Perhaps an unhealthy way to deal with the anxiety of waiting for my last school, but I’m dying to just make a decision and want to know - Princeton SPIA is my last hold out and most competitive.
Program Applied To (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.): MPA, MPP
Schools Applying To: NYU Wagner (accepted), Princeton SPIA, Georgetown MPP(accepted) ; Yale MEM(accepted)
Undergraduate institution: Small public liberal arts school, top 40 ranking. (American school, I am also American)
Undergraduate GPA: 3.57
Undergraduate Majors: economics and history double major, cum laude
GRE Quantitative Score: 600
GRE Verbal Score: 620
GRE AW Score: 5
Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 5
Years of Work Experience: 5
Describe Relevant Work Experience: 3 years federal legislative experience with member of Congress, 2 years hopping around the private sector before that finding a job I liked.
Quant: One calculus class in UG (B-) as an Econ major a decent mix of economic based quant classes with grad ranges from Bs to As.
Strength of SOP: Good - I have a strong narrative about why I want to go into public service, but no incredible story about starting a non profit, over coming major adversity, etc etc.
Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): One prof probably weakest (I didn’t keep the best contact but I was a good student in his class); the other two are professional and strong
Other: I know SPIA is a crapshoot, but I had to try to apply given it’s free. Some of my quant grades are lower, but I had a family issue that caused some of that which I explained in my application.