Profile review for SIPA/Princeton WWS/Jackson (Yale) potential applicant

[JAubrey]

Schools Applying To: WWS - Princeton (MPA), SIPA - Columbia (MIA), Jackson - Yale (MA International Relations)

Undergraduate institution: Top 10 IR program on the East Coast

Undergraduate GPA: 3.1 (Major 3.55)

Undergraduate Major: International Relations

Master's: Top 5 UK University (International Politics - with a focus on security)

GRE Quantitative Score: 750

GRE Verbal Score: 710

GRE AW Score: 5

Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 6 at time of application

Years of Work Experience: 1 year in the Civil Service (domestic policy), 1.5 management consultancy, 2 years as an officer for an Intelligence Community agency

Foreign Languages: Farsi (Basic - only recently started), French (near fluent), English - Native, One semester of Arabic, One semester of Italian

Will (very) relevant work experience, and an above average GRE, along with some distance between undergrad and applying be enough to make me a competitive candidate at WWS / SIPA / Yale?

Also I haven't seen much on Yale's MA in IR, anyone have experience with the program?

[Diesel2011]

Schools Applying To: WWS - Princeton (MPA), SIPA - Columbia (MIA), Jackson - Yale (MA International Relations)

Undergraduate institution: Top 10 IR program on the East Coast

Undergraduate GPA: 3.1 (Major 3.55)

Undergraduate Major: International Relations

Master's: Top 5 UK University (International Politics - with a focus on security)

GRE Quantitative Score: 750

GRE Verbal Score: 710

GRE AW Score: 5

Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 6 at time of application

Years of Work Experience: 1 year in the Civil Service (domestic policy), 1.5 management consultancy, 2 years as an officer for an Intelligence Community agency

Foreign Languages: Farsi (Basic - only recently started), French (near fluent), English - Native, One semester of Arabic, One semester of Italian

Will (very) relevant work experience, and an above average GRE, along with some distance between undergrad and applying be enough to make me a competitive candidate at WWS / SIPA / Yale?

Also I haven't seen much on Yale's MA in IR, anyone have experience with the program?

Even though your overall GPA is a little low, it seems like all of the other factors are very strong. I think you should be a competitive candidate at all of these schools and will be admitted into at least one - especially if you invest some time crafting very strong SOPs.

[greendiplomat]

Even though your overall GPA is a little low, it seems like all of the other factors are very strong. I think you should be a competitive candidate at all of these schools and will be admitted into at least one - especially if you invest some time crafting very strong SOPs.

I think you're a strong candidate as Diesel says and should get into SIPA just fine and put up a good fight for Yale and WWS. The two things I'd say you'd have to highlight apart from what you've already listed on your profile are relevant econ/quant coursework (esp. for SIPA and WWS), as well as what you hope to gain (intellectually/professionally) from getting an additional IR master's after an int'l politics master's.

[JAubrey]

What do people think of building an alternate transcript (IE taking a few courses in IR / Econ now, to provide evidence of academic ability / maturity), it is quite a common concept for MBA applicants but do you think it works for MPAs / MA IRs?

[2011fall]

Schools Applying To: WWS - Princeton (MPA), SIPA - Columbia (MIA), Jackson - Yale (MA International Relations)

Undergraduate institution: Top 10 IR program on the East Coast

Undergraduate GPA: 3.1 (Major 3.55)

Undergraduate Major: International Relations

Master's: Top 5 UK University (International Politics - with a focus on security)

GRE Quantitative Score: 750

GRE Verbal Score: 710

GRE AW Score: 5

Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 6 at time of application

Years of Work Experience: 1 year in the Civil Service (domestic policy), 1.5 management consultancy, 2 years as an officer for an Intelligence Community agency

Foreign Languages: Farsi (Basic - only recently started), French (near fluent), English - Native, One semester of Arabic, One semester of Italian

Will (very) relevant work experience, and an above average GRE, along with some distance between undergrad and applying be enough to make me a competitive candidate at WWS / SIPA / Yale?

