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Hey @Tk2356, I think a question like that came about during the talk and the answer was that you can, with careful planning. I believe there's a math course you can take during the summer to brush up on your quant skills and the specialization director specified that Calc II is a prerequisite for a lot of the AEA (whatever the acronym is) courses. I would definitely speak with the specialization director about this--try to contact her over the summer to perhaps start planning early. I bet she gets lots of questions like this--I noticed a lot of similar questions throughout the day around lack of quant experience. If Calc II is a prerequisite for many of these classes, I'd try to take a Calc II class (online or otherwise) over the summer to gauge my level of interest and ability. Regarding your comment about a weak quant background: I do not consider myself exceptionally quantitative, but I would be someone who has a "strong" quant background. I did well in math, ended up as Econ major, and love programming but I'm also terrible at remembering numbers, doing mental math, and understanding how money flows through the economy. My point is: even within the "quantitative" specialty, you will have strengths and weaknesses that you will discover with more exposure. if you are sure you want to strengthen your quantitative skills, I'm pretty sure you can do it. You might have to make compromises (less going out, less interesting classes). You may not be good at or enjoy certain things, but you may also find that you enjoy other aspects of being quantitative. Just because you don't have that practice in your previous positions or educational background doesn't mean you can't be great at it. Hope this helps!

HI @Tk2356, I went for ASD as well, and loved it too! My sense of SIPA is that it is a large school, but everyone there is extremely driven, energetic, and involved. I felt that the admitted students were all excited to be there and ready to start building relationships. I sat in on the EPD concentration since I'm interested in International Development. The faculty's interest in supporting their students and connecting them to internship and job opportunities really shone through, particularly with regards to their connections with the UN. I really liked the year-long capstone and the fact that faculty seem very intent to taking students' interests into account before they reach out to organizations who are interested in working with them. It was great to see examples of capstone projects the current students are undertaking--that got me really excited! I listened to the Management, TMaC and Advanced Economic Analysis specialization. My notes on those: - Management: leaning towards lots of weekend skills-based courses, short courses (1.5 credits), a number of start-up/social entrepreneurship opportunities. Sarah Holloway, the director, manages the Columbia StartUp Lab and SIPA has seats there. - TMaC: I second @yellina122's comment about the intimacy of the TMaC students. Although I have an interest in Tech, TMaC seems much more journalism and media focused, so I'm thinking of taking some TMaC courses and just double-counting them for the management specialization. - Advanced Economic Analysis: many people who do this end up working in the Fed and banking. if I did this, I would focus on program evaluation skills for development. Seems like you could get a pretty strong quant background from this specialization as they have PhD level classes that you could take if you meet the prerequisites. One interesting capstone: using natural language processing to do text analysis on European financial laws. Other comments: - There are opportunities to do assistantships, which means TA-ing, research assistants, academic/administrative offices, being a course assistant. These are salaried positions that vary from $3 - $12 K a year. They can be very competitive depending on demand and you probably want to network to get the assistantship you want. Around 65% of those who apply get it. Some get one for 2 semesters, some for 1 semester. - Travel: SIPA students seem to go on trips A LOT on spring break, winter break, etc. There's a lot of funding to at least partially subsidize these trips. - I feel like they trot Stiglitz out whenever they need to impress people, but I enjoyed his talk as well as the questions other admits asked him. - Definitely a lot of emphasis on being busy, coming in with a plan so you can take advantage of things. I see that as a good thing, but it may or may not be depending on your inclinations. I definitely felt like SIPA students were more energetic but also perhaps more (outwardly?) stressed than SAIS students, whom I met the next day. SIPA felt chaotic and crazy and full of opportunity for me. Hope this helps!

Hey @PHL City Planner, I believe HKS does not do rolling admissions or early decision. I was really referring more to applying early to SIPA, SAIS and Chicago.

