Trojan19

First, this is extremely helpful feedback! I find your responses here to be insightful. Some of your points: 1. This is fair. With that said, I've already gotten the sense that not having a graduate degree will negatively impact my career advancement. Basically, I am interested in the exercise of power - how do executive offices (or legislative bodies) wield that effectively for the public good? Right now when I look at the next positions I might reach for in my own and similar workplaces - assistant director/director level/chief of staff- they need graduate public policy or public administration degrees. 2. I've been trying to gauge this, so thank you. 3. I don't necessarily hate quant. I did calc in HS (not that that's relevant to a grad school app, but my own personal comfort level with it) and got A's and did macro Econ and got a B+ and honestly, I think leaders would do well to be able to draw on a background with more analytical tools that come with quant programs. The thing I'm most curious about out of the whole response is your line "better than McCourt" - is that an indictment of McCourt, or that other schools are more in line with my experience? 4. That makes sense. Quant and career pivots are probably my biggest weaknesses, and I think I can pull the right mix of recommenders to address those.

Hey all! Would be grateful for any kind feedback on my grad school prospects. First-gen college grad here, so figuring out many education related goals as I go. Schools / Programs: McCourt (undecided about MPA or MPM), SIPA MPA, Heinz MPM, and maybe HKS MPA. I'm looking at matriculating in 2024. Undergrad: Top 20 / Private Degrees: Bachelor's in political science, minors in nonprofit management/classical antiquity GPA: Cumulative 3.50 (I struggled during my freshman year and into my sophomore year a little bit. I'm from a very small town and was 2,000 miles away from my family during undergrad. But my grades had a really strong upward trajectory junior/senior year, which I accomplished while also working full time). GRE: unknown, but I feel very confident in my verbal - any test I've ever taken (SAT, ACT, ASVAB) has put me in 95-99 percentiles. Quant should be acceptable but weakest, and writing should be better than most but not the best. Work Experience: ~5+ years including internships During college: interned for a large LGBTQ rights organization for 8 months, 4 months on a gubernatorial campaign, 4 months for a state senator who's now the majority leader, 3 years in events, and 2 years working full time-ish (35 hours a week) for my university president while still enrolled. The nature of the work with the president's office went well beyond internship/entry level. Did some of these simultaneously - was very busy and mostly took classes at night. Post grad: Worked for a top 20 university president for 2 years, had a really interesting experience where it was basically me and the chief of staff who ran an entire administration. Managed strategic initiatives/special projects/wrote speeches on behalf of the president (these were new initiatives, so it was conceptualizing them as well) and facilitated 7-9 figure projects and had a personal programmatic budget around 550k. Also had an assistant who was a PhD student and was the client for a master's practicum group on community reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Worked for a dean of a top school of public health for about 9 months (we didn't get along). The role focused on managing strategic initiatives. It was a top 10 school in its field. Currently work for as a manager for a mid-sized city government in public safety and public health. Essentially, it's steering police reform my city (stressful) as well as continuum of support efforts to address the underlying causes for interactions with police - substance abuse, mental health, homelessness, etc. Policy Area of Interest: My work history has been all over... which I think demonstrates versatility, but also has downsides. Very interested in a career in politics. LOR: Not sure how I want to tackle this. Can get the top 20 university president to write me a letter of rec, and the dean of a #3 ranked school of public policy who is my mentor. I also have connections with a professor who I took 4 classes with who obviously knows me well, and a professor who's the executive director of a decently wealthy foundation. I also have a really strong professional connection with a former CEO of a company related to the defense industry and is now the chair of a board of a fortune 50 company. It is a good problem to have, but I feel like have a comparatively strong professional network and I honestly don't know the best admixture to go with. Quant Experience: My weakest area. Didn't take a ton of classes in undergrad and actually withdrew from a class freshman year (again, struggled) but now am in charge of setting up data collection efforts on a massive scale for multimillion dollar programs so there's related professional experience. Awards: Was a QuestBridge scholar Got the largest scholarship for my political science program in undergrad SOP: I feel confident about this. I grew up in pretty poverty-stricken setting with an extremely adverse background (loss of a parent, another who's an alcoholic, and gay in a super conservative area) and managed to *hopefully* break out of a cycle of poverty to make a difference in the world. I think I can demonstrate not only a sentiment to make a difference in the world but pretty clear achievements, from making a large institution carbon neutral to endowing an experiential learning program to piloting police reform efforts.