joerandom28

Thanks for the thoughts, I appreciate them. I graduated in 2008, so if I were to apply this fall I'd be entering grad school after 2 full years of experience (24 yrs old at matriculation). I took the GRE and ended up with Q790 V730, so I'm not worried about my test scores. Hopefully they'll help address some of the mediocrity in my academic quant background. Also, my current job is heavily quantitative and involves a lot of statistical modelling, so I'm not worried about my quant abilities at all, just that I haven't always managed to demonstrate them in an academic setting. I'm thinking that ultimately this fall is a little too early to apply. I think I probably need to refine my goals a little bit more before I can go to school and feel like I'm getting the most out of things. Riz1, if you don't mind my asking, what did you do in the private sector before you went to school? What kind of a program did you do/at what school? I'd love to hear a little bit more about your path, since obviously it's one I think I'll be taking too.

Hi All, I'm new to the board (obviously), I'm wondering if anyone could give me some insight as to whether or not it would be a good idea for me to apply to MPP programs this fall or to wait. Here's my background: Academic - GPA: 3.56; Top 10 Liberal Arts school; Political Science/Political Economy major; studied abroad in Scandinavia for a semester; took stats/calc/intro econ/econometrics. GRE - Taking it in two weeks, I'm anticipating something along the lines of Q750 V700 (+/- 20 points) Work Experience - Currently working for an economic consulting firm (2 years), looking at a variety of issues (healthcare, litigation, intellectual property). During undergrad I interned for the NYC City Council in the Policy division, interned at a research foundation at a major public university and worked a research assistant for a professor on a paper published in a top journal. Volunteer Experience - At school I organized IM sports and was a writing tutor, since graduating I haven't had time to volunteer much, although I'm looking into starting a couple of things this fall. Taking all that into account, I have three main concerns: 1. My academic quant background is not very strong, the courses I've taken I haven't gotten great grades in, only 1 A in the bunch. 2. My work experience since undergrad hasn't been very focused on public policy issues or international issues. The consulting is generally private sector focused. Some cases are for government agencies or have a vaguely international focus, but I haven't been able to get staffed on any of those. 3. My volunteer experience since undergrad is non-existent. In every other respect I feel good about my quant abilities (my job is very quant focused, I've done quant research in the past, and I think I can do quite well on the GRE Q section). I'm taking calculus this fall and linear algebra next spring to try to spruce up my academic background. I know that the marks won't be in for lin. al. when I apply but at least I can mention it on the app. I'm trying to start volunteering this fall again and so I'll be able to have something to put on my app for that, although it won't be for very long. As for work experience, this is my biggest concern. My job has given me great training in econ./stats, but I have a hard time connecting it to public policy/international affairs. Is it possible to overcome these weaknesses, assuming I stay in the same job and apply this fall, and get into one of the top programs (KSG, Columbia, WW)? If not, and I don't apply this fall, what could strengthen my application for next fall? Thanks!