fenderpete Posted February 23, 2012 Author Share Posted February 23, 2012 My heart skipped a beat when the Elliott School sent out a newsletter about their 'convenient evening course schedule.' Nothing to see here, back to business as usual... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beefmaster Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 My heart skipped a beat when the Elliott School sent out a newsletter about their 'convenient evening course schedule.' Nothing to see here, back to business as usual... Hahah I had exactly the same reaction! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlotte_asia Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 My heart skipped a beat when the Elliott School sent out a newsletter about their 'convenient evening course schedule.' Nothing to see here, back to business as usual... I just complained to my fiance about that email! Evening classes are not convenient if I have not been granted admissions to them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenderpete Posted February 23, 2012 Author Share Posted February 23, 2012 Hahah I had exactly the same reaction! On the plus side I get back into my capital city tomorrow for ten days, so can take a break from the obsessing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrattIAFF Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 My heart skipped a beat when the Elliott School sent out a newsletter about their 'convenient evening course schedule.' Nothing to see here, back to business as usual... Samesies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
domnulsl Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 My heart skipped a beat when the Elliott School sent out a newsletter about their 'convenient evening course schedule.' Nothing to see here, back to business as usual... Lol! That email woke me up from by beauty sleep for nothing; for a second there, I'd thought about throwing my iPhone out the freaking window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Träumer Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Lol! That email woke me up from by beauty sleep for nothing; for a second there, I'd thought about throwing my iPhone out the freaking window. All I could say was "why?" They definitely take delight in sending out useless emails around admit time.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrattIAFF Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Program Applied To (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.): MA, MSFS Schools Applied To: Georgetown - SFS, George Washington - Elliot School, American - SIS Schools Admitted To: (Waiting) Schools Rejected From: (Waiting) Still Waiting: (All) Undergraduate institution: Middle Tennessee State University Undergraduate GPA: 3.7 Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): 3.9 Undergraduate Major: International Relations (BS); Political Science (BA) GRE Quantitative Score: 148 GRE Verbal Score: 159 GRE AW Score: 5.5 Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 2 Years of Work Experience: 1.5 Describe Relevant Work Experience: Internships Constituency for Africa, Washington, D.C. International Bridges to Justice, Kigali, Rwanda Human Rights Watch, Washington, D.C. Languages: Swahili: Advanced-Mid French: Intermediate-Low Quant: Elementary Statistics, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): Very Specific about what I hoped to obtain from study at the university, incorporated past experiences, and mentioned faculty that I would like to work with. Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): 1. Professor who was my academic adviser, who knows me very well academically and personally. 2. Dean of Honors College, who was Dean of Political Science when I started and sat on my Fulbright Panel 3. Senior Researcher at Human Rights Watch Other: Undergraduate Boren Scholar (Kenya) Fulbright Fellow (Tanzania) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
state_school'12 Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Program Applied To (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.): MPA/MPP Schools Applied To: Berkeley GSPP, Chicago Harris, Michigan Ford, Wisconsin-Madison La Follette, Duke Sanford, CMU Heinz, UCLA Luskin, Cornell CIPA (haven't applied yet) Schools Admitted To: Wisconsin-Madison La Follette ($Tuition fellowship) (1/7) Schools Rejected From: (0/7) Still Waiting: (6/7) Undergraduate institution: University of Oregon Undergraduate GPA: 3.79 Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): Worse than my overall Undergraduate Major: Economics and Political Science GRE Quantitative Score: 710 (69th percentile) GRE Verbal Score: 640 (90th percentile GRE AW Score: 4.5 (72nd percentile) Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 2 Years of Work Experience: 2 Describe Relevant Work Experience: I've worked at an economic consulting firm for 5+ years. Full-time for the last two. I also did a summer internship with the Department of Commerce while in school. Languages: German (lousy) Arabic (1 year) Quant: Single+Multivarible Calc, Linear Algebra, Analysis, Stats (two courses), Econometrics (3 courses), a bunch of econ classes. Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): It evolved over time. I give myself a B+. I feel passionate about what I want to study and do with my career, but really struggled to form a narrative about myself that showed and explained this. Berkeley's was the worst, since it was the first one that I did. My interests lay in the domestic policy sphere, education/social policy. I talked about combining this interest with some interesting results from economics research. I'm also interested in policy implementation, the political process of it, and understanding why good policies don't get implemented. Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): One econ professor from a top ivy, one associate poly sci professor from whom I a got a lot of good grades, one from my internship supervisor who happens to now teach at one of the schools to which I'm applying. Other: My major GPA was high.I've been lurking these forums and scrutinizing profiles like these and those at testmagic's econ phd forum since 2006. I was on a Phd econ track for a while, and I have to say we policy applicants have it pretty good. In Econ, there is no holistic approach, the SOP is virtually meaningless, work experience/volunteering IS meaningless, and you have to compete with all of the math whizzes from Asia, many of whom already have masters degrees in statistics or economics.I'm extremely happy that the MPA/MPP degree exists, since it combines all of the elements of what I seek in a grad degree. Lastly, I haven't yet applied to Cornell CIPA. At this point, it seems like I'd be at a significant disadvantage in terms of funding, even if I did get in. Should I bother applying, or is it a lost cause? Advice for future applicants: Completing the first application was half of the battle. Once that was done, they rest went a lot easier. I could only find two other U Oregon grads in policy schools over the past few years, which was disheartening. If you're coming from a similar situation, don't let a similar statistic rattle you. P.S. those two Ducks were at WWS . