selfnonself

Hi again everyone - thanks for all of your insight and suggestions, especially Denisse for the additional info re: your SIPA decision. The feedback and ideas have been very much appreciated, and as such, I signed up for summer session algebra and microeconomics courses at a local community college. I hope to get into an introductory statistics course in the fall semester. And as I am *really* starting from the beginning when it comes to all things quant-related, I'm first working my way through Cliffs Notes and Manhattan Prep books in an attempt to re-learn arithmetic. Ouch!

Hi guys, Thank you so much for your suggestions and the reassurance. I won't stress too much about volunteer/job experience at this point. It seems that my time would be better spent on preparing my apps and really focusing on my (lack of) quant background. Per your recommendations, I'll torture myself tomorrow morning with a practice GRE exam. As for online economics courses, do you think it's better to invest in a "live" course from a university, or is something like MIT OpenCourseWare okay? Denisse, wow, that's an impressive list of acceptances. May I ask, which program did you end up choosing?

Hi everyone, I'm hoping to apply to Syracuse-Maxwell (MPA) (my top choice), NYU-Wagner (MPA) and Columbia-SIPA (MPA) for Summer/Fall 2014. My career goals involve working for iNGOs and/or IGOs on gender and human development programming. I think that I'm a strong candidate because: 1. I've worked for a national NGO (in India, but I'm from the US) for 3 years in total. I also have 6+ years of additional work experience. I've lived, worked and studied abroad several times. 2. I have an MA in Social Sciences/Global Studies (with a 3.9 GPA) from a top EU university. 3. I'll have a strong SOP and 3 great LOR (2 from my MA advisers; 1 from the NGO's director). 4. I expect that I'll do well on the V and A sections of the GRE. I'm concerned about my chances because of the following factors: 1. My undergrad GPA, at a top private university, was a measly 3.2. I graduated in 2003. 2. I wasn't working for the last 12 months (although now I am again consulting for the aforementioned NGO) due to personal circumstances. 3. Maybe 3 years with one NGO (in a management role, by the way) isn't enough experience. 4. I have no volunteer experience, at least not in the last 15 years. 5. I have not taken an economics, statistics or mathematics class since my freshman year of university, which was 14 years ago, and I think that my GRE quant score will be awful. I've just moved back to the US and have a few options for how I can spend the next 6 months: 1. I could try to find a full-time job and/or internship in the US with an (i)NGO to solidify my work experience. I'd study for the GRE on the weekends. 2. I could just consult 20 hours/week (remotely) for the Indian NGO and try to find another 20 hours/week local NGO gig (pro-bono or internship) to solidify my work experience. I'd study for the GRE on the weekends. 3. I could just consult part-time (remotely) for the Indian NGO, volunteer locally a few hours a week with a non-profit, and dedicate more time to studying for the GRE and perfecting my applications. I'd also take a macroeconomics course ($) at a local university this summer, plus a microeconomics course and perhaps also an intro to statistics course (more $) this fall. I imagine that each path would help me move forward in the direction of the MPA, but I'm unsure as to which would be the smartest use of my time. So the ultimate question to anyone reason is: If you were me, which scenario would you choose? Or am I overlooking an even wiser path ahead, in order to get into a good MPA program? Many thanks in advance for reading and hopefully responding to this!