ajak568

I applied for Pickering. Anybody else also apply for Rangel? Interview decisions should go out in about a week. Pickering announcements shouldn't be too far afterward, I'd imagine.

WAITING! Top Choices 1. Princeton WWS MPA - Long shot, to say the least. Would be a dream. 2. U Michigan FSPP MPP - I stand a good shot here. Really hoping for some funding. (I hear they like RPCVs. Fingers crossed!) I also applied to Duke Sanford school, and if I get funding there, I would go, happily. At this point (before admissions decisions), those are the schools I'm really paying attention to. I also applied Harvard HKS MPP, UC Berkeley GSPP MPP and Syracuse Maxwell MPA, but I doubt I would realistically end up at any of those schools (C.R.E.A.M.). I have NO IDEA how these admissions decisions are going to turn out. All I can do is sit back and troll the internet for the next month while admissions officers are reading my personal statements and recommendations. . . Good luck to all you beautiful people. I hope you all get offered loads of fellowships and get into the school of your dreams. Aja

Hello, everybody! Quick question about submitting GRE Scores. Read this from HKS's admissions page and tell me what you think it means: All applicants to the following programs are required to submit scores from the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) or Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT), even if an advanced degree has been earned. GRE or GMAT scores must be less than five years old as of the admission application deadline. We do not accept/require GRE subject tests, we only review the general test. Master in Public Policy (MPP) Master in Public Administration/International Development (MPA/ID) Master in Public Administration (MPA2) Mid-Career Master in Public Administration Applicants need to self-report test scores on the online application for admission. If admitted, applicants will be required to have official test scores sent directly from the testing service to HKS. Be sure to allow at least 10 business days to register, sit for the exam, and obtain your official scores prior to the admissions deadline. So. . .does this mean I can self-report scores and then await an admissions decision without taking the gamble of spending my $27 to send my official scores to Harvard beforehand? Thanks, y'all. Aja

Hey y'all! I wanted to post, too, to get some feedback. I think I could get in some places, but I don't know if that's false confidence. Whaddya you guys think? What are my odds? ALL criticism is more than welcome, people. I want to get into a good policy analysis program that can give me a strong international focus. My dream is to get into the Foreign Service after completing an MPP/MPA. I'll also be applying for a Pickering. (Think I could be competitive for that? Any of you guys have ANY IDEA how competitive it is to get a Pickering?) If there are schools that I missed that would also fit well with the program I just loosely described, please give me shout and let me know! Good luck to all of you! Applying for Fall 2015 to: Goldman MPP (UC Berkeley, top choice), Ford MPP (UMichigan, I would also be very happy here), Maxwell (Syracuse, MPA), WWS (Princeton MPA), Harvard (HKS MPP) Undergrad: UNC Chapel Hill 2012 Major/GPA: Spanish/International Studies double major, Chinese minor GPA: 3.54 (distinction) GRE: Verb- 163 (91%) Quant- 161 (83%) Writing- 5.5 (96%) Languages: Spanish (fluent, advanced), Mandarin Chinese (intermediate) International Experience: Southeast Asia (study abroad Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Summer 2009), Spain (study abroad, Spring 2010), China (study abroad summer 2011), Panama (Peace Corps 2013-present) Coursework: I've taken coursework in single and multi-variable calculus (back in the day as an undergrad), statistics (even longer ago. . .but I got college credit for it and it's on my transcript so it counts, right?) and economics (intro, calc based micro, international, developmental). And, ya know. . .international studies type classes that are less technical and maybe less relevant to mention here. I've also been taking some online calc and macroecon policy courses to brush up since I've been in Peace Corps and haven't been using my academic brain as much. Work experience: Really my only relevant experience would be my current Peace Corps service (I'm mid-service, one year under my belt, will have finished my second year before my degree program would start). I'm an Education Volunteer in Panama and I'm also involved in several gender/women's/youth development initiatives and HIV/AIDS awareness activities. Nothing too technical, but I'll be trying to sell it for all it's worth in my SOP! SOP/Personal Statement: Working on these. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to mention to you all here. I want to be an FSO. I also have interests in education policy and immigration policy (more or less in that order). More than anything, like I said earlier, I want a program that is strong in policy analysis, has an international focus, and is very practicum-based rather than theory/thesis-writing focused. I gotta little bit of a sob story about some obstacles I've overcome, but I don't want my personal statement to sound like a sob story, so if you have tips on how to strike that balance, please let me know! Recommendations: *Pretty well-known political science professor from my undergrad days. I haven't talked to him in about a year, but he knows me pretty well and we've had a relationship all throughout undergrad, so I'm confident I could get a pretty good recommendation from him. I'm thinking this recommendation could speak to my academic merits. *A pretty senior Peace Corps staff member here in the office in Panama. My idea for this recommendation is to have a rec that speaks to my work experience. *A staff member at Community School of the Arts, where I was once a student and have been volunteering for years ever since. There's a program director there that jokingly calls my sisters and I her daughters, so I'm wondering if that relationship may be too familial for a good recommendation? My idea with this recommendation was to get a rec that speaks to my committment to public service. Alright y'all. Thanks for reading my novel of stats, here. Any advice you all have would be more than welcome. If there's anybody that's up for trading personal statements and statements of purpose, I am always looking to peer-edit. I'd like to get some feedback before my essays hit the desk in admissions at Berkeley and Michigan, so I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine. Paz y amor, chic@s! Aja