Damis

Undergrad  - U.S. Coast Guard Academy
GPA/Major - 2.69/Public Policy
Quant Experience - Calculus I, Calculus II, Statistics, Macroeconomics, Statics and Engineering Design, Intro to Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ships and Maritime Systems (Naval Architecture intro class), Physics I,  and Physics II
GRE - 158Q/162V
Foreign Language - Native Korean speaker
Interested in - HKS, SIPA, and Yale's Jackson Institute.
Work Experience 
- Four and a half years as a Coast Guard Officer doing the following jobs:
 - Responsible to the Commanding Officer for the safe navigation and operation of the cutter; supervised a 7 person watch. Conned ship for 180 days of deployment at sea (Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and the Bering Sea)
- Intelligence Officer onboard U.S. Coast Guard Cutter: Supervised all deployment evolutions from the cutter's operations center, 11 subordinates, and responsible for the maintenance and accountability of 100+ U.S. classified materials and documents. Managed $10,000+ budget.
- Marine Inspector: Conducts safety, environmental, engineering, and security inspections on U.S. & Foreign Flag vessels (Chinese, Russian, Panama, Greek, Filipino, Korean, and many more) in U.S. waters.  Determines Compliance with U.S. and international laws, regulations, and policies. Inspects structural strength, engineering, resistance to flooding, navigation, lifesaving & firefighting systems. Extensive study and expertise in international and domestic safety and security regulations, laws, and policies. 
- Korean language translator: Translated for high seas fisheries inspections at sea, enforced international fisheries regulations and laws, gathered valuable foreign fisheries practices.
- Executive Assistant - Responsible and coordinated Commanding Officer’s and Executive Officer’s schedule, plan of the day, & administration tasks. Managed daily schedule for the entire ship served as a bridge between the command and the rest of ship. Audited and managed $2000 budget.
- Public Affairs Officer - Responsible for drafting press releases, photography, and overall media relations for the Coast Guard unit and the local and national media. 
Volunteer - Active participant in Big Brothers and Big Sisters Program, Partnership in Education
I'm well aware of my poor GPA. I have 3 years of full funding through the GI Bill and I have enough money saved up. So I will attend any of these schools with no scholarships or funding.
Here are my concerns and questions.
1. Is it worth it for me to even apply due to my GPA?
2. Should I retake the GRE? I'm not satisfied with my quant score and I lack the quant experience because my grades in the classes I mentioned above are not that great.
3. How can I improve my chances besides re taking the GRE?
4. Should I take a Microeconomics class?
Thank you all so much for your help.
 