Schools Applied To: SAIS IDEV, SIPA, Chicago-MSCAPP, HKS Schools Admitted to: SAIS (75% funding, no IDEV), SIPA (85% funding), Chicago-MSCAPP (no funding) Schools Rejected From: HKS Undergraduate institution: Top 20 US University Undergraduate GPA: 3.9 Undergraduate Major: Economics GRE Quantitative Score: 163 GRE Verbal Score: 165 GRE AW Score: 5.5 Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 7 Years of Work Experience: 7 Describe Relevant Work Experience: Currently work in the private sector in big data and product management. On the side, I volunteer with a refugee resettlement organization and a city councilman as a policy researcher. I would like to transition from the private sector into international development leveraging my big data and product management skills. Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): I think my private sector background, particularly since it specializes in the "hot" trend of the moment, big data and product management, helped me stand out. My challenge was being able to use the SOP to show both my interest in international development (which began in college after working with a non-profit in India), my practical skills around data analytics and technology, and my desire to merge the two. Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): I got LORs that backed up three aspects of my application: interest in international affairs/devt, professional aptitude/leadership, and academic strength. I only read one LOR from the refugee resettlement organization's volunteer coordinator and it was super sweet and really attested to my dedication while volunteering. For professional aptitude/leadership, I got a LOR from my former manager at my company. For academic strength, I got a LOR from my economics professor who could speak about my quantitative skills and my interest in int'l devt (I wrote a thesis on women's empowerment in India that he supervised and loved). Other: I applied to all besides HKS early and I really recommend doing that! Because of the rolling early decision deadlines, I was able to stagger my application work so I could focus on each school for a month. And applying early also meant that if I didn't get in to any schools, I still had the regular cycle to consider. My application to HKS was a last-minute one; I'm glad I did it but I think more time to really think through my SOPs would have helped. At the same time, I wasn't completely convinced that HKS was the school for me, which might have also hindered my application. Decision: I'm leaning towards SIPA given the financial situation and the fact that I didn't get into IDEV at SAIS. SIPA's curriculum, though slightly overwhelming, seems more flexible than SAIS's and SIPA seems to have more of a focus on technology than SAIS. Given that I have a lot of experience in data analytics and I'm looking to transition to international development, Chicago didn't seem like it would fill in the gaps for me, and the lack of funding didn't help. I'm looking forward to visiting SAIS and SIPA in two weeks!

Thanks for the tips everyone! I got the $50 Amtrak ticket. Looking forward to meeting everyone else!

Hi all, I was accepted into SIPA and SAIS and am planning on attending both admitted students' days. I was hoping I could get some feedback from NYC/DC folks on a logistics question. SIPA's admitted students' day is April 10th (in NYC) and SAIS is April 11th (in DC). How would you recommend I get to both with the least amount of stress/maximum amount of sleep? SIPA has an evening reception scheduled to end at 8:30pm, and my friend in NYC recommends I take the Megabus down to DC, which works out to (best case scenario) me reaching DC at 12:30am. And SAIS's programme starts at 8:30am the next day. I'm not thrilled about this plan but I could do it; just want to make sure this is the best option before I book tickets. Is it worth staying for the SIPA evening reception? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Just checked with the financial aid office and they confirmed that the funding is extended to the second year pending full-time status and 3.4 GPA. Wondering why they wouldn't include that in the funding letter; that could affect someone's decision to accept.

@Policy.Planner.NYC, this might be a late response but I was speaking to an admissions person from the MSCAPP programme (where I applied) and mentioned that I received substantial scholarship offers from other schools. He said that it would only be beneficial if I used those offers to negotiate for funding (I did not get any funding from Chicago). This may only be specific to the MSCAPP programme at Harris, but wanted to share in case others were wondering. He did say, though, that it would be unlikely that I would get anything more than half tuition even if I did negotiate.

Thanks, @StyLeD--I'll reach out to people on LinkedIn then.

HI @StyLeD, Thanks for the very detailed and helpful information! Hope you don't mind that I have a few questions to add: 1. Did you participate in any of the tech and policy activities in SIPA, or have you heard anything about them? I'm a product manager for big data tools and am hoping to leverage these skills in international development. SIPA's programme is attractive to me because of its focus on tech, big data, and innovation. I'd love to learn more about that from your perspective, or from one of your cohort. 2. My concentration (as of now) is Urban and Social Policy. How much of a focus is domestic vs international for this concentration? When I was browsing the course offerings, I saw many more domestic-related courses, but I'm more interested in international. Thanks!

