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wheretonext

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  • Application Season
    2013 Fall

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  1. (Full disclosure: I currently work for a non-profit that receives USG contracts) While I think it's valid to be concerned about if PSLF will be around for the next 10 years, I think the idea that there aren't a lot of qualifying jobs doesn't hold much water. Many of the "contractors" doing government work are in fact 501c3 non-profits that do qualify for PSLF. Even the for-profit "contractors" generally will have an associated non-profit foundation which allows them to bid on grants that are only available to non-profits.
  2. Just accepted my offer. I was sold on (more or less in order): 1. Practical rather than theoretical emphasis of the courses offered, 2. Focus on gaining experience working with development organizations in addition to classroom learning, 3. Cohort size/makeup (it feels like a mid-career program without having to wait 7-8 years)
  3. Just declined my offer. 50k more freed up.
  4. I didn't go to admitted students day, but I think what you are seeing is that the GHD program has a strong orientation towards USAID and its partners. Many of the faculty come from the AID world (including the most recent former administrator) and/or the "beltway bandits". When you look at the courses that are offered as well, they seemed to be designed to set up students with a skillset to implement or manage donor projects (Chief of Party/Office Director type positions). I think that the real connection is not so much a private sector connection as it is a USAID-and-its-partners connection. Unless you are planning on becoming senior management at one of these partner organizations (and why would you ever want that...all of the fun is out in the field) the difference between a "private sector" contractor and a non-profit partner will be pretty much the same. Several of the larger contractors even have associated non-profit institutes so that they can compete for the entire spectrum of funding opportunities.
  5. I applied at the deadline, but never heard anything back, not even an accepted/denied/waitlisted. Anyone else in the same situation? They definitely charged me the application fee though.
  6. Anybody still waiting on Maxwell? I know they have rolling admissions, and I turned in my application on the deadline day, but nothing from them yet...
  7. I felt like there was a really wide range in just being able to find/access course listings. IMHO the best set up was a pdf file with the courses and brief course descriptions, while the worst set ups were the schools (and there were a lot of them) that just had a link to the registrar's website (with some incredibly unfriendly user interface). Some schools didn't even provide the link.
  8. I agree about school culture, I think in any school/city you will find the niche that fits what you want from a "culture". On the other hand, I definitely tried to adapt my applications and essays to align with the culture that the school is looking to foster.
  9. I know we've all been answering admissions surveys asking the same question, but I'm interested in hearing the answer as well, so I'll do admissions offices everywhere a solid and start a discussion on the topic. Deciding which graduate programs to apply to obviously takes into account multiple factors (and, according to some posters, multiple spreadsheets). Which factor was the most influential for you in deciding to apply to a graduate program? Why? For me, I've applied a few times over the course of 5 years and as I've drifted towards being more mid-careerish, the most influential factor has become the quality of my fellow classmates. Most of the schools I applied to publish bios for either some or all of their enrolled students, and I read through those profiles to get an idea of what my fellow classmates would be like. This was the most important factor for me both because I want a program where I can learn from my fellow students, not just the professors, and also because I feel that class composition probably affects the teaching style of the professor. I imagine it would be tough to teach a truly practitioner-focused approach to a class of students that has very limited field experience.
  10. FYI my funding offer got caught by the gmail spam filter if you haven't heard you might want to check there...
  11. Just got my MPA-DP acceptance
  12. Schools Applying/Applied To: HKS, WWS, Fletcher, Maxwell, IUB-SPEA Schools Admitted To: Schools Rejected From: Still Waiting: Undergraduate institution: Top 50 LAC Undergraduate GPA: 3.5 Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): definitely better than the overall (first year wasn't great) Undergraduate Major: Polisci & Spanish double major GRE Quantitative Score: 156 GRE Verbal Score: 165 GRE AW Score: 4.5 Age: 25 Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): graduated 2009 Years of Work Experienc: 3+ Describe Relevant Work Experience and International Experience: 2 years Peace Corps in central america (HIV/AIDS), afterwards got hired as national project coordinator for an NGO working with HIV patients (1 year), 3 month summer internship in rural Nicaragua, semester study abroad in Spain Languages: Spanish (fluent, my current job is 100% in spanish) Quant: took research methods in college (SPSS & stata training) but no other quant b/c i had AP credit for calc Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): Working on it...trying to make connection between the theory i learned in the classroom with the practice I have had in the field Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): My professional will be my PC project director, Academic my Research Methods professor will take about my Quant ability his class, 3rd LOR is still a wild card I have 3 possibilities...Director of the Center for Public Service at my college (I participated in a number of their programs, she wrote my PC rec), my IR professor (always liked me personally, was my adviser for my Honors thesis, my grades in her classes were good, not great), or my current boss (the work I'm doing current is really cool, helping to re-write policy and leading a coalition of several major NGOs, but she doesn't speak english and i'm a little worried about her ability to write a focused LOR). Other:
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