chocolatecheesecake

Hopefully someone who attends Berkeley will actually respond, but I can tell you that it's definitely NOT being fully responsible for leading an undergraduate course - lecturing AND grading and running everything. When I visited, I spoke to several people about their experiences as a GSI. I told them about my interest in social policy, and they indicated that there was an undergraduate course called Wealth and Poverty or something similar that typically had twenty sections of undergraduates. As a GSI, you would take on either one or possibly two of those sections and do discussion section, probably grade, and help out the professor with other things. Many students seemed to start GSI work in their very first semester at Berkeley, and seemed pretty chill with it. You can learn more online since Berkeley actually has a GSI center: http://gsi.berkeley.edu/

Donna has very limited time, so if she really emailed you, I think it'd be for a real reason. =) You're probably awesome, and I hope you come to Admitted Students Weekend so you can find out if we're awesome... Regardless, you should ask for more aid if you think you need it or if you have a higher offer from another school. =) It's never a bad thing to do, as long as you go about it honestly and respectfully, and really do intend on coming to Duke if you get the money you ask for. The worst thing they can do is say no!

I would try to only negotiate with one of your top choices at a time - start with the one that you really think is going to be the one you'd like to go to. If you can't make it happen with them, then move on to another one. The thing is - it's usually understood that if they can give you what you're asking for, you're going to enroll. Obviously, they can't make you enroll, but it's good manners to only negotiate with one at a time so you can keep doing so in good faith. When you negotiate, tell them honestly how much you think it will take for you to be able to enroll there. It really helps if you have another school's offer in hand for a higher amount. Be prepared to send them solid proof that you got a higher offer from another school, because they're happy to give you more or think about matching it, but they often want to see proof that you really were offered another higher package. If you don't have another school to leverage, just be honest about your cost of living, what your savings or credit situation looks like, and maybe you intend on only going into community-based non-profits after you graduate and won't earn a high salary, but have a real reason for why you want more money. It makes it more likely that they'll listen and agree.

You'll get a list of all the courses that need Teaching Assistants, professors and research projects that need Research Assistants, and offices like Career Services and Communications which need General Assistants. Then you'll get to rank your top choices that match your schedule for next semester and in some cases, like for advanced courses, you may have to write a short cover letter explaining your grades and qualifications. There's some flexibility to it, but you kind of have to appeal your assignment really early (if you really disagree with their decision) because so many people have assistantships, and professors and all need to plan ahead of time.

Please do negotiate your offer via email, and be sure that you really do want to attend the school if they give you more money. So I would probably only ask one school to negotiate. You can ask them to try to match the highest offer you got if you really want to attend this one instead. Be prepared to email them solid proof of how much you were offered - I had to forward to Duke my letter from USC when I was negotiating. Don't think of this as a way to get as much money as possible - if you and this school both want you to enroll at this school, then put your cards on the table, and ask them to help you find a way to do so.

Congrats guys! Let me know if you have any questions. Very excited to hopefully see you all at Admitted Students weekend (April 1-2).

Duke Sanford's program is indeed strong quantitatively. I would note for future people who stumble upon this thread that the MPP is fairly domestically oriented, with two IR-esque concentrations that you can take (international development or national security). Otherwise, it's not really in the same category as the other schools mentioned. Good summary though!

Something a bit outside of the recommended scope: Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. If you are interested in federal policy, social policy, education policy, housing, transit, labor, public finance, tech policy, state and local government, or even national security, I think this book is hugely important. It challenges conceptions about public policy and the role of the government, and as a history lesson, will make you wonder what the hell you were learning back in high school.

I agree with @Ben414's advice, and would add: take a quantitative class (either introduction to statistics or microeconomics) and get an A. Maybe an extension school or community college, but something credit-granting. Even if your quantitative GRE score doesn't go up that much, this will help allay their concerns.

The best thing to do is to go directly to PhD students at a few universities you are interested in, and get your information straight from the horse's mouth. You're not going to find too many political science or public policy PhDs on this board.

Quick thoughts: it'd be a good idea to take your quantitative classes in an MPP/MPA program and do well in them, but you don't necessarily need more calc or more linear algebra. Plenty of people when coming into a public policy PhD program choose to focus in statistics, sociology, or political science, and you don't need as much hardcore econ. I've heard that analysis is actually pretty useful for econ-concentration public policy PhDs, but it depends on the program. Another piece of advice I've heard given to my MPP friends who are considering a PhD is to become a teaching assistant for quantitative courses if you want to do a PhD.

Congrats on finishing your application. In my opinion, once the application's sent out, the healthiest thing is to focus on other things you can do, like research how to fulfill potential pre-requisites, plan to visit in person, check out professors at the schools that you really want to work with, and identify research opportunities so you can make the most of your time at these schools. I don't think that I could give you any more insight or information after reading your SOP that you have gotten already from friends and professional contacts who know you much better. I hope that makes sense!

Hey, no problem. About the video essay, I think you're not in trouble. I've heard from various friends in the program that they didn't choose to submit a video essay, so it's truly optional. However, I think it's a great chance to showcase how unique you are - when they read your application, they can literally picture you on their campus contributing to things. So if you get a chance to do it for other applications, I definitely suggest it. However, you're not in trouble, so don't worry about it. It's submitted, after all! If you have other questions, send them along. Good luck!

