[How easy is it to get full funding?]

Of course! I agree. I would not rely on negotiating alone to get you to the level of funding that you need. Cast your net wide, never put all your eggs in one basket.

[How easy is it to get full funding?]

Thanks for that clarification, naso. I guess I should be specific in highlighting that the important thing in negotiating funding is to be able to negotiate aid offers against one another. If you are only admitted to one school, it can be difficult to get a school to seriously increase its funding offer unless admissions knows that they will need to compete with another school to get you to accept their offer. Of course negotiations don't always work out perfectly, but setting yourself up to have several offers on the table may give you the best shot at coming out of the process with an offer that you're happy with.

[Advice on Grad School/program Choices]

Oh, and that's a good point about MPA v. MPP v. MIA programs. There's not a whole lot of consistency in the policy world about how degrees are named, so it's important to really look at the curriculum of a program to figure out whether your course of study will involve more policy analysis or more political theory, more policy memos or thesis papers, etc.

If it's a policy analysis program, they'll definitely care more about the quant. Public Administration and International Affairs degree may place less emphasis on that particular part of your app, but of course, it depends on the program!

[Advice on Grad School/program Choices]

I like the different opinions for some thread. Sheds some light on the debate surrounding the best path to getting into good policy schools/getting cool policy jobs.

Ben, where did I undersell necessary work experience for MPA applicants? I said that the OP was underselling himself and that gaining admission to public service grad programs is much easier than he had made it out to be. I have no clue where you're getting your data on MPA programs having more competitive admissions than IR programs. And as I clearly stated - Princeton and HKS are among the most competitive programs in this space and only the more ambitious/successful applicants gain admission. I do agree with your point on $$ and debt - a point I constantly make on here is that grads of elite public service oriented programs make very little money commensurate with the cost of the education. 

A couple of nit-picks here. First - I fully agree with the remarks on language, and hadn't even considered the China investment in East Africa angle. Regarding DoS and name-brand schools - I think this is one of those urban myths out there that State hires based on performance/test scores and that pedigree doesn't matter. Couldn't be more mistaken! In fact, DoS is likely one of the government agencies most highly attuned to pedigree. Take a look at feeder schools on the State Department LinkedIn page or look at pages of specific schools to see where grads go. Apart from a few local schools (the George Masons and UMD types and GWU to some extent), you'll see an extreme preponderance of schools from the top echelons of foreign affairs, places like Georgetown, Fletcher, SAIS, Harvard Kennedy, SIPA, and Princeton. This myth comes about because the Foreign Service selection process supposedly considers all candidates equally without regard to background. However the FS makes up only a tiny portion of the Department. In addition, as of a couple years ago, Georgetown SFS alone sent more candidates to the FS than the next three schools combined; also, the Department's fellowship and diversity programs that send hires directly to the FS recruit nearly exclusively from top-tier foreign affairs grad schools. Finally, the selection process for the FS has changed in the last several years, and the Department no longer exclusively judges candidates based on oral/written test scores, but also assess them holistically, looking at past professional and educational experiences.

I do agree that MPA programs are usually very different from IR programs, but that still depends on the program in question. For example, as I pointed out above, Columbia SIPA's MPA and MIA programs are identical with the exception of one course and the differentiation is there exclusively so students can brand themselves professionally in the way they would like. 

I don't know anything about University of York. Webster has a reputation as a school for government/military professionals who just need to check the master's degree box and are in no way looking to use the degree to obtain a job. I would strongly recommend you not go to either of those schools (ditto for any online degree) with the expectation it will help you gain a position at an elite NGO. In terms of rankings, I think I was quite clear in my earlier post and included a link to the world's most comprehensive IR schools rankings system. LSE, SOAS, IHEID, and Sciences Po are all top-tier institutions in Europe and that have both strengths and weaknesses that have been extensively discussed elsewhere on this board. To be brutally honest, it sounds like you really need to buckle down and 'do your homework' in terms of really researching the programs that are interesting to you and determining if they contain the content and pull to enable you to achieve your professional goals. 

