fenderpete

Princeton WWS.

You've got a PM.

Everyone is on a first name basis with Ann. A typical first year meeting goes like this: 1) Explain to Ann what you want to do/where you want to work 2) Ann searches her mental rolodex and gives you the names/contact details of about 5-6 alumni doing similar work 3) You email them, they get back to you, good things result. There's also a lot of professional development stuff, like interview techniques, building an effective network, salary negotiation etc.

I'd really recommend trying to talk to current students at both. These are the people who you'll be spending two years with and also the people who'll become your professional network. That plus a campus visit should help with the decision.

This might help: http://wwsadmissionsblog.com/2013/03/15/career-services-the-wilson-schools-best-kept-secret/

I didn't meet with any admissions people prior to getting in, but did email professors whose interests I shared. Really not sure how much any of that factored in though.

As you can all imagine, the phonelines are pretty much melting at the WWS offices now, so I would encourage you guys to hold off on calling if you're on the waitlist. WWS does not rank its wait list - so don't think of it in those terms. Whether you get in off the wait depends entirely on WHO chooses to decline/defer. Believe it or not, we have one amazing admissions guru who has read every single one of the 874 applications this year (along with all our other admissions staff who've worked just as hard). They try and make a holistic class, so it'll really depend on who doesn't come. On Monday all MPA/MPP wait list candidates will be mailed a letter from the school with more details about the process. One thing I would say from personal experience is that a fair few of my friends on the program were either wait listed or deferred - so you're still in with a shot. Crazy as it sounds, some people do choose to go elsewhere and pay, or for whatever reason need a year more before they accept. So fingers crossed.

I believe so, if you email back admissions then hopefully someone will be able to get back to know. Anecdotally I know that relevant work experience is one of the biggest factors in admit decisions.

Congrats to everyone who got in!

Next year we're only admitting people whose first and last names are Bumpus. Be thankful you applied this year.

Hang in there guys. Just a few more days to go.

No problem at all. In terms of time commitment your schedule is pretty packed in first year, given that you have precepts on top of lectures for the pre-req quant classes. First semester is particularly busy, but now a few people from our class have started interning on Fridays in New York or NJ. If you can figure out an internship that works with your timetable and doesn't interfere with work outside class it shouldn't be an issue, but the program is pretty intense in terms of workload. In your second year you have pretty much free choice in terms of classes (you must take at least 4 classes per semester - 8 total of which one will be a pre-requisite field-specific econ class). It really depends on what you are studying as to whether there are a lot of interesting choices - if you want to talk more about this post-admit decisions feel free to fire me a PM. Socially I can't say enough about our class. Despite the workload, we've found time to do some pretty great stuff outside of class. We went out to Ohio to work on the presidential campaign, went out to the Jersey Shore, did a ski trip up on the Poconos and in our class of 72 people 50 people went out to Costa Rica for winter break. We're also a pretty sporting class so there's a fair bit going on outside of class - and then random stuff like open mic nights etc. as well. Other grad students is a bit tougher. There are other grad programs here, but we're by far the biggest cohort (close to 200 people including MPPs and PhDs) so it can be a bit tougher to break out. There are various other grad school events, but Princeton doesn't have any other professional degree programs (JD, MBA, MD) so there's kind of a lack of non-PhD grad students around. The academic panels we've had are ridiculous - there's something happening most afternoons. Off the top of my head recently we've had Robert Zoellick, Tim Geithner, Adm. Mike Mullen, Antonin Scalia, Michael Spence, Daniel Kahneman, Cass Sunnstein... Not to mention Paul Krugman, Anne Marie Slaughter etc. Princeton the town... meh. It'll be fine for two years, but the night life is kind of lacking. On the plus side, NYC is really close (1hr 20mins away) and Philadelphia is only 45mins by car. Princeton is kind of sleepy, but if you're planning on working in DC/NYC afterwards then it's not too bad a sacrifice to make. The biggest pull for me was also career services - the number of connections WWS has in various organizations is kind of crazy, and that comes in particularly handy for internships and first jobs afterwards etc. Our career office has a lot of great resources and it's basically their full time job to get you into a decent position once you graduate.