quietman, I've been reading your posts here for the past year or so, and I'm registering an account for the first time to give you some advice that I hope you will heed. If you have your heart set on HKS - and it very much seems you do - you will need to retake the GRE and get a higher quant score. You will not be admitted with a 155 quant score, full stop. I know this runs contrary to much of the advice you have gotten above, and may even seem mean-spirited and deliberately disheartening, but I'm telling you the truth with the hope you'll save yourself a lot of trouble down the line, and furthermore, I am in a position to know the veracity of my statements.
Here's a dirty little secret about admissions at the very top programs, e.g. WWS and HKS: they toss most applications with sub-70% GRE quant scores unless the applicant has a major offset (minority applicant, incredible life story, CEO of their own successful company, military, etc.). They look askance on applications in the 70%-75% percentiles, as well. Above 75% you're probably fine, and above 80% they're looking at other parts of your application. If you really want to go to HKS, you'll want to pull at least a 160 on your GRE retake.
Now, if you call the admissions office at HKS right now and ask them, they'll tell you they take a holistic approach and that no one factor is responsible for an applicant being admitted or denied. Hogwash. Quant scores are a huge factor in rejections, and rightfully so: they are an easily readable metric that all aspiring applicants present, and they correlate relatively well with future success in grad school and down the road. Low quant is an application killer, doubly so if you're just a run-of-the-mill candidate with a high GPA/verbal GRE combo, of which there are many.
I should note here that it wasn't always this way, that five years ago you may have been able to swing this. But the times have changed. HKS is more selective than ever, and they're not rolling out the red carpet for sub-70% quants.
Your strategy of taking supplemental quant coursework, while not terrible and probably a good idea on its own merit, will not overcome your 155 Q. You will be rejected again by HKS, and will have wasted two years of your life trying to get into Harvard. Instead of spending thousands on statistics and econ classes, you would be infinitely better served by bumping your GRE score five points. Until then, that 155 is the kiss of death to your Harvard dreams.
That's the bad news. The good news, and you should really take this to heart, is that you can easily get a 160+ on your GRE. Seriously, it's not that difficult, especially for someone capable of getting a 99% score on the much harder LSAT. Five measly points comprised of high school level geometry and algebra and some number theory questions are all that stand between you and a successful HKS application (assuming the rest of your app is up to snuff). I find it almost inconceivable someone who could get admitted to HLS can't get into HKS if they put their mind to it; I am completely certain of your ability to get into HKS if you're willing to put the time into the GRE like you did the LSAT. Your problem is you've psyched yourself into believing you can't crack the GRE quant, when in reality you could have probably already retaken and gotten a 160+ by now. Logic games are harder than 99% of all GRE quant questions, and you did pretty well on those, yes?
I'm not writing all this to discourage, merely to tell you how things are. I'd hate to see you waste yet another year taking supplemental courses, only to be crushed when you get rejected again. You're completely capable of going to HKS, but it's not happening with a 155 quant score on your GRE, no matter how many As in stats/econ/calc courses you stack up in the mean time. You have to believe in yourself, and should be very encouraged by your LSAT score.
Who am I? How do I know all this? I have a personal relationship with a member of the HKS admissions council. Everything I've written above came directly from the horse's mouth, inasmuch as the horse can speak unofficially. I've seen how the sausage is made at these elite schools, and I simply can't stand idly by and watch you waste your considerable talents on a fool's errand. Take the time, do it right, get the 160+ Q on your GRE, and enjoy your time at HKS.
Final thought: you don't have to believe me. I could just be some random guy making stuff up on the Internet. Maybe you will be the extreme exception to the rule, and get admitted to HKS with a sub-70% quant score. The odds of this, however, are not in your favor. I sincerely hope you do believe me and take this message to heart. You're totally capable of attending HKS, but you'll need a better score.
Good luck.

This may be considered a little early, but I wanted to start the 2017 application profile thread, so here it is! I'm copying the 2016 thread for consistency. Use the following templates to enter your information, before and after you obtain your results, and remember to submit your results at the end of the cycle for posterity and to help the next cohort of applicants HERE.
You can find the threads by clicking on the year.
2016: http://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/67840-2016-applicant-profiles-and-admissions-results/?page=1
 
Undergrad Institution: (School or type of school, such as big state, lib arts, ivy, technical, foreign (what country?)... Overall Reputation in Biology?)
Major(s):
Minor(s):
GPA in Major:
Overall GPA:
Position in Class: (No numbers needed, but are you top? near top? average? struggling?)
Type of Student: (Domestic/International, male/female, minority?)

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q:
V:
W:
B:


TOEFL Total: (if applicable, otherwise delete this)

Research Experience: (At your school or elsewhere? What field? How much time? Any publications (Mth author out of N?) or conference talks etc...)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Within your school or outside?)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (Such as tutor, TA, SPS officer etc...)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...)

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where:

School - Department - Research Interest
School - Department - Research Interest
School - Department - Research Interest

