zarin

Hi everyone! Would really appreciate any feedback on my profile and suggestions to make it stronger: Program: MA International Affairs/Development Schools (in order of preference): SIPA, SFS, SAIS, HKS (MPP), GW Elliott School, NYU Career goals: In the short term, working at an NGO to promote democracy through education in the Mediterranean/Middle East; long term, I'd like to get my PhD at some point and end up in either academia or doing research at a think tank. Trying to apply for programs that will broaden my undergrad degree somewhat, as I'm thinking I want to shift focus to Mediterranean/North Africa rather than just Middle East. Suggestions for other programs and schools that I should consider are very welcome. Undergrad: Undergrad MA in Arabic from the University of Edinburgh -- GPA roughly equivalent to 3.8 Age: 24 at entry (2 years out of undergrad) GRE: 155 quant, 166 verbal, 4.0 writing Published work: a couple of short (<1000 words) articles on Middle East politics Work experience: at time of entry, I'll have 1.5 years of experience writing grants/fundraising for a nonprofit in DC (not internationally-focused, though) and 2 years of experience managing and editing the foreign policy blog of a less well-known think tanks. Both positions carry a lot more responsibility than most get right out of undergrad but the first one is not directly relevant to international studies... Languages: Fluency in English, French and Arabic Time abroad: Lived and studied (high school and undergrad) in Edinburgh from 2009 -- 2014 except for 2012 which was spent studying in Cairo Quant experience: None SOP: Think it will be good. Planning to talk about my experience abroad and work experience post-undergrad. LOR: two from professors who know me/my work quite well (but aren't big names), one from the director of the think tank which will be very strong (though again, not a big name). Concerns: My biggest concern is my lack of quant -- literally haven't studied it since high school, since Scottish degrees don't require or even really allow taking maths/hard science as part of a humanities degree. Definitely should have taken an econ class over the summer but couldn't for various reasons and I don't think my GRE quant score is high enough to make up for the lack of classes in my undergrad. If I get a conditional acceptance from a school that has an econ prerequisite I'll be able to take classes over the spring and summer, but not before applying unfortunately. Second biggest concern is lack of prestigious foreign policy-related work experience/internships (how important is that?). I'm hoping my language skills and time overseas can help make up for that. Other: Last year I got accepted to GW and SAIS and waitlisted at SIPA (only applied to three schools), but I had a lot less work experience and didn't put enough effort into my SOP, so I think my app will be stronger this year. Same GRE scores. Thanks! 0