
fso2k11
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Everything posted by fso2k11
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- Internships are great - Find some way to spend your time for the next year. Get a job (not on the hill, in my opinion, you already have that and good luck in this climate considering 2 of your 3 offices are now gone) Go WORK on a campaign....Virginia has state senate and house races this year, for instance. - Get relevant/diverse volunteer experience: i.e. the Refugee Assistance Program (perhaps the most exotic/interesting/selfless volunteer opportunity available. But your pockets will always be full of those damn nepalese coins...) - Take your GREs again, if you want. I got a 660 four years ago, then I studied my ass off for a week straight, took it again, got a 760. You can do the same, and you probably should. - You should have 1 professor letter and 2 professional letters. I.e. Nelson's Chief of Staff and your direct supervisor in the WH. - Talk to a member of the HKS faculty (preferably the Admissions Committee) now to get a sense of the candidates who are getting through now. They have leadership experience, they're interested in being congressmen/women, or WH speech writers/journalists, etc. This conversation should shape (very directly) how you craft your resume & personal statement But my main question is this: Why the $&%# do you want to go to HKS so quickly? Are you committed to getting an MPP from any institution? If not, HKS will see through you. Also, to put it bluntly, HKS is full of adults who know that they didn't know sh!t when they were 21 so they assume you probably don't either. Given that HKS can offer admission to 300 people per year (aka 3,000 people this decade, or 12,000 people during the remaining lifetime of Professor Larry Summers), they are prone to bet that you'll be just like every other 21 year old they know. In fact, they'll say, 21 year olds with impressive internships usually have rich helicopter parents and that fact would exacerbate the probability that you're just like every other 21 year old they know. I say apply now anyways, but don't count on it. Go be a GS-5 for the State Dept...they have an office in Miami...or invent something and file for a patent, then apply every year until you get in. But if you want to go to any MPP school, you'll probably get in everywhere else but HKS and WWS. Just sayin'.
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"Every other school asks prospective students to submit copies of transcripts and original transcripts are required only after the admission..." - this is not true. Common, but not true. Also, there was a deadline. Sometimes they're difficult to meet. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to get transcripts and any other information from Germany, India or anywhere else outside the US. It is difficult enough for me to get them from my community college, undergrad and grad. However I am not at all surprised by their response and you shouldn't be either. Good luck.
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How many schools are you applying to?
fso2k11 replied to Nimesis's topic in Government Affairs Forum
I'm applying to four: Carnegie Mellon 3 semester MSPPM - they gave me 60% scholarship already. HKS MPP Cornell MPA Syracuse MPA/MA-IR I'm still working on Syracuse & Cornell (Syr is due on Tuesday, I know...) I live in DC and am not applying to a single DC school. I want to get OUTTA HERE for a year or two! I thought about the Carnegie Mellon DC track but I met a handful of current students and some of their internships were particularly unimpressive (i.e. unpaid intern for a junior senator), so I don't think Carnegie Mellon is doing a good job of leveraging alums or anything else to help their students find internships/fellowships. I'm psyched about their Pittsburgh 3 semester program though. Also psyched about Cornell...now I just have to write their damn essay #2.... -
University of Phoenix will take your money, even if you're from Mars.
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Quick question on the Syracuse Maxwell application (any degree). The online application has three fields to add additional information (How are past grades an index of potential?; Describe your academic honors, community involvement, etc.; Describe experiences relevant to teaching or research assistantships). Each field has a 350 character limit, but offers for you to upload additional information if necessary. Did anyone do that? If so, why? If not, why not? I'm just wondering if my 300 character blurbs are sufficient... One question in particular: Please briefly describe academic honors; scholastic recognitions; publications; leadership roles; and other academic, professional, and community activities that you consider significant to your proposed area of study. I am inclined to simply list the titles of my experiences with their dates, separated by a semi-colon. It is all on my resume anyways... Thoughts?
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While there is a cut-off score, I don't think the verbal cut off is a 650. A 600 Verbal is 86th percentile. I bet they have a cut-off score but I've seen people in the boards with a 560v getting into HKS. The cut-off is probably a moving target that cuts the applications-to-review in half.
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Happy to talk about it after Feb 1 (when the rest of my apps are due), I think I did well in this regard. Feel free to PM me then.
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I hear there is a cut-off GRE score and below that is essentially a DQ. Does anyone know what the cut-off is? Does anyone think that a 4.0 on AW is a deal-breaker?
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It depends on the program. I understand that HKS is much more interested in public service and leadership, in fact they are somewhat pissed when a Kennedy School grad takes jobs at Goldman or something. I don't think they necessarily want to be known as the hot recruiting spot for McKinsey & Co...that wasn't President Kennedy's message, his message was one of public service and sacrifice in the name of the public interest. So its all in the messaging. Obviously your GRE scores are great and certain programs are very interested in your private sector quant work and what I assume are your private sector quant aspirations. Look at Carnegie Mellon, they're very quant heavy, in a good way. SAIS or SIPA are also good picks. But if HKS stayes true to what they desire in a candidate, and every indication from the people I talk to there tells me that they will, you're going to have a tough time getting in there even if you had a 1600 and 15 years on wall st. They take aspiring congressmen, chiefs of staff, foreign financial ministers, political campaigners, non-profit leaders, mid-sized city mayors and people of that nature.
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Anyone have any idea how many applications HKS received this year for MPP? Or for any of the programs?
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The "what inspired me" was a drop down box....so I don't think we're talking about the same thing. But I'll check. Ben
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Quick question for you or anyone else: Two questions on my Harvard application didn't get checked by the application checker. Other questions I left empty got checked, but country of residence and what inspired me to apply to the Kennedy School of Government are both were blank on the app I submitted! I only know this because I see my "applicant's copy". I realize now I may have forgotten the "what inspired me" question, but I definitely filled in my country of residence.... Anyone have a similar situation? Or any comments? Will this totally wipe me out of consideration? I guess they weren't "required" questions....otherwise the application inspector would have picked them up?
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The best advice will not come from this board, it will come from the Yahoo FSWE and FSOA groups. Obviously, start by going right to the horse's mouth at careers.state.gov. That should indicate to you that the QEP process (where most FSO candidates get weeded out) is not greatly swayed by a master's degree, nor the institution where you get it. The UD program seems directly relevant to the PD career track, so maybe that makes sense. But you should take the written test anyways....like sign up now. You can and should have multiple candidacies in the FSO process if that is really what you want to do. There are other ways to get into the Foreign Service directly, or indirectly via the Civil Service Mustang Program (and CS programs). Combined, these include the Pickering Fellowship, Rangel Fellowship, Presidential Management Fellowship, Student Career Experience Program, Federal Career Internship Program. You can read a lot about the last three here: http://www.makingthedifference.org/federalinternships/employmentprograms.shtml. In case you were wondering, I've done my homework and I'm working very hard to get into the Foreign Service and serve my country the best way I think I am able! If you have other questions, send me a PM.