RH7

That's awesome. Congrats.

The World Bank and IMF aren't large NGOs, but yes the former would be interesting. Not exactly a dream job though.

Did it say YOU were recommended for admission, or was the email about upcoming funding opportunities with a note at the bottom saying "this email is intended for students who have been recommended for admission"? I was under the impression all applicants got the latter based on how many people on this forum received it the same day.

When did you apply? Are you a US applicant?

Mine was complete Jan 29. My GPPI one was complete just today. Some other schools completed my app ages ago. So I guess just wait until they get around to your application. It shouldn't really affect your entry. At this time of year, I'm pretty sure they review all the apps once they're ALL complete.

I don't know much about the MPA program but SPEA and Bloomington are great. I lived in Bloomington for 8 years. My dad also went/taught at SPEA. #2 overall can't be right. Maybe for some specializations, but definitely not overall. US News Rankings are generally crap.

What internship were you thinking of that pays 10k? I have friends interning in BB firms and don't even make 10k. I don't mean to pick on you, I just wanted to know what internships would pay 10k.

I applied in early December as well. It took about a month to get rejected for the MPA PP/M stream. I got a conditional offer for MPA ID about three weeks later. I'm surprised you haven't heard back. I know another friend who applied after me for a different program at LSE, and she got an offer two weeks ago... Anyway its probably down the pipe somewhere.

I submitted my application already (so can't do anything now), but I haven't really gauged what people in this field normally score. I only took it once because I wasn't serious about applying to the US until December. My scores are: Q:680 V:490 AW: 6.0 Just curious what people think of these scores for public policy (MPP) - is a high score even important for this program? You can see where I'm applying in my sig. Thanks

Even if they did give us longer breaks, it's still not a pure test of intelligence... I have yet to come across one in academia.

I'm at SOAS right now in my third year. I can't say much about cultural anthropology (if that's what you're applying for). As far as the School goes, as the previous poster mentioned, you really do grow intellectually and as a person if you take things seriously. I think I've far outstripped my friends at other top unis in terms of being able to articulate critically for just about any issue. A large part of that is probably a product of the School, but also because of the people in it. Plenty of intelligent/fun people, but plenty of retarded/overly politically correct/boring people, but I suppose that's everywhere. The School itself is physically crap. They're refurbishing the whole place, but that's going to be done in 2016 for some centennial grand re-opening of some sort. There is one post-grad hall (Paul Robeson House), which seems to be okay. But there are PLENTY of places, (albeit rather pricey) around central London. BTW the whole excessive pot-head on campus phase is pretty much over, but hey its still uni so you can't do too much about it...

I took the GRE once, and I got a 490 on my verbal. It's simple really, I had to do a MAJOR #2 somewhere after question 8. I can't really say that to admissions though can I?

That's probably one of the better MPA tracks available. But MPAs in LSE are actually pretty crap compared to programs in other departments, and compared to other MPA degrees elsewhere. It's one of those new programs that just toss a bunch of courses together, mostly from other departments to make an "MPA degree". Only about 7-10 LSE MPA students study in SIPA each year I read somewhere on the LSE website (or was it the SIPA website??), and I think you apply when you get there. I would go only if you have no other good offers. I applied in November for the Public Policy and Management as well as the International Development tracks. Was rejected from the first and got a conditional offer for the second. It's definitely my last choice. I only applied because I'm studying in London already and considered continuing my part-time job.