SerenityNow!

I thought I was a good fit for the lab I applied to and chatted with a POI prior to applying but haven’t heard anything back yet either. I think it means that we aren’t getting interviews since that weekend for interviews/open house is on Feb 9/10th although I haven’t seen anyone post an acceptance or rejection yet.

I'm also at "do anything else to distract myself" levels, which has manifested itself into me trying to recreate desserts from the Great British Baking Show....

The advice above on budgeting is great and something I wish I had considered while doing my masters degree! I had a stipend while earning my masters degree and earned essentially exactly the amount of money I needed to live decently in the small city I lived in. With decently being defined as no problem paying rent and buying food with a little left over to occasionally go out to dinner/drinks and maybe one relatively cheap vacation a year (e.g. sharing an airbnb with 6 people for a few days in NOLA) but definitely a big downgrade from the life I was living while I was working! Two things I found helpful when transitioning to living on a budget: 1) track your expenses in June/July - yes the cost of food/rent/everything is location dependent BUT doing that told me I was spending too much on clothes and cocktails and would probably need to cut back when I got to school, instead of getting a rude awakening that some people get towards the end of their first month at school. It will also help you build the habit of tracking your expenses and figure out whether you like doing it manually, in excel, mint, or another budgeting app so you don't have that added stress right when you are starting school. 2) This one is somewhat unpopular/controversial but in my second year of my masters degree I got a 2nd job. I was already a TA and working in a lab but I got a job one weekend day a week working at a coffee shop as a barista. It is a super easy and mindless job and I made an extra ~4K which doesn't on its face value seem like a lot but when you are earning 16K it is essentially a 25% increase which is huge! Having that extra 4K let me put more money in savings, go to on an international vacation, and generally made it so I really never had to worry about money. I know most people don't get other outside jobs but I really enjoyed doing something other than graduate school, it helped me meet people outside of my program, and I think gave me a much more balanced attitude towards school. I also had friends who were spin instructors and other similar jobs on the side. With that being said, I did this during a masters program not a PhD program so take this with a grain of salt.

@Damis is completely right - your "in the trenches" experience is worth a lot more than you are framing it as. It sounds like you will be able to paint a very comprehensive picture of your interest in public policy and public health, its your day job, you volunteer around it, and even have leadership positions! All these little things add up to a good story that will help you get admitted and more importantly this will help you get a job when you graduate because you actually have experience in your desired field. In your essays I think you can intelligently talk about where you hope to work, the exact type of work you want to do, the system you want to improve etc... instead of just saying "I love public health" and "I want to help people." These are both great sentiments and maybe ones you share but that is about all half of the incoming public health folks could say where I earned my MPA. There were a few who had past job experiences working in the healthcare field and they knew exactly what they wanted to do, where able to pick their classes with more purpose, and ultimately had better job outcomes because they came in with a game plan. E.g. if you are curious about mental health program outcomes then you can make sure you are taking courses like public program evaluation, benefit cost, econometrics etc... Those "hill" internships seem SO cool right now and I completely get it - I felt the same way when I was applying. I had only ever worked with local government and also felt like I might not be able to have a compelling case for my admission. However, I got in everywhere I applied and even had professors remember my essay because it wasn't the typical MPA app essay.

It probably varies a lot by school but I know at least some don’t really care about your GRE score at all as long as it is above a relatively low bar. Where I received a masters degree the head of the admissions committee told me every year they think of getting rid of it but since almost every other school requires it they continue to as well. They told me maybe one professor on the committee really cares about scores but they they are typically out voted if they are picking people who have high GRE scores but lack basic research experience or other more important qualities in an applicant. It is easy as applicants to get caught up in GRE scoressince it is the last chance to improve your profile from a numbers perspective but I doubt they are really making or breaking a lot of folks admission chances.

No, I was pretty geographically limited in where I could apply and only ended up submitting applications to George Mason, USC, Duke, and Michigan for Public Policy and Texas A&M and UC Davis for other programs where they had POIs doing the same type of research, just under a different department.

@csantamir I think it depends on which lower ranked school you attend and where that school is located. I work with many people who have PhDs in Political Science, Public Policy, and Economics who all now work in the private sector and act as subject matter experts. While they are certainly not doing R1 university level research they are heavily involved in writing white papers and doing other types of "boots on the ground" research. Many of them also teach as adjuncts at some of the local universities and occasionally collaborate on research papers with full-time faculty members. Most of these people got their PhDs later (late 20s/early 30s) and didn't really make a career change just more of a pivot towards research and away from management. So yes, I think you can definitely do some research and teaching with your PhD even if it isn't "top 20" (or whatever) as long as others from your school have followed a similar path so there is an alumni network to support you and all the better if it is in a major city where there are these types of jobs and teaching opportunities.

