2711383
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Posts posted by 2711383
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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?
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5 hours ago, GradSchoolGrad said:
I think Top 3 really depends on what you want to do.
If you want to focus on Data with an IR flair - SAIS is #1
Local & State + Non-Profit - Sanford #1
Focused Research Opportunities - SPIA #1
I would avoid American period.
McCourt is complicated. If you care about padding your resume and learning applied data - it works for you - just be prepared to go alone. The culture of McCourt is professionally terrible and policy areas outside of their core focus areas can be difficult to build a career off of.
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.
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Man, the people saying 90k+ on a Government Affairs forum sure are optimistic lol
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3 minutes ago, GradSchoolGrad said:
Yes. Its one thing to say that your work experienced sucked for long hours, but learned awesome skills (true for both), but the McK people actually talk highly about the people (in terms of culture, professionalness, and overall awesomeness). The J-Pal folks I know mention how awesome people are in terms of prestige and interesting work, but rather negatively so in terms of culture and professional development.
*Comparing mental notes among my McK friends and J-Pal people I have met randomlyTo 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.
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21 minutes ago, GradSchoolGrad said:
I think it is interesting a lot people from Policy side of IDEV (not so much IR side) want to get into J-PAL (and many talk about it like the holy grail of post MPP for IDEV). However, the people I encountered from J-Pal professionally and leaving it to go to grad school highlighted that it was interesting work but a pretty awful work environment (high stress personalities and not a collaborative work environment --> maybe I randomly talked to wrong people / the few that had terrible experiences. I will say that the 1 person I know personally really that went to J-PAL is not someone I want to work with or for.
If anyone has any other commentary to give a more rounded perspective, that would be greatly appreciated.
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.
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3 minutes ago, GradSchoolGrad said:
What most people forget is that schools seek for diversity by type with the previous class as a baseline. For example, if they the previous years had 5 people from teach for America (TFA) in a class, admissions would try to do the same +/- 1, so the competition would really be among those who did TFA. The #1 person from TFA might actually be way less qualified than the #1 person from Capital Hill, but as long was the person is generally competitive, they are competing with their specific type more than competing against the entire applicant pool at large.
Of course, in order to get a shot to even compete , you need to be deemed generally competitive in the first place to warrant going further analysis. My basic point is th A: It isn't hard to know if you are generally competitive. B. It is next to impossible to know if you are impossible for you type.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.
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11 minutes ago, GradSchoolGrad said:
Realistically, it would be unfair to do so because unlike MBA rates which stay generally stable, MPP (and many other grad schools have acceptance rates that a fluctuate massively on the reg (as in >5 percentage points) depending on the year.
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.
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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....
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HKS confirms that the GRE/GMAT will be required of those applying to the MPA/ID this cycle.
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9 hours ago, joshyboy said:
They haven't released the app yet, but they just posted the questions to their blog.
Big thing to note is answers can't be more than 500 words. In previous years the limit has been 600 words.
Is the personal history/diversity essay new?
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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.
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13 hours ago, prepedonline said:
Due to COVID-19, we will not require you to submit your GRE scores if you are applying for fall 2021. There is no minimum GRE score requirement. We do not accept the GMAT or LSAT. This highlighting message by HKS official site I hope this information help those are planning to apply for 2021.
That is only for the PhD programs (so far, they might announce the change for master's programs soon)
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3 hours ago, van_96 said:
I was just in an HKS virtual information session and they said it would be up in early to mid October, so hopefully they push the deadline back as well.
Thanks! Where'd you hear about this virtual session?
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On 9/17/2020 at 8:50 AM, columbia09 said:
Any idea when the application will go online ?
Ok this is getting ridiculous. I can't believe they still haven't posted the application...
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21 hours ago, GradSchoolGrad said:
HOWEVER... the only grad programs that publish their application numbers (MBAs) have highlighted they have had a rise in applications. That isn't exactly a good indicator for other grad schools (applicant perspective) + those deferring from last year are not good starting points to be coming from as an applicant.
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...
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16 hours ago, GradSchoolGrad said:
Kiss Princeton MPA and SAIS goodbye. I honestly don't know why you want to do Princeton MPA if you are going IR unless you are trying to do something super academic. I would say Georgetown MSFS and SIPA are both more robust options (in terms of academic opportunities).
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.
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5 minutes ago, joshyboy said:
Hey @GradSchoolGrad you mentioned a few posts ago that the HKS application is a pain, would you mind elaborating on that?
He means the 3-4 HKS specific essays you have to write for every program.
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17 hours ago, escondido41 said:
Thanks for the tip. Indeed the fees should not be similar to the on-campus fees. Just curious why you would go as far as 99.9%? Is the teaching that bad, and the networking in DC is really all that one can get from SAIS?
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.
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4 hours ago, Kaz_KV said:
Hi everyone! I'm new here and would really appreciate any help.
Applying to: Chicago Harris MPP, Georgetown McCourt MPP, UCLA Luskin MPP or MURP, Berkeley Goldman MPP, Michigan Ford MPP. In addition, my professors want me to consider Duke Sanford for the PhD program (since I want to do research long term), Harvard Kennedy MPP, and Johns Hopkins MS in Applied Econ.
Undergrad institution: Slightly below top 50 in US
Undergrad Major: Public Policy
Undergrad GPA: 3.73. However, there is a significant upward trend as I have not received anything less than an A- since freshman year. Major GPA is a 3.87. I also fully expect for my GPA to increase by the time I'm applying to later application dates (i.e., anything after this semester)
Years out of undergrad: I am currently an undergrad.
Quant Background: Calc 1, several economics courses, two statistics courses, Decision Modeling taken through my university's graduate school.
Relevant Work Experience: Research internship in my field with a very well known Think Tank. Full-time Federal Government Internship with a significant Department. Government Relations intern with a startup working in my field.
GRE: I'm pretty embarrassed by this. 154Q, 158V, 4.5W. I will not be sending them where I am not required (Chicago, Berkeley, UCLA). I will also be retaking in time for later aps - though I don't know how much I can study given how busy I am now.
Strength of LOR: 2 out of 3 should be strong. 1 will be okay but from a professor than can "explain away" an A- I received in an Econ course.
Strength of SOP: Should be average.
To sum it up, Chicago Harris is my number one. I will likely go regardless of funding since it's the best fit (I want to improve quant skills and work in urban policy / research). Do I have a chance at any of these programs? I know I'm fresh out of undergrad but I feel I have decent work experience through internships. Thank you for all the help!!
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.
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On 9/12/2020 at 3:29 AM, Twiste said:
Not to derail from the current conversation, but I'll be applying in this cycle. Happy to talk through the process or try not to get super anxious about it with anyone else!
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.
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17 hours ago, columbia09 said:
https://otherwords.org/standardized-tests-are-biased-and-unhelpful/
here I won’t copy and paste the whole article like you did. You could’ve had one if you ended the conversation a post ago instead of pasting an opinion article. Btw, I did awful on the SAT (bottom quartile) and graduated with a 3.8 GPA from a top state school and have two successful careers currently. They predict nothing for some people
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.
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3 hours ago, columbia09 said:
And not to get political (although MPA/MPP programs get political) but I see all this protesting about cops and systemic racism and all the crap they get. You know what’s systemic racism? Standardized tests
This is a common misconception.
"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."
"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..
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4 hours ago, columbia09 said:
What a nasty comment. I see you favor that they keep it in place
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.
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SAIS 2022
in Government Affairs Forum
Posted
Anyone know when they'll release financial aid info for early admits?