Understandably, Gradcafe is dominated by MPA candidates. Wanted to record some lessons for any future mid-career MPA and MPP applicants looking for tips - as there are some differences. 
Program Applied To: MPP/MA
Schools Applied To: WWS MPP, Fletcher MA, SAIS MIPP (also considered but excluded Yale, SIPA, Berkeley Goldman) 
Schools Admitted To: WWS (full funding + stipend), Fletcher (14K fellowship), SAIS (no funding offered to MIPPers)
Schools Rejected From: None
Still Waiting: None
Undergraduate institution: Top international university
Undergraduate GPA: No GPAs in my undergrad (estimate about a 3.7?)
Undergraduate Major: Geography/Political Sciences
GRE Quantitative Score: 153
GRE Verbal Score: 170
GRE AW Score: 5.0
Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 10
Years of Work Experience: 10 (7 in Diplomatic Service) 
Describe Relevant Work Experience: Two years in not-for-profit sector doing communications and public relations work, 7 years in Diplomatic Service specialising on conflict issues. 2 overseas placements, including in conflict environments.
Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): A very simple, clear narrative of my professional interests and achievements, detailing how I wished to supplement my practical experience with study, and make useful professional contacts in the future. I was also clear about why I was applying to each university. I bounced my drafts off friends and colleagues which helped me to improve the structure and drafting. 
Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): Strong - I only used colleagues (my boss, a colleague from a past role, and my deputy head of department) who wrote detailed references which complimented my SOPs with lots of evidence. 
Final thoughts: Going to WWS - which was my top choice. I really wanted to attend a smaller, more intimate and personable school. And of course the financial support is incredible and makes it much easier to take time out of my career. 
Lessons learned 
- If you're mid-career, I really think that GRE scores/quant prerequisites count for A LOT less than the gradcafe prevailing narrative. I almost let my atrocious quant background put me off applying - I'm glad I didn't. My GRE quant score was poor and I haven't studied maths/stats/econ in any meaningful way since I was 16. But it's not my background and not where I'm planning to take my career. I think that the Adcomms understood that my other prerequisites were very strong. 
- LoRs for mid-career applicants do not have to be academic. I had lost contact with my university professors and worried that they wouldn't be able to produce a glowing American-style reference. I took a risk and used exclusively professional referees and it didn't hurt me at all. I went even further and got my close colleagues (rather than senior staff at my work) to craft my LoRs. This way I had a bunch of referees that really understood my background and motivation, who were willing to craft LoRs that complimented my SOP and draw out different aspects of my strengths, and were willing to put in some extra effort to get the letters ready to tight deadlines . I'm really glad I plumped for this approach. 
- Related to the above - do be more organised than I was! Though I'd been considering grad school on and off for ages I made a last minute decision to apply (mid Oct) and really had to scramble to get my info together. I only had a few weeks to prep for the GRE and it showed in my quant score! I missed some of the early deadline programs eg HKS because I didn't have my GRE in time. 
- Don't apply for loads of programmes. If you're clear about what you want (for me a full time 1 year programme with a strong international focus and cohort, and funding) you should be focused in your applications. I shouldn't have applied to SAIS, who don't offer any financial support at all to MIPP students. That was a bit of a waste of time and money. Pulling applications together is, frankly, exhausting! 
- SOPs don't need to be really inspirational hollywood-style stories of how you've overcome adversity . I was nervous, coming from a culture which is a lot more embarrassed about selling yourself than the US, about how to present my strengths. But all that is needed is a clear narrative about what you've achieved so far and what you want to achieve, explaining how a masters qualification will help you. Be authentic and be honest about your interests. And leave plenty of time to craft this narrative and ask others for comments.
Good luck to those applying next year, try not to be too intimidated by the application process! And don't be overinfluenced by the prevailing gradcafe winds - much of the advice is useful but you are best placed to make decisions about your future! 

I don't think schools care if the courses are online or in-person as long as the course content is the same, but I know some schools don't count courses that don't have a grade. Auditing probably isn't the way to go.

Created an account just so I can chime in here because this is something I've heavily researched. Firstly, I highly advise you to read the PSLF FAQs from the actual federal government student aid website (link here). I'm starting grad school in the fall, but I'm hoping to work in the non-profit sector or the federal government after graduation, so naturally PSLF is something I hope to benefit from. I too am concerned that it might eventually get cut from the federal budget, but until that actually occurs, I'm planning on participating in this program. That doesn't mean I won't be applying for external scholarships or other forms of funding, but it's still in the back of my mind. 
@MAPLE90, those international organizations you mentioned DO NOT qualify under PSLF (see question 40 in the PSLF FAQs). I was heartbroken myself when I read that, but bear in mind that you qualify for PSLF after 120 payments made while working for a qualifying entity and those 120 payments don't need to be consecutive. In other words, you can work for a qualifying company for a few years and make progress towards loan forgiveness, then work for the UN for a bit, then go back to a qualifying company and your initial progress doesn't get lost--you just won't be progressing during your time at the UN or whatever int'l org you're hypothetically at. 
In regards to tax exemption, if you do manage to have your loans forgiven under PSLF, the forgiven amount IS NOT taxable income! See question 3 in the PSLF FAQs. Under your normal loan repayment programs (PAYE, REPAYE, ICR, etc), if you reach 20 or 25 years and your remaining debt is forgiven, that does get taxed. Check out this page for more details on that. 