I know I just said we probably wont hear much till early February but I can't help be jealous of all the folks hearing back now, especially those in political science. This is the only cycle I'll be able to apply to so it feels so surreal knowing I could be headed to a PhD program (or not!) after all these months of build up in only a few weeks. I hope you all are handling the stress better than me!

I just re-read your original post and would recommend waiting a beat before considering MPA programs. When I was in local government for a suburb of a major city (top 5 in population) most people didn’t have MPAs. The ones that did earned them after working for a few years. I would recommend working for a few years and by then you will have a much better idea of where to go online or is an excecutive program would be a better fit. These are things that are almost impossible to know while you are in undergrad. I recommended state flagship earlier because the majority of people in your city will have gone there through a traditional program. I think an executive style program could also work - Im not sure how common they are but I have never looked for one so I really have no idea. TL/DR - get some work experience and you will know what the right path is after working for 1-3 years.

In past years it looks like early February is around when all the public policy PhD programs release their results at least according to the results board. However, there are so few data points it is hard to paint a full picture when compared to how many results there are for Political Science or Biology.

I worked in local government for a bit and found that the majority of people working in local government attended the state's flagship school - I would check there to see if they offer an online MPA and strongly consider that one. That way your colleagues will have familiarity with your degree and you will get in-state tuition. It is definitely not worth it to go into debt for an MPA, especially if your long term goal is working in local government. For reference, I attended the cheapest program I was accepted to and have had essentially the same career outcomes that my friends who attended fancier programs (e.g. HKS and Georgetown).

Do you know if other schools do interviews? I haven’t received requests from anywhere I applied. It looks like most public policy programs notify applicants in the first week of February from the results board but I haven’t heard a peep from any of the schools I applied to.

I think for your mental health it is best to stay off the school's portals. That way every time there is a tiny change in the layout or when you can't log in due to routine maintenance you don't go into a stress spiral. Or at least that is what I have been telling myself and instead just checking my email every hour on the hour, which is obviously way healthier

@Sheldon2017 Those are the rankings I used to determine where to apply. I essentially looked at which schools on this list realistically produce professors and then out of that group selected the ones that best matched my research interests and location preferences. However, I think that each of these rankings hold a different purpose, e.g. if you are after prestige and name recognition than you may find News and World Reports to be most helpful but if your aim is to become a professor than another ranking focused on that may be more useful. I think it is best to be an informed customer and check out all the different rankings and systems and look at the inputs in the different ranking systems but at the end of the day things like department fit, POIs, location, etc... should probably outweigh rankings when determining which program to attend.

@megabee if you look at old threads you’ll see that only a few schools interview but that there is a high concentration of gradcafe folks that apply there. This makes it seem like everyone is being interviewed when in reality it’s just the people who applied to Wisco, OSU and maybe a few others.

I didn’t apply to RAND but tbh I haven’t heard a peep from any of the public policy programs I applied to. It doesn’t look like anywhere I applied does interviews and so few people apply it’s hard to even tell when I’ll hear back from the message board/results board. I’m just trying to assume the timeline is similar to political science. I’m obviously not nervous at all /s haha

@skhann Hi! I wont say the name of school but it is one of the Big 10 if that is any help? I got the feeling from my conversation with him that this is a relatively commonly held position though.

I agree - my verbal score ended up being higher than my quant score even though I haven't taken an English class since high school and have taken graduate level courses in engineering and math. I spoke with a mentor who used to chair admissions committee for my school's political science and public policy PhD programs and he said that he doesn't look at GRE scores unless they are perfect and in that case he is impressed or if they are pretty low like sub 140, in which case they need an exemption from the university graduate school to admit the student but apparently these are given pretty freely so even then that isn't a huge issue. He said that they only keep the GRE as a requirement all the other political science PhD programs around them in the rankings require it. He also said that there is always one professor on the committee who places a lot of stock on GRE scores but that everyone else is more in line with his thinking. For reference this is for a program in the 15-30 range of schools.

I would not recommend taking online courses in preparation for MPA level courses. To be honest I don't think anyone needs them unless you have never taken an economics course, never taken calculus, or a statistics 101 course. If you are missing any of those three then it might be worth while to take an online course but even then definitely not necessary unless you intend on focusing on quant courses during the program. I have two recommendations below on other things that might be helpful: 1. Most programs will have a "math camp" of sorts that takes 1-2 weeks before the fall semester begins. Definitely enroll in it! The instructor will know exactly the kind of math/stats you need to succeed in the program and you will have access to professors and TAs in person to help you out. In addition, it can be a great way to make friends at the beginning of the program. I would reach out to your school and see if they have such a program and then be on the look out to sign up for it. 2. Review the core courses you will have to take, probably a basic stats class, a macro econ class that doesn't use calculus, maybe a risk analysis class depending on your concentration? Buy the books as soon as you find out your first semester schedule or look online to see if you can figure out the books you will need in your first semester and skim the books 1-2 months before the program begins to try to jog your memory on what you might need the most help with and then be proactive about getting help on those sections. OR review the Khan Academy videos on the topics you will be covering in your classes, usually you can find old syllabuses floating around online for your program that professors post on their personal websites. As someone who was a TA for quant classes while earning my MPA I think the most critical thing you can do is come into the program with confidence and a great attitude towards math/econ/stats instead of already dreading it. The students that struggled the most were the ones that came in day one terrified of economics and statistics, if you come in with confidence, let the TA and professor you may need extra help at the beginning so they can keep an eye on your progress, then you will be just fine

