bartlebeedrill

Alas, I am an alternate. Better than nothing, but probably not in the stars

Interviewed for EPPE PhD this past monday

I don't think GradSchoolGrad meant to imply there was something inherently wrong or foolish about working in international policy. They merely are curious why there is such a difference in the prestige or interest afforded to the field relative to domestic issues, when there is a great deal of work needed locally. There are many communities in the US whose challenges are not afforded a great deal of attention or organizations whose work, while important, is seen as less ~sexy~ than that at the World Bank or JPAL. I imagine they are mostly curious about this attitude among Americans studying at American institutions, as of course it makes sense for international students to be more interested in non-US contexts. For many Americans, there is an unfortunate misconception that poverty and injustice are things that merely happen elsewhere. You are the only one in this discussion who seems to bringing an air of moral superiority to the discussion. Choosing to work on domestic issues does not make one discompassionate to global issues or "small minded". I mentioned in my earlier post that those with more years out of college may be more drawn to domestic issues. In my experience, people who've been out of college for more time approach policy with a different sense of scale. There may be a specific issue, law, or system that has caught their attention and they want to gain the skills to tackle it and do so with impact. Those coming into policy with less work experience are more likely to have more abstract interests, like global poverty. As noble as these interests may seem, the challenge for these students is to find their nook of specificity in that space so that their work can actually achieve something. There is, of course, nothing inherently better or worse about either path. You are right that you have no obligation to change others' perception of you, and I commend your funding offers. But do remember that speaks only to a good first impression. If you'd like to continue making good impressions academically and professionally, I'd recommend thinking a little bit about how your first response might come off as a bit arrogant. And perhaps think about how that whiff of arrogance in your response might have answered GradSchoolGrad's question more aptly than you intended.

I suspect also that people more interested in pursuing policy degrees with a domestic focus might be more likely to have been out of college for a few years working in some field or another. However, I don't think that population spends as much time on gradcafe

I think I'm just a little confused as to UChicago's intentions or expectations for negotiation system, given how formalized it is. There's a whole online form and even when I got the admissions call they even asked if I had received better offers from other schools. Is there an implicit understanding that if you request funding and receive it that you would accept that offer? Or is Chicago just gauging what we've heard from other schools? I know there's a lot of experienced folks on these forums, so please let me know if you have any insight on how to approach this responsibly.

Program Applied To (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.): MPP, MPA (Princeton) Schools Applied To: Michigan Ford, University of Chicago Harris, Georgetown McCourt, GWU, Princeton Schools Admitted To: Michigan Ford ($$$$), University of Chicago Harris ($$), Georgetown McCourt ($$), GWU ($) Schools Rejected From: Princeton MPA Still Waiting: N/A Undergraduate Institution: Top 25 U.S. University Undergraduate GPA: 3.88 Undergraduate Major: English & Economics GRE Quantitative/Verbal/AW Scores: 161 Quant / 167 Verbal / 5.5 AW Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 3.5 years at time of application Years of Work Experience: 3.5 years full time + various internships/jobs throughout undergrad. Describe Relevant Work Experience: 2.5 years doing education/policy research at a nonprofit research organization, where I do a lot of quantitative analysis. I was also a Fulbright ETA for 9 months. If counting undergrad, I interned for one year at a nonprofit. Also TA’d and tutored for my school’s Econ department for 3 years. Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc.): I think I had great content, but my writing process was…not the best. Most of the essays I wrote I scrambled to finish within a few days of the deadline, so I didn’t leave myself much time to seek out feedback. However, I think my narrative and points were solid. I wrote about how I had some experience in ed policy and quantitative analysis, but wanted to gain more fluency in advanced research methods and a better grounding of knowledge about the U.S. education system, so as to propose and lead projects in the future. Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc.): I assume these were good. My professional recommenders included two project leads at my job who are reasonably respected education researchers in their subfields. The more junior of the two is someone who I have done a lot of quantitative analysis under. Both have been strong mentors of mine, though in different ways. While I did not read their letters, I did receive some written feedback from them at work (close to when I was applying to programs) that was very positive. My academic recommender was an English professor who oversaw my senior thesis seminar and who has spoken highly of me in the past. Other: At the time I was putting together applications I was also helping write and coordinate a lot of proposals at work, so I had a pretty good idea of how to put together a strong CV, and I was getting to be well practiced at talking myself up in an honest fashion. Additionally, there are factors in my experience and with one of my letter writers that I suspect appealed to the University of Michigan in particular, but I’d rather not add too many details here for privacy reasons. __ I am simply shocked

Congrats!

MPP

I am not sure if it was Sparkle, but the caller did say she was from the admissions office though, so it could have been her

Thanks! The call came in from an 872 Chicago area code. And I’m a US applicant

Applied round 2, just got a call from admissions. Accepted with 35k! Although now I'm wondering if I misheard and it was actually 30k? They said I would receive details in writing on Saturday. Also asked how Uchicago's funding offer compared to other schools I've heard back from