Hi everybody, I would be very grateful if you can give me your insights and your comments about my situation. I really want to work for international organizations or governments about international development. I dream to work for developing country, especially in Africa. Program: International Development program, Public Affairs or Public Policy
Schools Applying To: MPA/ID Harvard, MA IPS Stanford, MA International and development economics Yale. It is not the final list as I am still thinking which program is best suited for me.
Interests: International development, I want to learn more about policy making in Africa
Undergrad Institution: Top business school in Europe
Undergraduate GPA: 4,1/5 – Currently enrolled in a Master of Science in Economics with a 4/5 GPA Undergraduate Major: Bachelor of Science in Economics from the same top business school in Europe & CPGE (Preparatory class for entrance to Grandes Ecoles in France, 2 years after high school).
GRE: 160V, 165Q, 4,5W
Quantitative Courses: Microeconomics (A), Macroeconomics (A), Statistics (A), applied econometrics with Stata (B+), public policy related courses, geopolitics, 6-months program in one of the best engineering school in France in Africa to learn how to do business there and economics / history / geopolitics.
Years of Work Experience: 1,5 Years
Age: 24
Languages: French (mother tongue), Arabic (mother tongue), Spanish (Advanced level), English (Advanced Level), Wolof (Advanced Level, my family is half Moroccan and half Senegalese), learning Italian.
Work Experience: 6 months in a tech consulting firm, I was consultant for fintech clients in London. 1 year as a consultant for a small strategic consulting firm in Paris.
LORs: No Letter of recommendation yet.
SOPs: I always wanted to be useful to the world, and particularly I really want to work on the subject of poverty in developing countries. I am involved in associations promoting equal opportunities for people from ghettos since I come from a really poor area. I want to empathize how I want to make a difference for a better world. I got that inspiration from my family, that came illegally in France straight from really poor villages in Morocco/Mauritania/Senegal so the children could study. Life was hard but I am proud to be the first generation in my family that got into a top school in Europe. Now I want to use all these skills to become a great policy maker in the future.
Concerns:
1/ I'm worried about the fact that I don’t have work experience in public affairs, governments or NGOs. I want to do an internship in an international development organization before applying for top public policy programs (such as World Bank, African Development Bank etc.). What should I do about that and what is the best option for me?
2/ I am worried that I might underestimate the difficulty to get to a top program from the best US universities. To be honest, I am worried that my GRE is not that “high” for programs such as MPA/ID or Stanford IPS and that I have to take it again just to have better results. I think I can still improve for the GRE.
3/ Does it change something that I don’t come from the United States? Are my chances lower? I have dual nationality as I am French and Moroccan (unlucky for me, I can’t have a third nationality, I wish I could have a Senegalese ID card ☹)
4/ I dropped from school one year after high school because I had to work for my family (big money problems, we got evicted from our apartment since my family couldn’t pay anymore).