Kaneisha

Those instructions are confusing! What I believe they mean is this: For the online application, you do need to upload your transcript but that is not an acceptable version for matriculation. Before matriculating, you must send in (directly from the school) an official version of your transcript. I suggest you upload the legible version of your transcript (even if it is unofficial) and then have the school directly mail your official transcript as well. And of course, just to be safe, you should email the HKS admissions office to clarify and get a clear answer in writing.

I wanted to chime in and also say that I strongly advise people to not write one word over the word limit. If you are having trouble getting your essay into the word limit, you can try the following: Delete the first few sentences. Most essays start with a lot of unnecessary introductory information. Parachute right into the main point you want the reader to take away from the piece. Use the short name of the school. Say HKS rather than "Harvard Kennedy School" for example. Eliminate wordy phrases. Rather than say "I had the opportunity to..." just tell the reader what you did. Make every sentence stand up to the "stay or go" test. Read every sentence of your essay one at a time. After reading each individual sentence, ask, "Is this sentence essential to answering the essay question?" If it is not essential and you are over the word limit, it has to go. Have a friend read it. Give your essays to a friend and tell her/him that you absolutely have to have the essay be within the word limit. Because s/he won't be as attached to your words as you are, s/he can more easily see what can be removed. Just make sure you don't give your friend your only/original copies of your documents. Delete the last few sentences. Similar to my first point, applicants often end their essays with a lot of extra niceties that do not add much to the essay. It reminds me of how difficult it is to get off the phone with some people. They keep saying different versions of goodbye, and won't just hang up! Once again, DO NOT go over the word limit. Just don't.

Hi MysticImage, Sorry for the delay in responding to you. I recommend you ask this question (if you haven't already) over in the "Am I competitive?" forum. But...yes. You could apply to the MC/MPA as long as you have a compelling reason for why attending HKS is a crucial part of your (very clear, specific, thought out) career goals.

Sorry to have disappeared on you earlier this summer, Patrick! Looks like you got a great response from Mocha. I agree with all that Mocha said.

Hey there, everyone! I'm back in the forum again. I took some time away to focus on getting the business prepared for the upcoming season, but I'm back and ready to be of service! Gov2School, thank you for the mention and for providing so much helpful advice to applicants. I could have used someone like you when I was applying. I'm happy to answer applicant questions here on GradCafe. PMs don't work for me (unless it's just a PM directing me to your question on the forum), because no one else can benefit from the response to the question. I'm primarily an expert in helping people figure out how to strategize getting into their target schools. I do not focus on helping applicants parse through the minute details between schools to help you choose between different policy schools. I'm great at helping you figure out if you're competitive, but I don't like to answer those questions here in the forum as there are SO MANY other people in here who can help you with that and provide a rich discussion related to it in the "Am I Competitive?" thread. I'm great with application strategy and actions to take to strengthen your application. Let the questions begin! (Please put them in the relevant thread, rather than here, though).

Hi OutofSpace! Gov2School has already given you lots of great advice. My contribution is that you shouldn't necessarily have a Travel section on your resume (unless requested) but that you could include some of the key countries you've visited if traveling is a big hobby for you. I encourage people to not just say that they enjoy traveling. That is very vague and everyone loves traveling. I suggest you get very specific within the "Personal" or "Interests" section of your resume about what kind of travel you enjoy like this: enjoy shoestring culinary travel to South Asian and West African nations or enjoy long-term service-based travels to countries such as x, x, and x I hope that's helpful!

The short answer is this: Do not use your optional essay to discuss additional personal stories or accomplishments. The optional essay is not a place to introduce new content related to your goals, why you want to go to HKS, etc. Here are the kinds of topics I recommend people cover in the optional essay: a low GPA (e.g. under 3.6) a low test score lack of work experience gaps in employment

Hi Dear Valentine, I would also recommend that you take some supplementary coursework. It looks like you definitely have Accounting covered, but if you haven't taken the other following courses, I would recommend you take them at a community college or some other place online: Microeconomics Statistics Calculus Finance These will help mitigate your low GPA. If you are still planning on applying to HKS, I also suggest that you use your optional essay to briefly do the following: explain why you have a low GPA tell the AdCom what you learned about yourself from that experience tell the AdCom what you have done since then to mitigate your low GPA tell the AdCom what resources at Harvard / HKS you will draw upon to make sure you are academically successful I also didn't see any community service outside of work. That would definitely help as well! Best of luck! Kaneisha

I suggest you go with business casual with a tucked in shirt—unless you're located in DC, which is so formal that I'd say you'd be safer with the options that include a blazer. And...now I see that my answer is far too late for your actual event. I hope it went well!