Haha not sure how much I can help since I think a lot of it depends on what you're interested in and since I'm not actually a student in either program. But my 2 cents on the issues you raised on prestige, quant rigor, and placements:
In terms of prestige, I'd say overall Sanford wins in most of the country/world. However, if you're talking specifically about DC and how people perceive the two, it'd be about even. I think as a general rule, it's hard to beat the name recognition of the local school. So, where would you ideally work and live after graduation? Quant rigor: as far as I'm aware, McCourt is among the most quant heavy programs out there. I went through the public policy undergrad major at Sanford and didn't apply to the MPP (nothing on Sanford - I just wanted a change), so I don't know much about the MPP curriculum. But if it's anything like the undergrad major, there are a few quant courses, but it's not quant heavy unless you seek it out. Placements: if you are staying within the US, you'll probably be fine either way. You'll definitely have a slight advantage in DC just because it's so much easier to grab coffee with prospective employers because you're here vs. when you're in Durham. However, you'll definitely also be fine with placements if you're at Sanford - you'll just have to work a bit harder for it. I noticed that was a challenge when applying for jobs out of undergrad. But if you are interested in being in DC after graduation, the Duke alumni network here in DC is huuuuge. However, as you might imagine, I've also run into plenty of Georgetown affiliates and I think just going to McCourt gets you in with the broader Georgetown network (as going to Sanford can help you with the broader Duke network). Outside of DC, I'm less sure of placement potential and would suggest looking at placement stats. But again, what are you actually interested in? While I may not know much about the MPP curriculum at Sanford, I do have a pretty good idea of what focus areas Sanford is and isn't good for since I interacted with all the same faculty the MPP students will interact with, took MPP electives at Sanford, and took classes across Duke University.
One thing to remember, though, is that your overall career trajectory isn't determined by where you went to school so much as what you do after. So if you get a really great job immediately after graduation, you'll be much better placed to get a fantastic job after that regardless of where you went to school. So in my mind, among the biggest factors to consider after debt is job placement in the specific positions within the organizations I'm interested in.
Another really helpful thing is to just go through the course offerings in each program. Which one has more classes you're really excited about? Often, I think the general feel of the classes gives a good sense of what might be a better programmatic fit.
If you remain unsure, a final piece of advice I got a lot that I'll pass on to you is to think about where you want to actually live for two (or more) years. By the time you're in grad school, you may be at a point in your life where you truly care about whether you're in a city or a smaller town and what the overall vibe is like. I lived in Durham for four years and absolutely loved it and would go back in a heartbeat. But I've lived in DC for three now and absolutely love it here as well and am thrilled to continue being here for at least two more years. Additionally, many programs have the best placement in the area where they are located for obvious reasons. So if it came down to it, where would you want to be going forward? For many state and local issues, Durham and the Triangle more broadly are really fantastic. For international issues (except global health - Duke and the Triangle in general are actually pretty high up there for global health issues), DC is the obvious place. Obviously, all this is voided if your goal is to work elsewhere in the US or internationally, though. In that case, just focus on where you want to be for 2 years!
Best of luck to you! And again, if you want more thoughts on Durham life, let me know. While I can't speak to the MPP curriculum at Sanford, Durham and Duke more broadly as well as life in DC are definitely things I can speak to  And if it was any program but Sanford, I'd end this by saying that I hope to see you in the fall, but I know first-hand that Sanford and Duke in general is pretty fantastic and definitely a great choice!

Accidentally hid my old post--hope this is helpful to folks in the future!
Program Applied To: MPP/MA/MPA

Schools Applied To: HKS, Yale, WWS, Georgetown (SSP), SAIS

Schools Admitted To: Yale (full funding + stipend), SAIS (20K fellowship), Georgetown (50% fellowship)

Schools Rejected From: WWS

Still Waiting: HKS (but removed myself from the waitlist)

Undergraduate institution: Top Public School

Undergraduate GPA: 3.90

Undergraduate Major: Double in Foreign Affairs & Political Philosophy, Policy, and Law

GRE Quantitative Score: 162

GRE Verbal Score: 168

GRE AW Score: 6.0

Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 2

Years of Work Experience: 2

Describe Relevant Work Experience: Two years at the Department of Justice, working on data analysis, courtroom litigation support, policy writing. I worked specifically in health care fraud and securities fraud.

Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): I felt good about them--several drafts later, I ended up with a discussion of how my interest in international security paralleled my interest in theater--both require you to keep one foot in reality, and continually say "yes" to every opportunity.

Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): The two I read were strong (my boss at DOJ and a law professor/mentor), and the other I felt good about as well (State Director for a Senator I interned for).

Final thoughts: Yale was my top choice, and it's where I'll be attending. The process was incredibly stressful, and I wasn't sure how the results would shake out, but I was incredibly lucky. Best wishes to everyone!


