mpamppquestions

Haha I knew that would happen, I'm sorry! I'm faaaaiirrrllllyyyy confident I'll get in, it's definitely going to come down to scholarship to me. $93K~ for tuition is a LOT of money. I'm hoping I can get that down to the $60K range, otherwise I'm not sure I'll be able to swing it. It seems like CMU is pretty generous with scholarship offers, so I'm hopeful (ish!)

Just posting in here again to vent! The wait for this admissions decision is KILLING ME. I'm refreshing my inbox almost constantly while at work

This is what I've concluded, too; admissions offers should be going out any day now.

Yes, very true.

Congratulations As someone pointed out in a thread for a while back, I think all of us here are pleasantly surprised by how much less competitive all of these programs are than in other fields at top institutions.

Yep, I got that email about FAFSA.

It's my top choice, but I'm getting pretty anxious about receiving my decision. Has anyone who applied received a decision yet?

I've been working at an environmental advocacy non-profit for over two years. 3.6 GPA (decentish small liberal arts school) and a 161 V/152 Q/ 4.0 AWA. Honestly I thought I would have been rejected from Maxwell. I agree, reach out to admissions. They aren't going to think you're "bugging" them or anything by checking to see that they've received all of your materials.

I'm sure you'll all hear soon Not particularly sure why I received word so early, I submitted my application mere hours before the February 1st deadline. I'm certainly not not some insanely qualified shoe-in for the program, either.

I received an email from the school. More or less said "Hey you've been accepted, expect an official offer through snail mail in the coming weeks and any financial aid offer in March."

Including Syracuse I've only applied to three schools (Pitt, CMU, Maxwell). CMU is definitely my #1, but Maxwell is a close second. Financial aid from both schools (granted I get in to CMU) will be a big factor, yes.

Just got my admissions acceptance email this morning, woo whoo! It says that I won't hear about any financial aid decisions until March.

They send out decisions that early? It's only been eight days since the deadline.

This is why I'm planning to go non-profit after I finish my MPP under the current administration.

So a few of my applications require two letters (both are done now) but allows for a third. Do you think it's looked upon negatively at all to only submit two? I got one of my letters of recommendation written by the executive director of the non-profit I work for, so if I got a third it would be from my direct supervisor at the same place, which seems redundant. The only other relevant work experience I have wouldn't really net good letters, to be honest; not because of my performance at the internship, but I don't think the work I did was deep enough in breadth or for a long enough of period of time for my bosses to really have much substance to write about. My other letter writer is my advisor from undergrad. What do you guys think? My two letters are strong.

I'd love some feedback on my personal statement for MPA/MPP programs and would be more than happy to provide some feedback of my mine. Shoot me a private message if you'd like to give it a read or would like to swap statements, let me know!

I posted this in the government affairs forum, but figured I would as well post here for additional input: My background: I have been working for an environmental advocacy non-profit organization for over two years doing fundraising, social media writing plus some general IT stuff. I studied English literature during my undergrad. I am applying to MPP programs (CMU Heinz is by far my top choice and I am very anxious to get in here) to study environmental policy, and ideally would like to work for the government or a think tank doing environmental policy analysis. I am struggling with telling a compelling narrative that shows why I am a good candidate; I have been around a lot of environmental regulation/policy from an advocacy perspective, but have virtually zero experience doing any analytical work. I believe my work experience at least shows commitment to my area of interest, but I am worried that only having experience in this field at a mostly tertiary level makes me a weak applicant. Also, is coming from the non-profit sector and going to grad school to break into government jobs a common narrative among applicants? Thank you to anyone with any insight.

My background: I have been working for an environmental advocacy non-profit organization for over two years doing fundraising, social media writing plus some general IT stuff. I studied English literature during my undergrad. I am applying to MPP programs (CMU Heinz is by far my top choice and I am very anxious to get in here) to study environmental policy, and ideally would like to work for the government or a think tank doing environmental policy analysis. I am struggling with telling a compelling narrative that shows why I am a good candidate; I have been around a lot of environmental regulation/policy from an advocacy perspective, but have virtually zero experience doing any analytical work. I believe my work experience at least shows commitment to my area of interest, but I am worried that only having experience in this field at a mostly tertiary level makes me a weak applicant. Also, is coming from the non-profit sector and going to grad school to break into government jobs a common narrative among applicants? Thank you to anyone with any insight.

As someone who wants to eventually work on environmental policy, this all pretty gut-wrenching. Really wondering if I should consider another path, despite all the work I've done toward applications so far. If anyone wants to give me good reasons why I shouldn't abandon ship, please do!

Hmm, ok. Man I really don't want to take this test again, fingers crossed.

Taking the GRE a second time come Monday, and I'm trying to gauge from my practice sections how I can expect to do on the test itself. My average seems to be about 13/20 correct, should this be good enough to squeak out a 154? I just want to hit this number so I never have to think about this damn test again; combined score of 315 (I have a 161 V) is the cutoff for good scholarship money.

All the schools I'm applying to (Syracuse/CMU/Pitt) want to see a B or higher in the quant classes they want to see proficiency in. For the MPA/MPP programs to which I'm applying, that would be algebra/stats/micro-econ. My guess would be that taking those courses P/F will neither negatively nor positively influence your application, but I could be totally wrong.

Thank you for your feedback, it is encouraging! I've been spending 2 hours more or less everyday and, by the grace of my generous parents, have a very solid tutor helping me through the quantitative section. My GPA and verbal scores are luckily at the upper end of accepted students (though still in the 50th percentile), but if I can manage to go from a 150 to a 155 on the quantitative section, my scores won't stand out as much. I had several email exchanges with the admissions counselor at CMU Heinz who more or less said that improving my quant score, and thus my overall GRE score, will mean thousands of dollars more in scholarship if admitted.

Just bumping Would love a critique.

Hello! After exchanging emails with the admissions director at CMU, I was advised to take statistics in the fall while also trying to get my GRE score up 3-4 points... Currently scrambling to register at the local community college