interstu5

Program Applied To: American SIS MAIAPA, Elliott School MA IDEV Undergraduate institution: regional public university. Undergraduate GPA: 3.95 Undergraduate Majors: International Affairs, Minors in Economics and Spanish Study Abroad: Christ University in India, doing research on women’s rights GRE: not taken as it is not required by either school Years of Work Experience: 1-2 years full-time, 5 years cumulative Describe Relevant Work Experience: - Completed project for UNDP on political and electoral rights - Was a national fellow for a well-known NGO and helped lobby at the UN Commission on the Status of Women - Worked as a research/communications assistant on campus for a research institute focused on economic and policy analysis - Worked as an international student peer advisor on campus - Economic Development Committee member for a local nonprofit doing development work in Kenya - Did gender-based violence research as a member of President’s Women’s Commission - Changed university policy on emergency contraceptives access on campus - Completed internship for a human rights educational center locally - Conducted policy evaluation for local municipal county courthouse on racial inequity policies - Was a budget and finance chair for a local political action committee - Lobbied federal government on global women’s rights issues - Held community organizing positions for a variety of issues such as environmental policy, women’s rights, etc. - Volunteered for refugee arts organization and a human rights organization creating databases. - Politics journalist for campus newspaper - Worked full-time for a year as a research analyst for a sales/marketing company after high school. All before turning 21. It's really varied/wide but there's not a ton of depth in any 1 specific field except women's rights. Languages: Intermediate-Advanced Spanish, beginning Hindi. Quant: Calculus AB from high school (4), 4.0 in all economics classes including micro and macro, will take econometrics and more classes in econ next year, 4.0 in stats, significant work experience with statistics. Strength of SOP: probably fine. Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): One from a professor who has personally paid for me to go to academic research conferences with her (long story) and has been my mentor from day 1, one from a professor who was the director of my program and appointed me as the leader for a UN simulation in a class on international organizations, and one from a supervisor (either from the director of the international student services dept at my school where I worked for a little under a year or from the director of a public policy & economics research institute on campus that I currently work for, haven’t decided yet). Others: I’m also a first-generation student, nontraditional (married!), and low-income. I’m most concerned that my undergraduate institution will reflect poorly on the rest of my application, since my school is not that good, although it is fully accredited and not 100% acceptance (came here due to financial concerns etc). Not really considering applying to Georgetown or Johns Hopkins because a. don't think I'd get in and b. It would cost a lot more since I'd have to take GREs and they don't have fee waivers for first gen students.