maddie92

I've heard of people successfully negotiating with SIPA, and I'm definitely going to give it a shot.

For those who did not get a funding letter, did your offer letters include the following sentence? "In a few weeks you will receive specific information on the cost of attendance and possible sources of aid." I looked at forums from previous years which seemed to imply that if you didn't have a funding letter with your offer of admission then that meant that you were not offered any funding. I'm wondering if this phrase in my letter refers to loans and/or work study or if there is a possibility to hear about scholarships later on? How do other people interpret this? @Spurs I applied to the MPA-DP program with no funding info... ?

Same for me @homesicksub - this was definitely my reach school and I'm so excited to have gotten in! Hopefully funding decisions will come out soon...

The admission blog had a new post called “The Waiting Game” on anxiety applicants feel the days right before decisions are released. A sign, perhaps?

In my experience working in DC, an MBA doesn’t necessarily offer better prospects than an MIA/MPP/MPA, but MBAs are definitely a sought out degree. I think it’s because MBA programs are more practical and professionally oriented degrees, and so graduates come with tangible skills and often real world experiences, more so than grads from a traditional MPA/MPP program. I think employers also tend to associate MBA grads with being more profession/work oriented where the traditional degrees are seen as being more academic. All that being said, like 90% of people have MIAs/MPPs/MPAs. MBAs are fairly rare. This is at least my experience with State Dept and USAID, that may be different in other agencies like the Fed. Also, I have to disagree with went_away about working for a contractor. There is definitely a dynamic where contracted staff sitting in agency offices are maybe looked down on by gov staff, I think because the government employees see themselves as the “client” and that contracted staff are there for them and they run the show. I do however, think that varies by agency. It’s definitely prevalent at State but not so much the case at USAID. Also, re. benefits, as contracted staff you may not get a pension, but you can still get good benefits. There are definitely contractors out there that try to cut costs by offering few benefits, but there are also contractors that offer great ones. Just do your homework, and ask about the benefits package in interviews. A lot of contractors, especially the ones with good benefits, even like to advertise their packages on their websites. I work in business development for a contractor, and more and more agencies want to hear in our proposals about staff care and benefits. This is because they know it enhances retention and saves them money at the end of the day since the frequent changing out of staff on a contract ends up costing more than good benefits. There is definitely like a “benefits race” amongst contractors. I’d say overall contracting is a great way to “break in” , make connections and try out different functions in the government. When you’re a direct hire of the government, it gets much harder to move around jobs, and there’s also an expectation that you’ll spend your entire career as a gov employee. It’s a long and painful process to become a direct hire with a ton of bureaucracy. It’s in my opinion, only something worth going through if you’re absolutely certain you want to do that for 20+ years. Contracting is a good way to get a sense of that and of how you want to work for the government.

Is anyone able to access the admissions blog? It isn’t loading for me. Based on last year’s SIPA admissions forum, the blog went down right before decisions went out. Am I over analyzing this? Most definitely... ?

@N0MudN0L0tus I'm also in the process of applying to MPA ID programs for next Fall, and I'm planning to criticize the development sector in my personal statement. I don't have much work experience in the field, but from the experience that I do have, I have seen that development people, including the big donors (USAID, DFID) are critical and cognizant of the issues in the way we do development. And I think that that's actually very healthy for the sector. Like you said, we can't be prescriptive in how we attempt to help individual communities and those affected by foreign aid need to be implicated as partners in the process. These aren't particularly new or controversial topics in the development sector. Now my primary experience is with USAID so I can't speak for other donors, but these issues that you are mentioning are acknowledged and efforts are being made. USAID has instituted Local Works and the Learning Lab which attempt to address and find solutions to these issues. Now, I'm not saying that the aid sector has it all figured out, and there is still a lot that needs to be done before we can say that aid is truly inclusive and responsive to local needs. My point is that these issues that you're raising are widely acknowledged, accepted, and not particularly controversial. This isn't the international development equivalent of the 2nd Amendment or Pro Life/Pro Choice debates, if you know what I mean. If you haven't read Easterly's White Man's Burden and Time to Listen by Mary Anderson and Dayna Brown, I'd highly recommend. My two cents in this discussion is that you shouldn't be afraid to point out the challenges and failures of international development. Just don't go in with "guns blazing", and don't preach (being too preachy in a way also undermines your argument of needing to be more collaborative with beneficiaries). Be constructive in your criticism. Acknowledge those issues and then talk about how the program to which you're applying will give you the needed skills to go into the development space to address those issues. From my understanding, these schools, especially the more professionally oriented ones like SIPA, want to know how you plan to use your degree and how their program will help you achieve those goals, so be constructive and practical rather than ranting to them about all the terrible flaws of the development sector.

