DCA-John

I'm pretty sure they're not doing phone interviews this year. I would assume the announcements would come around the end of march

I believe they only send out emails. There is a thread about this from last year if you are curious. I believe all the emails came out at once. I got waitlisted last year, so I don't know if they had included the financial aid offers for accepted students. If so, then I would expect the emails to come out about the same time as last year, especially if they need to process FAFSA applications for domestic students. EDIT: found last year's threads. Emails for MPA/ID went out the day after MPA and MPP. Financial aid decisions sent separately: "As for the school more generally, I love it. I'm not getting any aid, but many others are. It's the one big unknown for everyone on the board - financial decisions come out some time after admissions decisions, so there's another limbo period where the admits all wonder if they'll be able to afford it or not."

no idea - i applied for the mpa/id, but i think all the emails for all the programs might have gone out at the same time last year.

sometime before. this week, if the rumors are true.

Oh man, I hope so. The waiting is killing me. Last year the letters came out on March 17th, so it seems very possible they could come out next week, since the deadline was in December this year.

No - I left that out (although, maybe they would have taken pity on me for making international development money if they had seen my salary...)

I drew from the same base of materials but changed focus slightly, adjusted for length, etc... I wouldn't overthink it at this point. Given the volume of applicants, I doubt they are extensively cross-referencing the applications against one another.

RAND's well known in certain circles, particularly here in DC. I got waitlisted last year but decided not to reapply (just HKS masters this year - decided not to spend the next 4 yrs in school). I am not familiar with UW Evans - in terms of brand, RAND would be better known. Plus, it's on the beach in Santa Monica - what's not to like? Generally, RAND graduates don't teach, though. I was looking at the study of foreign aid, but most people there are probably studying something related to defense policy, so if your interest in energy has a defense angle, RAND would be a good fit. I would guess most RAND graduates wind up going to the Pentagon, defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, etc..., think tanks (brookings, etc..) or working directly for RAND. If you want to teach, you have a marginally better shot at UW Evans, probably. However, public policy PhDs tend not to be full-time professors (many policy school professors are either poli sci or econ PhDs)

I think you should have gotten an email around the 15th with your PIN Due on Feb 24th. If you're a US student, don't forget to do your taxes - you need your AGI and W2 information to fill out your FAFSA

I did this course. It's an independent study, since I travel too much for work to do a traditional classroom approach. Not sure if they take overseas applicants or not, but was cheap and doable if you've got the discipline and affinity for math. http://www.is.lsu.edu/coursefactsheet.asp?nid=301&Rubric=MATH&CourseNr=2057&Version=O not sure how your background stacks up, but I think they want to see more development focus. would be good if your banking experience was in emerging markets.

if you don't have three semesters of calc you don't have all the prereqs. If you don't have all the prereqs, I wouldn't both applying without them unless you have stellar, relevant (ie not banking) work experience and perfect GREs

reapplying after getting waitlisted last year. emails went out March 19th last year, but I'm not optimistic that they're going to come out much sooner than that this year. I would suspect they pushed the deadline back to give themselves more time, since they are getting more applications for the program every year.

probably fine on econ prereqs. you need three semesters of calc (partial differentiation, double integrals, maybe vector calculus) big determinants for MPA/ID are GRE (as close to 800 on quant as you can get) and work experience (the more the better, preferably development, based in a developing country)

Nope. I talked to the admin folks there, and they said they did not take anyone from the waitlist last year. They suggested I apply again after taking multivariable calc. I got an A in the course, so I think that might help this year. Hope to hear soon (maybe sooner than last year, since they pushed the deadline to dec 1 from jan 1)

Two semesters of calc, but not differential equations. waitlisted for PhD program at RAND. at this point, may just push my mid-life crisis a few years forward and buy a sports car, rather than reapply again next year (not particularly optimistic about the waitlists)

Me too. I picked a bad year to apply for the MPA-ID. Near perfect GREs, dual citizen, trilingual, 7 years of management-level development experience in over 20 countries and an MBA and I still get waitlisted.

Honestly, neither, unless it's specifically development focused. I've been working in development for 6 years now (financial services and agriculture). I've got an MBA from a second-tier school and am waiting to hear back from Princeton on their mid-career MPP and Harvard for the MPA-ID I'd recommend reading this: http://chrisblattman.com/2008/03/01/which-is-for-you-mpa-mpaid-or-phd/ There are three major career tracks in development: - DC-based policy positions at places like the World Bank where you sit and tell people 3,000 miles away what to do - DC-based or field-based positions where you serve as a technical expert - Field-based positions where you manage projects For the first sort of position, an Econ Phd is almost a prerequisite. the MPA-ID is a close substitute, but at the higher levels, everyone is an economist. For the second type of position, you're better off getting a masters in a functional area and getting as much experience as possible working in developing countries and getting fluent in a language or two (at least 3 on the FSI scale). So, for example, I have an MBA in international finance. Other relevant degrees: MS in civil engineering, MS in agricultural economics or ag science, MA in public health, MD, JD (with a focus on international law or trade law). Alternately, a strong background in IT or GIS would take you a long way For the third type of position, join the peace corps or get a grunt position at someplace like DAI or Chemonics.

Thanks for the suggestions - much appreciated. I will take a look at the columbia program. Right after B-school I was on the wait-list for Sachs' sustainable development PhD there - haven't really looked at the school since though Are Berkeley and Chicago more domestic policy-focused? Would there be any development slant to the coursework?

Against all better wisdom, I'm looking at applying to an MPP program in 2010, despite already having an MBA from a second-tier school. I've been working in int'l development for 6 years at a manager level for a couple of NGOs and a development consulting firm. Also have 2 yrs teaching English in Asia before B-school. I'm 30 now and hadn't planned on going back to school, but am realizing I'm going to be at the same level I'm at now for another 5-10 years without an Econ PhD. While I seriously considered it, I just couldn't do 5 more yrs of school. So, I started looking at the MPA-ID program at HKS, which has been described as a PhD-lite. I'm also thinking of applying to: - Princeton, mid-career MPP (focus on econometrics and other quant coursework) - SAIS, MA international econ Are there any other programs I should be looking at? I don't really need the softer courses (got plenty of that in B-school), I'm strictly interested in the econ / quant coursework