ridofme

I'm not sure about your learning disability, but if it has anything to do with math, I was very tight on time in those sections, despite having spent about 70% of my prep time focused on math. Thankfully I ended up barely clearing my target, but I honestly think I must have gotten lucky with a few guesses (educated or otherwise). The point is, if you already know you struggle with time, I would suggest taking the extra test. It could be $200 now, as opposed to $200 later plus an extra $175 to retake the exam (plus untold anxiety).

Are you looking to change directions, or is this simply a stopgap or something you're hoping will bolster your future philosophy PhD applications? I am only in the application stage, but everything I've read and been told suggests that public policy degrees are meant to be professional programs. People go on to PhDs, for sure, but I think they tend to be in more 'practical' fields. (I personally know one who did a PhD in Government at Georgetown and another who is currently applying for Econ programs). I guess your question strikes me as a little strange. A two-year master's is a huge commitment - financially, time-wise, emotionally, etc. If you're just looking to be a more interesting philosophy PhD candidate, why not spend a year working abroad or tree-planting in British Columbia or living on an ashram or doing pretty much anything else that costs less than 40 grand/year + living expenses?

Thanks for your comments. @cunninglynguist - While it's true that the Peterson's numbers are probably outdated, I was looking at them more for comparative value between schools rather than up-to-the minute information. @Clay Made - Unfortunately, I have had similar experiences so far in terms of contacting the Harris School. I've also called a few times and had no one pick up the phone - not once, but three or four times. Multiple unreturned emails as well. You'd think that if their lack of responsiveness was affecting their yield so greatly they would try to turn things around. Oh well - still going to apply though. Any other insights, foreros?

I am applying for fall 2013, and as such can only give you my untested opinion, but maybe it will be of some use to you. I never took stats or econ in undergrad, and realized that would be a major deficiency on my application. I looked into taking courses at four-year institutions in my city, but was horrified to discover that they would cost me $2000+ each, plus fees and course materials. I called a couple of my target schools and asked if it would be OK to take these courses at a local community college, and they all said that would be totally fine without skipping beat. The guy who answered the phone at Georgetown even said something like "we're not looking for you to spend thousands of dollars; we just want to see a background proficiency and that you'll be able to handle the quant component of the degree". I'm not sure what the options in your area are for community colleges, but all three courses I wanted to take were available online, and apparently they won't show up any differently on the transcript. When you say 'suitable', do you mean suitable to your schedule, or suitable to your intellectual/academic level? Because if it's the latter, perhaps you should reevaluate! I took the stats course on-campus, and there were a number of people in the class who were in similar situations to me - applying to grad school, transitioning careers, or doing a summer internship during a master's program and taking their stats requisite at night. Now, of course the professor was pretty mediocre and the grading was laughably lenient, but overall it wasn't that bad and I do feel I learned the foundations. Plus it was a pretty easy A. Good luck

So as I've been researching different programs, one thing that has stuck out to me is how high the acceptance rate is at the Harris School. According to Petersons, it hovers around 60%. (http://tinyurl.com/chl4ckr) Obviously schools like HKS and WWS are going to be in their own league, but when I compare the Harris School to the next tier of top schools, it seems to be the least competitive. For example, Fletcher is at 41%, SAIS is 43%, Maxwell is 47%, Michigan Ford is at 52%, and SIPA - often derided on these message boards as a 'cash cow' - is only 39%. Harris's average GPA and GRE are on par with these schools, so the only conculsion I can draw is that it has a ridiculously low yield. I'd like to get some perspective from you forumites on why that may be. For those of you who were accepted at by Harris but opted for another program, why did you reject the offer? Was the financial aid too stingy? Were you more interested in international issues (whereas Harris seems to be domestically focused)? Did you not want to live in Chicago for career-opportunity purposes (hoping to work in DC)? Did you not want to live in Chicago for cultural/weather purposes? Does Harris seem too quant-based? Were you unimpressed by campus visits? I'm really curious, because aside from the Harris School, the University of Chicago has some of the lowest acceptance rates around, and its brand name outside of policy/IR circles dwarfs schools like Michigan and Syracuse, at least in my opinion. Why does no one want to go to the Harris school?

Thank you so much for your prompt replies. You've given me some much-needed reassurance. I realize my question about it getting spread around between adcoms sounds more than a little paranoid and self-involved, but that F is one of my closest-guarded secrets in life (I've only told one person ever), so I think it scares me to reveal it and then potentially be denied admission because of it. I guess it's kind of like dating - if you take a risk and get rejected, you're no worse off than before, but sometimes a fragile ego prevents action. Maybe an F on one's transcript is the academic equivalent of a raging case of herpes. And Oregongal - just to clarify, the class wasn't for my IR/PP-related major, but it was for my 2nd major in the humanities, which is not good... Of course if anyone else has contradictory advice, or even more encouragement, please feel free to conitnue to comment. Good luck with all of your decisions, and thanks again.

This forum seems to be dedicated right now to people who are all weighing their various acceptances for fall 2012 (congrats!), but hopefully someone will have time to give advice to an anxiety-racked soul who is considering applying for an MPP or MIA for fall 2013. So, I'll put it out there: I have one F on an otherwise decent transcript (I ended up with just below a 3.5). I reused something I had written for another class, was caught, got a zero on the assignment, and thusly failed the class. Obviously I effed up big time, but I'll spare you all my blathering on about how much I regret what I did/ashamed I feel, etc. To cut to the chase, I was specifically told that this incident would not go on my permanent record, and that if anyone ever called my college to ask if I had any kind of record, the answer would be no. I want to apply for an MPP and or MIA, with my 'dream schools' so far being Harris, Ford, Georgetown, SIPA...but I know that the F sticks out like a sore thumb on a transcript that is otherwise populated by As and Bs. Since my reason is obviously not a good one, I was hoping to just not address the bad grade at all, and hope that the adcoms overlook it somehow. But then I looked through the Harris application, and it specifically asks for explanations for any Fs on your transcript...I skimmed through the online Ford app and couldn't find anything similar, but I assume Harris isn't going to be the only school to ask up front for an explanation for such a big black mark. So here's the part where I solicit advice from the Internet masses: 1) What do you think my odds are of getting into a Top 10 or 20 program with an F on my transcript, assuming I don't have to explain the reason why? Is one F an automatic dealbreaker? Or could such a grade be outweighed by the fact that the rest of my applicant profile seems to match or exceed the requirements of most of these programs (foreign language fluency, substantial work abroad, 2+ years spent in the U.S. working in my proposed field fo study, good GRE)? 2) Should I completely give up on schools like Harris that specifically ask for an explanation? Is my academic crime in any way forgivable? I certainly have no interest in digging myself deeper by lying, so I guess I would just lay it all out there if I had to...And finally, the most paranoid question - is there any chance that Harris, upon reading my explanation of cheating, could/would share that info with any other schools? (I know that officially they probably aren't allowed do this, but I've been in the work world long enough to know that professionalism is often sacrificed at the altar of gossip). I ask largely because I know that applying for fall 2013 would be a huge investment for me, both financially and emotionally (as I'm sure it is for most people). Before I take the plunge, I hope to get a better idea of whether or not the game is already over before it began. I also really fear having to provide my transcripts to my favorite professor to write a letter of rec. The aforementioned incident happened in a different department, so I assume that he never knew about it, and the idea of him seeing that F is nauseating... Thanks in advance.