I really like HJ's advice of getting some work experience in less competitive areas that still lend themselves to lots of learning and growth. Since you're only 20, I personally am not against the idea of you earning a second bachelors—especially if it will only take two years. People think that getting a Masters is automatically better because it's a higher degree, but I could also see how doing well in a second bachelors degree could help sort of "reset" your undergraduate experience on paper. I'm not suggesting you hide your other degree, but it may lessen the impact, especially if you use your optional essay to explain why your grades were so poor in your first degree. I also suggest you read the book The Defining Decade by Meg Jay. It's a great book for 20-somethings that I think will provide you with some encouragement and guidance. Best of luck with making your decision! Kaneisha

Hi Trent, I don't have experience submitting coursework from MBAMath to MBA or MPA programs but I did take supplementary coursework as a joint MBA-MPA applicant (I was required for my admission when I was accepted to Harvard Business School) and I recommend it to lots of people. Here's what I recommend: Courses to take (roughly in this order, and only if you haven't taken them already and earned a B+ or better in them): Microeconomics Statistics (also called Quant Methods) Calculus Accounting Finance Spreadsheet Modeling A few places to take it: local junior or community college UCLA pre-MBA courses MBAMath.com might be a good option (I'm just not super-familiar with them) I've had some clients take courses via Coursera, but I would say that should be a last resort. Best of luck with your applications! Kaneisha

Don't assume that you aren't getting off the waitlist. I know someone who just got off yesterday—same day as your post. Keep the hope alive! in reply to:

Hey Breezy Isaa! You'd be a great fit for the MC/MPA if you have more than 7 years of work experience with substantial accomplishments during that time. With 7-8 years of work experience, you'd be a baby among the Mid-careers, though. Some benefits to the Mid-Career program is that it's all electives (though there are course distribution requirements) whereas the MPP has lots of required core courses. Another option (if you have another Masters) is the MPA2, which I'm a big fan of for people who feel inbetween the MPP and the MPA/MC. Hope that helps!

I love the original poster's enthusiasm! That's how I feel every year waiting for the essay prompts to be released. There is a lot you can be doing right now to work on your candidacy / application before the official applications are out. Here's a list of a few actions you can take while you wait: overhaul your resume. Make sure the formatting is top-notch and that every accomplishment is clearly explained, quantified, and free of jargon. Create several versions of your resume such as a one-page resume and a 2+ page resume for schools (like HKS) that allow for longer resumes / CVs work on weaknesses in your candidacy. If you have a low GPA (under 3.6), you're going to want a stellar GRE score and you may want to consider taking supplementary coursework such as calculus, statistics, and microeconomics. make sure you're set on community service. Even if you work in a public service field, you want to make sure that you have plenty of volunteerism and community service work to put on your CV and discuss in your essays. You could even start drafting essays based on last year's prompts, but that's risky since they could change. Your efforts wouldn't necessarily be wasted, though, since you could rework the drafts into the prompts once they come out. Best of luck!

Hi Wolfie, Often, it's less important where you worked and more important how you frame the work you did. On your CV, here are various ways to boost the "impressive" factor of your work experiences: Provide context for each organization that you worked for—even the big name places. Let the reader know what the organization does, whether it's nonprofit, for-profit, NGO, etc. Is the organization international? Were you at a regional office or at the headquarters? Use numbers to quantify your accomplishments. How many people were on your team? How much money did you manage as a part of the budget? Numbers, numbers, numbers. Bigger numbers aren't bigger than smaller numbers; using a number is better than using no number. Avoid industry jargon. If someone doesn't understand what you're talking about, there is no way for them to know whether what you did was important or not. Convert jargon into easily understandable terms. Those are just a few tips for making sure that you make the most of your accomplishments in your CV/resume. Best of luck! in reply to:

Adam, I'm completely with Gradytripp on this one. One thing you are overlooking, however, is that you can attempt to leverage the offer from Kentucky to get more money from Maxwell. It's a delicate process, but it never hurts to ask as long as you are polite, direct, and humble without being beseeching, whiny, or accusatory. I wrote a blog post that outlines how you can ask for more financial aid. Might be helpful! http://theartofapplying.com/sample-email-to-request-more-fellowship-aid/

Congratulations! This was an awesome example of you using one school's offer to get more aid from your top choice school. I get asked about this same scenario a lot. If other folks are wondering how to negotiate with a policy school to give you more aid, I wrote a blog post recently on the topic that could be useful: http://theartofapplying.com/sample-email-to-request-more-fellowship-aid/

Ooh, I've never heard of this for professional school! (I experienced a lot of this for college.) I love this idea, and congratulations to you!