Sure... Feel free to shoot me a private message if you want more info. I think so far in my first year I've been most blown away by the rest of my cohort. I've got to say that's what made the biggest impression on me during hosting weekend and it has kind of stuck. It's a mix of being surrounded by people who've done some really amazing things, and then also the cross-pollination that breeds between subject areas. For example, I'm pretty IR/Development focused, but so far this year I've been to a lot of talks and presentations from my peers (MPPs and MPAs) about more domestically and economics focused issues. Being surrounded by people who are so passionate about their topic area kind of rubs off, and it's definitely broadened my interests and given me some new insights for my own field. Without sounding too mushy, there really is a great community here - and that extends to the social side of things as well as the academic side. Economics-wise, first years all take micro, macro, statistics and econometrics. It's separated into three different tracks depending on how math/calculus heavy you want to go. B-track is minimal track, C-track is pretty moderate and then D-track is filled with folks who can do mathematical proofs without batting an eyelid. All three tracks look at similar stuff (consumer behavior, game theory, the firm, labor, growth) but through a slightly different lens in terms of technique. I've been kind of surprised as a non-quant focused person as I have absolutely loved stats and macro. There are then also a lot more focused classes on deeper topics - for example Paul Krugman is doing a class on the financial crisis. Anything else you guys want to know?

Let's keep it friendly and also keep it WWS in here. Two weeks to decisions. Also, keep your eye out for the new admissions blog, coming up soon.

I do indeed legallyproper - very good luck and let me know how you get on

As yet we haven't had recruiters visit (I'm just finishing up my first semester of four), I'm talking more in terms of our actual career services office. We have an extremely strong alumni network and I've been blown away by our career department's ability to put us in touch with people at various organizations who have been extremely generous with their time and in offering advice. It's been extremely easy for people to get set up for their summer internships etc. Feel free to PM me if you want any further details.

Just as an aside, I really cannot speak highly enough about WWS's career services.

The WWS acceptance rate is around 8%.

I've been told by our admissions director that GRE scores are only a small part of the puzzle. I believe him.

Just wanted to say very good luck to all of the applicants for this year. I was there a year ago, and this is definitely the hardest part once the waiting starts.

I can't really speak to the other programs but I'll do my best for WWS... First up I had a non-existant quant background prior to starting here and absolutely hated all things quant. The first semester has been tough but I think what I'm learning is infinitely worthwhile. So here are a few pros of how we do it: 1) There are three 'tracks' (i.e. difficulty levels) 2) You'll only have pre-req. quant in your first year (micro, macro, stat, econometrics) 3) After semester one most people say stats is one of their favorite classes (me included) I'm lucky enough to be taught by Prof. Mark Watson and he is not only a brilliant statistician but a great teacher too. On day one he said something that has stuck with me. We're not being taught to be statisticians, but to become literate consumers of statistics as policymakers. WWS really does a lot of hand-holding in terms of getting you through the early parts of the course (I got a tutor provided) and I think the quant skills I'm learning now are really expanding my skill set. I'm not the next Nate Silver, but at least I can now look at a stats heavy paper and know whether they're trying to pull the wool over my eyes or not.

Ditto. Anne-Marie Slaughter told our incoming class that there's very little functional difference between IR/Development as both fields inform each other and there's expected to be quite a lot of cross-pollination. Classmates of mine have changed in both directions, and we've also had a fair few folks switch from domestic over to development/IR. Once you're in you're in, and the school recognizes that policy areas all impact on each other and you will want to sample a bit from all over the map. The only requirement to graduate within a given field is that you complete the required gateway classes, which you can take in second year or first year (giving you time to decide).

Not all schools accept the LSAT alone so it'll really depend on where you want to apply. I'd say if your GRE score doesn't match what you were getting in practices or you felt you had an off day you should resit it. Otherwise work on other areas of the application you can improve before submission. It's not all abou GRE scores either. My scores were similar to yours (710V, 690Q) and I managed to get some pretty great offers Good luck!

A lot. More than I was expecting and it's eaten up pretty much everything I'd saved from the previous year of work. Flights alone was about $1500 then $430 damage deposit, $200 for my visa, $1200 on furniture... It adds up.