
studious_kirby
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Everything posted by studious_kirby
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What Did You Do Instead of Being Productive?
studious_kirby replied to PsychHopeful2020's topic in The Lobby
ooh, please share! links to these gdocs -
A big question is where you want to work. If you hope to end up in LA, then yeah USC and UCLA should be on your list UW has a lot of social justice-minded people, I know for a fact that they're making a point to recruit students and faculty who lead with equity and social justice in their work. Also, a ton of UW people end up in local WA, Seattle, and King County government, where equity and social justice are very much a focus. Both Seattle and King County have Equity/Social Justice Initiatives and strategic plans, and specifically environmental justice work happening. And UW has plenty of people coming from / going to California afterwards. Why aren't you also considering MPP programs? Considering you want to do policy work.. Berkeley's Goldman school is one of the top policy schools, and there's amazing environmental justice work happening in the Oakland and San Francisco area as well.
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I applied to both MPAff DC and their flagship MPAff Austin program
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Not yet! Following this thread
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No update yet for me either
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Curious about the salary ranges of people on here applying and entering into MPP, MPA, MUP, MHA, etc programs and what they expect or end up making after graduating I know this is obviously a flawed way of collecting this data. The data that schools post is limited by their response rate. Share what your impressions are based off what you've seen in the fields: Nonprofit, Local/regional government, Federal government, Law firm, Consulting, etc What are the best strategies & resources you've encountered in trying to parse this out?
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If you're not feeling great about any particular programs yet then this might not be the year for you to apply. Applications are a lot of effort and you should only apply if you are fairly confident it will get you where you want to go. Given that you don't know where to go yet, it sounds early tbh and this will really show in your essays. I'd suggest you take this year to do lots of research & info interviews, maybe attend any free virtual webinars in your area of interest (great way to meet people to--- info interview!), meet with recruiters.. maybe you don't even need a grad degree? If the interest in grad school is still staying with you --- start studying for any qualifying exams you have to take.
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Do *lots* of info interviews with professionals in fields of potential interest (both ppl who have these types of degrees and w/o), interview faculty, enrolled students, and alumni of programs you're considering. No better way to learn about potential career paths than interviewing ppl in those roles, and they can often refer / introduce you to other people to talk to (referral chain!)... and read up on blogs/journals/newsletters in these fields to understand industry trends and dialogue.
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What is your goal for your graduate degree? Are you hoping to end up in academia? Or beyond, how do you want to use the knowledge you gain in a graduate program? It's never to early to think about this, and grad school is a big commitment so should not be used as much of an exploratory experience. Between now and completing your undergrad: Consider looking into Cultural & Arts Anthropology Try to take classes that aren't purely theory-based Consider looking into internships in arts administration (local govts may have an office/dept dedicated to arts and cultural affairs), art/history/cultural museums, or writing at a journalism/magazine If your college doesn't offer a big variety of classes, I'd say look into taking classes at another institution and seeing if you can transfer credits. Is your college part of a consortium that would allow you to do this? Study abroad (France/Japan? or another country where your French and Japanese would be useful. Or in a country where you're not required to speak the language) -- in a program focused on your interest areas of english, arts, humanities, etc I strongly believe people should take time in between under grad and applying to grad programs if you're not sure what you want to do or even what area you're interested in. (Spending some time in "the real world.") This time & reflection will also strengthen any eventual grad application essays. Unless you're planning to pursue academia as a professor, academia will end eventually, and you will have to face what is beyond it. Think longer-term as well as mid-term. Hope this helps!
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Pay raise + exposure (to a new city, new issue areas, networks, internship/fellowship opps), technical skill-building (policy writing, evaluation, data & policy analysis). The exposure is a big part of it, because I've never lived in another city, and would probably say I have little in-depth exposure to my supplementary interest areas (urban planning, health equity, land use, tax policy). Would you say most ppl go to grad school once they feel they've "hit a wall"? If I'm getting invitations to interview from a lot of places, it seems like maybe I still have momentum and don't need grad school to continue progressing?
