Helpplease123

There's a stats requirement. I'm a first year MPA at USC (1/2 merit scholarship) - let me know if you have any questions about the program. In advance, I don't know if you'll get in but happy to answer anything else.

I wish i'd spent an extra year in my undergrad...in fact, I wish i'd spent 10 more years. Life will probably never be as fun once you leave, so don't be down about the opportunity!

Did you not enquire about your status back in March when all the Masters decisions were released? If you applied in November you should've heard a long time ago, i'm sorry to say it doesn't sound like it's likely to be good news. Just wanted to be honest - I hope i'm wrong though! Unless maybe you were on the waitlist and someone has now dropped out.

"Good Luck buddy and sorry to see your country on the verge of some kind of internal disaster." "it happened at a time the country was heating up (were you their for the war in 2006 btw)" "since it was at AUB and in the midst of the action" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Is it necessary to pepper your posts with such glib remarks about something serious?

Unless you have done something seriously exceptional in your career so far (think set up a non profit in Africa and provided clean drinking water to thousands, not worked in a consultancy firm for 4 years) then you're going to need a strong GMAT for any of the top 20/30 MBAs - I would aim for above 680 at least, with a stronger emphasis on the quantitative section.

You have already done an MBA? You won't get a student visa for the US, probably better to look elsewhere. The US don't give visas out for academic levels you have already attained - especially a Public Admin/IR Masters which may even see as a somewhat lower qualification than an MBA in terms of career progression.

Previous Schools (Name, type, or tier): Top 10 UK Previous Degrees and GPAs: BSc. Psychology; 3.5 GPA GRE Scores (Verbal/Quantitative/Analytical Writing): 165V (96%)/159Q (82%)/5.5AW Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): 1 year Events/Production; 2 years management and operations roles in retail. Math/Econ Background: None from undergrad - studying calculus, stats, micro, macro now online. Foreign Language Background (if applicable to your program): Good German, average French, basic Spanish Intended Field of Study in Grad School: Nonprofit management Long Term Professional Goals: Start own nonprofit Schools Applied to & Results: Accepted - USC (1/2 tuition), NYU, Columbia SIPA, Texas LBJ Rejected - UNC Chapel Hill Ultimate Decision & Why: USC. The program is really established and international. There are professors doing some really great research in the field that I am particularly interested in and the course seems to have a good focus on nonprofits rather than just on government policy. Since I don't want to work in Washington afterwards this was positive for me as some of the other programs were all about the policy side. Advice for Future Applicants: Don't let people freak you out about directly relevant work experience. Picking up necessary skills such as leadership, organisation etc. can be done in any field and your interest in public admin/policy can be shown through volunteer work and your SoP. Make sure you have clear goals and can articulate them well in your essays.

Also in off the waitlist but will be attending USC... congrats everyone!

If you're worried about finding work on the continent come to the UK, where it is very normal to take time off between undergrad and masters... Work for a year/couple of years and try again (if you still want to).

I wouldn't... you don't have much space as it is, focus on the professors in your school. I thought about the same thing and concluded that I didn't want anyone reading the essay to question whether or not i'd applied to the appropriate school for my interests.

If you did well, yes. If you did badly, no.

The job market is incredibly competitive in London right now - especially finance and consulting, finding a sponsor now is virtually impossible but hopefully by the time you're graduating it will be a little better. I think you have a few months after graduating to try and find a job or there's a post grad study visa you can apply for without a sponsor. That visa category is closed for new applicants now though - don't know if they'll reopen it (we're having some real problems with bogus students etc and so things are getting much harder at the moment), if they don't you'd need a sponsor.

I didn't look too much into Fels - when I first shortlisted schools I used the US New rankings and it was lower down on the list (at the time I didn't realise that they were not very highly regarded rankings). Ultimately I discounted it because it appeared to focus more on government agencies than nonprofit management from what I could see, there isn't much research going on in my area of interest either and finally, as you mentioned, it isn't very internationally focused.... basically all of the issues I had with Fels were the opposite at Price (much more international, more nonprofit focused, research in my area), so I don't think Price is especially suited to someone that wanted to work in DC in policy areas etc. I think that's a fantastic aspect of Columbia as you said - a degree from there is going to be seriously respected in any place in the world you might ever want to live. On top of that, it seems to be the better fit academically and the debt problem is at this moment hypothetical... you never know what's going to happen after graduation and what kind of job you'll get. The only thing you can do now is pick the school that will help you get the most from your degree. I agree on LA not being the best place in California but there's still a beach and sun and that's good enough for me...leaving my family and friends in London is going to be hard enough, I need to at least have warmth waiting for me on the other side! Did you think about applying to Berkeley loving San Francisco so much?

Yep - I love everything about Price! I want to go into nonprofits caring for a very specific vulnerable population (I don't want to mention which because people on here have gotten me so paranoid about being "identified" haha ) not government etc. so luckily didn't need to factor the DC/East Coast thing that we talked about on the other thread into my decision making because I can't wait to live in the sunshine. Columbia is such a strong name across the world and I wouldn't worry about the newness of the program, I can't imagine Columbia doing anything in half measures. Am I right in thinking SIPA gives more aid to second years than first? Maybe you won't end up with as much debt as you thought? I don't know but regardless.. you may as well do the thing you've been dreaming about - you're more likely to regret not doing that than you are following your dream but accumulating some debt. Sorry... that sounded so cheesy but you know what I mean

I think you said it all in your post - live your dream and reach your long term goals all the way!