pennguy

Hi, I'm an undergrad at a top 10 university. I'm looking into graduate school options, and I'm more and more drawn to public policy PhD programs. I'm interested in what type of scores, qualifications, etc. it takes to get into a top public policy school, namely Harvard or Princeton. I'm having some trouble answering a few of the following questions, and bc I know nobody who's gone to or gotten into these schools, I was hoping you guys could help me out. Absolute best case scenario, I'm looking at the Ph.D. in Political Economy program at Harvard. 1. Does math beyond multivariable calculus help you? I got A+'s in all my classes up to multivariable, but as a math major, I've taken DiffEq, Lin Alg, Abstract Algebra, etc. (A's in all). Will all that give me a leg up, or do they just not care? 2. When they say they want statistics, what do they mean? I've taken the basic stats courses (AP Stats, 2nd semester "social science" stats), as well as mathematical probability and a class on statistical computing (basically R). Is that what they're looking for, or are they looking for heavy theory? 3. Do you need any experience to apply and be accepted to these sorts of programs? I have some extracurricular stuff, but do I need to work in public policy or politics or something before I stand a chance? Do most applicants come in with an MPA or something similar? 4. Does anyone have any idea of the range of GPA's and GRE scores these schools tend to take? I've done well in classes. 5. What's the emphasis on research like? I've done my fair share of RA work-study jobs, but nothing too serious in "political economy". I've actually done a good amount of my own research, but it's health research not public policy so idt it will help me. 6. Schools mention they want some econ. I've taken a semester of combined micro/macro and then one semester each of intermediate micro and intermediate macro. Are they looking for a lot more than that?