Housing costs in Cambridge / near HKS: Hi Duct, I lived with 3 other HKS students in a 4 bedroom 2 bathroom house, and my rent was something like $650 a month (not including utilities). If you've been granted a $15,000 stipend (congratulations!), that more than covers your rent and utilities if you're willing to live with roommates. I lived in Porter Square and loved it. It was a 20-minute walk to school or just two stops on the red line. I also recommend Davis Square and of course Harvard Square. I remember some other "squares" being more expensive or hard to get to campus. If you have a car, you can live in a fancy, newer house for the same price in Brighton. Best of luck in figuring out housing and budgeting!

To Abdel regarding deferments after being admitted from the waitlist: Gov2School is right. The #1 thing to do is call the admissions office and ask about this if you are admitted off of the waitlist. My input is that you should know that waitlisted candidates are not a special status or second-class citizen status of applicant. Just like all applicants have the right to request a deferment, waitlisted candidates who are admitted from the waitlist can request a deferment. Now, that doesn't mean the school is going to give you any more special consideration than any other candidate would. Having little notice of your admission before the school year begins is one of the risks you take when accepting a place on the waitlist. In short, yes, you can request a deferral, but don't count on getting it. Best of luck in fighting/willing/wishing your way off the waitlist. It is a challenging waiting game.

Hi KMH, Sorry for the delayed reply. I haven't figured out how to tell when someone has replied to you on here (help please!). No, I do not think the hurdle is just as high for a previously waitlisted student as a rejected student who is reapplying. I think it is imperative that the waitlisted student reach out to the admissions office and request feedback on their application to see what needs to be changed/improved in order to be more competitive. Secondly, I do not think that schools create courtesy waitlist spots to say, "We like you, but no." What I do believe happens, however, is that most people on the waitlist don't end up getting a spot in the class. I have no idea how the schools choose the order in which to admit people from the waitlist. I would hazard that it is based on which applicants keep in touch the most throughout the process with meaningfully important updates (even for the schools that say they don't want additional information from you). I hope that your application results turned out better this time around! Kaneisha

Oh, my heart sank when I saw the title of this thread, but the vibe in here seems very positive, which is awesome. The process is so long and energy-consuming that the only way to persevere is to stay positive and have a sense of community with other people. Here are some tips for improving your application when you reapply. I've had success with helping people get in the second time around, so just know that all hope is not lost: Consider waiting at least a year to reapply rather than reapplying the exact next year. Even if you ignore this piece of advice, you could get in. It happened last year with a client. Make sure your CV is the best as it can be. People underestimate the power of your CV to speak on your behalf about your achievements. Use numbers to quantify your achievements (more is not necessarily better; quantified is better than vague). Avoid jargon. Make sure the "why" of what you are stating you are doing is clear. Revise your essays. Make sure your career goals are clear and specific and cover your immediate (right after graduation), mid-term, and long-term goals. Any time you tell a story, be sure to include what you and other major stakeholders thought, felt, said, and did. Reconsider your recommendation strategy. Make sure your letters are as strong as they can be by choosing people who can wholeheartedly recommend you to the program, who understand what the program is looking for, and who know why you want to go. Get that score up. I recommend that you aim for a GRE score on both sections of at least 159 on each section and a very strong score is 164 on each section. Flex your network. Reach out to current HKS students and recent alumni who may be willing to look over your application and give you feedback for improvement. Reaching out to people you don't actually know is a delicate art, but you can do it. The people most likely to respond are people who share some commonalities with you such as home country, workplace, undergraduate college, etc. There are lots of other ways to improve your application, but I'll share those for now. Stay positive, and for those of you reapplying, keep making progress toward your goal.

Congratulations to everyone who received good news from HKS. Now the real work begins... For those of you who didn't get the news you wanted, it's definitely disappointing but know that you are in good company, and this doesn't have to be the end of your journey to going to your dream school. It sounds like quite a few of you got into other great schools of your choice, which is great. For those of you really feeling the sting, I wrote a piece a few years ago about dealing with rejection that people have told me they found helpful. Perhaps you'll enjoy it too! http://theartofapplying.com/rejection-and-fried-chicken/

Martinet, WWS provides an application checklist detailing the components of the application and it does not include an interview. http://wws.princeton.edu/admissions/mpp/application-checklist

Hi Levo, I'm a little confused by your question... Your references should already be turned in by now. They certainly aren't going to let you change your writer after the deadline. And I doubt they would change it even before the deadline unless you had a very compelling reason. I know that wasn't super-helpful, but I wanted to weigh in with what I could.