I'm going to continue to disagree about the DoS recruitment point. It may be true that a number of DoS employees come from big name institutions, but that seems to be more due to correlation than causation. Capable policy professionals who get into good schools are also likely to be solid candidates for State and succeed in the application process, but the name on their degree is not what gets them in to the door. A demonstration of good skills and relevant experience help more than anything, regardless of where your graduate degree came from. As far as the diversity recruitment tools (I assume you're referring to Pickering and Rangel Fellowships?) those candidates are chosen before they've committed to a graduate institution (often before they're even admitted anywhere), and candidates come from a variety of undergraduate institutions (state schools, Ivys, HBCUs, liberal arts, etc.). It may be true that a lot of them end up going to big name policy schools, but fellows aren't chosen based on where they attend school. It's a correlation thing, not causation. (i.e.: Strong candidates who do well in the fellowship app process may tend to do well in the grad school app process as well.) State markets themselves to a lot of policy schools, but I don't think there's any mechanism by which it intentionally selects candidates from any certain school. 

Of course, if you're trying to get into State as a political appointee, throw everything I said out of the window because that's a whole different ball game that I know nothing about.

I guess what I'm trying to get across is that yes, where you go to school may matter in that it may help prepare you to be a competitive on the job market, but the name alone is definitely not worth paying for if you're looking to go into government service. That logic holds true for policy careers in general, I think, though (as I mentioned before) I think going to a big name school may matter more for those looking to go the NGO route. A well connected school may help you get your foot in the door for some places.

But that's just my two cents! Feel free to disagree.

[SAIS MAIA Program]

To echo Neco Corr, you can get into a good IR (or policy) program with a variety of undergraduate majors. People in my cohort majored in Music, English, Sociology, Psychology, History, Political Science, Spanish, Economics, Math -- a variety of things. There are other factors that speak to the strength of your application, but the undergraduate major won't temper the competitiveness of your application at all. People in IR and policy come from a ton of different academic, personal and professional backgrounds, no kidding.

Also communications (or sociology!) is certainly not unusual at all for going into policy, especially for public affairs. There are even a couple of schools (AU, Carnegie Mellon) that have Communications programs geared toward international affairs.

The coming directly from undergrad thing may be more of a concern for your application than your undergraduate major. Not saying it hasn't been done--people straight from undergrad get into some competitive programs sometimes--but professional experience certainly does help.

Best of luck!

[Advice on Grad School/program Choices]

The 3.15 GPA may ding you a bit, but I think you may still stand a shot at getting into a solid program, especially if you mention in your application that you went back and retook those courses that you did poorly in your freshman year and point out that you've done a ton of good since then! Definitely give yourself a lot more credit for the language proficiency and international experience. Mandarin and French (and English, obviously) is a killer combo if you want to go into something related to Chinese foreign investment in Sub-Saharan Africa. I might give my pinky toe to have your language skills, because I'd like to make a professional career going into that direction!

As far as big name schools getting you into DoS/FS--nope. At DoS, nobody really cares where you went to school, they just care how well you do your job. You don't necessarily need a grad degree to work for State, but a solid policy program can definitely teach you some skills that may make you more competitive for FS. With your experiences, if you have interest in going into FS and are willing to take on the lifestyle that comes with it, I might look into that.

As far as NGOs, I agree with went_away in that NGOs might be more likely to put weight on a name-brand institution on your resume, so that may be something to keep in mind if you're looking to go that route.

To add to the discussion above, MPP/MPA degrees are very different from IR degrees (as someone mentioned), which seems like it would be obvious, but I don't think that people understand that sometimes (even people in the degree programs!), so give that some thought when thinking about which programs to apply to. MPP/MPA programs may be a little tougher to get into, but there are still some good ones that aren't crazy competitive to get into. Policy programs just tend to care a little more about your quant background.

Also wanna double down on what Ben414 said about funding. It matters!

Best of luck!

[The 'Am I competitive' thread - READ ME BEFORE POSTING]

 

 

 0

 

 

Obrien_blue,

Have you given WWS a look? I would recommend it. Like. Seriously. I'm not on the admissions board or anything, but I it sounds like you might be a strong candidate for the program. (Stronger than I was, for sure!) I'm a first year at WWS, and I think the MPA program (or maybe even the mid-career MPP program?) may fit what you're looking for. WWS is a small school, but has both international relations and domestic policy concentrations and it's not uncommon for lawyers to come through the program or for MPA students to seek a dual MPA/JD with Princeton and another university. Princeton has a Law and Public Affairs (LAPA) organization on campus that is geared toward policy students. (You can Google and find out some info about it!) As an added bonus, if you get in, WWS provides financial aid for the vast majority of its students so -- zero debt for graduate school!

I mean, I've only been in the program for a couple months, but I could gush to you about it if you have any questions.