Also I haven't seen much on Yale's MA in IR, anyone have experience with the program?

you are in. trust me. Good luck!

[Diesel2011]

Do you have any quantitative or economics courses on your record? If not, it would be a very good idea to take some online courses.

If you are planning to start grad school in Fall 2012, you have plenty of time to fit in a few online courses - and probably even complete them before admit committees begin reviews next year.

I had a few calc courses in undergrad, but I totally missed economics. So, I took some courses this academic year - while I've been traveling and working overseas. It's very easy to do.

[JAubrey]

Do you have any quantitative or economics courses on your record? If not, it would be a very good idea to take some online courses.

If you are planning to start grad school in Fall 2012, you have plenty of time to fit in a few online courses - and probably even complete them before admit committees begin reviews next year.

I had a few calc courses in undergrad, but I totally missed economics. So, I took some courses this academic year - while I've been traveling and working overseas. It's very easy to do.

I took Macro- and Micro- Economics back during undergraduate (Received a B+ and a B, respectively if I recall correctly), as well as a Business Statistics course (B or B+, also during my BA), and did Pre-Calc at prep school. Is it worthwhile resiting these, taking more advanced econ courses, or perhaps doing IR / Government courses instead (I derived the latter idea from the WWS website)?

Also where I live there are loads of community colleges, one big middle of the road state school, and a top 150 or maybe 125 private school. Is it better to attend these courses in person or to instead say take a course online through Harvard Extension or Berkeley Extension? Basically is the name of the latter worth prioritising over attending local universities in person?

Of the elite IR / MPA universities that have been discussed here (SIPA / Jackson - Yale / WWS - Princeton / Harvard KS), do any of them particularly value you work experience and / or GRE above GPA?

[Diesel2011]

I took Macro- and Micro- Economics back during undergraduate (Received a B+ and a B, respectively if I recall correctly), as well as a Business Statistics course (B or B+, also during my BA), and did Pre-Calc at prep school. Is it worthwhile resiting these, taking more advanced econ courses, or perhaps doing IR / Government courses instead (I derived the latter idea from the WWS website)?

Also where I live there are loads of community colleges, one big middle of the road state school, and a top 150 or maybe 125 private school. Is it better to attend these courses in person or to instead say take a course online through Harvard Extension or Berkeley Extension? Basically is the name of the latter worth prioritising over attending local universities in person?

Of the elite IR / MPA universities that have been discussed here (SIPA / Jackson - Yale / WWS - Princeton / Harvard KS), do any of them particularly value you work experience and / or GRE above GPA?

Given that you have a BA and MA in IR from top schools, it seems totally unnecessary to take any additional courses. You don't need any other econ or quantitative courses either - these previous courses and your strong GRE are enough evidence for your quantitative ability. If I were you, I would concentrate much more during this time on your work experience and continuing to learn Farsi - that is a pretty distinguishing feature.

It seems to me that these schools primarily use GRE/GPA as an indicator of academic ability. Once those who have the necessary amount of intellectual ability to succeed in these programs are separated from those who do not, I think the decision largely relies on the strength of your work experience and SOP. In that sense, work experience is more important than GRE/GPA in most of these programs.

[gj65]

Hi

I am very interested to get into MPA at WWS. I have not given my GRE yet. I hold an undergraduate degree in IT from the top school in Nepal (GPA 3.4) and an MBA from second tier school in India (GPA 3.5). I have four internships with reputed international development agencies in South Asia. I am planning to apply for Fall 2013. I will have one year of full time work experience in non-profit sector by the time I apply and 2 years by Fall 2013. Do you think this profile will work for WWS or should I not apply to WWS? What do you say, keeping GRE scores aside? BTW, for this profile, what GRE score might be needed to get into WWS?

[disintegrate]

That's a brilliant profile.