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I was overseas and able to complete both courses completely online. Some courses do require a few on-campus days but I luckily found a 100% online class through Mesa College (a California CC based in San Diego). It also didn't show up as an online class on the transcript. The academic rigor, of course, was pretty mild but I did get a lot out of it as someone with little econ background. If you're a CA resident, it definitely might be worth taking advantage of the relatively cheap tuition fees.. I think it's something like $33/unit in-state. If you do decide to go this route, be sure to register ASAP as Fall registration dates are already going out and classes fill up insanely fast.

I wouldn't be scared away by the sticker price. Many applicants (including myself) have been offered generous awards by different programs. As for researching, I really took advantage of a lot of the past posts in these forums, especially the results posts where posters shared their acceptances, rejections and awards. It might be a bit of a messy start but it will give you some idea of which schools like to throw money at applicants and which don't. Try not to get star-struck by the big name schools if money is a big concern for you and look at a variety of options.

I took macro-econ and micro-econ online through a California community college for a little over $100 each before applying (and I would have probably done an online stats or calc class also if I wasn't so busy with GRE studying). I felt it was necessary for myself not having a strong quantitative background on my undergrad transcript. Personally, I don't think it matters where you take these courses because adcoms probably just look to see if you've taken econ courses or what your quant background is like rather than the institutions you attended. I was a pretty strong applicant overall but I think having put the extra effort and interest into economics post-graduation (even if it was through a dinky CC) might have helped round out my application and pushed it into the acceptance/funding pile. Save the money, you're gonna need it for application fees, GRE tests/score print outs and transcript copies

If you do a little sifting through old posts, you'll find some posts by users advertising new facebook groups. USC SPPD has a group as I know.

Not familiar with the other programs so I can't comment there but USC has pretty strong relations with Deloitte and there were a fair amount of current students I met there that were trying to get into private consulting. USC is very California-focused (Los Angeles) it's something to consider if you want to be on the east coast.

These aren't exhaustive lists but it's enough to get you started http://www.gopublicservice.org/ http://www.naspaa.or...e/schsearch.asp http://www.publicservicecareers.org/ One of my main resources I used when I started searching was the Peace Corps' Fellows/USA website: http://www.peacecorp...s.participating. If you're not a former or current volunteer then obviously the fellowships won't apply to you but it was a good jumping off point seeing as many of the participating programs are MPP/MPA programs. There are tons of information on this forum so you just got to dive in!

I have to take an intro to stats class for my grad program. Took it in undergrad but they're making us take it again if we haven't taken it in the past 3 years (Why are they making me feel soo old?) I'm also hoping to take something fun like photography or web design.

I've been out of school for a few years and I also recently returned from being abroad so I've been taking it easy. I plan on taking some classes at the local community college so (hopefully) I can get back into school-mode. (Hopefully I can get into a class... it feels like getting a class at a California CC might actually be harder than getting into grad school with all the budget cuts going on around here.) OP, since you're in a completely different position coming straight from undergrad, take a break! It might help to be refreshed before starting grad studies.

Did anyone go to the Open House today? Any thoughts and observations from the event?

Along the same lines as the previous posters, i have to agree that its important to get your feet wet first. I'm not sure what your undergrad exp was but how do you know you want to do international dev until you get a taste of it? Career-wise, I think you'd be better off with at least some work experience before graduating. Employers are more likely to go for field-tested candidates rather than fresh MA grads. If you're both, all the better

Not saying this to discourage you from applying but have you thought of applying next application season rather than now? The benefit would be that you'd considered for funding (USC is pretty expensive but also pretty generous with funding), you'd have another year of work experience under your belt. Just wanted to throw that out there and you can apply to number of programs. To answer your question, I think it's all in how you phrase things. As long as you can tie in your training and leadership work to how you think it will benefit you in your grad program as well as your future career, it wouldn't hurt your SOP, I think

Well like most things in life, it's what you make of it. It's totally not worth if you just want to do because it's well-known and looks good on your CV. Thinking about a pretty CV will not keep you in-country for long. PC does get you in the villages, talking to real people in their language, trying to work out projects with the locals as opposed to sticking around in an air-conditioned office in the capital with USAID folks who may not have ground-level perspective and sit in meetings all day (paraphrasing the USAID folks I met). That being said, it's a frustrating experience because you are on the ground, feeling at times helpless and incompetent, and most likely having projects explode in your face left and right... but, you do gain a lot of insight into your field from all that failure, hardship and occasional success.

It might be a little backward. Most of my cohort when I was in the PC were looking to get into grad school in IR/ID. I think if you really want to do the Peace Corps (and if you do, let an RPCV try to talk you out of it first), do it before you go into grad school because you'll have a better handle of how international development works out in the boondocks.

I know that SDMPP just came back from the open house. You might want to PM him/her if they don't make a post.

I know for USC, you won't be guaranteed funding if you defer but you will be reconsidered for it. Also, while USC is very domestically-oriented, it is trying to break out into the international scene. It had a couple international labs in the past couple years in China and Brazil. This coming year, the int'l lab is supposed to be in Hong Kong. Just thought I'd throw that out there.