I had a number of friends who did dual degrees and at least at my school dual MPA/JD students essentially did their 1L year in the law school, their second year in the public affairs school, and then years 3 and 4 were a combination of classes but they were essentially "based" in one school or the other each semester. They were awarded different sets of financial aid from each school, which seemed pretty confusing and I think made it hard for them to plan, especially if they were awarded a lot more money from one school than the other. I think this is because masters programs and law programs are big money makers for universities and at least at where I went the schools usually keep a big chunk of the money that comes in so they have an incentive to keep the billing separate. My financial aid/scholarship money was in the same ball pack as my friends with dual degrees, when they were enrolled in the public affairs school, but usually during their law school semesters they were paying substantially more tuition. I'm not sure that is always the case but at least at my university the law school was, going off sticker price, substantially more expensive than the public affairs school. I hope this is helpful!

@Cutaway congratulations! Hopefully you get an answer soon! thank you, @DreamersDay! Already a pretty gullible person so I have been falling for these trolls since the Princeton admit.

In the same boat as everyone else - excited to hear back but my top choices wont send out decisions till mid-February. In an ideal world I would get an interview or acceptance this week to hopefully ease the waiting period, just so I can know I'm going somewhere this fall, while I wait on my top choices. Weirdly I will hear back last from my last choice school, at least according to the results timeline on gradcafe.

As @hats said Nords rack is the perfect place for something like this! Also from someone who works in a formal office and wears dress pants/suits daily and formal shoes it helps to either wear the pants you plan to wear to the interviews shopping or at a minimum try on the shoes and pants together at home before you go on your interview. Even with a chunky kitten heel (1-2in) your pants can end up ending in an awkward part of your ankle if they are cut to be worn with flats. If you can get them on sale there is nothing better than a Tory Burch flat - your feet will be incredibly happy! If you are looking for something more understated Madewell (https://www.madewell.com/madewell_category/SHOESANDBOOTS.jsp) has comfy and plain shoes that would probably look nice w/ your dress pants and they are always having some kind of sale so you can usually knock 20-30% off the list price. Same with J crew if you are interested in a slightly more colorful flat instead of Madewell's leather.

@Asperfemme I am also a vegan that is mostly gluten free and even with that it can be hard to struggle with weight! I definitely stress eat and one of my goals last year was to stop and I have made a lot of progress. Some things I found really helpful are as follows: 1. See a therapist - might sound odd but if you are over eating due to stress it means you may need a better coping mechanism. I worked with one to figure out what makes me the most stressed and to find healthy outlets for it e.g. journaling, working out, making time for hobbies. School is obviously important but so is your health and happiness and chatting with a therapist, even though it can feel like how do I even make time for that?!?! can really pay off! 2. Keep a food diary - either written or myfitnesspal as @victoriaaa suggested. Sometimes seeing your food and the quantity can be a shock, in a helpful way. It can also be helpful to buy a scale and weigh out a portion of hummus or nuts till you get used to what a serving is. I think a serving of nuts is surprisingly small to a lot of people the first time they really measure it out. Same with dressings, basically anything high calorie you enjoy start measuring out a serving and see how you feel after just eating one portion. 3. Get an accountability buddy - I'm sure there is someone else in your program also looking to improve their health (aren't we all?) that you can make gym dates with. I started swapping dinner dates w/ friends for spin classes/pilates and you still get all the fun and joking around PLUS a nice workout and MINUS whatever unhealthy menu choices you might have made. Having someone else to complain to when you are hungry or rage text when you want to eat the tub of hummus but shouldn't can be extremely helpful and makes for some funny chats. 4. Try Whole30/Sugar Free month/etc... instead of a straight up cleanse - juice fasts are doable and if you feel that is right for you then go forth and drink juice! But I have found things like a longer but lighter cleanse to be easier and helped me make more permanent diet changes since I was thinking about my food choices instead of thinking OMG I am so hungry I could eat my arm, which is how I felt on the master cleanse for the 2 days I tried it. Related to #3 do it with a buddy if you can so you can have the built in accountability. If you have a roommate that is game all the better! Good luck!!

Anyone claiming the Ohio State and Wisconsin interviews? Also from looking at last year's forum next week may be a busy week for non-CHYMP schools.