inforitnow

How will admissions committees understand the term "political economy" if written in my Statement of Purpose? I understand some people take it to mean the application of rational choice models to politics, while others understand it to mean the relationship between economics and politics. I'm wondering how people will read it if I don't provide explanation of how I'm defining the term. Thanks, Kris

Hey, so I want to study comparative political economy, political ideology and political psychology. I'm not sure I want to do it unless I can get into a top 25 school. I'm about to finish the first year of a two year MPA program right now with a 3.72 GPA. It's a top 10 school. My GRE scores are 164/160/5.5. I have no prior research experience. My undergrad gpa was 3.43 (3.67 last two years) with majors in political science and economics. Should I bother applying? Also, I don't see much attention on this board going to the University of Washington. I live in Washington and around here it has a strong reputation. What do you think of it? Thanks in advance.

For those of you going to either one, what kind of job you're looking for and what about the program you find attractive?

My stuff is there but I was living in Denver for nearly two years before I backpacked in Central America for about three months. I have been back in the country less than a week and will be moving back to Seattle. So my connections there are iffy at the moment but I can probably get in touch with old friends and co-workers fairly easily and I'll have the next five months to network for internships to do while I'm in school. LBJ gave me nada, unfortunately, but I have a couple of friends living in Austin already so moving there and getting connected wouldn't be a burden either.

Hey everyone, I am looking for advice. I was accepted to both UT's LBJ School MPAff and UW's Evans School MPA. Can anyone please compare the programs? Is UT LBJ clearly better than UW Evans or are they actually fairly equal? Notes about my acceptance: With the financial assistance offered from UW, I would be paying similar prices to attend each school (tuition only, both being about $19,000 per year). On top of that, UW also offered me a small $500 per month stipend ($9,000 total over two years), and I could live with my parents in the Seattle area (saving $7,000 to $12,000 in total, I estimate). So I would save a good chunk of money there (let's say up to $20,000 total). Also, I went to UW for my undergraduate and grew up in the area.

Thanks, excusemyfrench, I appreciate it. That's great advice--something I hadn't thought too much about. Congrats on NYU Wagner.

Here is my general application, goals, and schools I'm prepared to apply to already (essays done and everything). I don't have a specific career goal, in terms of a place I want to work or a concrete achievement. I think I probably want to end up in DC. Funding/cost matters quite a bit to me. I'm not sure I could get funding from a school like Georgtown-GPPI or GWU-Trachtenberg and their tuition costs concern me. Thank you for suggesting UCLA. I'm considering applying to their program, though I have some reservations. Do you know of any specific schools you think I should consider based on the following information? Programs: MPP/MPA (I want to focus on national socioeconomic policy, and possibly regional economic integration) Potential Schools: UW Evans School, UC Berkeley Goldman School, UT Austin LBJ School, American University Undergraduate institution: University of Washington, Seattle Undergraduate Major: Political Science; Economics Undergraduate GPA: 3.67 last 90 credits; 3.43 UW cumulative; 3.48 cumulative if including transfer credits (went to UNL my freshman year); 3.72 political science; 3.49 economics GRE: 164 V / 160 Q / 5 AW Years Out of grad school (if applicable): 2+ years Years of Work Experience: 1.5 years experience (nearly irrelevant in nature) Describe Relevant Work Experience: 1.5 years as a "customer advocate" - worked with public officials and government agencies to help people save their homes from foreclosure, essentially glorified customer service 4 months intern for U.S. Senator 2 months intern for internet startup - project/database administration 6 months intern for improvisational comedy theater - theater management 5 months a community organizer Other Experience (mentioned in resume or SOP): Graduated from 1-year improvisational comedy program - this is kind of unique and is actually very useful (I hope schools agree ha ha) About to do a 3-month improvised backpacking trip in Central and South America President of my residence hall and senator of association of residence halls during my freshman year of college Languages: English: Fluent Spanish: Beginner/intermediate (hopefully conversationally fluent by the time I finish my aforementioned trip) SOP: Very well-written (a huge strength of mine)...possibly less impressive than those of people with wow-stories, but pretty good overall (I hope) LOR: 1 from current employer (strong, but experience is not directly related to public policy) 1 from former professor (strong) 1 from US Senator (not sure how strong, but will be decent at least)

Programs: MPP/MPA (I want to focus on socioeconomic policy, and possibly regional economic integration) Potential Schools: UW Evans School, UC Berkeley Goldman School, UT Austin LBJ School, American University Undergraduate institution: University of Washington, Seattle Undergraduate Major: Political Science; Economics Undergraduate GPA: 3.67 last 90 credits; 3.43 UW cumulative; 3.48 cumulative if including transfer credits (went to UNL my freshman year); 3.72 political science; 3.49 economics GRE: 164 V / 160 Q / 5 AW Years Out of grad school (if applicable): 2+ years Years of Work Experience: 1.5 years experience (nearly irrelevant in nature) Describe Relevant Work Experience: 1.5 years as a "customer advocate" - worked with public officials and government agencies to help people save their homes from foreclosure, essentially glorified customer service 4 months intern for U.S. Senator 2 months intern for internet startup - project/database administration 6 months intern for improvisational comedy theater - theater management 5 months a community organizer Other Experience (mentioned in resume or SOP): Graduated from 1-year improvisational comedy program - this is kind of unique and is actually very useful (I hope schools agree ha ha) About to do a 3-month improvised backpacking trip in Central and South America President of my residence hall and senator of association of residence halls during my freshman year of college Languages: English: Fluent Spanish: Beginner/intermediate (hopefully conversationally fluent by the time I finish my aforementioned trip) SOP: Very well-written (a huge strength of mine)...possibly less impressive than those of people with wow-stories, but pretty good overall (I hope) LOR: 1 from current employer (strong, but experience is not directly related to public policy) 1 from former professor (strong) 1 from US Senator (not sure how strong, but will be decent at least) Questions: Am I competitive? What other schools should I apply to and why? Do you have any other advice for me? Do you think admissions committees read this forum (ha)?

I've browsed this forum a good bit and I see a lot of discussion about international affairs programs and MPA programs. Sometimes abbreviations are used that I'm not familiar with because I'm applying relatively last-minute and have not researched adequately. What are the best MPP programs?