zourah

I actually hadn't seen that HKS sample memo before writing my own. Being unfamiliar with the style, I wrote something much closer to an op-ed piece, from the perspective of a foreign-policy commentator considering the potential benefits of a "league of democracies" while also arguing against its proponents' common assumptions regarding the role it would play in global affairs. While I'd have panicked to see the formal guidelines while waiting for an admissions response (I only partially followed them), I had in fact laid out a proposal and discussed both its strengths and its drawbacks in a concise style - which is, in the end, what I think they'd like. So keep in mind that you can choose broader topics and that style is flexible. Do be clear and analytical and I think you should be fine...?

Another campaign vet chiming in - really, either is good experience depending on how you're rounding it out. I worked a midterm race in MO but then moved to Morocco for a while, so if you have international experience elsewhere, the campaign is good work experience. If you don't have other experience in this vein, the internship might help more.

I'd say your work experience will set you apart enough that if you have good letters of recommendation and a strong statement of purpose, your undergrad is long enough in the past to be less important than for those of us more recently out of school. Just be sure to emphasize your strengths and your overall application could be pretty outstanding.

My section sent a job offer to my replacement today... weird feeling, indeed.

I'll be doing their int'l and global affairs track and will probably also cross-register some at Fletcher (I sat in on Drezner's class at the visit day and really enjoyed it, for one). In any case, I'd imagine our paths will likely cross, and I'm definitely starting to get excited about the fall.

No. If you can eliminate enough identifying details about the compan(y/ies) in question to ensure their confidentiality, then tell your story. If you really would be sharing confidential info, don't.

A game in which they managed a stunning 1-1 tie that left John Stewart wailing about how much soccer sucks, then followed with four players "retiring" for their show of support for Mousavi and the opposition. Not sure that ended up being the best example after all...

congrats!

Check out this thread, where most of us listed our stats, applications/results and final choices. I know there have been a few other science-y people on the board, though I'm not one of them. I'd say your GRE/GPA look fine, so it's going to be a matter of having solid recommendations and a statement of purpose that really illuminates why you need to follow a sci PhD with an MPP and where you're looking to go with that. Best of luck.

I didn't mean to upset you. I still would choose an area where I'm right on the central public transit system for a city instead of one out on regional rail, and I like snowy winter (my skis are definitely going to get some use in NH/VT this next year!) It's an entirely personal preference, and I don't mean any insult to your chosen school in stating it.

I'd say it sounds like time to start befriending your classmates-to-be. Is there a facebook group? Put out a call for roommates - find someone who sounds sane and can make a housing-search trip. Contact admissions and see if any current students are willing to give you basic advice - or if any are around for the summer and could help. You're joining a community, and while it's difficult to lean too much on people who are still strangers, I'd hope that some of them can offer you a little assistance in making sure you don't end up homeless (or wishing you were).

I'll re-wear blue jeans/slacks, but always with a different shirt. I don't think there's really a strict rule, but people may wonder where you spent the night that you weren't able to change outfits otherwise...

Princeton, NJ - part of not applying to Woody Woo was the location. Another part was the competitiveness (obviously, I didn't know starting out that I'd get in at HKS, and WW is more competitive yet), and a third was that I just didn't feel attracted to the program in quite the same way, though for the life of me at this point, I can't remember quite why that was the case. In retrospect, I perhaps should have at least applied - but then again, I still wouldn't be all that excited about being out in Princeton for the next two years.

True enough. I keep stopping back by and wondering if we've a) offered any useful info added to this poor person's confusion or c) are offering advice into the void by now anyway. oh well, amusing nonetheless.

This is all true, but the OP was asking for information on what the styles were, and Goodwill doesn't run a web site that really shows their offerings.

Many US retailers also sell online. I'd browse through, say, gap.com or jcrew.com (the former is more casual, the second more business/preppy attire) to get some idea what the styles are. Anyone care to nominate other, more popular, retailers of grad student threads?

I agree that those look like good topics. Anyone else have other nominees before I try and find a mod willing to help sticky a few?

Actually, this PHP BB can do that - we just would need to alert a moderator to "sticky" some of them. If there are a few everyone agrees are worthwhile, I bet we could get someone's attention to help with the administrative side. Which threads did you have in mind?

eh, we should all mark our calendars to return late next February to provide moral support for our successors - and to share whatever wisdom we've picked up in the interim. for now though, there's not much to commiserate about, so yeah, have a good summer to everyone, I suppose.

Do you mean MPP (Master of Public Policy)? If not, what do you mean?

First, a disclaimer: I have only a very narrow view from which to speak (1.5 years all in the same org, from the perspective of a lowly assistant who gets to sit in on the candidate search/job interview process as a note-taker). Next: what I've seen. Your degree is probably fine on its own, but if you feel the need to return to school, an MBA or MPA is probably your best bet. Education is one of those check-boxes quickly marked off and moved past, however. The two things they're sure to look for that you don't get much experience with at lower levels are teamwork/leadership and strategic vision. If you can build competencies in those areas without a degree, so much the better. If you can strengthen them with a return to school, great. If you get another master's and don't some out any more able to help build information services to suit the current (and future!) needs of your agency/gov't and hire/manage competent underlings who can see and carry out those plans, then the degree is just a piece of paper. Are there business planning committees or reviews you can take part in? Will your current boss designate additional responsibility to help you better understand the day-to-day work at the next level of management? Look for growth opportunities where you are - and then come back here for moral support if you decide an academic environment is a better place to pick up some of these skills instead.

I had only told my boss/another mentor who wrote a recommendation/my immediate section that I was applying, which kept away most of the "have you heard anything yet?" questions. Now that I'm actively planning my departure (and my boss is giddily announcing my admission to others), it's become general knowledge. I don't really want to leave. I work with a great team, and recently a refrain of "what are we going to do after you leave?" has been making me feel ever-so-slightly guilty (though I think I'm more replaceable than they think). In any case, everyone has been excited enough for me that the whole process, while weird, has gone smoothly so far. It's definitely made the office a more interesting environment, though - here I'm a tech geek and everyone seems to think I have a degree in computer science. Telling them I have a BA in French and that I'm off to do a public policy degree tends to flip people out.

How have you not made a commitment yet? I went to both visit days and was MUCH more impressed by SAIS's self-presentation: the use of the lunch break to put students into (relatively) small clusters with their co-concentrators and program directors allowed for useful Q&A time, the class I sat in on was a lively discussion, and I met many, many more students over the course of the day. SIPA didn't do anything absolutely wrong, but it felt much more impersonal.

I was part of Team McCaskill from May onwards. Six longest months of my life, but it was so well worth it. I remember the macaca video well, though - it got a lot of play during afternoon downtime in our office...

Yeah, but the Kennedy scholarship, whatever it is, isn't a separate essay-application fellowship. It's not on the list. I think with a name that generic, it really is straight from the school - for better or for worse, and whatever it means about finaid's willingness to screw people like me (accepts with limited but not zero savings who went ahead and committed despite no "sweeteners"). The simplest answer is a pragmatic one that, while effective, is pretty unfair. Let's be happy for Don, seeing as there's no way to ever really know (transparency in financial aid? never), and seeing as any hard feelings we do bear aren't directed this way - and then let's let it drop. Checking back in on this thread only makes me feel bad now.