jcspc

Coming From: DC, Federal Government work for 3 years. Deciding Between: The University of Washington, Evans (MPA) - $0k Tufts Fletcher (MIB) - $10k per year Columbia SIPA (MPA - Econ/Political Development) - $0k Career Goals: I want to use my degree to pivot to development consulting (Dalberg/Big4 Consulting), CSR in a private company, or State Dept/USAID Innovation Lab - utilizing my federal tenure status. Other Factors: Significant other will be attending Columbia starting this fall Sentiment: I am very fortunate to be able to have gained admission into these top schools and am super grateful! I am also fortunate in that I will be able to afford each of these degrees regardless of scholarship size/amount. How I'm Leaning: I am so very torn as I have numerous friends who have gone to Fletcher and rave about it. However, I did my undergrad degree at a small school in Massachusetts and am intrigued by NYC. Both schools seem to have good career outcomes for their students, the question is which will have better inroads into the businesses I am interested in. Any advice?

Thanks to the both of you, first time around for me so I am thinking of the application season as a first go of it. Obviously, I want to make my application as strong as possible so getting those GRE's up is big. I've also thought about after PC going to work for a couple of years to really solidify myself. Additionally, I'll be relatively young once out of PC (25). With higher scores, in the upper 150's low 160's range how does this body of work look to you two?

Program: International Affairs/Development specifically Project Management/Consultancy Schools: SIPA, Fletcher, Georgetown MSFS, American SIS, GW GPA: 3.0 (Total) 3.3 (Major) Undergrad School: Upper-Tier Private Liberal Arts: Government+International Relations Major GRE Score: 150 Q 155 V Work: 2 Years Peace Corps Volunteer Internships: Start-up consultancy firm dealing in Pakistani/U.S business Languages: Moroccan Arabic--Full Working Proficiency, Spanish--Proficient Letters of Recommendation will be strong and from relevant professionals in the IR field. My main concern is with the GRE, If I retake the test and can hike up my scores how competitive do you think this makes my app. Any suggestions or comments are welcomed!