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Thank you! 1. Due to the financial commitment of grad school (tuition, time/energy that I'm not making money from) I would hope to be in at least mid-level / manager roles after graduating. 2. $55K is probably the floor of what I'd hope for in post-grad job offers? Knowing that entry-level roles are $35-55K for nonprofit (including some foundations). Ideally my post grad income is at least $60-80K (should I be aiming higher?). If I ended up in nonprofit, I'd hope to be doing nonprofit capacity-building or advocacy (higher-level systems work & movement-building); or in govt; or at a foundation. I did just receive an invitation today to interview for a county job I applied for that has a salary band of $89-113K+, so interestingly they perceive me as qualified for that type of role already. I am in the interview processes with 4 foundations for roles ranging from $45-80K. You can see why I may be confused about my current and potential market worth based on these results. For some roles (grantmaking, events) I would not be considered entry-level. Others (fundraising/development, policy analysis, operations, evaluation, very issue-specific govt/advocacy work) I would be considered as a entry-ish level candidate (but not brand spanking new).
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My goals for the degree are: be competitive for govt jobs (grantmaking/community investments & program management, community outreach, or policy -- I have only had exposure to City-govt work in a small dept, so more exposure to diff types of govt work), program officer at a foundation, program evaluation, or nonprofit capacity-building (both domestic and international. no international experience but I speak Mandarin at an intermediate level); policy advocacy. I'm not a big quant head but want to build evaluation/data analysis skills so I can flex them if needed. I never studied abroad in undergrad but am still very curious about international affairs. If this feels unfocused it's because I am drawn to a lot of areas and still see a lot of different pathways that are interesting to me.
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Thanks! Yeah, from what I've gathered you don't need a Master degree for the nonprofit sector, with philanthropy it is a mixed bag, and for government it depends on how technical a role is --- definitely seems to help. MPA/MPP definitely seems like logical launching pad for government jobs - which I'd like to stay open to!
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If I got a job offer ($55K+) in my field of interest (philanthropy) before hearing back from any/all the programs I applied to, do you think I should take the job offer instead and decline/defer grad school to apply again in future, decline the job offer and go to grad school, or try to do the grad program part-time while working? I am in the interview process for 3 organizations that I'm decently excited about. And mindful that the avg salary upon graduating from many of the programs I applied for is $50-70K anyways.. Paying for classes, exposure to professors & new network, capstone & short-term ... VS... Getting paid for FT work experience Applied (haven't heard back from any yet): USC-Price MPA, UT Austin-LBJ MPAff (both DC and Austin programs), NYU-Wagner MPA, UW-Evans MPA, Brandeis-Heller MPP/Social Impact MBA dual degree, Georgetown-McCourt MPP I sought out programs with a strong foundation in: nonprofit management, public management, policy & data analysis, program evaluation, policy writing, fundraising, philanthropy. Strong connections to philanthropy and state/local govt in my cities of interest (see below) Experiential learning opportunities: fellowships/internships/research in philanthropy, nonprofit capacity-building, Professors who have social justice & anti-racist values, critiques of structural inequality & imperialism, etc Professional goals: philanthropy, nonprofit capacity-building, state/local government-level grantmaking, policy advocacy, or international development Supplementary interests: community-based participatory research, participatory policymaking, participatory grantmaking and budgeting, philanthropic/nonprofit policy, urban planning, land use, health equity, tax policy, China affairs Cities I'm interested in working in: LA, San Francisco, New York, DC, Chicago, Atlanta, Austin, Seattle (currently residing) About me: 3 years out of undergrad (3.0 GPA in political science at top public university) GRE: 152Q / 157 V / 4.5 AW Work experience --- temped 1 year in diversity recruiting at top STEM company; 2-3 years contracting in public administration at local City government. Technically only 1 year of full-time work experience. involved in local community foundation, local politics, and grassroots community organizing Thanks for any insights you can provide!
