gelatinskeleton

Also got my fellowship/aid info last night!!

In! No funding but still very grateful.

To retain sanity while waiting (partially for HKS but also a few other schools I’m really pumped about) I have tried to plan a lot of fun activities for the next week, and when I am forced to be by my computer or have idle time, I either listen to an awesome audiobook or set a timer for 20 min to an hour. Until the timer goes off I’m not allowed to check my email or touch my phone or visit grad cafe. It’s helped me stay calm and concentrated on my life despite a lot of uncertainty! I have found that I otherwise feel so overwhelmed that even if a decision comes and brings good news, I still have an inexplicable anxiety that feels permanently lodged in the pit of my stomach hah. Good luck to everyone else who feels like they are sometimes going to tear their hair out and remember that (insert dream school name here) is just one of many ways to achieve your goals!!

I'd like to, but considering that I applied to 7 schools (TBD how many I'm in at) and live in a land far far away, we'll see what the bank allows. I'm not sure I can make it to the online webinars either. Ugh. If someone attends admitted students day and is able to share their impressions, I would greatly appreciate it I will certainly do so if I attend! I've had a few people say they don't think that Duke is "my type of place" (what does that even mean????), but these are also people who are not familiar with Sanford. I don't particularly care about the larger Duke campus being a good fit for me, but I definitely want to feel a sense of shared purpose/interests with my cohort. I feel like that's hard to do via other people's opinions or a webinar, so it's too bad that so many open house days overlap.

Yay, in with a $21k scholarship!

I haven’t received anything either!

Haven't heard anything but also crossing my fingers for a notification soon given last year's decisions.

Nope! Nothing yet.

No funding, which probably means NYU is out for me. Congrats to those who did!

Yay also in! I was so worried and now feel so relieved. If anyone is planning on going to their admitted students activities (March 19 to 22) I would love to hear your impression. I am abroad at the moment and can’t make it to NYC on such short notice unfortunately. Stats: 170 verbal, 161 quant, 3.4 gpa, four years public service work experience. My essays were pretty lackluster though.

Yes, same! It makes me feel much better to read this haha.

I know...the wait is killing me. I really like NYU but ended up dedicating a lot of time to other applications due that same weekend. My time management aka obsessive editing was a bit out of control. Anyway Im not very confident in the quality of my NYU application so I’m stressing that it’s one of the first to get back to me!!! Luckily I’m on vacation at the moment so I just need to keep myself at a reasonable distance from a computer for most of the day to curb the constant refresh/grad cafe checking habit.

Same, @TheOfficeFan! It would be interesting/helpful to hear.

Who else applied to Michigan's MPP program? It was a last-minute decision for me but I'm actually really excited about this program. Of course, even if I get in, I'm out of state, so the funding situation might be rough. Has anyone heard anything?

Has anyone heard specifics about fellowships/scholarships/financial aid yet?

I hope they'll come the third but I think last year they started coming out Monday, March 6th and the year before that it was Monday, March 7. So I am thinking the week of the 5th.....but I hope you are right, because next Friday would be awesome!! The wait is killing me. I refuse to re-read my SOPs because I know I will overthink something I can no longer change, but that doesn't stop me from thinking I'm totally qualified one day to thinking I'm a joke the next. It would be nice to just know

Yay congrats all! I’m in too (pending final approval but basically in!) I applied to the MPAff program before Dec 1 deadline. I assume that I got the same email as you folks did, that I am being considered for a fellowship and I will find out whether I got it at a later date. It looks like Admitted Students day will be Apr 6 and 7. I am so relieved!!

I thought I would start a Berkeley thread for 2018 since it seems like there isn't one yet. Has anyone heard back from about whether your application is complete? I haven't yet!

I got an email yesterday saying that my application was incomplete (study abroad transcript issue -- I am expecting this will be the case at other schools too). I fixed the issue yesterday and I got an email confirmation today that my application was complete.

I'm including additional poli sci courses that did not fit in the portal under Additional Information. I asked the admissions team and they confirmed this is the correct place (include just the overflow courses that did not fit in the portal, not all your relevant courses) I don't think we are supposed to submit a writing sample, just the memo. Other applications have a box asking "do you have any concerns that you would like to address". I've usually put in an explanation of my gap in employment (moving, finding a job, and waiting for a security clearance) and explanation that I am currently taking a stats course and the transcript has not been issued yet. I don't recall seeing a similar box in the portal, is this also an "additional information" document? Also, I go back and forth, but I got some C+ grades in stats/econ early on as an undergrad, in part because I got mono one semester but also because my test taking quant abilities were sub-par (ie I was convinced i sucked at math and had the tendency to freak out during tests, that was fun). I improved my quant skills by the end of college with some A's in econ/161 GRE scores/quantitative research. In other applications I have written a brief and honest explanation of this and the actions I took to improve , but I don't know if doing that was a good idea. What do you all think?

