pea-jay

hot summer

Baruch (CUNY) has a rolling admit process as does VCU. But it is pretty late in the game and you'd probably do better retaking the GRE and applying for the Spring 2011 or Fall 2011 admit cycle.

not going to comment on university race preferences in admission, but will on that long list of Hawaiian ethnic permutation. It looks an awful lot like the Census Bureau categorizations now that people are allowed to select more than one race/hispanic background. I've worked with Census data and what not and have seen the insane number of potential combinations when you factor in all the possibilities. Usually you will just have Asian/Pacific Islanders grouped together, all mixed race responses reported as "multi-racial" and "Hispanic" reported as a racial category. (It is not.) Plus the definitions of specific racial categories change over time. It's enough to give anyone a headache, but in CUNY's sake, they elected to classify every conceivable combination out there.

too sweet

Captain's log

Never underestimate the power of proximity. JaeB has a good point on checking where your ideal firms are and find out where they went to school. If they went to school locally and entered during (internship?) or right after graduation, it may help you out to emulate that pattern as well.

lost years

October Sky

An MPA/MPP program would be better. A masters in Urban Planning would limit you more closely to that sector. An MPA would open up more opportunities. That said, there are programs that are focused on public administration in the urban realm where you could take planning and administration courses together. Others have a good focus on environmental issues. Check Planetizen.com for planning specific programs ( http://www.planetizen.com/schools/directory ) and then see which house a Public Administration program in the school or university. If both programs are housed in the same school, integration should be tighter and allow you to mix courses to suit your interests.

winter driving

hot swap

Way at the opposite end here...my school has 1200 students total across all fields so that would make my cohort size somewhere between 100 and 200 students. Wagner, which I also got into has a similarly large size. I guess this is indicative of a professional masters program in a very large urban area. I haven't met anyone yet. (if by chance you will be attending SPA at Baruch this fall and are reading this, say hi!)

failed test

go away

far ahead

first cut

Well my fields of interest, masters are essential to advancement and required in many jurisdictions. I've only worked in rural areas that have to take what they can get but the big job$ in the big cities can be picky. Virtually everyone above me has this form of masters work. Given the fact that the past 14 years of my time in the work force have provided me with a variety of skills/assignments in a the education, energy and public administration fields, my next two years will be spent learning managerial/administrative lessons to tie this all together. Plus i plan on making the professional connections via internships and whatnot to enable the next steps to occur. 90% of the graduating class over the past few years at my school-to-be have gone on to find work and good paying jobs at that. I can live with those odds.

and i'm supposed to be finishing my last two work projects and gearing up for a massive move 3000 miles east...

Ok this thread isn't to debate the merits or benefits of using Apple's iPhone or iPad in an educational setting. Or whine about Apple. Rather, I'd like to hear what APPs you use (or are interested in) that makes your educational experience easier. Obviously the calendar function and a To Do program are essential but beyond that, what's out there? I'm looking for some suggestions personally and would like this thread to be useful for others as well. Please make sure you include full name of the app so we can find it and at least a basic description. Kudo points if you tell us how it worked for you. iPad-specific apps are welcome here too. Links would be cool if you have them. For example, I used 1,400 ESSENTIAL GRE WORDS by TotalTestPrep to enhance my vocabulary. This app has well, words that ETS has been known to use and presents them in a flashcard manner. Easy and cheap program to use. Any topic area would be great from test prep to time management and so on.

Wow! Going to date myself but when I was a freshman in college only the rich kid's dads had the cell phone and it was the size of a brick and only could make PHONE CALLS. TXTing? LOL. Back then we passed notes. And no iPods either. Just one of these: Try listening to one of those in class Plus there were fewer of us as HS Grads still had some viable non-college career options and werent pressured into a 4-yr institution they werent a good fit for. Geez, I sound pretty fuNking old and pathetic now.

Not going to comment on the programs but I have been to all three cities (Baltimore most frequently) and have to say Hong Kong is the most interesting place of the three. Baltimore has its nice areas and is an easy train ride to DC to the south and Philly and NYC to the north if you need to get out of town or pursue potential opportunities. If for some reason I had to work in DC, I would prefer to live in Baltimore myself and take the train into that city. Atlanta is more spread out and further removed from the Northeast Corridor. It is however a major city with plenty of opportunities.

day old

News Flash!!

Postscript: On the other hand it's empowering too. I got into NYU but chose NOT to attend. It was strictly MY decision.