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If I got a job offer ($55K+) in my field of interest (philanthropy) before hearing back from any/all the programs I applied to, do you think I should take the job offer instead and decline/defer grad school to apply again in future, decline the job offer and go to grad school, or try to do the grad program part-time while working? I am in the interview process for 3 organizations that I'm decently excited about. And mindful that the avg salary upon graduating from many of the programs I applied for is $50-70K anyways.. Getting paid for FT work experience -- VS. ---- Paying for classes, exposure to professors & new network, capstone & short-term experience for my resume Applied (haven't heard back from any yet): USC-Price MPA, UT Austin-LBJ MPAff (both DC and Austin programs), NYU-Wagner MPA, UW-Evans MPA, Brandeis-Heller MPP/Social Impact MBA dual degree, Georgetown-McCourt MPP I sought out programs with a strong foundation in: nonprofit management, public management, policy & data analysis, program evaluation, policy writing, fundraising, philanthropy. Strong connections to philanthropy and state/local govt in my cities of interest (see below) Experiential learning opportunities: fellowships/internships/research in philanthropy, nonprofit capacity-building, Professors who have social justice & anti-racist values, critiques of structural inequality & imperialism, etc Professional goals: philanthropy, nonprofit capacity-building, state/local government-level grantmaking, policy advocacy, or international development Supplementary interests: community-based participatory research, participatory policymaking, participatory grantmaking and budgeting, philanthropic/nonprofit policy, urban planning, land use, health equity, tax policy, China affairs Cities I'm interested in working in: LA, San Francisco, New York, DC, Chicago, Atlanta, Austin, Seattle (currently residing) About me: 3 years out of undergrad (3.0 GPA in political science at top public university) GRE: 152Q / 157 V / 4.5 AW Work experience --- temped 1 year in diversity recruiting at top STEM company; 2-3 years contracting in public administration at local City government. Technically only 1 year of full-time work experience. involved in local community foundation, local politics, and grassroots community organizing Thanks for any insights you can provide!
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If I got a job offer ($50K+) in philanthropy before hearing back from all the programs I applied to, do you think I should take the job offer instead and defer, or try to do the grad program part-time while working? I am in the interview process for 3 organizations that I'm decently excited about. And mindful that the avg salary upon graduating from many of these programs is $50-70K anyways.. Paying for classes, exposure to professors & new network, capstone & short-term VS. Getting paid for FT work experience
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How useful would you say assisting research is to getting in the door to philanthropy/local govt versus internships/work experience? I like that NYU Wagner has a ton of professional faculty, but USC for example has a plethora of centers/institutes that produce exciting research aligned with my interests and signals that faculty there may have industry connections that would be useful for me in networking. In researching all programs I applied to, one of my requirements was for them to have 1-3 centers dedicated to nonprofits, social impact/enterprise, partnerships with local govt, etc...
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I had thought about adding GWU or American U to my list because of the DC location, but their programs didn't stand out to me that much compared with the others I've researched. It might just have been fatigue though. Granted, I've never lived in any city other than Seattle, so I'm really just choosing based off of loose cultural impressions of these cities that I think I may like to live in.
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Thanks for your thoughts -- My main interest in Georgetown was that DC is a national & international epicenter for big philanthropy, and Georgetown has a Center for Public & Nonprofit Leadership and produced some research aligning with my interests. I didn't look into Duke Sanford because I don't really see myself living/working in North Carolina, and some advice I've gotten is that location should be one of the biggest factors in which grad schools you choose (esp. for professional programs) because the networks will be very regional?
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Waiting on decisions and figured I'd use the time to gather more info. Can you help me evaluate the pros & cons of each program as they pertain to my interests? Applied: USC-Price MPA, UT Austin-LBJ MPAff (both DC and Austin programs), NYU-Wagner MPA, UW-Evans MPA, Brandeis-Heller MPP/Social Impact MBA dual degree, Georgetown-McCourt MPP I'm looking for programs with a strong foundation in: nonprofit management, public management, policy & data analysis, program evaluation, policy writing, fundraising, philanthropy. Strong connections to philanthropy and state/local govt in my cities of interest (see below) Experiential learning opportunities: fellowships/internships/research in philanthropy, nonprofit capacity-building, Professors who have social justice & anti-racist values, critiques of structural inequality & imperialism, etc Professional goals: philanthropy, nonprofit capacity-building, state/local government-level grantmaking, policy advocacy, or international development Supplementary interests: community-based participatory research, participatory policymaking, participatory grantmaking and budgeting, philanthropic/nonprofit policy, urban planning, land use, health equity, tax policy, China affairs Cities I'm interested in working in: LA, San Francisco, New York, DC, Chicago, Atlanta, Austin, Seattle (currently residing) About me: 3 years out of undergrad (3.0 GPA in political science at top public university) GRE: 152Q / 157 V / 4.5 AW Work experience --- temped 1 year in diversity recruiting at top STEM company; 2-3 years contracting in public administration at local City government involved in local community foundation, local politics, and grassroots community organizing Thanks for any insights you can provide!
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