munch22

I apologize - I missed your last sentence there.
I do want to focus on your last point though, because it is a serious problem with applicants and academia in general: students should not feel bad getting paid more. Would you say the same thing to someone asking for a raise in the private sector?  Many PhD applicants are so grateful to have funding, they accept extremely low offers. Getting rid of the stigma in grad school about asking for more funding is really important. The real value of grad wages has gone down significantly over the last 20 years. Applicants should feel comfortable asking for money, even if they don’t “need it”. 

No decisions would have been made at this point. Two years of no cohort would really throw a program off so I doubt this will happen again. 

I apologize - I missed your last sentence there.
I do want to focus on your last point though, because it is a serious problem with applicants and academia in general: students should not feel bad getting paid more. Would you say the same thing to someone asking for a raise in the private sector?  Many PhD applicants are so grateful to have funding, they accept extremely low offers. Getting rid of the stigma in grad school about asking for more funding is really important. The real value of grad wages has gone down significantly over the last 20 years. Applicants should feel comfortable asking for money, even if they don’t “need it”. 

I apologize - I missed your last sentence there.
I do want to focus on your last point though, because it is a serious problem with applicants and academia in general: students should not feel bad getting paid more. Would you say the same thing to someone asking for a raise in the private sector?  Many PhD applicants are so grateful to have funding, they accept extremely low offers. Getting rid of the stigma in grad school about asking for more funding is really important. The real value of grad wages has gone down significantly over the last 20 years. Applicants should feel comfortable asking for money, even if they don’t “need it”. 

They just want you to focus mainly on yourself. Talk about your own work and what you are interested and how that fits within the broader department strengths. There is no need to talk about historical components. 

This isn’t how department funding works. In no world is someone denied promotions or administrative staff are not laid off so a grad student can come to a school with a few thousand dollars more. 
I don’t think there is any downside to list other schools. And you should use these other offers to leverage more funding (in a respectful way of course). Letting them know you are applying to other schools is beneficial in this process. 

You are right and I am wrong. I was almost sure, but must have confused it with something else. So it looks like Duke is indeed going forward with applications this year. Sorry for the confusion.

I disagree. Yes, 165 is a great score. but I think the likelihood of benefiting from your quant score is lower than the likelihood of being dinged for a low verbal score. In most years, yes a good quant score is important. But this year is different in that you have the opportunity to not send anything. In my opinion, the risk outweighs the reward, especially as an international student. 

This is such a weird year, I think the only people who will be able to tell you that are faculty on the committee after the fact. If you have above average scores for that school, definitely send them. If not, it’s really hard to know. I don’t think anyone on here actually has an answer. 

This is such a weird year, I think the only people who will be able to tell you that are faculty on the committee after the fact. If you have above average scores for that school, definitely send them. If not, it’s really hard to know. I don’t think anyone on here actually has an answer. 

Short answer: don’t do it.
 
These programs don’t provide much in way of experience/learning and are mostly cash draws for these schools. It just adds a year or two that you are in school.  Go out and try to build some knowledge in something related to your research interests. Something people don’t talk about before applying is how important it is to have some sort of outside expertise or knowledge that can help inform your research. If you don’t get in this cycle and know research/phd, this is a great way to spend a gap year. 

The gpa cutoff is not that high (if there is one at all). They’ll look at both the number and contextualize it based on classes taken. 

It has less to do with endowments and more to do with the impending issue of current students going on the academic job market that is now virtually non existent. Schools are suspending admissions to provide further funding for current students in many cases, although budget issues are making this problem even worse. And more programs will be coming with suspending admissions. Almost all will be cutting cohort sizes. Departments are presumably still make decisions on this and well have a better picture come late October. 

Don't do it.

You can prep somewhat in two weeks. The best practice is learning the strategies to take the test, taking the free practice tests ETS has online, and getting comfortable with the format. That is doable in two weeks. You’ll see your scores go way up each time you take it and get more familiar. Even if you don’t use these scores it is good to experience what the actual GRE is like because it is a somewhat grueling in my opinion. 
 
Also, don’t listen to anyone about these “arbitrary“ cutoffs. Do your best and aim for 160+ but don’t let people freak you out about just not being competitive for good programs if you don’t get 160. I had more than my fair share of luck with a section below 160 and plenty of people have gotten rejected with perfect scores. 

Job opportunities will differ significantly graduating from Wagner and SIPA versus Pace or CUNY.
 
To be honest, I’m not really sure why you are looking at MPA schools at this stage in your life/career. SIPA is pretty clear they want students with 3-5 years work experience and others are going to be the same. This forum can help, but I think you need to do some more research on the specific programs from their websites. I also don’t think it’s necessarily smart to limit yourself to just one city. There is always plenty of time to circle back and get a job in NYC if that is your dream to live there. 

Job opportunities will differ significantly graduating from Wagner and SIPA versus Pace or CUNY.
 
To be honest, I’m not really sure why you are looking at MPA schools at this stage in your life/career. SIPA is pretty clear they want students with 3-5 years work experience and others are going to be the same. This forum can help, but I think you need to do some more research on the specific programs from their websites. I also don’t think it’s necessarily smart to limit yourself to just one city. There is always plenty of time to circle back and get a job in NYC if that is your dream to live there. 

Depends on what sort of data work you want to do. If you are interested in research questions that may use big data, the more the better. Normal data sets with maybe a few thousand observations you would be fine with 8GB

Depends on what sort of data work you want to do. If you are interested in research questions that may use big data, the more the better. Normal data sets with maybe a few thousand observations you would be fine with 8GB

Hahah yeah that’s just not true. GPAs lower than 3.5 make it significantly harder to get into a top 20, but not impossible. 
 
I really think your best route is trying to find a research based position related to your interests. In my opinion, the added value of a masters is low, especially for someone with a strong academic record from a top political science program. I know you are worried about not having a background in Comparative- so take more classes at Cornell! You can also explore these things on your own. Public opinion/behavior research Is also dominated by the American context, so having a background in undergrad in American doesn’t necessarily eliminate you from contention or being able to show interest if you combine it with some comparative classes this year. 
 
My biggest piece of advice though- GO TALK TO YOUR PROFESSORS! You go to a school with a top PhD program, who read applications every time and have colleagues at almost every top PhD program. They will be able to advise you way better then any of us (including me) on what you should do.  

Hahah yeah that’s just not true. GPAs lower than 3.5 make it significantly harder to get into a top 20, but not impossible. 
 
I really think your best route is trying to find a research based position related to your interests. In my opinion, the added value of a masters is low, especially for someone with a strong academic record from a top political science program. I know you are worried about not having a background in Comparative- so take more classes at Cornell! You can also explore these things on your own. Public opinion/behavior research Is also dominated by the American context, so having a background in undergrad in American doesn’t necessarily eliminate you from contention or being able to show interest if you combine it with some comparative classes this year. 
 
My biggest piece of advice though- GO TALK TO YOUR PROFESSORS! You go to a school with a top PhD program, who read applications every time and have colleagues at almost every top PhD program. They will be able to advise you way better then any of us (including me) on what you should do.  

This was in reference to things being more competitive. Nothing you said changes the fact that there will still be fewer spots open to perspective students next year. 

All good- almost all the articles you had posted said they were edited yesterday (probably based off the provost’s updated comments) so I think that caused some confusion. Definitely think adding those links contributes an important conversation about what is going to happen. 

This was in reference to things being more competitive. Nothing you said changes the fact that there will still be fewer spots open to perspective students next year. 

I don’t see where it says it is confirmed they will be online in the fall from any quotes from the administration. It appears the journalists have extrapolated that. They are just making plans.