meshoome

@Bubba94 yeah, unfortunately not having an option called awards means you weren't offered aid this time. Sorry to hear that.

Hey everyone. Congratulations to those who got in! Good luck to the others and hope other schools on your list shower you with funding I deferred my MPA/ID last year, so I'm curious if anyone has heard anything on funding yet? Do you know if the MYFAID portal is up to date?

Thanks for the detailed response @cactus_taco! Congratulations on getting offers from both programs! Did you get any funding from MPA/ID? Which way are you leaning personally? 1. I spoke to some more people and they echoed what you have said. So I'm feeling much more confident in my ability to handle the coursework and in-fact do well there even if I go this year. 2. Sorry to hear about the WWS new admit day. I did not know about the strong orientation of WWS to funnel people into US domestic policy jobs. Could you expand a little on "IR/idev jobs out of US organizations (gates, usaid)" I'm not entirely sure I understand what you mean. One aspect of WWS that attracts me is the fact that since everyone is more or less fully funded, the vibe of the cohort will be significantly different from MPA/ID where a large bunch of people would be working towards landing relatively well paying jobs to pay off debt as opposed to figuring out the best pathways to create value for society at large. Though this might be a very naive view. Other than this, the perspective you shared definitely makes me lean towards the MPA/ID. 3. It matters a little bit. I would have to take around 65k USD as debt to attend the program with my parents covering the rest. My parents are saying that over time they will help pay that off too. In its entirety, it will cost my parents 12-15% of their net worth to fund my education. I have to find a new job as I have spent more than enough time at my current job and my learning stopped a year back. There is no particularly exciting job I can think of applying for. I am going to apply pretty broadly and hopefully explore a sector that I do not have much experience in till date - like program management in a NGO or an entry level role in impact investing. I'm pretty open to new things right now. 4. I can't apply directly for a PhD right now. Indian candidates typically must complete a masters degree before becoming competitive for US econ PhDs. One of my professors also suggested the Pardee RAND Graduate School for a three year PhD instead of a 5/6 year PhD post masters. I like this option as I am not looking for academic jobs long term, but more applied research. Thanks again for your reply. It really helped. Which country are you from (if you don't mind answering)?

Hello all, I was fortunate enough to get into HKS's MPA/ID program with zero funding. I am a 28 year old India male. I have a bachelors in engineering, have worked for a year in a consulting firm, a year in grassroot rural development and for 3 years at J-PAL. I was nominated for the World Bank Joint Japan Scholarship for MPA/ID but I did not apply for it as I didn't think I would be admitted (idiotic, I know!). Other than MPA/ID I applied for Paris School of Economics for both their APE and PPD programs but the results are pending. I am also fortunate enough to be in a situation where my parents can fund the $170k I need to attend MPA/ID without much difficulty. I am considering deferring the admission to apply for Princeton (WWS) MPA next year and to apply for the World Bank Joint Japan Scholarship. Additionally, I have no background in economics and hence I think spending a year being a teaching assistant for econ courses in a university in India will be a good way for me to study basic microecon, macroecon and econometrics as well as brush up on programming before going for the MPA/ID in case I defer my admission. I am considering doing a PhD after the MPA/ID but am unsure at this stage since I have never really studied economics formally and so don't know if I will enjoy the subject enough to go for a PhD. Given this, could someone help me work through this decision. Apologies for the long post but I have been agonizing over this decision for the past three weeks and have made no headway. Thank you all for the discussions on this forum. They have informed the way I have thought about my applications and kept me sane though the process. I hope you are all moving on to bigger and better things in your lives too

Hi guys, I'm applying to WWS (MPA), HKS (MPA I/D) and Yale (IDE). I don't have any formal coursework in microecon or macroecon. However, my quant background is pretty solid. Given my profile, what do you think my chances are at these programs? Also, how should I explain why I will be able to cope with econ coursework without any formal background in it. Basics: 27 year old male from India, GRE Qunat 168/170 and Verbal 169/170 (equivalent to 780 GMAT) Engineering undergrad at top 7 college (non-IIT but recognized brand name, 0.5% out of 100,000 applicants get into the college). My GPA though is average at best. Work experience (all in India): 1 year as an analyst at boutique management consulting firm specializing in pharma (offices in 22 countries) 1 year at a selective liberal arts and leadership fellowship 1 year at a large national NGO - living and working in village in a remote part of India as a grassroots activist and development worker; working with women farmers on gender issues and financial literacy 2.5 years as a research associate at J-PAL South Asia. Work mostly comprised of managing research operations (teams of up 100 surveys working across the state); pitching to and managing high level government partners/clients, acting as a technical consultant to government on issues of digital payments and the use of data for management, economic analysis. Recommenders: 1. Senior government official who heads the department for the state (State has population of 112 million) 2. 3 Professors of economics (all from Harvard) who now teach at top 15 econ universities in USA One of the professors also founded one of the hottest and most written about charities in Kenya 3. Vanilla recommendation from the Chancellor of the liberal arts fellowship