Now that all decisions are out
Program Applied To: (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.) and Schools Applied To: MPA/ID (HKS), MPA (SIPA & Wagner), MPP (Harris & Goldman), TPP (MIT), MIP (Stanford) Schools Admitted To: SIPA, Harris, Wagner, HKS, Goldman, Stanford Schools Rejected From: MIT (?) Still Waiting: None Undergraduate institution: Top school in Mexico Undergraduate GPA: 8.5/10.0 Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): I believe it does not apply, but a uptrend in the last two years. Undergraduate Major: Economics GRE Quantitative Score: 168 (94%) GRE Verbal Score: 156 (76%) GRE AW Score: 4.0 (60%) Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 3.5 Years of Work Experience: 3.5 (Full-time) and 2 extra years (Part-Time) as an RA & TA. Describe Relevant Work Experience: 3.5 years working at the Central Bank Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): I believe that the strengths of my SOP were: 1) I was too honest, 2) I work hard on my story, 3) I identify my weakness and address how the program would help me strengthen them. I start working on my SOP since October, so I had quite some time to think about how to tell my story and which stories to tell. In all my essays I described my future goals as specific as I could. I asked for feedback to my boss and to my significant other to identify if there were any holes in my story. Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): I asked my two supervisors and a university professor (who was one of my supervisors when I was an RA). Only for Stanford, I changed one of my supervisors for a former professor who is a Stanford alumnus. I did not read any of my letters, but I believe they were really strong. I chose only people who knew me well, who had good things to say about me, and who have some kind of experience writing LORs. Other: I was concerned about my average and my low verbal score in the GRE; however, as an international student I believe that the toefl and my SOPs relaxed the possible concern of my verbal score. About my average, I believe that I did many extracurricular activities during my undergraduate studies that make up for a not superb average. I had the opportunity to talk with at least one student from each of the programs I applied to (except MIT), which provided me with a bigger picture and a more clear path on how to do my application.