I was an MIA candidate.

Mine was "how has the unstable global climate affected you"? I didn't realise the video was going to start IMMEDIATELY after my 60-sec preparation (despite reading the instructions and practicing!) so they caught me saying, "oh! It's started!" and laughing kinda awkwardly.

Hi @Revolutionary, Glad that I could be of assistance! I think @serenitynow's advice on a pay cut is important. You have to be prepared for that as someone interested in public policy. The fact that you're getting a full ride and living stipend does help with that since that minimizes the risk you're undertaking, but she's also right that it will be difficult to find a job and internships as an international student (federal agencies are not good options since they will most likely require US citizenship or at least a green card). I think the best thing you can do is be prepared for that and figure out your angle early on: what is the best career that you would enjoy and realistically obtain in a developed country? Can you leverage your private sector experience to focus on public-private partnerships? Do you have expertise in a particular sector (eg, energy, tech, emerging markets)? Are there organizations in the US/Canada/Australia that would hire you (sometimes they specify if they hire non-citizens)? Another thing you might have going for you is that you're not from India or China, so if by any chance your company plans to sponsor your green card, you won't have as long a waiting period. Of course, this is contingent on the current administration not messing up that policy. Regarding your question, I have encountered international students who did not find a job that would sponsor them or have had their visas denied, since the H1-B situation is a lottery. However, note that there are lots of confounding factors involved: you don't know if these people were unable to find jobs because of the particular job they were looking for, or if they weren't of sufficient calibre, etc etc. I personally think that the issue is more about finding a company that will sponsor you as opposed to having your visa denied through the lottery, but I could be wrong. I also do not know about Canada or Australia, but if you think that Canada or Australia would be an easier option, I'm not sure if a degree in the US would be the right way to get there. Another suggestion I have for you is to contact Cornell's admissions office and ask them if they can connect you with international students from that programme who managed to find a job in the US or another developed country. I think they will be the best people to tell you about the challenges you will face and how to prepare for them. Feel free to message me if you have further questions!

Hi Revolutionary, I understand your desire to work in the US as I experienced something similar when I decided to study in the US for college. I became interested in policy/development during college but ended up taking a private sector job on an H1-B visa. The visa situation definitely impacted my decision, and I could not see many non-profits being willing to sponsor a visa for someone like me straight out of undergrad. But there may be options for you given that you will have a graduate degree and have Cornell's connections. I'm not entirely sure of Cornell's specific connections to employers or your specific interests, but here are a few options I can see for you after graduating: - Work for a large NGO/non-profit willing to sponsor your visa. Eg, I spoke briefly to CARE (in Atlanta) about a job and they do sponsor lots of international candidates. I suspect that international development organizations are more likely to do that, for obvious reasons. - Work for an IGO. I believe IGOs like UN, World Bank and IMF have easier rules around hiring international candidates due to the nature of their work. Do verify what I'm saying with your own research! I believe there is a more generous allocation of visas to employees of these organizations. - If you somehow become interested in academia, you could continue with a PhD on an F1 visa - Transition to the private sector. As noted above, I'm not sure of Cornell's specific connections, but it's likely that even after an MPA, you could land a private sector consulting job and the organization would be willing to sponsor your visa. Note that federal consulting would have its own restrictions since they require a certain background. Not sure how likely you are to want to go back into the private sector, but that's an option. Yes, the path is a little less "certain" and being on a visa is quite annoying, but even if you decide to return after a few years in the US, employers in your home country will probably view your overseas experience as a plus. If you really desire to experience living in a Western country, I think you have a great opportunity to do so, and I hope the options listed above provide you with some idea of what you can do going forward. Finally, I hope that living in a more developed country will provide you with a more nuanced perspective of both your home country and "developed" countries, which have their own struggles as well.

Thanks, @aaprabhakar! I'm an international student, went to a top 20 US university. High GPA and relevant honors thesis, GRE 165V 163Q. 6 years private sector experience in the US doing big data analytics and product management. Volunteer experience with refugees. I hope to leverage big data analytics and ICT for forced displacement issues. Feel free to message me if you have additional questions!