kwhitegocubs

UPDATE******************************* In at Fels, out at WWS.

Yep, finally was able to get through to talk to David Thornburgh, and yes, I'm in. I'm very curious to see what the financial aid package will be. The email can't get here fast enough .

I got a phone call as well, but I missed it at 4:51 and by the time I called back, no one was there. However, I'm assuming phone call = good!

I'm at William and Mary for law school right now and I just posted on the MPA stats topic above this one! I don't think you need an MPP (or MPA) to do policy, but it might give you more confidence and a better background if you do. That's why I'm interested. I think Georgetown would be your best bet of the schools you mentioned.

Program Applied To (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.): JD/MPA (Am already doing my JD at William and Mary, and want to get a better MPA than the TJ school at W&M. Schools Applied To: Princeton MPA (Done), Penn Fels MGA (TBA), Syracuse Maxwell (Maybe) Schools Admitted To: Schools Rejected From: Still Waiting: Undergraduate institution: Western Illinois University Undergraduate GPA: 3.75 (Cum Laude) Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): 3.95 Undergraduate Major: English GRE Quantitative Score: 800 GRE Verbal Score: 650 GRE AW Score: 5.5 Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 2-4 (Long Story) Years of Work Experience: 2 Describe Relevant Work Experience: Rare Coin Grader, Authenticator, Appraiser Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): Pretty Decent. It's a modified version of my law school SOP. Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): Academic Recs will be awesome, Professional rec is probably only decent. Other: I have no idea if I have any shot, because my undergrad record is entirely lacking in relevant subject matter. Even with the 800 Quant, I only took one intro math course in 2003, took no econ courses, and passed my Poly Sci requirement with a proficiency exam. So I'm really relying on my policy memo (which I think was rather good), my GRE, and my GPA alone. If anyone has any idea what my realistic chances at any of the schools are, I'd welcome predictions.

Well, my purpose of doing an MPP (or MPA) is mainly because I want to have a better grounding in policy analysis and statistics for a possible future attempt at elected politics. That being said, I would also be interested in working for progressive think-tanks and/or working as an advisor or administrator in state or federal (but preferably not local) government. Basically, I want to use it as an expansion of the JD credential if I end up going down the political route 10 or 15 years from now.

I'd say that getting a second MPA/MPP would probably look a bit odd on your resume. Now, I can understand how it would give you more time to develop and showcase your research skills. You also might even be attending a MPP program that has a wildly different focus than your first MPA, since the degrees are theoretically different to begin with. Still, I think that it's unnecessary. If you are certain after all of your work and education that you want to continue down the public policy route, then go for the PhD. Your odds of being fully funded are much higher through a PhD program, and while I couldn't disagree with George Mason's general economic ideology more, I'd imagine that a PhD in policy there would get you a good shot at think tanks. Of course, if your thread title's emphasis on 'right' is meant to denote your political stance (or economic stance), then my uninformed guess is that GMU would be a great choice even if you had a bit better numbers. However, since the GRE is a fairly painless standardized test (and learnable), I'd study and retake it. I only wish I would have memorized more than 5% of the ridiculous wordlist, since I got a 650 Verbal despite being an English major. The math section is probably more a matter of reviewing basic math concepts. I spent maybe 2 hours going over geometry and advanced algebra principles, since I hadn't taken any math class of any kind in 6 years, and scored an 800 Q on my first PT as well as the real deal. I'd bet that with a bit of study, you could do the same as well. I don't know if you did earlier, but if you haven't, you MUST download the free GRE PowerPrep software. Wait until you've studied and memorized the wordlist (if you decide to retake), and then take the two PTs included with the software. I scored 800/640 and 780/660 on the two PTs I took, and scored 800/650 on the real test. So...for me it was an absolutely perfect predictor of how I'd perform. Now, if you got, say, a 770/650/5.5, then I guess you'd have to throw out applications to KSG and WWS as well as to some higher-end PhD programs. KSG and WWS (or even Harris) would probably be the exceptions to my uninformed advice that you not seek out an MPP in addition to your extant MPA. BTW, I've written for two college newspapers and also contributed little things here and there outside of those gigs, so I understand why beat journalism is such a fun and entertaining fallback .

OKay, I'll make this as quick as possible. I am going to William and Mary Law School starting this fall on 3/4 scholarship. They have a JD/MPP, and I know that they are working hard on making their new-ish MPP program better, but it still pales in comparison to their nationally prestigious law school. However, I scored a 800 Quant/650 Verbal/5.5 AW on the GRE and have a 3.75 UG GPA, so I'd like to go to the best MPP/MPA program I can. From what I have read, it isn't terribly hard to make arrangements with a lot of MPP schools in order to do a JD/MPP with a different school's JD program. However, I am already (because of Cost-of-living expenses) on pace to rack up 50-75k in debt at law school. I'd like to limit debt as much as possible and I don't know how generous W&M's MPP side would be anyways. So....what I want to know is: What are some schools that tend towards the very generous side - aka full tuition or full tuition plus stipend. If the full ride and stipend also came without an assistantship position, that would actually be better in some regards (more free time). I saw that Delaware and UConn offered some students on this forum rides and stipends, but if anyone else has suggestions on higher ranked schools that are known to be generous with funding for those with my numbers (FWIW, I also have 2 years work experience in an odd niche - Rare Coin Grading), I'd be very interested.