[How easy is it to get full funding?]

hotchoc, what the others have mentioned is true. I want to temper it with a little optimism, though. If you're looking at MPP or MPA programs, there certainly is funding out there. I would not underestimate the power of GRE scores and work experience to get you considered for aid, but I also want to stress the importance of statements of purpose, especially. I think the statement of purpose helps to bring your application together to tell your story and kind of 'package' you well for the admissions boards. There's never any guarantee with the admissions process, but if you're really interested in trying to get in somewhere and get some good funding, I recommend spending a lot of time on your apps, getting your GRE scores up as much as possible, and applying to a variety of schools (some safety, some reaches, etc.) to give yourself the best chance of being able to negotiate offers against one another if you get into several programs.

 

BEST OF LUCK!

[Very Lopsided GRE Score]

Those scores wouldn't necessary preclude you from being admitted to the schools you mentioned, but I think it could definitely help your case to study and take the test again while you have time. (Especially for funding!) I was surprised that you specifically mentioned SIPA and SFS as the Econ heavy programs. Not that they aren't--my impression was that, of the three, HKS is the more quant-heavy program. Of course, I don't have much experience with either program, so I'm just going off of my own impressions.

In any case, though--try not to stress about it! (I know that sounds dumb.) Just focus on writing the best statements of purpose that you can, and study some quant and take another shot at the GRE. I'm sure you'll be fine and have some good options for grad school.

[WWS & HKS concentrations]

1. For WWS, the concentrations honestly aren't a huge deal. You can switch your concentration after admission and it's not a big deal at all. You will more or less have to pick a concentration in your first year, but everyone has to take the same batch of core courses in their first couple of semesters and concentrations here aren't very restrictive, so I honestly wouldn't worry about it too much. In your second year you have a lot more flexibility to explore your interests.

2. I have no idea how much your choice of concentration factors into admissions decisions. I would venture to guess that it might be advisable to apply to a concentration that aligns with your demonstrated interests, though I'm not on the admissions board, so you'll have to take that idea with a grain of salt.

3. At WWS, there are four concentrations: International Relations, International Development, Domestic Policy and Economics & Public Policy. The first three require only a couple of courses to fulfill your concentration requirement, and the latter requires five economics courses beyond the core courses. It is possible to dabble in other concentrations, though, so don't sweat the concentration thing to much. The core curriculum is the heart of the program, so as long as that aligns with what you want out of your graduate curriculum, go ahead and apply.

Hope this helps!

[Princeton, NJ]

Does anybody know anything about freelance (Spanish/English) interpreting work in the area?

 

I'll be starting a grad program at Princeton in the fall and I'm wondering what's the best way to go about trying to get a little freelance work supplement my stipend. Anybody have any leads?

 

At this point I've just been doing online research and I'm starting to reach out to interpreting services and to the New Jersey courts. Any leads or any advice from anyone with experience in the field would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[The 'Am I competitive' thread - READ ME BEFORE POSTING]

Meowthtsetung, if you can pull out a rock solid Statement of Purpose and articulate what you're looking for in a graduate program, how the programs to which you're applying fit into your personal and professional goals and why you would be a good candidate for the position--I think your applications will be competitive at all of those schools. You never know until decisions come back (seriously, it's a little bit of a crapshoot), but I think you've got a shot! Definitely work on those SoPs to give yourself the best shot.

[The 'Am I competitive' thread - READ ME BEFORE POSTING]

Regtech5, when you mention 'PC', do you mean Peace Corps? I'm a little confused about your application timeline (you're currently finishing up AmeriCorps but considering going into the Peace Corps?), but either way, I think assuming focused SoPs and good recommendations, your application could be super solid if you could just get up the GRE scores a little bit. You may still get into some good schools, who knows?! At the same time, you'd stand a really good chance at getting some funding if (along with the solid SoPs/recommendations I mentioned) if you got your GRE scores up to at least high 150s/low 160s for verbal and quant. Of course, there are no hard and fast rules with respect to GRE scores and you may well get funding with your current scores, but at this point, if there's any one thing I would be doing to make my application competitive, it'd be studying to retake the GRE since you have time!

 

Pickering and Rangel are great opportunities to fund your education at get you a great job after graduating. At the same time, they don't always cover 100% of the cost to go to grad school, so it's definitely worth putting the effort into your grad school applications to try and get funding from the schools themselves (and a lot of schools DO have funding to give out to applicants who are committed to public service)!

 

Best of luck with your app process, and let me know if there's anything I can do to help.

