Helpplease123

I left it blank too

How? It's not testing your knowledge of the topic but your writing style/abilities...the topic isn't hugely relevant from my experience.

Do any of them apart from GRE official have practice tests? I couldn't use the official tests as I have a mac but i'd imagine they're the most helpful of all...I used Princeton review for GMAT maths and it was far too easy and I haven't heard great things about Barron...not a clue on Nova, sorry. The most important part is practicing endless problems and looking at solutions (even if you got them right) in case there was a shorter/quicker way to solve. One thing that really got me through was using number substitution when the algebra got too confusing - but don't decide to do it half way through solving...look at the problem and decide from the start, can I do the algebra or should I go straight to numbers, otherwise you'll waste too much time. Only way you can figure out your limits on that is by doing loads of timed questions. As for the vocab part, as it turned out I did know about 2/3 of the words on the test but there were tonnes of flashcards I didn't know and some came up, so i'm glad i'd done it. You can vaguely learn about 50 words a day in like half an hour, so may be worth investing a bit of time. Having said that, if you're American you probably covered a lot of them during your SATs..might be worth checking out a list, the review books might have one in the back (Kaplan did)?

I will - just wondered if anyone who had completed the application could tell me what page it's meant to be on...as maybe they don't require that question for my program

If you're desperate call the phone line - I was able to get mine from there a few days before they appeared on my internet account (on deadline day)... costs $10 though

No tips as such... just learn what you don't remember and do as many practice questions as you can get your hands on (for the maths part that is) and learn vocab. I used Kaplan book, Kaplan vocab flashcards and Official GRE book...would highly recommend Kaplan book for the 6 practice tests alone

The submatriculation program allows students in the College to obtain both a baccalaureate degree and a master's degree simultaneously, thereby condensing the total number of years normally required to complete the undergraduate and graduate degrees combined. Students are advised to complete at least one graduate level course in their intended program before applying. In addition, students should speak with the intended graduate program’s chair or director. - from UPenn website

I'm trying to submit my UNC application for public admin - when I check the application there is a section that i've supposedly left blank called "faculty interest" but I can't find it anywhere on the form to fill it out!! I don't want them to think I have no interest in the faculty!

Thanks for all the responses! How about USC? From what I could see it was 7 in the rankings and the program content looked really good.. Also does the lack of responses about work experience mean i'm the only whose work exp. is not in a public admin/policy field?!

Just checked and mine is on that list too...I wouldn't worry about the content so much as making sure you have a good writing style, you can't memorise facts for every topic and a perfect score can be achieved with common sense in terms of the content (I say this because I had no particular information on my topic, just wrote general knowledge type content and got a 6)...I think practicing how you write is more important.

Every single place i've applied to has asked me to give my grade in it's original format and NOT to translate it into a GPA - I think they have their own system...

I only found this part of the forum a day or two ago, so a bit late to change my applications but i'm a bit curious about schools people have chosen.. My list was narrowed down using rankings I found and then by the programs I liked the look of but I seem to have a list that i'm applying to that I've barely seen mentioned in the context of mpa/mpp here but i'm missing almost all the schools you are talking about! I've applied to: USC SPPD, Columbia SIPA (ok this one i've seen mentioned but I highly doubt i'll get in anyway..), NYU Wagner, Texas LBJ, UNC Chapel Hill and LSE (all MPA). Is there a reason why no one else has seemed to apply to most of these schools...did I miss something important (i'm international)?! I'm also wondering, as I didn't realise this was such a problem until too late but I don't have any public affairs full time work experience... I volunteered a lot on the side at Undergrad and while I was working full time. Also been part time at an elderly persons home volunteering since Sept and studying economics and maths because I realised I was missing those pre-reqs. i'm now applying for research positions in public affairs/public policy type places but that won't be relevant unless I got on a waitlist and could update them.. My full time work is 1 yr events, 1 yr management and 10 months operations type job - is anyone else applying with irrelevant work experience?

Ah ok...apologies, I misunderstood...I thought you were talking about paying for future college x!

It won't be...i'm pretty sure everyone on this board has one thing they're kicking themselves about but can't change (mine was not knowing that not waiving the right to see my recommendations can be viewed quite negatively but we don't have it in England so I never knew and now I can't undo it..) Point is, it's probably not the make or break part of any of our applications but because we're slightly crazy at this point, something tiny seems like a huge deal because we're obsessing about only our applications...admissions on the other hand are looking through hundreds of applications, they most likely don't notice the smaller things

1/6 page on extraneous circumstances (paying for college myself) .... do you need this bit?