I think your fellow Hertie students are really the best resource for you to answer this question. Ask those who have spent a semester at each of these places - there should be quite a few around for the D.C. area schools, especially. I think all the schools you mentioned are fairly well-known institutions, both public and private, with maybe the private ones being just a tiny bit more highly regarded. I attend Duke, which is probably the most geographically different from the others on your list. All the other schools are more or less urban, whereas Duke is situated in Durham, a college town, near a larger city. It's not urban, but it's not rural either. I've gotten to know both of the Hertie students who came the past two years, and they've really enjoyed being at Duke. Good luck wherever you choose to go!

Depending on what your area of interest is (because policy is a wide field after all), it may or may not benefit you to have more work experience. For example, are you most interested in environmental or educational policy? If so, you may be able to find more work directly in those fields, which would then give you some experience to draw on not to mention motivation for wanting to change policy. If you don't want to work in the field first, you still need to show the admissions committee some evidence of your prior interest in this. Whether you're fresh out of undergrad or six years out, schools want to see that you have some track record of interest and commitment, so volunteering, maybe free-lancing, or some other convincing life stories are necessary.

@spo, If you "take time off" and go work for a few years, and decide not to attend graduate school, I think that would be a perfectly good thing. When you decide whether to go or not, it's based on where you want to end up, what kind of job you want to have, what kind of salary you want to earn, etc. etc. If you decide not to attend graduate school, I imagine it would be because you are already earning what you want to earn (or have the potential to do so soon), in the field you want to work in, doing work that you like. What's wrong with that? Just having a graduate degree by itself isn't some sort of accomplishment (though people will say it is). After a few years of work, if you think you're going to get more opportunities and more of what you want by going to graduate school, then you do it. The sheer fact that you're going back and forth between law school - MBA - and policy schools indicates to me you don't know what you want to do yet. Pretty much everyone I know with a graduate degree (and it sounds like your professor agrees) either is happy they took a few years off or wishes they'd taken a few years (at least). It will put you on a slightly different path, but if that's better, why not take it? So take @went_away's advice and go work for a few years to see if that's what you really want to end up. The worst thing that will happen is that you will be two or three years older and have paid some student loans/ built up savings for graduate school. The decision on what schools to go to and how they will offer funding or not is one to be made after you figure out whether to attend graduate school or not.

Hi @sp108, sorry for the late response since I was out of Internet range for a while. I highly suggest that you send your SOP to people who know you best. That's because while an SOP might look impressive to someone like me, people who know you will notice missing pieces or tell you how to rephrase your involvement with some things, because they saw you doing it or they know what was involved. I'd be able to give you the rough outlines, but at this point, the help you need you should come from people who know you. I hope that makes sense. Good luck!

I feel it's only fair to bump this thread, because I got so much useful information from Grad Café when I was looking to apply to grad school! It's now two years later, and in fact, @TimB and I know each other quite well, having been teaching assistants together this past semester for the same undergraduate class. =) Small world! That video essay I was so anxious about? Two of my best friends in the program and I just watched each other's videos last weekend and laughed ourselves silly - we showcased ourselves traveling (me), renovating a house, and hiking the Appalachian Trail (for real). =) I'm now a second-year MPP at Duke Sanford with a strong interest in education and labor policy, public finance, and evaluation. I didn't visit before I accepted my spot here, and I feel like I've really lucked out! I've enjoyed my time here a lot, and gotten a lot out of most of my classes. It's a really great, small program with a tight-knit community of folks and a lively social scene. We work hard and play hard. If you're considering the program or have questions, feel free to send questions! For those who want to read past threads, I also suggest this one: http://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/61050-duke-mpp-2015-hopefuls/

First of all, I don't think 160 qualifies as a low quant score, when the median for some good schools is below that. ? So take a deep breath. You also have a very strong quant background in - frankly - what is much more advanced and theoretical than what the GRE tests you on, and it's very recent, so it shouldn't be a problem. That being said, people on this board are much better at assessing your chances with government affairs programs, and not so much finance and econ masters degrees. Good luck with those anyway!

To consider: just signing up for a quant course for the wintertime or the spring, and putting down that you intend to do so on your application can help. You may well need to fulfill pre-requisites in stats or econ if you're enrolling in an MPP program anyway.

Four pieces of advice: 1) To make up for your so-so quant score, definitely take economics or statistics courses and get an A, as has been recommended to you already. 2) A PhD in public policy is overkill to qualify you for a practical job in policy-making or analysis. You don't need five plus years of schooling, just two! 3) Get more detailed information by having informational interviews with current MPPs, especially those at Harvard, even policy PhD students. You're looking for a kind of certainty and information that GradCafé is just not going to be able to give you. 4) Since you're pretty sure you want an MPP and not a JD, why don't you apply to other schools? Even if you don't get into Harvard MPP, I don't see you deciding to do the JD anyway. Since there's still some time before deadlines, I highly suggest you putting eggs in other baskets too.

You spent hundreds of dollars taking the GRE exam twice, so you might as well spend the extra money to send both GRE test scores to the schools that you're applying to. Many schools will take the highest score in each area, so you can have the best of both worlds. Look on at their admissions websites, because many schools spell out this policy explicitly.

Agreed. Also, if the school offers an optional video essay, that's always a good chance to show your language skills. And yes, a 156 in Verbal is not "low"!

If you're wondering whether you should take the GRE again, I suggest no, because those are pretty high GRE scores. I don't think registering and registering for another exam date is a better use of your time than working your butt off on a great SOP and providing more info to your recommenders for their letters. If you're wondering how anxious you should be about those scores, the answer is to read the entire Am I Competitive thread from beginning to end and then bite your nails to the quick. =) You're going to be just fine!

As long as you graduate before you start your MPP program, I think it'll be fine. However, you are much better off asking the individual institutions you're applying to rather than our speculative bunch. =)