rajivnv

Guys, have been reading the cafe for a while now. Your inputs on my profile will be really helpful. I am planning to apply for Fall 2014 Programs: MPA / PhD (considering whether I should do an MPA first and then try a PhD or go for PhD directly) Schools: MPA - Fletcher, WWS, Maxwell; PhD - HKS, MIT, BU, Georgetown, Rutgers, George Mason (the area I am considering for research is at cross roads between political science and public admin) Undergraduate institution: A good engineering college in India Undergraduate Major: Information Technology Undergraduate GPA: 70% (which corresponds to top 5% in the University Graduate institution: IIM Ahmedabad (Premier B School in Asia) Graduate Major: Business Administration Undergraduate GPA: 2.9 (it is a percentile system...corresponds to top 30% in the batch) GRE: 158 V 164 Q. 4 AW TOEFL: 111/120 Years Out of grad school (if applicable): 5+ years Years of Work Experience: 5+ years of strategy consulting Describe Relevant Work Experience: During the 5 years as a strategy consultant, worked on several nation building consulting projects which include - Conceptualization and pre-feasibility of a new economic city to be developed in Bahrain (the project has been approved by The Parliament of Bahrain) - Master Planning and Governance study for one of the largest global petrochemical complex to be developed in Malaysia - Innovation Policy workshop for Emirates Competitiveness Council in UAE - Investment strategy in renewable energy for Saudia Arabia - Multiple projects for private sector clients in steel, turbine manufacturing, telecommunications, real estate and energy Also worked for 4 months with the Performance Management Division in the Prime Ministers Office in India for setting up India's government performance management system. This was a voluntary project that I undertook taking a sabbatical from my consulting company Study Abroad Experiences : 4 months in an international exchange program at University of Mannheim, Germany Languages: English: Fluent Hindi (and 2 other Indian languages): Native Spanish: Beginner Quantitative: Been good at Quant. Was selected for Indian National Mathematical Olympiad. Have scored very well in advanced statistical courses taken during my engineering. Have done Micro (with poor grades) and Macro (with good grades) at my B School SOP: Have a story. Still formulating it LOR: 1 from my faculty at IIM who I worked closely and published a case study on Government Performance Management 2 from Managers at my consulting company Questions: I have been away from academics for a while and I do not have sufficient academic papers to showcase my ability for a PhD Do you guys think my profile is good enough to get into Political Economy PhD programs at places like Harvard, MIT, etc. (still researching schools with my research interests) or do you think I should try to get into a MPA program and try from there (the advantage of the latter is that I can pull out in case I dont feel I am cut out for PhD) What do you think are my chances with the MPA programs at Fletcher, WWS and Maxwell Do I need to retake the GRE...how much is the 158 in Verbal and 4 in AW going to hurt me If I am to do an MPA, I would like to do it from institutions which provide a lot of scholarships and are either a 1 yr program or allow for transfering credits from the Masters to a PhD program - which are the other institutions that I should look up? Any suggestions on how I can put across that my GPA at grad school isnt bad (it is nowhere similar to the 2.9 you get on a US grade scale) without sounding like giving excuses Will really appreciate your frank inputs