[Any news from Wagner NYU, MPA 2013?]

got the good news today!

[The 'Am I competitive' thread - READ ME BEFORE POSTING]

I'll jump in as well!

Schools Applying To: NYU, SIPA, Georgetown PPI, GW - Trachtenberg, AU, HKS

Undergraduate institution: St. John's New York (not a top tier)

Undergraduate GPA: 3.6

Undergraduate Majors: Economics, Philosophy

Study Abroad: Italy

GRE: 155 Verbal (65th); 161 Quantitative (83rd), n/a Analytical Writing - Thinking of re-taking to increase the quant to at least 160

Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 5

Years of Relevant Work Experience: Teach For America, Peacecorps type program for Indians, Teach For All organization recently for two years

Quant: Business stats, Econometrics, Microeconomics

Strength of SOP: First generation college graduate

Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): Professor, Principal of school where I taught, and current supervisor -all great things!

[Good GRE Quant BUT Low Verbal... Top MPP program still possible?]

I'm in the same boat: 161 quant and 155 verbal. Advice from others so far has been to re-take next month. I'm still unsure..

[Vocabulary relevance for new GRE verbal?]

The new test still emphasizes vocab but it uses new test item types. I memorized the top 200 words but still encountered new words on the test. In fact, I had 3 minutes left on the clock and the only questions I had marked to review were the ones with vocabulary words I hadn't encountered before. So I just sat there and looked at them! Ended up scoring 155 but I know it could've been better had I known more words.

I'd recommend you know the top 500 words and the root word list. Vocab is the key!

[155V (65th percentile) and 161Q (83rd percentile); good colleges in NY and DC?]

Prior to the test, I was looking at Columbia SIPA MPA, NYU, American, and Georgetown. I'd like the curriculum to have a significant quant focus.

I have 3.6 GPA from undergrad in Economics/Philosophy and 5 years of strong, international work experience. The verbal score is extremely low and so I need to add/modify the list of schools. What do you guys think? What can I do about the low verbal score? re-test?

[Masters in International Education Policy]

I'm preparing to apply to a few schools for International Education Policy for next year 2012. If anyone else has applied or is thinking of applying, let us work together!

I'm starting with the list of best policy schools (US World News) and looking at individual websites to learn more about each program. I'm looking for a school that focuses on researching how policy can impact student achievement in developing countries. What's your take?