[HKS 2015]

Hey wcw,

 

When I talked on the phone, the admissions officer (or, technically she from the diversity board) didn't say anything specific about actually offering me funding, just wanted to know if I was making my graduate school decision based on funding alone.

 

As diplomatically as I could, I tried to state that I literally have no money.

 

I'm not sure if they understand that I'M POOR. That being said, I did turn down HKS before I actually received a funding offer, but that's because, judging from what I've seen and heard, I highly doubt HKS will match a full ride+stipend offer (I mean, their website suggests the exact opposite), and I'm incredibly excited about going to WWS, so I thought. . .why not save the admissions office a little work before they spend time making me an offer I'd refuse? I know that there are plenty of other people who are really counting on that funding offer, so it made perfect sense to me to turn it down so that maybe that spot (and maybe a little funding?) could go to someone else.

 

I don't really think admissions saw the logic in that. I didn't mean to insult HKS (who in their right mind would do that?), I just like to get things moving quickly, and my mind was already made up!

 

That being said, the lady I talked to was super nice. These policy schools admissions offices staff people with great customer service skills.

Good luck to ya!

[The 'Am I competitive' thread - READ ME BEFORE POSTING]

jcspc,

 

For now, I definitely think my main focus would be pulling up the GRE scores as much as you can. If you get the scores up, you could stand a solid shot at some of these programs, and maybe even get some funding. Similarly to you, I'm finishing up my PC service at age 25 and I decided to pursue graduate school after. I was concerned about how my application would look given my limited work experience (I did Peace Corps almost straight out of undergrad), but with strong academic/personal statements that articulated my desire to study in the programs to which I applied (policy analysis programs), I did get some great results out of my applications.

 

Do you have any econ/stats/calc background? If not, I definitely recommend taking a few free online courses on Coursera if you can. Even if with less than perfect internet, I've been able to take some econ classes during my Peace Corps service that I then listed on my applications to supplement my undergraduate coursework and show that I was serious about getting the quant under my belt (since I applied to quant-heavy programs).

 

Lemme know if you have any more questions! I think as long as you pull up the GRE scores and spend time on your apps, you've got a good shot at a solid school.

 

Aja

[Fall 2015 Wrap-up (Profiles, Results, and Decisions)]

Thanks so much to everyone on gradcafe for providing so much info and feeback and for helping me get through those antsy months of waiting on grad school decisions. The decisions thread really helped me have a little bit of an idea or where I might stack up for program admissions, so, as someone else said, I'm happy to pass on the favor.

 

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): Well-respected flagship state school
Previous Degrees and GPAs: BA Spanish/International Studies, 3.54 overall
GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 163/161/5.5
Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 2 years Peace Corps Panama (Education Volunteer, Gender and Development Board). Also part-time and volunteer experience during undergrad.
Math/Econ Background: During undergrad, took multi-variable calc, introductory econ, micro-econ, two international econ classes, developmental econ. Also took a couple of free online coursera macroecon classes just before applying. I made a note of this on my application, as well. Haven't taken stats since high school.
Foreign Language Background (if applicable to your program): Spanish (advanced), Mandarin (intermediate at best)
Intended Field of Study in Grad School: Public Policy/Public Affairs (looking for strong quant program)
Long Term Professional Goals: Econ Officer for State Dept
Schools Applied to & Results: Syracuse Maxwell MPA (accepted), Harvard HKS (accepted), UC Berkeley GSPP (accepted w/some funding), U Michigan FSPP (accepted w/full funding), Duke Univ. Sanford School (accepted w/full funding), Princeton WWS (accepted w/full funding)
Ultimate Decision & Why: WWS was the dream, so once I got in, it almost seemed like a no-brainer. I was not AT ALL expecting to get into all these schools (you'll notice my GPA is average at best and I have little work experience), so I was pleasantly surprised and actually pretty overwhelmed at the response I got from schools. Some even called me back to chat with me personally once I notified them of my decision to attend another school.
Advice for Future Applicants: Apply to a spread of different programs! Start your research early, decide what you're looking for in a program, find about 5 or 6 schools that can supply that, and APPLY! Apply to some schools that are likely to give you funding and apply to a couple that may be a stretch for you. I was not 100% sure that I would be going to a grad school program this cycle, because it all depending on funding for me. (I don't have financial resources, and I DID NOT want to go into debt for this degree--I want to focus on working in public service without worrying about servicing my debt!) Applying to a spread of programs gave me a better chance to have options once decisions are in. That being said--I didn't apply to any programs that did not interest me. Some people may recommend doing that, but I'm in favor of applying to programs that appeal to me.

