umwisc

Program Applied To: MPP, MPA Schools Applied To: NYU Wagner, HKS, WWS, Duke Sanford, Michigan Ford, Wisc La Follette, UMD College Park, UMass Schools Admitted To: NYU Wagner ($18k), HKS ($0), Duke Sanford ($21k+health), Michigan Ford ($15k), Wisc La Follette ($0k but after Jan deadline), UMD College Park ($29k + $13k assistantship), UMass (Full Tuition + 7k/yr) Schools Rejected From: WWS Decision: Duke Sanford. It was a toss up between Duke and UMich... Michigan offered these GSI positions which could have knocked down tuition substantially, but it was a roll of the dice. Turning down UMD's offer was also hard as hell. Undergraduate institution: Flagship state school (crazy underfunded) Undergraduate GPA: 3.96 Undergraduate Major: Marketing + Economics (dual-degree) GRE Quantitative Score: 640 GRE Verbal Score: 550 GRE AW Score: 5 GMAT (only sent to HKS): 660 Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 3 Describe Relevant Work Experience: 6 months in the Peace Corps; was evacuated from my country of service - 2 years in AmeriCorps building a new nonprofit organization. Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): Judging from the fact that my GRE scores were relatively complete crap (long story, had to take it 3 times), I would say the one factor that saved my application was my statement of purpose. Sat down at midnight one night in November and just wrote til 5am, and then revised the next day. I was told by my professors that it was one of the most compelling pieces they've read, and in retrospect, I was surprised how honest I was with myself. I began with anecdotes of my time in peacecorps and how it ended as an abruptly visceral experience, and then went on to discuss what inspired me to serve and what I accomplished over the past two years in my nonprofit work, as well as my volunteer work in africa while in undergrad. I ended by tying my childhood (which is another story in itself) with what I hoped to accomplish in the future. While sounding rather convoluted here, I think the "bouncing around" method worked, in some spastic way. My passion for service was definitely palpable. Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): My recommenders really looked out for me. 2 from my professors, both of whom I kept in touch with over the past 3 years. One was my thesis adviser that I proposed an independent capstone bridging together my econ and marketing background. I consulted with a local nonprofit to develop and examine the use of alternative community-based currencies and then provided analysis and recommendations for their future use and success of implementation. I was also a TA for his intro class. Never saw the recommendation, but I'm sure it was good. The other professor was the head of the Mktg dept. I had numerous classes, including an MBA course in Nonprofit Marketing with him. He let me see the recommendation... the fact that he mentioned I was the highest ranked student in both majors for my graduating class was definitely advantageous. The final rec was from my executive director who is very well known in politics throughout the state and in dc. (He's an erudite too, which helps as he has an mpp and phd from Harvard). He wrote how when I began working at the nonprofit, it was just the two of us, and discussed everything I had done to bolster the organization into a 6 person staff over the past 2 years. Overall, I'm glad this is over and done with. If I could go back, I would have studied for a couple months right after undergrad and taken the GRE's. While working, I had no time to do anything, and then I got deathly ill while attempting to take them in Dec and Jan. I took the GMAT straight out of undergrad thinking I would be going to b school, and scored quite well. Unfortunately that doesn't get you very far for the MPP app process. Standardized tests have never been my cup of tea -i also think they're complete bullshit, as I barely broke an 1100 on the SAT, yet somehow scored a 29 on the ACT my first time, and then managed to graduate with almost a 4.0... correlation? notsomuch- and I'm glad that ETS is finally getting rid of the draconian testing methods of rote memorization and robotic nonsense in 2011. Also, I knew that coming out of undergrad, I had an upward battle when it came to getting into top programs. My school was not nationally reputed like UMich or Berkeley, and it's definitely no ivy. Working/volunteering saved my ass. I think the same can be said for most everyone here. Work work work, and be able to parlay your experience into where you want to go. It makes you far more distinguishable in a crowd full of applicants.