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chipembere Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 To State_School: I don't think applying to CIPA is a lost cause at this point. If you put together a good application (and get it in asap) I think you could still get significant funding. Worth a shot at least. That's probably where I'm headed in the Fall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aliwaba Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Program Applied To (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.): MPA/MPP depending on the school Schools Applied To: Univ. of Washington - Evans, Berkeley - GSPP, Texas - LBJ, Michigan - Ford, Chicago - Harris, Georgetown - GPPI, American - SPA, GW - Trachtenberg, NYU - Wagner Schools Admitted To: American (MPA), GW (MPP) Schools Rejected From: 0 Still Waiting: 7 Undergraduate institution: University of Oregon Undergraduate GPA: 3.3 Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): 3.5 Undergraduate Major(s): Political Science Undergraduate Minor(s): Business Administration, Nonprofit Administration GRE Quantitative Score: 151 GRE Verbal Score: 158 GRE AW Score: 4 Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): almost 4 Years of Work Experience: 4.5 Describe Relevant Work Experience: During the 2008 presidential election cycle, I was a community organizer at a nonprofit that engaged young people in the political process. Since January 2009, I've been employed at a community foundation. I began in programs and am now in development/fundraising. Also, I've done a good amount of volunteer work in my community as chair of a local young philanthropist board and working with other young professionals to engage young people in local issues/government. Languages: English - Native, Spanish - Conversational (studied abroad in Argentina) Quant: I took a few econ/stats classes through my poli sci major and business minor. This is certainly not a strength of my academic background. Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): I wrote about my experience in the nonprofit sector and passion about education reform in the United States. I wish I would have started earlier on this process (especially for the Goldman application!) but I did have friends and family review and let me know their thoughts which was extremely helpful. Looking back on it, I wish I would have been more selective on which people I asked to help me- I might have had too many people giving me their thoughts/advice. Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): I think/hope my letters were strong, although they were all from people that know me professionally (my boss, a former board member, mpp grad from georgetown in high level job in my area and local elected official). Since I went to a big state school, was in a large major and didn't have particularly close relationships with professors, I didn't feel comofortable with the potential quality of a recommendation from a professor. This does concern me but fingers crossed my professional experience will be good for my application. Is anyone else concerned with this or did most of y'all use at least one former professor? Other: I've been looking through this thread for months and I have yet to see (although I could have missed a post) anyone applying to Evans at University of Washington. I am curious as to why that's the case. Does anyone have any thoughts? It's ranked high, U-Dub is a well-regarded institution (although I'll always be a Duck fan at heart!) and I've heard positive reviews from the few students I know attending the program. Advice for Future Applicants: I really wish I had started the whole process earlier (studying for the GREs, preparing SOPs, etc.) although I ended up feeling fairly confident about my applications that were due in Jan./Feb. Even though I haven't heard back from the schools heavy in quant, I have a feeling I might not be admitted to those programs. If I could go back one year, I would have taken a few stats/econ classes at the local community college. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azrou Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): I think/hope my letters were strong, although they were all from people that know me professionally (my boss, a former board member, mpp grad from georgetown in high level job in my area and local elected official). Since I went to a big state school, was in a large major and didn't have particularly close relationships with professors, I didn't feel comofortable with the potential quality of a recommendation from a professor. This does concern me but fingers crossed my professional experience will be good for my application. Is anyone else concerned with this or did most of y'all use at least one former professor? Other: I've been looking through this thread for months and I have yet to see (although I could have missed a post) anyone applying to Evans at University of Washington. I am curious as to why that's the case. Does anyone have any thoughts? It's ranked high, U-Dub is a well-regarded institution (although I'll always be a Duck fan at heart!) and I've heard positive reviews from the few students I know attending the program. I applied to Evans. It's more of a backup plan for me, as it is certainly a good school but not my first choice (nor is it yours, I'm assuming). I added it to my list because Evans has a partnership with the Peace Corps Fellows program so there is another potential source of funding. I also used to live in the Seattle area and enjoyed it, so I can handle the rain. I don't know exactly why it isn't mentioned here more frequently, but if I had to guess, I think it's because it has more of a regional draw and many people posting here are interested in large NGO/non-profit or Federal work. The East Coast and in particular DC schools are very well connected if you want to go down that path. I looked at their internship