? What is your career goal immediately after graduation? 3-5 years out? Your ultimate career goal? For each stage of your career, cite specific organizations you'd want to work with, causes you'd want to impact, and what you'd want to learn in the role. Film marketing seems quite interesting to me, especially if you can tie it into your future career goals. While I was at HKS, I had one or two classmates that I can think of off the top of my head who were documentary filmmakers, and I thought that was super-cool (apparently so did the admissions committee since they were there). I understand that you were on the marketing side, but that almost makes it easier to make your case. You could bring those same marketing skills to the public/nonprofit sector to help get the word out and engage viewers to take action on whatever particular cause or issue you are working for. Considering how inundated people are with information/misinformation, your film marketing skills could actually be really useful to governments, nonprofits, and mission-driven businesses. You just need to know how to frame nontraditional experience! Best of luck!

Hi Officer05, that's a tricky question. I just tweeted WWS admissions to ask them. I believe that if you visit this permalink to my tweet, you should be able to see their response to me (if and when they respond): https://twitter.com/AskKaneisha/status/535897943946330112

No, you won't be penalized if you don't include your salary on your CV/resume for HKS. Sometimes I have my clients leave their salaries off if they make "too much" money—say $200,000 per year or more. I think that ends up being distracting to the admissions committee (I know I would have been distracted as a student reader anyway), and it may somehow call their commitment to public service in question. Of course you can always email/call the admissions office to get an official response. Happy resume writing!

Sklorange, I know that's right! I'm one of those working class students saddled with student loan debt—over $130,000, most of it from HKS. I even got a small fellowship from HKS, but not much (although I was a semi-finalist for a full ride). Life is NOT the same when you graduate with a lot of debt. I try to drive this home as much as possible with my clients, especially when they are lackadaisical about the amount of debt they are taking on. There are real things you have to give up when you have that much debt. There are loan forgiveness programs, but they aren't as robust as most students perceive them to be. Please go and do good work in that field!

Hey everyone! Kaneisha here. First, THANK YOU, Arabiatta for the awesome endorsement! I'm glad you find my blog helpful. Secondly, I wanted to correct the URL of my site. It is http://theartofapplying.com. (There's a pesky "the" in there.) My three most important pieces of advice for PoliJunkie are: Rock the GRE. You need to get a high score to offset the low GPA. Self-study didn't work for me, but if it does for you, make sure you give yourself enough time to take the test 2-3 times before the deadline to make sure you have enough time to get your target score. Take supplementary coursework in (in order of importance) Microeconomics, Calculus, Statistics, Accounting, Finance, and Excel Modeling. Take the most basic University-level version of these courses at a community college or online via UCLA, UT Austin, BYU, or Coursera. Get a B+ or better in each of these courses. Write amazing essays. Your essays are going to matter a ton. Don't leave these to the last minute. Have them read by at least 3 different people: someone who knows you academically, someone who knows you professionally, and if possible, an alum from the target school. Be sure to write the optional essay explaining your GPA. Best of luck! I've gotta get back to answering the 23 emails in my inbox during this busy time. Kaneisha