In short - no. Unless you're 50-50 either way and they need to distinguish between you and someone else identical without the error I can't see this affecting you especially. Some people have had schools accept revised SOPs after deadlines so you can always try and contact the schools to find out if you're desperate but I think you'll be fine.

One of my recommenders has been out sick this week and won't make the application deadlines of today. I've spoken to a couple of programs and they all have said there is no problem at all with it being a few days late. I didn't give my name or anything like that, so they didn't need to make a note on my application or anything...I even got a little chuckle out of one admin office at the idea they may not consider it (they must get a lot of this query!) So basically, don't panic! As long as your part is all done, it looks like they're pretty generous with leeway on the other things.

I used to the Kaplan and ETS official book and found that the test day quant was harder than both, so definitely persevere with the Kaplan problems (sorry if i misunderstood and you meant the problems were easier than the test would be). i can't remember the exact contents of the ETS book but didn't recognise many of those problems and anyway the PDF only had what looked like a sample test but the book has sample tests and lots of practice problems for each chapter of material covered. I'd recommend getting it, my logic was that if it's the official book associated with a test, probably the most important one.

I have 3 years work exp almost but in events (1yr), management (1yr) and operations (1yr)...quite a bit of voluntary work since high school and been working part time in an elderly persons home since Sept but still, no clear public policy or public admin work. I've found some programs though that if you don't meet their professional experience level, they may still let you in but just require you to complete an internship while you're there - try and find ones like that and you'll have a better shot. For me they've been USC Price and either Wagner or SIPA, did a quick search but can't find which...although this is for MPA so not sure how relevant will be for you... Also just to warn you, an MBA application is around $200 not $80 like other grad school programs. if you're staying in school an extra year can you not get a part time policy research position? Also about you SoP - yes i think a clear goal will definitely help, especially considering the lack of experience.

I've done the same thing as suggested already - for the 2nd question I chose part A as I want to start a non-profit so that question was a perfect platform to explain why and what. For question 3, I don't have a clear single weakness to address (not to say my application was great but more, several concerning factors rahter than one stand out!) so I talked about my research experience because I hadn't been able to fit it in as part of question 1.

Couldn't agree more in terms of the English not a first language part... which is why before I knew too much time had passed I thought the posters TOEFL score may help (and also the SoP as I mentioned, as posters English looks great) my comment was more in the generalisation about all GRE test takers who did well, did so only by practicing questions not by their own intelligence. For native speakers, I do think it can be a valid tool for differentiating between candidates, regardless of familiarity of standardized tests (we don't have them here in England). Anyway, it looks as though this score will be overcome by other positive aspects of the application and hopefully all will be fine. Jimmy_01: apologies for misinterpreting your post.

I'm not sure thats strictly true and there's not really any need to devalue other peoples scores. I am sure some very intelligent people have done badly and vice versa but ultimately the majority of people are doing well on their own merit/intelligence, not purely through rote practice of questions. Also, no need to get shirty with process chemist, i'm sure they assumed that you wouldn't be posting a long message as above if you weren't looking for advice. Since you've already submitted and can do nothing to change it, seems the best thing to do is just wait and see.

I think that a well written SoP could make up for it, especially as you're not a native English speaker...did you take the TOEFL exam for entry into your American undergrad? Your post is far better written than many native English speakers can manage, so I imagine you have no language issues in your personal statement or any other written portion of the application and hopefully you'll be fine.

I think this situation might be slightly different though as you were able to submit your application and the poster was not...I have to say, it sounds like you may be out of luck, I don't know how they'd reopen the application system to let you submit and it seems like it would be difficult to get all the information in another way, unless you completed a paper application. Best thing would be to call as soon as they open though.

I had this problem too...especially as I graduated in 2007 (from my bachelors, now applying for masters). My old dissertation tutor doesn't answer emails and the best the school could do was offer was a generic recommendation saying i'd been there and what I got...except my transcript already does that, so not exactly any use! I am taking some classes with berkeley extension online and although it's far from ideal, one of my professors there is writing me recommendations...i'm not sure if you have time to start a course and get enough of the work done for them to write a somewhat meaningful reference but i'm under the impression that colleague recommendations are not accepted.