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garlica

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  • Location
    Portland, OR
  • Application Season
    2013 Fall
  • Program
    MEM/MES/MPP

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  1. Just a heads up to those looking to go to public service forgiveness route- the Obama administration last month capped the amount you can have forgiven at $57K...which hopefully anyone who has been making payments for 10 years will have less then that. I have some friends who were really dissappointed by this news.
  2. garlica

    Portland, OR

    I've never used a realtor but it may help-the housing market is bananas! The key for houses managed by companies is first come first serve. My old house I shared in the Dekum neighborhood (it was a steal, 4 bedrooms $1400/month) we contacted the management company 15 minutes after it posted on craigslist, toured the house 1 hr after it was posted on craigslist, and were signing the papers 3 hours after it was posted. This is an extreme example, but the trendier the neighborhood, the harder it is unless you want an apartment. If you don't mind a little longer bus commute to OHSU, I would also look in St. Johns (North portland) and further out in NE (past 42nd st. but before 82). These are great charming neighborhoods that have some nicer houses for less $$...and are still close to Vancouver
  3. garlica

    Portland, OR

    @sys88 I would look along the trimet "8" bus line which is the bus that goes to OHSU (or Pill Hill as its often called). I used to work up by OHSU and I've lived in NE Portland (which is the part of Portland closest to Vancouver) my whole time in Portland. The 8 goes through Irivington, Alberta, up to the Dekum triangle which are all highly walkable neighborhoods, tons of parks, bars, restaurants etc...No matter where you are in Portland driving to Vancouver is a nightmare during rush hours because there are so many people who commute, but your husband might be okay because he will be commuting in the opposite direction of most people.
  4. Masters in Public Policy, I plan on focusing on environmental policy. They also have a certificate in water conflict management that intrigues me. I'm pretty excited about staying in the NW, and I've been to Corvallis a few times (en route to Newport, which is my favorite Oregon coast town). Will you be attending?
  5. I will be attending (probably), I'm visiting Corvallis next week!
  6. Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier):State school Previous Degrees and GPAs: BS in Economics, 3.45 GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing):V-167 Q-153 AW-3.5 Previous Work Experience (Years, Type):While I was an undergraduate I had a research assistant position at my University's school of government. I also did an internship and a nonprofit in SE Asia, and an internship and an environmental policy nonprofit. During my year out of school I am an Americorps VISTA Math/Econ Background: Econ undergraduate major, Calc I-III, linear algebra (but I got a C-), econometrics, statistics I & II Foreign Language Background (if applicable to your program):None, sadly Intended Field of Study in Grad School: Environmental Policy- with a focus in conflict resolution and collaborative governance Long Term Professional Goals:Government, Nonprofit, consultants...maybe Phd?. Whereever I can work on collaborative governance around common pool resources Schools Applied to & Results: Oregon State University- Accepted with $$$$- Attending (probably) Indiana University- Accepted with $$ University of Michigan- They accepted me but gave me $3k, which is kind of a joke compared to their astronomical tuition University of Oregon-MA Environmental Studies- Rejected York University- MA Environmental Studies-Rejected Ultimate Decision & Why: It was really hard deciding between Indiana and OSU. Indiana has such a great reputation and my hero Elinor Ostrom's Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis is housed there. They gave me a generous offer, graduate assistantship with 50% off tuition, but it would still mean a significant increase in my student debt burden. When it comes down to it I want to choose post-grad school job based on it being a badass position, not because I need the highest paying job position possible to make my higher-than-rent student loan payments. On the plus side for OSU, I love living the the northwest and want to get a job out here after grad school. Oregon State may not have the name recognition as Indiana because it's a new program but it does have a lot of great resources. Advice for Future Applicants: 1. Start early! 2. Don't underestimate how annoying seemingly mundane application tasks can become. Professors that you take for granted will write you a recommendation can take months to respond to your email (or not respond at all even after you leave them a message on their phone! At least send a email declining, jeez). The GRE is a torture device, study up and get it done early. 3. I'm really glad I didn't go straight to grad school. Americorps made me realize that I wanted to go in a less academic, more real world direction.
  7. Anyone else attending this fall?
  8. Hard to say, I know people who have went for prestige with their undergraduate and they are waitresses, and I have classmates from my state school who are doing great. I also know people with MPAs in jobs that only require a bachelors degree. I think prestige is one of many factors that set you up for success but doesn't make or break you. In my opinion, how good you are at networking, what your focus is (or if you have a focus), and a variety of other factors weigh equally with the prestige. I am also in the Americorps this year. I promised myself I am not going to pursue any school I get into if I have to take out more than $10k total in loans. I have a little bit of wiggle room because of the Americorps Ed award and I have a matched college savings account through a nonprofit in Oregon-----I encourage everyone to see if your state has a Individual Development Account program! What made me decide this is that I also have a considerable amount of debt from my undergraduate degree. If that were to vanish I would probably go with the prestige and be willing to take more of a financial hit for it. This was all a long winded way of saying it depends on what your situation is. I don't think prestige alone makes or breaks your career.
  9. Hello! I applied to the SNRE program at Michigan. I was looking over craig's list and there didn't seem to be a lot of options for inexpensive housing (and most posts seemed to be apartments). Is housing hard to come by in Ann Arbor? Is it common to rent a house (I love having the ability to garden)? Are there other places graduate students look for housing besides craigslist? What neighborhoods are common places for students to live? I'm sure I'll have more questions if I get admitted. Thanks!
  10. So I retook it....and I didn't do much better. The funny thing is the section I didn't study for (the verbal) I had the biggest jump (from a 163 to a 167). I went up 1 point in quantative. And analytical writing? 3 to 3.5. I spent a lot of time studying, especially for the AW. I practiced coming up with outlines for the examples listed on the ETS website, and writing full essays. Well....my applications are now submitted. Hopefully good grades in my numerous calculus and statistics classes will compensate for my mediocre quantative, and my research experience, SOP, and LOR for my analytical writing. I'm just happy I will never take have to give ETS (Evil Testing Services?) any money again! Good luck everyone!
  11. I am personally going to put the education at the top. My reasons: -aesthetic: the education section is smaller than work experience (at least for me), -Its a refresher/preview on what is reflected on transcripts -chrological: it shows what you were carrying going into your work experience However when push comes to shove it probably doesn't matter what the order is.
  12. Hello! So I just took the GRE and I thought I did moderately well. I could have done better in quantitive, but I was overall pleased. Verbal: 163 (91%) Quant: 153 (53%) But I just got my Analytical Writing back and....a 3 (14%)! I am baffled. I consider writing one of my strong suits (and have been told so by many of my professors and colleagues). I have no idea how this happened. My profile: Undergrad: Bachelors in Economics Math: Calculus 1-3 (A- in all), Statistics I & II (A-), Linear Algebra ©, Econometrics (B+) GPA: 3.45 (upper division GPA: 3.96) Work experience: -2 Years with a research assistantship at the School of Government (related to environmental policy), academic paper under consideration (fingers crossed!) -Intern abroad at an NGO working on public sanitation issues in a developing country -Internship at major environmental policy NGO -Currently serving in the Americorps (related to financial literacy education) I am applying to: U Oregon, Environmental Studies Oregon State: MPP U Michigan SNRE (Public Policy) U Indiana SPEA U Vermont School of the Environment It would be a little bit of a financial burden to retake the GRE (see Americorps) but I could swing it. Thanks so much!
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