Brian Stevens

Hello fellow GA applicants, I am looking forward to seeking help from this forum as I am getting ready to apply for this cycle of graduate programs. I hope to give some insight back too. At this point, I am really concerned about the debt load that grad school can potentially bring. I think for that reason I will be careful to consider any financial implications of these programs. My profile: - GPA 3.65 (economics) - GRE: 720v/800q - four years of public sector energy industry work in Bay Area/ active volunteer in local SF politics/ college internship at prominent think tank doing energy work/ student body vice president I am hoping I some of the programs I apply to will let me in. So far, I have decided on applying to the following programs: - WWS - Berkeley GSPP/ERG - Yale SOM - Chicago Harris I am still trying to figure out which other schools have strong energy programs (and also often offer decent fellowships). Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts about schools, please let me know. I'll look forward to going through this process with others.

Hello, I am planning on applying to Berkeley ERG, Stanford GSB, and Harvard Business School. I have some questions regarding how I should properly frame my GRE testing history. I've taken the GRE twice. The first time I got 540v, 680q, 4.5awa. Three months later, I took the test again and got 720v, 800q, 4.0awa. I am really happy about the improvement I've been able to make. First, how should I frame this low awa score? Since taking the test, I've realized I missed some very bizarre requirements for how to write a proper response to their prompts to get a decent score. For instance, at work, pithy writing is hailed. In the awa, they want long verbose sentences. I've published a number of papers on energy. Do you think that and a well written personal statement can help overcome this low awa score? Also, do you think the 4.5 on my first taking will be beneficial to me? Second, I had mono (not realizing it) when I took the test the first time. It's one of those things where I got reeeeeally sick, and by the time I took the test I was only kind of sick. In my mind, because of the relative level of sickness, I thought I was better and was willing to take the test. It wasn't until two weeks later that my doctor diagnosed me with mono. Is that worth mentioning, or should I just roll with my low first score? I definitely have an official medical diagnosis to back up my claim. Thank you for any help on this. I know it's such a specific question, and there is no right answer. It's just good to get input from others. Best regards