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congrats amigo...

thanks for nice note smerd

Same here, reeeeejected from GSPP, my first choice. That's life.

Program Applied To MPP Schools Applied To: HKS, GSPP, UCLA, Stanford IPS Schools Admitted To: Schools Rejected From: none (yet) Still Waiting: Undergraduate institution: Top 30 US, Private Undergraduate GPA: 3.4 Graduate GPA: projected 3.8 Undergraduate Major: Marketing GRE Quantitative Score: 660 GRE Verbal Score: 680 GRE AW Score: 4.5 Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 10 Years of Work Experience: 9 Describe Relevant Work Experience: First four years of career: worked for advertising firms, second four years of career: worked as an energy efficiency program manager/senior analyst at a large utility in California, eventually shifting to regulatory relations role. Also, I'm finishing up my MPA now (yes, I know it's weird that I'm applying to MPP programs - but I didn't get the quantitative rigor I wanted out of my MPA) Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): I worked hard to encompass my transition to the public sector in my SOP - particularly the thread from marketing research to interest in energy issues to public management to policy analysis 8.5/10. Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): I can't say for sure but probably pretty solid. A mix of academic and coworker references. One might be a little generic.

Thanks for your responses - I'm curious about this because of the demographic shift in professional grad school applications across the board. I have the general feeling that the average applicant to MPP, MBA, etc. programs will have more experience than previous cohorts. In other words, some people will be seeking shelter in grad school because of dwindling employment options. On a similar but unrelated note, does anyone have an opinion on the value of a previous Masters degree in the application process? Again, it would vary school to school and would also depend on what kind of degree you have, but I'm just curious.

I thought I'd try to start a discussion on the relative weight given to work experience in the MPP application review. Where do you think work experience ranks in importance vs. GRE scores vs. GPA vs. LORs? Of course this would differ from school to school and from applicant to applicant, but I was wondering if people had any insights into how it plays out for MPP programs in particular. Thanks!