Oh no I didn't get an email!! But I did turn it in minutes before the portal closed so I am probably at the back of the cue/did something wrong hah. I've gone through so many emotions turning things in that I don't think I have the capacity to freak out anymore.

Yes, I'm doing UCLA's stats class online! If I do micro or macro as well, I'll go through UT-Austin. I'm not sure about UCLA's stats class rigor, my roommate got an A and didn't try too hard but maybe she is just a math whiz

Hi all, bumping up my earlier post to see if anyone has any advice/thoughts on my profile. I also would like input on what quant courses I should take to beef up my questionable track record. I think I'm definitely going to take Statistics, but the only online courses I can find have an end date of December 15. A few of my applications will have already been turned in by then. I also was thinking of taking Micro again, and I could do a self-paced course and be done sooner. I dismissed Macro because someone told me it would not be useful for grad school. Should I take Stats AND an econ class? Should I give macro more thought? Thanks!

Hi everyone! After months of lurking I've decided to post. I would appreciate your honest feedback on what schools I'm actually competitive for, especially in terms of funding. I'm also having a hard time figuring out what schools are safeties, matches, and reaches. Additionally, I have a rocky history with quant courses, so any perspectives on how to improve this part of my application (or any others) would be very appreciated! Thanks! Age: 27 by the time of admissions Program: MPA/MPP, focus on domestic social policy and inequality (switching from international development). My dream job is to work in an organization like the Southern Poverty Law Center, Urban Institute, or the Brennan Center for Justice. School Applying to: U Chicago, UT-Austin, NYU, Harvard, Princeton, UC Berkeley, Duke. Maybe Evans? Any other programs I should definitely look into? How many of these are reaches for me? Undergrad Institution: liberal arts, top 50 national universities. I was a part of the honors program. Undergrad GPA: 3.42 Degree: BA in Public Policy (mix of sociology, political science, econ) GRE: 170 Verbal - 161 Quant - 5 Writing Languages: Fluent English, near fluent Spanish (I’ve spoken it all my life but am a little rusty). Dual citizen of a Latin American country Quant Experience: Micro (B), Macro (C+), Research Methods (B+), Intermediate Micro (C+), Stats (C+), Public Sector Econ (A), senior education policy seminar that involved original quantitative research (A), Intro to GIS (Pass). This is clearly the weakest part of my application. Work Experience: 4 years currently, 5 by the time of admissions Will have worked for almost 3 years for the federal government in international development. I’ve had increasing responsibilities doing everything from communications to monitoring/evaluation to event planning to managing small projects/initiatives. I supervise our interns. I’ve been thrown into almost every operational skill (except for budgeting) and have learned so much about the functions of government and program management. Before that, worked at an international development focused research center at my university doing a combo of research (quant-ish), admin work, communications, and random other projects such as grant writing, events, etc for a year and a half During undergrad, I did an internship abroad doing communications for education unions one summer, and did a combination of research (qual) and volunteering other summers. Other activities: I held a couple of leadership positions in college and continue to be involved in mentoring through my alumni association. I went on a few domestic and international service trips. I am involved in some activist organizations but not in a leadership position, so not sure how to weave this in besides a narrative. It seems silly to put that in a resume. LORs: Undergrad professor who I am still in touch with and who taught my senior seminar. We still catch up from time to time and he used my final paper that involved quant work as an example for future classes, so that is promising. Undergrad professor who linked me up with the research center job i got out of undergrad, as he directs the research center. We get along really well and I’m hoping this is a half academic, half professional reference. Current boss who is my mentor and huge advocate for me. Her trust in me has allowed me to take on so many projects I had no previous experience in and I know she will sing my praises. Personal Statement: I am a good writer so I’m most confident in this aspect of my application. I’ll have to explain why I want to go from international development to domestic social policy. Inequality spans both, so I think that is how I will tie my narrative together. Questions/concerns: Obviously some of my quant grades are pretty bad. I feel more confident in quantitative work now, but it was a VERY STEEP learning curve. I always thought I was going to be a journalist, so when I switched my sights to public policy, I psyched myself out and felt like I was inherently bad at econ/quant since I was so confident in my writing/verbal skills. Anyway, I had one semester where I took 3 quant courses and I got C+ in all three. That semester I also prioritized leadership roles more than my studies because I was naive in thinking that in the scheme of things, average grades wouldn’t really matter since grad school wasn’t on my radar. Blah blah long story short I was immature and naive. I figured it out eventually. I’ve applied quant skills capably in research since these miserable grades, but this is still an issue I have to address. I want to take an additional econ or quant class online as a refresher and to show admissions committees that I can handle the quant workload. Given my grades and the classes I got C+ in, are there any particular classes that you all would recommend I take? At first I was going to take a macro class, but I’ve been told by some people that macro is largely irrelevant to most of the econ courses I’d be taking in grad school. Would others agree with this? If so, I may take stats again.