 

I've spent so much time on this forum in the past year-plus. I can't imagine having tried to navigate this process without all the years of info here. Hope this helps to pay it forward just a bit!
Undergraduate School (Name, type, or tier): Top LAC
Undergraduate GPA: 3.64
GRE Scores:  165 V / 163 Q / 5.5 AW
Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 6 years out of undergrad. I spent the first three years working as a practicing artist and then transitioned into working in arts/service nonprofits.
Math/Econ Background: Because I went to a liberal arts school with very loose division requirements, I fulfilled my undergrad quant requirements by taking things like "Chemistry of Tropical Diseases"... which seemed very clever at the time but not so impressive on MPA/MPP apps. Starting the spring before app season, I took Statistics, Microeconomics, and Macroeconomics through UCLA's Online Extension.
Foreign Language Background: One of my undergrad majors was a foreign language. I also studied abroad in a language-immersion program and did an extra Middlebury language-pledge summer program, though I haven't done much with it past my first job.
Intended Field of Study in Grad School: Urban/Social Policy
Long Term Professional Goals: Working at a grant-making foundation, nonprofit, or local level of government. 
Schools Applied to & Results: 
Princeton WWS MPA – full tuition + stipend Harvard KSG MPP – $52k/yr fellowship Columbia SIPA MPA – $30k/yr fellowship NYU Wagner MPA – accepted, no funding Carnegie Mellon Heinz MSPPM – 90% tuition fellowship + work study USC Price MPP – full tuition fellowship U Penn SP2 MSSP + Data Analytics – $8k/yr Ultimate Decision & Why: WWS was my first choice program, and funding was a huge thing for me. Once I got in there, I knew my decision was pretty much made, which I know is very lucky.
Advice for Future Applicants: 
This forum is an incredible resource, so use it! Read back through the decision/wrap-up threads, read back through the school specific threads, read everything, even if it's years old. It's not only a great way to get a better sense of which programs might be a good fit, but also to find out which programs are going to give you funding. Neither CMU or USC had really been on my radar before, but they seemed to offer pretty consistent, generous funding, which was a big part of why I applied there. Reading back through this forum also helped me find the cheapest option for taking the quant classes I needed. There's also a good amount of current/past students who are still active on this board, and they do a great job of not just giving inside info on their programs, but also bringing a realistic perspective on what it can be like to take on a huge amount of debt for grad school. That said, take things with a grain of salt on Grad Cafe, especially when it comes to prestige. Not that things like reputation or alumni networks aren't important (they definitely are), but GC can get a little echo-chambery about the importance and prestige of certain programs that just does not always seem to be born out by in person visits or conversations with current students. Given how expensive a lot of these programs are and how stingy the fancy ones can be with aid, this is a big deal! It's easy to get swept up in how a program is talked about on GC, but definitely cross check that anecdotal reputation against employment stats of recent grads, how well-served by the program current students feel, and campus visits, if you can.  Try to look at your application holistically as an Ad Com would. This will help you see gaps you might have that you can close before you apply or at least address in your application. By the time you get to applying, it's a little late to significantly change your undergrad performance or work experience, but you still have the power to think strategically for how you present yourself in other areas. For example, I knew my test scores and academic background might get me through a first read, but that because I was coming from a pretty unconventional background for MPA/MPP programs, there was going to be a much higher burden of proof on my SOPs to answer the obvious questions of "how does this connect?" and "I'm sorry... why do you want to do this again?" Similarly, I took my 3 quant classes not only because it would help prove I was up to the math/econ work, but because it would also underscore that I was serious about changing careers. START EARLY, START EARLY, START EARLY. Lord, there is not enough caps lock in all the world to underscore enough how much I mean this. I decided to apply to MPA programs in November 2014, freaked out about whether I should scramble to send in an app to NYU in the next 2 weeks, ultimately decided against it, and I am so grateful that I took the long approach. My timeline ended up looking like this: January-March: researched possible programs; April - August: took quant classes (and tutored outside of my office job in order to pay for them); September-December: almost exclusively SOP writing. I had already taken my GREs back in 2011, in a rare fit of post-grad responsibility, which was lucky. I didn't get a chance to visit every campus, but I those programs I didn't visit in person, I sought out at the Idealist NYC grad fair, followed up with, and then set up half hour phone conversations with either current students or faculty. Again, I knew a lot of weight was going to rest on my SOPs, so working on those was basically all I did evenings and weekends for 4 months (note: I was very fun and popular during this time). But I think it genuinely took that long for me to find a narrative for myself that really worked and then to fine tune the writing. Also, it was helpful to have rough drafts early, because when my LOR writers asked for an idea of what I'd been up to and what I wanted to do, I could let them get an idea of how I was presenting myself. Remember that at the end of the day, you are the greatest expert on what you want. Sometimes it won't feel like that's the case, and it sounds corny as heck, but it is true. Get as much information as you can, but when it comes time to make the best decision for you and your situation, there's really not much the internet can do. Go with your gut!

