SerenityNow!

I don't think this question matters at all. Whether you answer it is purely up to you! I think the programs just try to use this as a way to gauge their competition but I can't imagine that they accept or don't accept anyone based on their answers to it. Anecdotally, I have always answered this question and I got into everywhere I applied for undergrad and for my masters programs

Whao! Thank you @DreamersDay for doing so much research! Although I didn't apply to most of these this information has been extremely reassuring.

@Hamb I can definitely see that being a difficult situation. I'm glad none of my letter writers asked for my input beyond one of them having my write up a paragraph for each school saying why I would be a good fit so they could pull from that if they wanted to or if it was a school they knew less about. @swampyankee that is fair - I would not want to find out about the contents of an LOR like that!

Never re-read your SOPs! That is a rabbit hole, you’ll find a missing period or typo and it will eat you up! I am always a little jealous of the folks who’s letter writers share their letters with them. One of my profs joked that all he writes is “X student will finish the program” and that is all the adcom really needs to know so I’m especially curious what he wrote in his letter. Although it seems like the minority of professors share their letters with their students.

Good luck @deutsch1997bw! I'm actually a few years removed from UG and am in the working world so I can't imagine waiting on these while still in college!

After seeing that Princeton "admit" all I can think about are my applications although I know it is totally normal that I haven't heard anything back yet....

Seconding the GRE comments! I also wish I hadn't been so specific in who I wanted to work with and where I wanted to apply and just blanketed any school I could make fit in the top 20. I think being too picky is going to hurt me when we start hearing back since the chance of getting into any one school is pretty low.

Not so much questions but three helpful strategies: 1) When I did some informal interviews earlier in the fall I found it incredibly helpful to chat with my interviewer's current Ph.D. students before the interview. Their students usually said something interesting about the program that I never would have known from the website (e.g. I found one research group spends all Friday afternoons together discussing papers and critiquing research ideas while another professor makes it a goal to co-author three papers with every student they take on over the course of the program). This information allowed me to ask the interviewer questions that showed I had really done my homework about the program and I think really impressed them. 2) I would second reading some of their recent papers that way you can explicitly link your research interests to their recent work. Just like any job interview you want to give them all the information they need instead of leaving it to them to connect the dots themselves (sometimes they don't see the connection that seems to obvious to you). Additionally you can ask them if they plan to continue in the same trajectory of ideas or if they are actually hoping to branch out into a new field, something you can't necessarily tell from their websites. Frequently at the end of research papers, at least in my field, there are further research suggestions so you can at a minimum ask to see which of those that are of interest to you that they anticipate working on in the future. 3) Ask any question that would help you answer the following two questions for yourself: will I enjoy living and working here AND will I be able to graduate from this school given the structure of the program. For example if you know you need a little babysitting make sure you are getting a program that has a strong cohort model where students move through the program together and you will have regular structured meetings with your advisors and cohort. Or if you absolutely love rock climbing and you will be super depressed without access to outdoors sports make sure there is a community for that. You can't survive on research alone so I think it is perfectly fine to ask about social aspects of the programs as well. Good luck!!

I think you may be better served by an MBA than an MPA. It is much more common for private sector businesses in the US to sonosor folks with MBAs than MPAs. I have seen this first hand in the hiring practices of the consulting firm I work for. Many of the same non-profits and development organizations hire MBAs and MPAs and you'll make more money as an MBA so you'll definitely get more financial security from that move. You'll also likely encounter issues working for places that do a lot of work where clearances are required. For example there are parts of my office where anyone who isn't a citizen cannot enter due to security concerns or projects they cannot work on (not saying this is right just how where I work operates). Also you may be taking on a substantial pay-cut upon graduation, depending on your current salary. Most MPAs upon graduation are making in the 45-65 range in US dollars, which depending on where you are living is decent to just getting by. I definitely think you should do whatever feels right for you (truly - as someone in a secure well paid job applying to PhD programs). I just remember watching many of the international students in my program really struggle to find jobs upon graduation and internships for the summer inbetween.

