samj2

Program Applied To: MPA, MPP, MAIA Schools Applied To: JHU SAIS, UW Evans, University of Chicago Harris Schools Admitted To: All Schools Rejected From: N/A Still Waiting: N/A Undergraduate institution: University of Washington Undergraduate GPA: 3.54 Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): Undergraduate Major: Business GRE Quantitative Score: 153 GRE Verbal Score: 151 GRE AW Score: 4.5 Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): N/A (still in undergrad) Years of Work Experience: internships in summer and part-time job during school year. Describe Relevant Work Experience: internship with federal government in DC with guaranteed position after graduation. Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): Strong. Writing personal essays has always been my strong suit. I'm good at vividly expressing my motivations and drawing off of personal stories. Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): Strong. One coworker, one career FSO, and one professor that I studied abroad under and took multiple classes. They sent me copies so I got to read them and they were all really well written and made strong cases for me. Other: I am still in total shock that I was accepted to all three schools. I had already started planning out the idea that I would be stuck in Seattle at UW because I thought I was a guaranteed rejection for the other two schools because of a low GRE score (I only took it once during a stressful time in my life and didn't have enough time before deadlines to re-take) and a lack of work experience to balance that out. My internship was very relevant to each of these programs though and a guaranteed position after I graduate from grad school helped show that I would immediately use my degree after completion of any of these programs. Let this be a beacon of hope to others who think they don't have enough work experience or have a low GRE score- I basically have both of those but my LOR's and my SOP saved my application from going to the trash (that's what I think anyway).