joshyboy

Hey @GradSchoolGrad you mentioned a few posts ago that the HKS application is a pain, would you mind elaborating on that?

You've definitely given me a lot to think about, especially regarding local issues -> federal relevance -> DC. Appreciate the time you put into answering all our questions! Thanks again!

I appreciate your candid thoughts! I'm fairly certain I want to go into legislative & policy advising either on The Hill / WH (depending on who's in office). A part of me wonders whether I absolutely need an MPP to get my foot through the door, but I also realize there's a lot for me to learn, especially when it comes to understanding analysis and the practical application. I'm definitely more career focused, I see my MPP as a means to an end, but I do love learning and live by the whole "work hard, play hard" mentality which Berkeley really instilled in me. I feel like Goldman would be a good vibe for me, but I need to speak to a few more friends first. Though my work experience thus far has been more operational, I want to still learn a lot about data, quant and it's application, as I believe it'll only strengthen me as a policy person. California is home (I live in SF), so Berkeley would be an ideal location, but there's a lot to see in the world, and as someone who will most likely need scholarship money, I have to follow the $$ when making decisions as well.

Hey @GradSchoolGrad, thanks so much for taking the time to respond, appreciate how thorough your feedback is. The only reason I included Oxford is because I've always wanted to study in London, but also the application page says "the minimum GPA sought is usually a 3.7 out of 4.0". It said "usually" so I took that as there could be some wiggle room if you had an impressive application in other areas, but your point still stands. Couple of questions for you: 1. Are there other schools I should look into? 2. Obviously a perfect quant score would be great, but what's the minimum you think I should aim for? 3. How did you go about narrowing down or deciding which schools you wanted to apply to as you were putting together your application? Thanks again

Candidate: Asian male Applying to: MPP at HKS, Berkeley, Princeton, UChicago, Georgetown, Duke, Oxford, UMich, LSE Undergraduate Institution: UC Berkeley Undergraduate GPA: 3.2 GRE Quantitative Score: 155GRE Verbal Score: 160 Undergraduate Major: Political Science Years out of college: 4 Languages Skills: English Relevant Work Experience: Started my own company straight out of college. Secured $3M in venture funding, went through Y-Combinator, scaled company to 250 colleges, with over half a million users throughout the U.S Publications: Contributing writer for The Huffington Post, articles viewed over 750k times. Quant Background: Intro to Stats, Intro to Empirical Theory & Quantitative Methods Awards: Forbes 30 Under 30, Leadership Award Scholar at UC Berkeley Strength of SOP: Emphasis on why public service is my calling. I highlight my extracurriculars and volunteering rooted in public service during college and whilst running my startup. Strength of LOR: 3 strong letters; 1 from city council-member, 1 from startup founder, 1 from VC Other: Interpreter for Sri Lankan refugees seeking asylum, taught high school English for prison inmates as a part of their rehabilitation program, served as a city commissioner advising the mayor of my city whilst in college, serve on the board of advisors for another startup, elected as a student senator on campus representing 36k students. Totally aware that my GPA and lack of quant experience are my weakest point. Would also love to get feedback on any additional schools y'all think I should consider applying for. Thank you again.