Thank you for that answer, SenNoodle. 
I have heard great things about SAIS, and going through these pages and other threads, I have not come across too many negative comments about SAIS.
But, I am thinking of getting swayed by HKS prestige and all, esp since I plan to return to my home country after getting working for a few years in the US post graduation.

2015 SAIS grad here. Yes, 100k in debt IS insane.
I have about half that and still feel very stressed by my loan payment every month, even though I'm making just at the median private sector salary that SAIS publishes and got a job shortly after graduation, which I happen to enjoy greatly (i.e. I'm not itching to get out but feeling trapped b/c of my debt). I'm also a single 20-something with no kids and have a good family safety net. Alter any of those factors and the situation could be unmanageable. As it is, there's almost nothing left each month after I pay my rent (I live with roommates in a non-luxury apartment, btw), my loan payment, my basic bills, make a 401k contribution, and occasionally pay for a plane ticket to go to a friend's wedding or visit family during the holidays. 
I remember reading this thread and other similar ones when I was applying for the fall 2013 cycle. The warnings of other posters about the burdens of debt made a big impact on me and I'm so glad that they did,  because I have many friends who took on 6-figure loans without thinking too carefully and I don't envy any of their positions right now. DC is a very pricey city if you're not already aware of that (it's a feat to pay less than $1000/month rent even with roommates), and while a lot of these IBR/deferral/forbearance/PSLF/whatever schemes can make the short-term situation bearable, when a massive tax bill comes due 10-25 years down the road it might not seem like such a brilliant idea after all. 
I really, really would advise you not to take out massive debts based on any of the following:
1) Getting your dream job right after graduation 
2) Getting that rare, super hard-to-get consulting/MBA-lite job
3) Somehow not caring about living with roommates until you're 35 because IR is your PASSION (caveat being that I know there are a few people who really don't care, but you're probably not one of them)
4) Having all your debt forgiven by the government
 

Kb6, just read all the posts on this thread. this was incredibly helpful. i am hoping you will be able to answer my questions too.
I am (luckily) faced with making a decision amongst a few top schools, the gist of which is as follows:
Harvard MPP - no funding - will cost $75k/year (incl living)
Tufts MALD - 32k annual waiver - will cost 30k/year (incl living)
Carnegie Mellon MSPPM - 29k annual waiver - will cost 28k/year (incl living)
Duke MPP - 10k annual waiver - will cost 49k/year (incl living) - i am yet to hear from them regarding a revised funding offer
SAIS MA (IDEV) - 30k annual waiver - will cost 33k/ year (incl living)
I would be utterly grateful if you (and others on this forum) could please:   1. tell me which one out of my offers you guys would advise me to go to, keeping in mind the prestige of the school and job prospects.    2. tell me if you feel whether my chances of employment and earnings for entry level jobs in multilateral development organizations or research institutes would be significantly higher if I were to graduate from Harvard. Essentially, would this income differential justify the additional initial investment for Harvard (assuming i can foot the entire bill for HKS)?   3. Is SAIS the top school in the DC area? How does the MPP offered by the McCourt School at Georgetown compare this program with the MA program offered by SAIS, in terms of placements of graduates, quantitative rigor of coursework and research opportunities available to students.   4. I am told that SAIS isa feeder for the World Bank (which is where I would like to end up after graduating). Could you tell me what percentage of students at SAIS end up with jobs at the WB, and how many of t hem land consultancies while studying at SAIS?

Hi friends! I am an American currently heading toward the end of my second semester at Hertie. Since I have found the GradForum cafes very helpful for different parts of my life (first Fulbright, then grad school), just thought I would post in case I can offer any helpful insight to any of you.
Cheers!

Let me preface this by saying I didn't down-vote you...

