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Forever In Debt

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About Forever In Debt

  • Birthday 12/18/1990

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Not Telling
  • Location
    Los Angeles
  • Interests
    Encouraging folks to fund my kickstarter: http://kickstarter.com/HelpMeNeverWorkAgain
  • Application Season
    2016 Fall
  • Program
    MPA/MPP

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  1. I am currently a grad student at the University of Oregon in the PPPM department (Planning, Public Policy & Management) that houses the MPA program. I am actually in the planning department, but MPA program is tightly knit with us. 

    One thing that may be helpful to know is that our department here actually has an internship director that devotes all her time solely to graduate students . She is an amazing asset and can be as involved in your internship seeking/experience as much or as little as you want. You can also receive credit for internships and can apply for an "internship award" for unpaid internships is nonprofit/public sector; it is typically $500 (I think per term). 

    The department is very supportive and understands that most students are career oriented. From day one they emphasize the importance of internships and will connect you with resources to get the ones you need. 

    Feel free to ask me any more questions. 

  2. I want to second what everyone here has said already. I think what it really comes down to is what your career goals are and where you want to live. For example, I want to stay in the west coast and work for a local agency or city government. I think the local school in the area of where I want to live (Portland, Seattle, or the Bay Area) has a better alumni network than say an East Coast School (American, Georgetown, Columbia). Conversely, if I wanted to work in DC or for the Federal Government than I would be applying to the latter. I won't lie and say that prestige won't come into play when applying to jobs. For example, when I was reviewing applicants to our agency (a mid-sized nonprofit), my eyes pop whenever I saw UCLA as opposed to CSULA or a less prestigious school. Despite this though, applicants who had relevant work experience and great people skills got the job in the end. School prestige was a secondary factor. I can't speak to how other agencies operated but what was important to me was that the applicant had the aptitude for the job and felt like they would be a good fit with the team.
  3. What are your goals? Short term: Apply to a MPA/MPP school and gain a lot of experience/networking opportunities through my internships. I hope to stay or move back to the west coast and work as either a budget analyst in the city manager's office or as a line staff supervisor at a nonprofit. Also, I'm hoping my fiance will be cool with the idea of me not working for two years. Long term: I would like to be an administrator for the city or a socioeconomic nonprofit. I am also invested in the idea that I will stumble upon a mysterious bag filled with a lot of money in an abandoned parking lot OR I turn out to be the sole heir to an infamous Filipino business tycoon. What programs best fit your passions / desires / plans and why? Well per my signature I would be happy if I get accepted to any of the schools in my signature. What's important to me is funding, internship opportunities, and location. I can live with myself if I'm accepted to a more quant heavy program (GSPP, FSPP). I'm hoping to stay in the area where I will be graduating. Otherwise we'll be moving to Portland or Seattle because I really like gourmet food, artisan coffee, and craft beer (hipster this, hipster that) and I really don't want to live in Los Angeles anymore. As far as fit is concerned it would probably be a toss up between Portland, Oregon, and Washington Evans as those programs are not as quant heavy and are in cities where we want to end up anyway. What have you done up to this point to narrow down your choices? Ask my fiance if this school was cool with her and she verifies this by saying "yes" or gives me a scathing look implying "no I will not move that far away unless you get a boat load of money from them so think again mister." All jokes aside I have been browsing Cafegrad, pestering my seniors on their grad school decisions, and researching schools non-stop for the past three years.
  4. Program Applied To (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.): MPA/MPP Schools Applying To: UC Berkeley MPP, Portland State MPA, U Washington MPA, U Michigan MPP, U Oregon MPA Undergraduate institution: Low ranked CSU Undergraduate GPA: Overall 3.5. Last two years was around 3.7. Undergraduate Majors: English, Minor in ESL GRE: In the process of studying. I'm scoring low in quant and OK on verbal. Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): By the end of the application cycle, 3 years. Years of Work Experience: 3 years. I got lucky and worked immediately after my undergrad. Describe Relevant Work Experience: By the end of the application cycle I will have worked 3 years at a mental health nonprofit. My first year was as a program assistant, one year as a case manager, and my last year will be as a supervisor managing a pilot program for foster youth. We are contracted by DCFS so I'm always in collaboration with county workers. Languages: English. Some Spanish and Tagalog but not enough to brag about in a resume. Quant: I'm math deficient. All I have in my transcript is a Math for English Majors and an Intro Stats class. I got an A and C respectively. Strength of SOP: I haven't put much thought into it yet but I will probably talk about my varying experiences working in the field, organizing events for the community, and as a manager. I'll probably draw from my own experience of living in a single family household in a lower socioecomic neighborhood and draw parallels to the clients we serve. I understand that I should not make it a sob story but help admissions understand where I'm coming from and why I'm committed to this field. Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): Two of the letters will come from managers I work with at my organization who supervised me. They both have MSW's and I have pretty good relationships with both of them. The third letter will come from a professor who I took two classes with. One thing I’m worried about is that she is from the Communications department (different major) and only has a master’s degree. Regardless I had a pretty good relationship with her as well. Other: By the end of the application period I will have two years volunteering at a suicide hotline, three years for the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books as an area captain, and one year volunteering for the agency I work for now when I was in my undergrad. Thoughts? I'm realistic. My work experience and GPA is decent but I'm worried about my GRE scores, my lack of math courses taken, and my lower ranked UG (that I love by the way). Ultimately, my goal is to either be a city manager for a large city on the west coast or an executive director at a socioeconomic nonprofit. I'm primarily interested in the implementation of policy in social welfare, poverty, education and mental health services. I'm limited to the west coast but my fiance is open to me applying to east coast schools. This is contingent on whether or not I receive substantial funding. I know WWS is probably out of my reach but I'm willing to cross my fingers. I'm contemplating opting out of this application period and just apply for the 2017 school year but I'm eager to leave Los Angeles (born and raised but I really need a change of scenery). Also, I'm planning on taking a couple of economics classes and hopefully calculus but I'm not holding my breath. Any feedback would be great as I'm agonizing over the flaws in my application. Brutually honest responses are welcomed!
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