Trying to find an admissions consultant that can tell me whether I'm competitive for HKS MPA/ID

[2711383]

Essentially what the title says. I can't, for the life of me, figure out whether I'm competitive or not for the MPA/ID at Harvard Kennedy school. I fulfill all their requirements, and even excel at some of them, like the GRE, but I have no idea if my profile fits what they're looking for. 

Is there a service I can pay for that can give me an honest assessment of my profile and tell me whether I have a chance or not? This is one of the two programs I'm interested in the US and I would really like to know if I'm a good fit before I spend the time writing the three essays they require and the money for their application fee. 

[GradSchoolGrad]

19 hours ago, 2711383 said:

Essentially what the title says. I can't, for the life of me, figure out whether I'm competitive or not for the MPA/ID at Harvard Kennedy school. I fulfill all their requirements, and even excel at some of them, like the GRE, but I have no idea if my profile fits what they're looking for. 

Is there a service I can pay for that can give me an honest assessment of my profile and tell me whether I have a chance or not? This is one of the two programs I'm interested in the US and I would really like to know if I'm a good fit before I spend the time writing the three essays they require and the money for their application fee. 

First of all... this is probably a better way to identify how competitive you are than a service. People working the services are former admissions officers or HR start ups, which in normal times would work fine, but in the era COVID, everything has gone weird.

[2711383]

By this do you mean the Grad Cafe? The thing is I have no idea how many people admitted to the program frequent this forum, and it's pretty different from other MPAs (including more competitive ones like WWS or even the MPA from HKS itself) so I don't think that people who know about other MPAs can really gauge my competitiveness that well either..

Like, the minimum requirements are 1 semester of microeconomics, 1 semester of macroeconomics, and calc 1-3. My math goes a little beyond that (1 class covering linear algebra and real analysis) and my econ is exactly at the minimum, so I'd think I'm fine but then I look at the curriculum and it basically starts with PhD level economics courses. So will my app go straight into the garbage bin because I don't have intermediate micro and macro and they don't think I'll be able to cope with the advanced courses, even though I fulfill the minimum requirements? Or can my above average GRE (169V, 168Q, 5.0AW) help me stand out? 

I'm fairly confident about my work experience being what they want to see. What concerns me is that the PhD level coursework will make them not take me seriously (even though that's exactly the reason why this is the only MPA I'm looking at).

[Theory007]

American non-phd programs are not very competitive but the program HKS is probably more competitive than others although not more competitive than many phd programs. Your GRE score is great and your math background excellent and you will stand out for these reasons. You are right to think that adcoms will find it strange that you never took intermediate courses in economics for a program that requires (Im guessing) phd level coursework in economics, where the difficulty is x10 compared to the intermediate courses. I suppose it all depends on how competitive the program really is and how many applicants it takes; you have one obvious deficiency and many applicants will not have any. Either way, this is not a reason not to apply. You'll have a good chance of getting in so do apply. And you will also be competitive for many great phd programs (although it's always hard to get in), especially with those GRE scores. If you get into one of those you wont have to pay tuition and will probably also receive a stipend. So I'd apply to HKA is I was you and possibly a bunch of phd programs if I was you.

 

[2711383]

15 minutes ago, Theory007 said:

American non-phd programs are not very competitive but the program HKS is probably more competitive than others although not more competitive than many phd programs. Your GRE score is great and your math background excellent and you will stand out for these reasons. You are right to think that adcoms will find it strange that you never took intermediate courses in economics for a program that requires (Im guessing) phd level coursework in economics, where the difficulty is x10 compared to the intermediate courses. I suppose it all depends on how competitive the program really is and how many applicants it takes; you have one obvious deficiency and many applicants will not have any. Either way, this is not a reason not to apply. You'll have a good chance of getting in so do apply. And you will also be competitive for many great phd programs (although it's always hard to get in), especially with those GRE scores. If you get into one of those you wont have to pay tuition and will probably also receive a stipend. So I'd apply to HKA is I was you and possibly a bunch of phd programs if I was you.

 

Thanks for the feedback! This really does give me a lot of confidence. Not sure how competitive I'd be for PhDs (at least PhDs I'd want to be in) considering my research experience consists almost entirely of 5 months as an intern at a think tank and a research assistantship doing one political risk consulting job for a small IFI (I've mostly been doing "professional" policy work this past couple of years). 
 

There's a space in the HKS application where you can address any academic shortcomings, and I'm wondering whether it'd be a good idea to say that I feel confident about excelling in the program's economics courses? I've been going through MWG (the standard first year graduate micro textbook, which the MPA/ID uses) and while some concepts seem fairly complicated at first, none of them seem unreasonable to me (yet).. Or would that come across as smug or overconfident to the adcom?

[Theory007]

2 hours ago, 2711383 said:

Thanks for the feedback! This really does give me a lot of confidence. Not sure how competitive I'd be for PhDs (at least PhDs I'd want to be in) considering my research experience consists almost entirely of 5 months as an intern at a think tank and a research assistantship doing one political risk consulting job for a small IFI (I've mostly been doing "professional" policy work this past couple of years). 
 

There's a space in the HKS application where you can address any academic shortcomings, and I'm wondering whether it'd be a good idea to say that I feel confident about excelling in the program's economics courses? I've been going through MWG (the standard first year graduate micro textbook, which the MPA/ID uses) and while some concepts seem fairly complicated at first, none of them seem unreasonable to me (yet).. Or would that come across as smug or overconfident to the adcom?

I my opinion, and others may disagree, it might come across as smug. I do not doubt your abilities or accomplishments but even if you whatever you have looked at in MWG looks reasonable you really are in no position to judge if the courses will be easy for you or not. Besides, the adcoms have heard it all and it might not come as a surprise that everyone who applies to a given program have confidence they can and will do well in it. I'd explain to the adcoms why you never took intermediate economics courses (that really is a genuine question if you want to do an MPA) and then I would start now on my SOP, speak to recommenders, and prepare a writing sample if that is required. Even if you are smart and capable those other things are very important. I am sure that Harvard wants people who are academically capable, but another thing to keep in mind is it is looking for people who are unique and contribute to a stimulating environment. Very many people apply to Harvard and the like because of its name, and that does sounds like you to be honest, but adcoms will see through that immediately. So think hard about why you want to be a HKS and try to communicate that in the application.