 

I think one thing that I believe did help my application's strength is having a really good idea of WHY I wanted to attend the type of program for which I was applying, being able to articulate that, and being able to connect it with the 'story' of my personal and professional/academic history. Also maybe Peace Corps helped. I may never know.

In the end, all you can do is put your best foot forward and hope for the best. Good luck to all future applicants!

[Turned down offer, then school emailed back?]

To understate the situation, I'm a little surprised. Please tell me if this is normal. I'm new to the whole grad school app thing.

 

I applied to a bunch of schools this cycle and was fortunate enough to get some great offers. I picked one offer (haven't yet made it official) and sent nice emails to the other schools thanking them for the opportunity to study at their school and informing them that I was instead going with another offer.

 

After sending the notification (declining the offers), a couple of the schools emailed me back (one offering more money, the other wanting to 'review' my financial aid situation since I had turned down the offer before getting a funding decision). They will both be giving me a call next week.

 

Now, I am incredibly surprised to say the least. These are pretty good programs. I have applied to Masters programs and did not expect to get into half of them. My GREs are not 170s, my GPA isn't a 4.0, and I don't have that much work experience. Do you all have any idea why a grad school would do this? Is this normal? My theories were the following:

 

1) The schools are looking to make sure they get a good percentage of admitted students to actually attend their institution in order to maintain good stats for the admissions office.

 

2) They're looking to maintain diversity in their student profile. (I'm a minority.)

 

Any other ideas? Anybody else have experience with this? I am not seriously looking to change my graduate school decision, but I did at least want to hear out the other schools since they reached out to me.

 

Any and all feedback is very much appreciated. While I realize that this is a good problem to have (I'm not complaining!) I will say that it's overwhelming, to say the least. I'm not used to all this fuss.

[Duke MPP 2015 hopefuls..?]

I turned down my offer from Sanford and then got an email about it offering more funding and asking me to reconsider. Someone from admissions offered to give me a call to talk it over. Is this normal? I am a little surprised because my GPA is not a 4.0 and my GRE V and Q scores are not 170s. I don't have a lot of work experience. Do they regularly make a practice of putting special effort into trying to hold on to admitted students who are considering not enrolling?

 

I am just very surprised, since I was not expecting this reaction at all.

[HKS 2015]

I turned down my offer from HKS and then got an email about it asking me to reconsider. Someone from admissions offered to give me a call to talk it over. Is this normal? I was deciding not to accept the offer before recieving a funding decision since I had recieved feasible funding offers elsewhere and did not expect much funding from HKS.

[Pickering Fellowship]

Hey y'all,

 

I just wanted to leave my email address here and let you guys know if you want any tips or want to know more about how I prepped for my interview, I am more than happy to help. I am no expert at this, but I did succeed in getting a Rangel Fellowship (yaaay!), so I just wanted to reach out and pass on the knowledge.

 

I wish you guys the BEST OF LUCK as you prep for your interviews. If you're interested in hearing about my experience with the process, just hit me up at askenned (at) gmail.com

 

Suerte, chic@s,

Aja

[How old are you?]

25. I feel like I'm in the sweet spot where not-quite-fresh-out-of-undergrad (I graduated in 2012) meets not-yet-mid-career-professional. It definitely feels like the right time to go to grad school for me, I think. I'm also looking forward to having older classmates. I've got a lot to learn!

 

That being said, I'm 25 and I've still never held a real, full-time 'grown-up' job (I've been in the Peace Corps for the past two years), but hey--I'm okay with that. Although I don't have as much experience (especially technical experience) as other applicants my age and older, I do think my Peace Corps service has played a big role in helping me getting very positive responses from admissions committees. I think that after comparing myself to other applicants, I underestimated how much the experience I DO have would help my application's competitiveness.

[UC Berkeley Goldman MPP 2015]

Word to the waitlisted folks--I'm turning down my offer with the funding. Hopefully one of you guys can benefit from the new open slot and the new $$$ in the pot.

Good luck, all!

[HKS 2015]

Admitted for MPP but will be turning it down, so good luck to the wait listed candidates! There's a spot for you!

[Michigan Ford MPP]

Hi guys! I'll be emailing Ford tomorrow to turn down my offer, so hopefully that money can get kicked back to one of you guys and one of the wait listed candidates can get a shot at Ford.

Good luck to you all!

[WWS 2015]

I got in and I can't believe it. I'm going to cry.