tswvyim

I just realized that I posted this in the Interviews and Visits section- could someone please move it to the relevant forum? Sorry!

I'm currently thinking about applying to MPP and MPA programs- and I don't know whether or not I should go straight out of my undergrad, or to try and get in several years of work experience before applying? I know that the smartest thing to do is to apply to programs that I would be interested in, and also apply for jobs at the same time and then take the best option available. My only qualm with this approach is the cost of applying to programs- I don't want to fork out the money if there is little chance of admittance. I guess that basically what I'm asking is whether or not I have a chance out of undergrad, or should I just hold the applications until I gain more work experience? In case its relevant, my basic stats are: -Double major at a mid-ranked national university (Physics and Economics) -GPA: cumulative : 3.3, Physics: 3:4, Econ.: 3.7 -GRE: 165/162/5 (verbal/ quant./ writing) roughly corresponds to roughly 690/780/5 on the older scale. -I also hold an associates degree from a local university, I don't know if they'll really care about my GPA from that? -Two years of full-time, volunteer, clergy work (held various leadership positions in addition to becoming fluent in an obscure language from South-Eastern Asian- that has very little value in our modern society, other than understanding more of Gran Torino than most..) -I've spent about a year coaching and designing training plans for young professional (as well as aspiring professional) rock-climbers, most of whom are on Team USA and regularly compete in the World Cup. -Target (read DREAM) Schools: Harvard's Kennedy School, the Wilson School at Princeton, Columbia, London School of Economics, possibly Berkeley (Goldman), Chicago (Harris), Duke (Heinz), or NYU (Wagner). I'm slightly limited as to where I can apply because my wife currently works for Goldman Sachs and wants to stay with them, so I have to limit myself according to proximity to GS's various locations.