SketchesOfSpain

Now that all decisions are back and this was a helpful tool for me Program Applied To: (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.) MPA and MSPPM (Heinz) Schools Applied To: Princeton WWS, Washington Evans, CMU Heinz (Pittsburgh), Cornell CIPA, UT LBJ, A&M Bush, Brown Watson, UNC (Online), Penn State (Online), Northwestern (Online) Schools Admitted To: Evans ($$$), Heinz ($$$), CIPA ($$), LBJ (In-state), Watson ($) , UNC ($), Penn State, Northwestern Schools Rejected From: WWS, A&M (I declined an interview) Still Waiting: Undergraduate institution: Middle of the road state flagship Undergraduate GPA: 3.4ish Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): 3.8 (Almost entirely in major classes because of a sophomore year switch) Undergraduate Major: Public Administration GRE Quantitative Score: 159 (Thank you Magoosh) GRE Verbal Score: 164 GRE AW Score: 5.0 (It is all about laying out a skeleton of your essay in your intro and sticking to it, even if you feel like you're hitting the grader over the head with such obvious transitions) Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 4+ Years of Work Experience: 3.5 Describe Relevant Work Experience: Went from entry level local government job to head of a department with about a $4 million budget in 2ish years Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): Really strong in describing my motivations to go into local government, probably not as strong in describing what the school can do for me, but I did a good job sprinkling in little things the school wanted to hear. I put some research into schools and finding buzzwords scattered through the main web page and the program's web page, then incorporating those into my essay. Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): I picked writers who were going to put some real thought and work into the essay over just the biggest title I could find. I was too far out of school to get professors, which was detrimental but a fact of life. I got my City Manager (CEO of a city), a department head in my City, and the VP with a local economic development group. I didn't give them much direction (I applied to too many schools to say, "Tell X school Y") but it certainly took a little prodding at the end. Other: Start with a list of schools/programs that interest you, then narrow it and narrow it. When you get your final list of places you'll apply really ask yourself, "If I get into this school, will I really go here?" Also note, you're probably going to get into to most of the schools you apply to, it's a lot less competitive than undergrad, especially for MPA's and MPP's. I had this huge list because I had so many safety schools (two online safety schools???). It's wasted money, but more importantly time, time for that could be spent on schools you care about and your LOR writer's time.

Now my experience is all of one school, but I would imagine your only real lever is your offers from superior or equal schools as far as rankings. Your email can be something along the lines of, "Thank you for your generous offer, but the scholarship isn't enough to make the cost feasible for me. Especially when I have an offer of X% from school X and Y% from school Y, bringing my total cost to about Z. Is there any way I can get my offer reevaluated to get closer to Z? If so, what are the next steps? If not, I completely understand." Then they'll ask from the offer letters from school X and Y and see what they can do

Got in. Really wish I could make accepted students day, but they just had to put it on April 5th

I plan on being there. Unfortunately CMU and U Washington are on the same day, but I need to get a better feel for CMU

Got in at 65% scholarship, was really not expecting that much. Especially after seeing everyone else get their letters while I got radio silence. Congrats to those who got in, I guess I've got to get a flight to Pittsburgh.

Congrats to everyone who got in, obviously great applicants to get that sort of money. My question is if anyone on the Pittsburgh MSPPM track has heard back or if it is all D.C. track?

If you gave ETS enough time to get your scores there, reach out. There's a small chance they just missed it

Brown sent off early decisions around Jan. 18th. When did you send in your GRE scores? If ETS says they got there before 12/15, it's definitely worth emailing admissions.

I can't speak to their reputation in DC but I can imagine A&M would be popular with the military crowd, probably one of the most popular non-academy schools honestly. If you can swing it, go and just feel them out. I was telling someone in PM's they're trying to win you over just as much as you are them.

Got invited to the MPSA conference in early March, still weighing if I should go. I'll tell you what I know about the program, but it's not all international affairs related: 1. The Bush School has a homeland security focus, one of the very few I've seen that does. Which makes sense considering the namesake's (and his son's) presidency. 2. When talking to a LBJ school grad, I was told to consider Bush because their focus on teaching skills. 3. A&M's alumni network is insane. An Aggie Ring is this all powerful homing beacon, even outside of Texas. Two cents from someone who has zero experience in international affairs jobs but picks up gut feelings from internet trends. If you're looking for an international development/U.N. diplomat/etc. job, Bush probably isn't for you and you should try for NYC or D.C. programs. If you're trying for something more military then you could probably do far worse than Bush.

Didn't want to start a new thread. Results page says Brown has sent out their Early Action decisions. Apparently my application was completed on 1-14 because that's when they received my GRE scores, despite ETS acknowledging my report date was November 7th. I'm crying over spilt milk at this point but has anyone else been screwed by ETS like this?

I just left it blank if it was an optional question, answered truthfully if it was required or asked directly in an interview. If I could do it again, I would probably answer even if it was optional but at the time I thought it was more likely to hurt me with safety schools than drive a bidding war with my top choices.

Applied to Heinz on the MSPPM Pittsburgh track. Heinz's focus on data definitely makes it appealing and differentiates itself from other schools. Based on stats I saw, I feel like I have a decent shot but while my quant score (159) is pretty good for your typical public admin student, it's poor for the STEM types so we'll see. I'm in at Cornell at 50% so I won't get shut out, still a long wait for late February-mid March. I know someone getting their PHD at CMU and they love the school/Pittsburgh

This is actually the post that made me get an account, might as well kick off the 2019 nail biting. 2014 grad from a state school better known for football than academics. Worked in public planning for two years then got a big promotion to department head and an office in the city manager's suite. Been doing that about a year. I'm taking the GRE at the end of September. I'll be applying to HKS and WWS for MPA as my hail marys. I'm hoping my dedication to public service and improvement from high school through college will sneak me in as my grades and practice (assuming they translate to real) GRE scores would have me around average. I never thought I would be in a position where applying to these schools wouldn't be a waste of money and it's kinda stressful