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Anyone know when they'll release financial aid info for early admits?

If I was admitted to the Masters in International Econ but didn't apply to the PhD fast track, is it possible for that path to still be available for me? Like, can I speak with faculty when I'm there and maybe get on that track starting in the second semester?

I don't think anyone should ever choose SAIS (and definitely not Sanford) over SPIA, especially if SPIA is fully funded. They're hardly in the same league regardless of what you want to do post-graduation.

Man, the people saying 90k+ on a Government Affairs forum sure are optimistic lol

To be completely honest, the people I've met that work at McK always make it sound like a cult so I tend to take their ravings about the company with a grain of salt. I don't know anyone at J-Pal, though. I'm guessing the academic nature of the org has something to do with these issues as it has all the suckiness of academic professions.

I think that it's the sort of place where you go to cut your teeth. Kinda like how working at McKinsey sucks due to workload/hours but then once you're done you'll have McK in your resume and that'll open doors for you.

While that might be true for the MPP, I'm not sure if it's the case for the MPA/ID (I apologize in advance to MPP applicants for spamming your thread. Looking at previous years' HKS threads it seems all HKS discussion converges into the MPP thread anyways). For the MPA/ID it seems like they just want quants from developing countries with a policy background. I don't think they have "quotas" for people from TFA/Peace Corps/Congress/etc because their applicants tend to be such a mixed bag kinda similar to MBAs. They'll just take the people they think are most capable of handling the PhD level econ they throw at them.

Even a statistic with a 5 p.p. margin of error would help out with the stress (not to mention that if they published these stats yearly like MBAs do, the historical trend would give us a pretty good idea of the competitiveness of the program). I know literally nothing about how competitive the program I'm applying to is. You always hear that the MPA/ID is more competitive than the MPP, but how much more competitive? HKS listed the MPP acceptance rate in 2010 as 20%. Assuming that is still the case (which it almost definitely isn't), what would "the MPA/ID is more competitive" mean? 18%? 12%? 5%? If I knew I was applying to a program that has an 18% acceptance rate I'd feel pretty confident about being above the cut. However, if I knew the acceptance rate was 5% then I'd be happy just kinda forgetting about this until March because admission is pretty much gonna be sheer luck regardless of the strength of my app. Regardless, in either scenario I would know pretty well how comfortable I should be with entertaining the idea of getting into HKS. As it stands now, I'm pretty much completely in the blind. I have no idea if my application is strong or not, or whether my chances of getting in are decent or if I have no shot.

Also submitted my application for the MPA/ID! Now we wait... This would be a lot less stressful if HKS simply published its acceptance rates....

HKS confirms that the GRE/GMAT will be required of those applying to the MPA/ID this cycle. https://hksadmissionblog.tumblr.com/post/631261704288911360/2021-application-long-term-planning-series-post

Is the personal history/diversity essay new?

Does anyone know of any comparable programs (both in terms of content and prestige), either in the US or in Europe? Only the Princeton MPA's econ track seems to be close in the US and there certainly doesn't seem to be anything similar in Europe.

That is only for the PhD programs (so far, they might announce the change for master's programs soon)

Thanks! Where'd you hear about this virtual session?

Ok this is getting ridiculous. I can't believe they still haven't posted the application...

I haven't done too much research on this (just a 5 second google search, I'm at work right now lol) but the first I found was Berkeley Hass's numbers. While they did report a rise in applications relative to last year (up ~5%, from 3,450 in 2019 to 3,636 in 2020), the number is still way below what it was in 2017: 4132. This actually looks like pretty great news for those of us applying this cycle! Seems like while admissions will be more competitive than last year, they'll still be significantly less competitive than usual. Edit: actually the more I look into it the less promising this looks. Columbia Business had 6,971 applications this year, a lot more than the 6,188 it had in 2017. Forbes is reporting a 25% increase at Darden, 21% at Wharton, 35% at Saïd and a whopping 44% at Imperial College Business School, all relative to last year. Seems like Hass's 5% increase was the exception, not the rule. That's disappointing...

Why would he kiss SAIS goodbye? It's not exactly hard to get in, he's got DC IR experience at a well known institution, and he could probably take a couple of classes of Calc before starting next fall. I'm starting to have a little doubt that this application cycle will change much given how likely it's looking that Covid will last for most of 2021 as well.

He means the 3-4 HKS specific essays you have to write for every program.

The 99.9% applies to any professional program, it wasn't in any way meant as an indictment of SAIS. It's a very good school.

If Harris really is your number one then I think you would benefit a lot from taking a second calculus course if you still have time. Also you don't have to "explain away" an A-. If you can get a better letter from someone else then that would probably help you more. You would also obviously benefit from a year or two of real work experience, but I think you know that already.

To the MPA/ID? Nice! What's your background? It seems like around 60% of the class usually majored in economics, so a lot of my stress with this program definitely stems from having a political science background.

Love how you complain about me linking an opinion article (that cites multiple studies) and then you link to a blog that cites opinion articles. Good job.

This is a common misconception. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/no-one-likes-the-sat-its-still-the-fairest-thing-about-admissions/2019/03/22/5fa67a16-4c00-11e9-b79a-961983b7e0cd_story.html "It has become a mantra in some quarters to assert that standardized tests measure wealth more than intellectual ability or academic potential, but this is not actually the case. These tests clearly assess verbal and mathematical skills, which a century of psychological science shows are not mere reflections of upbringing. Research has consistently found that ability tests like the SAT and the ACT are strongly predictive of success in college and beyond, even after accounting for a student’s socioeconomic status." "The fairest reading of the evidence is that the SAT and the ACT have tremendous value, precisely because they are the only truly uniform, objective and predictive ways to compare candidates with widely varying academic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Even after the scandal, standardized tests are popular with the American public. Advocates of eliminating them should realize that SAT scores don’t just block students from elite colleges — for every privileged student whose bad SAT score keeps them out, there is another student whose SAT helps get them in. Indeed, at one time the SAT opened doors for Jewish students who were intellectually qualified yet essentially barred from attending Harvard, Yale and Princeton. And the recent movement to make tests optional does not seem to have increased student-body diversity." https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/14/upshot/how-universal-college-admission-tests-help-low-income-students.html https://www.brookings.edu/research/act-sat-for-all-a-cheap-effective-way-to-narrow-income-gaps-in-college/amp/ "In Michigan, in 2007, the ACT became part of the test required of juniors in the public schools. As a result of this shift in policy, the share of Michigan’s high school students taking a college entrance exam rose from 54 percent to nearly 99 percent. The growth was even sharper among low-income students, of whom only 35 percent were previously taking the test." Standardized tests are actually the *least* inequitable part of college admissions. ...so much for making a thread for MPA/ID applicants..

A little, but honestly I don't care. What bothers me is that this feels like the third time I (or someone else) try to start a conversation about a program and you come in and make it all about the GRE. It's really the only thing you seem to ever post about. No, HKS hasn't changed their GRE requirement yet. And you would know this if you took the 5 seconds it takes to open up their website and check. Even if they did get rid of it for other programs, there's a 99% chance they won't do it for the MPA/ID because they've made clear that it's an important part of the application for this specific program.

I really don't know if you're a troll, but you really need to find something else to comment here besides this. Really, anything.