Schools Applying To: SIPA MPA in Development Practice; GW Elliott (MAID); AU SIS (MSDM); Sciences Po PSIA; LSE; Tufts Fletcher (MALD); and maybe UChicago Harris (MAIDS); NYU Wagner (MPA); and Lund University in Sweden (MS Development Studies). Interests: I would like to continue working in the international development space, focusing my work on gender and social inclusion; maybe even more specifically on women's empowerment, independence, and resilience to shocks and hardship. Undergrad Institution: University of Arizona (Top 100 public university) Undergraduate GPA: 3.3-ish, currently taking a class so unsure what final GPA will be. Years since Undergrad: 5 years by Fall 2019. Undergraduate Major: Double major, Political Science with a concentration in foreign affairs and French. GRE: Q/V/AW: 153 (50th%)/160 (87th%)/5.5 (98th%) - planning to retake in hopes of increasing my quant score. Quantitative Courses: Algebra (C), Stats (B), Econ (macro & micro) - got a D in this the first time I took it and am currently retaking, and will get an A. Age: 26 Languages: English, French (fluent), Spanish (intermediate, pretty rusty) Work Experience: 3 years (4 on entry) working for a private international development firm implementing USAID and State Dept projects in agriculture, M&E, global health, and stabilization/conflict management 2 months on top 5 most competitive 2014 Congressional political campaign, as field organizer Internships: Middle Eastern cultural center; Government of California; US Congress office; student advocacy group Volunteering: Elementary school in rural Kenya; Los Angeles Community Garden International experience: Lived in France growing up, one month in rural Kenya, work trips to Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. LORs: My work supervisor which will be strong, and likely a French professor, which will be ok SOPs: Will focus on my specific interest in studying gender and social inclusion within international development, my previous experience, and how I plan to use my degree in the future. Will also tailor each essay to the school, and discuss the "unique-ness" of each school and what I will get out of those schools. I feel pretty good about this, planning to see a friend's SOP from her applications that got her a personal call with the Dean at UT-Austin to compliment her on an excellent SOP (ya, apparently that's some people's lives...) Concerns: I'm wondering if the schools that I'm considering are realistic given my background. I think my work experience is strong and I think I'll be able to write a compelling SOP, however I'm concerned about my GPA and my not so great quant background. For ECON, I plan to talk about why I got a D, and how I've moved past that (to now get an A). I'd also like to know anyone's thoughts on the schools I'm applying to and experiences/advice applying to these, especially any advice on how to make myself more competitive. I know my schools are pretty competitive, any advice on maybe some "safety schools" to consider? Thoughts on Wagner's MPA in Public and Non-Profit Management versus the SPS Global Affairs program? Also, any thoughts on some other Euro schools to consider?

Have you considered American, GW, and Tufts? I'm looking at doing a master's in international development with a focus in gender and social inclusion studies and those four schools all offer that type of program. I don't know much about the security/conflict resolution side of these programs, but may be worth taking a look. Tufts offers a MALD with a really flexible concentration program that offers international security and gender, and I think you can combine them. Plus, Tufts offers some joint classes at Harvard.