Everything is submitted! I can't believe all that is left is to wait. I feel like I have so much free time all of a sudden, it's very weird. im curious when we will begin to hear back as none of the schools I applied to provided that kind of information.

I planned a vacation for Presidents Day weekend so I have something else to look forward to be February aside from decisions. So far that has helped keep this me from constantly wanting to check my email and has given me something else to talk to people about when they ask when I'm hearing back. Re: some applications being stronger than others - I realized that as I was prepping them and cut my list from 10 down to 5. Hopefully that was a good move! Although now seeing to many people applying to 10-15 programs is making me re-think my strategy...

I work in consulting in dc with people who have MPAs and JDs and they get the same exact career opportunities because even though you may take a lot of quant classes - if your employer really wants a quant person they will just hire someone with a masters in economics/statistics/data science from what I've seen. I would just go wherever is cheaper.

@laekkauai I ended up attending SPEA (Indiana University) on essentially a full scholarship plus stipend. I had a great experience and would definitely recommend it! That being said, all these programs are great - I just wasn't willing to take on a lot of debt for a career in public service. I was also admitted w/ funding to Duke and Michigan but they would have cost substantially more. This forum helped me a lot when I was applying so I'm happy to pay it back and answer any other questions. Good luck!

Wanted to give some hope to you all - I applied a few years ago to these programs and got into all with funding after 1 year of work experience and a combined 319 GRE score. I would think you definitely are hitting the minimum requirements!

I've seen, from the schools that post this type of information, that most people entering these programs aren't straight out of undergrad. The median age seems so be around 26 so that is an MPA plus 2 years of work experience. I think that are split between professional and academic - with most schools producing a mix of professional and professors. Personally I would have 3 years of a mix of non profit and government experience by the time i manriculate (if I get in!).

My main concern is the opposite of yours - I took a lot of math and science courses but did well but not amazing on the GRE. I'm working full time so I just used the score I used when applying to MPA programs a few years ago. I'm hoping to studying the policy making process with a focus on how interactions between individuals impact the process.

I am applying to public policy PhD programs along with a few political science ones with a public policy concentration.

I am in a similar situation, have a job that I like but would much rather pursue a PhD and become a professor, and simply told that to my recommenders. They were completely fine with it and agreed with my thinking - in fact they were able to help me come up with a better list of schools based on that knowledge. They recommended a few lower ranked schools that seem to outperform their ranking with their student placements to use as "safety schools" (if there is such a thing in PhD applications...).

@fuzzylogician thank you for the pointers! From the other schools I've looked at there seems to be a lot of non-standard essays in public affairs PhD programs. Thank you for pointing out I can recycled different parts of the essays - makes this process seem a little less daunting.

I am applying to PhD programs in Public Affairs this upcoming cycle and am beginning to write my statement of purpose. I was initially under the impression from reading past posts that most folks write a base essay and tweak it slightly for every school (for the why Michigan/Duke/Indiana University etc... section). However, after browsing school websites they seem to be asking for totally different essays. For Example: UT Austin: Broken up into two essays 1 - Please address your medium to long-term career goals and how a doctorate will assist in achieving those goals. There are no specific formatting requirements, but please try to keep it under the equivalent of three double-spaced pages in a normal, 12-point font. 2 - Please address the following in your proposed program of study: Specific areas of research Potential dissertation topics Types of courses that would fit into your overall plan The work of individual professors that seem most relevant to your policy interests Duke: As part of your online application, you must upload a statement of purpose. The statement should be one to two pages and single spaced. It should briefly discuss your purposes and objectives in pursuing graduate study; your special interests and plans; your strengths and weaknesses in your chosen field; any research projects or any independent research in which you have actively participated and how they have influenced your career choice and desire to pursue graduate studies; and any particular reasons you may have for applying to Duke (e.g. you would like to work with a specific faculty member). Would you recommend writing each essay essentially from scratch or should you assume they have different prompts but really all want the same information? Any insight would be SUPER helpful! Thank you!