...but that argument is pretty weak. You acknowledge that taking on a massive debt load to jump-start a career with poor ROI (no matter how personally rewarding one may find it) will make your life harder and close off many life doors, but assert that if it's "really what you want" that it will be "worth it." I would argue that just because you "want" something doesn't mean it's a good decision. People often want things they later end up regretting or changing their mind on - tattoos, cars, spouses. Part of being an adult (or at least a functioning one) is the ability to weigh your personal, often emotionally-driven desires with cold hard reality. That's true with things as relatively minor as what car you buy (yeah, you want the Bugatti, but you're going to get the Camry), and even more so for humongous life decisions.

Using the logic of "I want to" can justify any decision. Let's weigh out the pros and cons of developing a 20-year long serious drug addiction. Yes, I know I will be giving away tons of my income for the next 20 years. Yeah, it will stop me from owning a home or even a decent apartment. Sure, I can't start a family, and none of my loved ones can ever depend on me for help. OK, I will be saddled with near-constant stress for the next few decades from juggling finances to feed an ever-hungry black hole. Fine, my life possibilities are incredibly narrowed. But it's what I want! ...until a emotionally satisfactory job isn't enough to compensate for all the other aspects of your life being total shit. (any of the above sound applicable to the debt situation, btw?)

I'd like to note I'm not saying give up on your dream, just saying that massive debt isn't a very smart way to achieve it. You can find ways to get where you want without financially shooting yourself in the face.

I believe I've read numbers from a prior year that showed WWS' MPA as 8%, HKS' MPP as 20%, and SIPA as less selective than HKS (although I don't know the exact figures).

Thanks guys! I found a community college one (Dallas Community College online) for $111 for in-state, so that may be a good option for any other Texans. In the meantime, will likely do a MOOC for macro to brush up- I'll check out the MIT one! Appreciate it.

No problem. Glad to see people doing their due diligence.
I spent most of my life in Europe, but was not born there. 
I did not do the professional year, though that is a popular option with many students. My sense is that it is preferred by those students who are on the younger end of the spectrum and may not have previously garnered much work experience.
If you google "Hertie School student profiles" you can look at detailed profiles of each class going three years back. This should answer your question about demography/background/internships.
To be completely honest, I have not had that much contact with alumni (though I'm sure they'd be very helpful if I reached out to them) -- I recall that, as with many other public policy schools, the alumni graduate pool split more or less into thirds with respect to the field of work they went into (1/3 public, 1/3 private, 1/3 NGO). 
Many of the German students pursue careers in various branches of the German government; the GIZ also seems to be quite popular; a lot of students go into consulting (management or PR); people join the UN; some work for start-ups;...... you get the idea. It's a lot of people, with diverse interests, doing many different things. The bottom line is this: any organization that graduates from other prominent MPP programs go to, there's probably also a Hertie alumnus there by now.
https://www.hertie-school.org/alumni/get-in-touch-alumni-worldwide/  This page from the website has a selection of alumni grouped by region that are willing to talk to prospective students. Perhaps you want to reach out to some of the people from the U.S. to ask them directly about what it was like finding a job with a Hertie diploma. 
 

Please help me guys!! I am really confused with my choice between HKS (without funding) and SIPA ( half tuition covered). HKS has been my dream since childhood, however SIPA offers me a generous funding. I have very limited knowledge of SIPA and for that matter, how it compares to HKS when it comes to job perspectives in Asia (esp Singapore- I am not from Singapore) where I plan to secure a job. I am an international student with a limited experience in the U.S and in desperate need of advice. I might also defer my admission from HKS until next year in case my plan for a loan becomes unsuccessful. I am also worried if it would be a legitimate reason for a deferral.  
My choice of program is 2 year MPAs for both schools and I am set and stone on specializing in international finance/East Asia studies. 
 
Please help me on deciding which school! Thank you so much

Please do negotiate your offer via email, and be sure that you really do want to attend the school if they give you more money. So I would probably only ask one school to negotiate. You can ask them to try to match the highest offer you got if you really want to attend this one instead. Be prepared to email them solid proof of how much you were offered - I had to forward to Duke my letter from USC when I was negotiating. Don't think of this as a way to get as much money as possible - if you and this school both want you to enroll at this school, then put your cards on the table, and ask them to help you find a way to do so. 

IMO it depends which schools you're specifically talking about. Regardless, you can always pen a request for more funding without having to explicitly mention you want them to match the offer of another school. You can merely mention you appreciate the offer, you think you're a good fit for them because of so and so, and you'd love to go there, but unfortunately money is an issue that has to be considered, and more funding will make it more likely that you can afford to choose them. There are plenty of templates if you google for them.

