Hey everyone,
I'd be extremely grateful if you could provide me with some feedback on my profile, also with regard to the schools I'm applying to. Thanks a lot in advance!
Age: 24
Program: MPP/MPA
Schools Applying To: Berkeley Goldman, Columbia SIPA, Chicago Harris, Georgetown McCourt (in that order, thinking about maybe applying to HKS as well)
Interests: Labor market and education policy, policy implementation
Undergrad Institution: Small, but renowned public university in central Europe + one year abroad at a top 25 U.S. public school
Undergraduate GPA: 3,7, with distinction (although our grades don't translate favourably into GPAs); 4.0 during my year in the U.S. Undergraduate Major: Political Science and Public Administration
GRE: Haven't taken it yet, I'm planning to do it in October
Quantitative Courses: Introductory Economics (equivalent to Intro to Micro and Macro; B+); Quantitative research methods (B); Statistics (B); Data Analysis using Stata (voluntary course, so it wasn't graded); Money & Banking (A)
Years of Work Experience: 1.5 years full-time (plus roughly a year of internship experience)
Work Experience: At the time I will start grad school I'll have worked 1.5 years as a management consultant for social sector organizations/social service providers in my home country. My job also includes a fair amount of data analysis (nothing too fancy though). Internships include stints at top-tier global consulting firms. As a volunteer, I'm also member of the founding team and responsible for public affairs and strategy at a non-profit focussing on education/equality of opportunity. Also worked as a teaching and research assistant during my time as an undergrad.
LORs: One letter from the professor I worked for as a research assistant (also my thesis supervisor) and another from my current boss, which should both be strong. Regarding my third LOR, I'm not quite sure which route to go. I could either ask a professor I took a class with in the U.S. (it was only one class, but I was one of if not the strongest student in that class). At the time, she said she was willing to provide me with a LOR, but then again it was 2 1/2 years ago. Do you think a LOR from a professor from the U.S. would bolster my application? The other option would be the founder of the non-profit mentioned above - downside is we're all volunteers and the non-profit is still pretty young (founded a year ago).
Concerns:
1.) I'm applying to a number of quant-heavy programs, so is my rather mediocre quantiative background going to be a problem? Or is it going to be alright if I score well on the GRE?
2.) When I'll start grad school, I'll only have 1.5 years of full-time work experience, which ranks below average according to the program statistics at the schools I'm applying to. Is my internship, university-level work and voluntary experience going to help me to make up for that?
Thanks in advance for your feedback!