Hi, I am Umair from Pakistan. I have a funded offer (Fulbright) for a Phd in Public Policy for Fall 2017. In my submission plan (where Fulbright commission applied for me), unis included Arizona State University, Uni of Texas at Dallas, Uni of Washington- Evans, Syracuse Maxwell, and CMU Heinz.
My background is a bit on the low side, an undergrad from a top ranked uni here in Pakistan (but obviously unknown there in the US) with a CGPA of 2.83, where I studied Business Management/ Information Systems. I did a postgrad from Institute of Development Studies at University of Sussex UK, High Merit but not a distinction. 2-3 conference papers, a research project going on. GRE scores verbal 162 quant 164 AWA 4.5. Graduated in 2014. so 2-3 years of experience.
I have been offered admission from Arizona State University and UT Dallas while Udub & Syracuse have already sent out a rejection. Have not heard from CMU.
I wanted to know if you people have any advice on this. My interests are in social policy/ health policy or a bit of IT policy (for CMU only). My essays were generally good, references were OK too. But no elaborate research plans/ focus. I am much afraid of ending up unemployed etc. after I am done. How is the reputation of ASU (SPA) or UT Dallas? Any comments please. Should I go for Arizona State or UT Dallas, if I get rejected from CMU as well, which most probably I will given my profile. I am motivated and ambitious to go for a PhD but I am also afraid I might even fail to complete (due to my weak background specially in calculus/ linear algebra/ statistics/ econometrics. Though I have had courses in all of these 4 mentioned subjects. I am willing to put in the hard miles to get through but doubts always keep coming back. I thought udub evans will admit me but they also din't.
And I heard comprehensive exam thingy at ASU IS SCARY!!! Lots of applicants pull out at that stage. Any comments guys. Any help much appreciated and desperately needed. Thanks.