Right, and many templates don't explicitly mention the other offers they've received. I can see the pros and cons of different approaches, and my decision would probably be based on several factors. Some schools don't offer stipends to anyone, so if I received a full ride and stipend to WWS, it's going to be hard to convince Indiana that I would seriously consider them if they offered me a full ride. If I received a full ride to Duke and Michigan offered me nothing, saying I received a full ride at a peer school and that I really think Michigan is a good fit but I can't justify the $80,000 difference--I think that would be very effective. If I didn't have any offers that I thought the school would find convincing, I would not state my other offers.
The same thing goes for mentioning a specific amount you would want. If I was 100% not willing to attend a school unless I received a specific level of funding--and I didn't think I would get more than that amount--I would state that in the letter. If I was just trying to get more funding from my choices in a general sense, I would not mention a specific amount.
OP, I think there's a number of questions you would need to ask yourself before writing the email.  Think about the different approaches and which works best for your situation. You may even decide you need different templates for different schools.
Good luck!

I've been to two BPCs. They're great for meeting people and the talks are often quite good as well. If you're going to attend HKS definitely go if you can.

@naso I've just bought my airline tickets and I'll be seeing you there! HKS was so gracious to offer me a small travel stipend or else I wouldn't be able to afford the $375 plane ticket on a whim. Also, did people sign up for the Black Policy Conference? I will definitely attend on Saturday after the New Admit Day.

I just scanned through that thread and a few thoughts come to mind.
1) If you know you want to go into a high-paying field like management consulting, why are you getting an IR master's in international development? I don't pose that question in an accusatory way, but I think it's an important one to ask yourself. If you get an MBA, you will have on-campus recruiting by those firms and easily earn 6-figures when you arrive. I have friends who have gone from SAIS to a big consulting firms (including from the IDEV program), but they all start at considerably lower salaries - sometimes on-par with people with no master's. 
2) I definitely have a few friends who have done IDEV and have found high-paying jobs -- but typically their positions have nothing to do with international development. The ones with IDEV-y jobs are typically making around 50k/year (and in some cases, 10-15% less than that). You can go on IBR, but you might not even be covering your interest payments at that salary level, and your debt will continue to grow. And honestly, at that salary, it could be hard to live in DC as a single person even if you had no debt whatsoever. 
3) For those thinking that they are going to do loan forgiveness: 
A LOT of IDEV jobs are with private-sector contractors. Yes, PRIVATE companies will pay people less than 50k/yr in a city where it apparently takes 108k/yr to live "comfortably" (LINK) while expecting them to have a master's degree and multiple years of experience working abroad. You can do IBR, but your loans will NOT be forgiven at the end of 10 years You think you want to work for the government to get PSLF? Well the majority of my SAIS friends involved with the federal gov are working for contractors. This means that while they are getting paid similarly to feds, work in the same building alongside of feds, have fancy badges that get them access to fed buildings, etc., they are NOT eligible for loan forgiveness.  
 
 
 

There has been quite a number of sub-forums that touches on this subject, and the overall consensus is that:
Unless you know (not reasonably believe) that you will be making over 60-80K a year immediately after graduation, it may be incredibly tough to live while paying the $1,200+/month in loan payments. You can defer or put your loans into forbearance, but then it collects interest. You can have Income Based Repayment (IBR) and it will only take a chunk of your paycheck, but it will take a lot slower to pay back all of your loans (if you ever pay it off). If you enter public service for 10 years and make 120 eligible payments and sign up for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, it's possible to have a large portion of the $100,000+ loan forgiven. However, as we've seen with some policies, when there's a different party/president/leader it can change without notice and the government may be at no obligation to honor something that their predecessor agreed to. One caveat: whatever is forgiven will be taxed as earned income in addition to your own income! Here's a great quote from a NYT's article, “Let’s say your debt has grown to $180,000 over 20 years, and by that point, you’re making $120,000,” he said. “If $180,000 is being forgiven, then you’re looking at paying taxes on $300,000 in total income in one year. At that point, you’re over the $250,000 income category, my friend.” In the end, a public service position is not going to rake in the money, so many should think twice, thrice, even four times before getting an MPP/MPA with a crippling amount of loans to support it. Especially if one hopes to have a family, buy a house, and other big purchase items down the road. I want everyone on here to be healthy and happy, and to calculate the future in a dispassionate way.