numbers and 86% were in Seattle and only 4% in DC and 4% international. The final employment statistics change a bit but still have 3/4 of grads staying in Washington with the rest split between other states, DC, and international. I feel that Indiana's SPEA is similar. It is highly ranked, especially in environmental affairs, but their international development concentration is quite new and doesn't have the same track record as other schools. For the LOR I don't want to worry you since your apps were sent in long ago, but from everything I've seen, schools want to see at least one academic reference. It is a bit different if you are 10-15 years out of undergrad and going for a mid-career degree, in that case I don't think they expect you to track down old profs, since your work experience will be far more important. But realistically 4 years removed is not that much and there should be at least a few profs that you could contact. You're 100% right that you should not use a letter that only weakly supports you or where it is clear the recommender only knew you in passing. But I was in the same boat since I am an 07 grad, and I emailed two profs from my junior/senior years that I had gotten A's from. I am sure that they did not recognize me by name but I included my resume, papers I wrote for them, etc to help jog their memory, and got enthusiastic responses. You don't have to be the person that made brilliant insights every class, visited office hours frequently, and helped them on a research project to be someone they will remember. My Peace Corps director wrote my third recommendation and it worked out great since I was able to ask each person to emphasize different traits. IMO it is not as helpful if you have three people all agree that you are a hard worker with good attention to detail. Getting a mix of academic and professional references allows you to show a wider variety of strengths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajl Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Regarding UW Evans: I'm living in Seattle and didn't apply there, but that's not to say it wouldn't be a great option. I would guess that most of the internships are in Washington (state) partially because Seattle is becoming quite a hub for international development. Having worked a little bit in the field here, I must say I was really surprised how many huge development orgs are based here (well beyond Bill and Melinda Gates) and how well-connected they are to "the other Washington." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iasiplover Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 update: In at Korbel (no funding) and University of Maryland MPP (haven't received news on funding yet). Congrats to everyone accepted to schools and good luck to those who are waiting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clover123 Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 I was planning to send in my application for the MPA program at Arizona State. That's not mentioned here very much either, but what do you all think? It's definitely not one of my first options, more like a back up plan. But let's see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenderpete Posted February 29, 2012 Author Share Posted February 29, 2012 Looking at the Grad Survey results for the last few years, I posit that: WWS: Notify Wednesday to Thursday American: Notify beginning of the week GWU Elliott: Notify Thursday/Friday SAIS: Notify start of the week Tomorrow, March is upon us... Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hello.operator Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 I hope to hear at least by mid-March across the board. Part of the reason being I've already read the shit out of the government affairs forum and I've run out of things that can distract me. Plus there's really just no kidding myself about even pretending to be a normal, productive human being. dazedandfazed and sietval 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlotte_asia Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Tomorrow, March is upon us... Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines. My engines have been been unnecessarily revved for seven weeks now... I hope they can hold out through the next three weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgreenster Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 I hope to hear at least by mid-March across the board. Part of the reason being I've already read the shit out of the government affairs forum and I've run out of things that can distract me. Plus there's really just no kidding myself about even pretending to be a normal, productive human being. Exactly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazedandfazed Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Looking at the Grad Survey results for the last few years, I posit that: WWS: Notify Wednesday to Thursday American: Notify beginning of the week GWU Elliott: Notify Thursday/Friday SAIS: Notify start of the week Tomorrow, March is upon us... Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines. oh god dude you mean this coming wendesday or thursday? not that i even stand a great chance at the aforementioned places but its going to be a bummer bc my psring break starts on friday!! goldenbear26 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aspiringmaster Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 oh god dude you mean this coming wendesday or thursday? not that i even stand a great chance at the aforementioned places but its going to be a bummer bc my psring break starts on friday!! What about Maxwell? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
state_school'12 Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 I believe Maxwell reviews applications on a rolling basis. A few folks on the forum already got in (check the results survey, too). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwest817 Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Program Applied To (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.): HKS (MPP), UC Berkeley Goldman (MPP), UChicago Harris (MPP), Duke Sanford (MPP), Georgetown PPI (MPP), UMichigan (MPP), Carnegie Mellon Heinz (MSPPM), UCLA (MPP) Schools Admitted To: Georgetown ($$), Carnegie Mellon ($) Schools Rejected From: Still Waiting: HKS, UC Berkeley, UChicago, Duke, UMichigan, UCLA Undergraduate institution: Small liberal arts college (Seven Sisters school) Undergraduate GPA: 3.57 Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): Undergraduate Major: Economics, physics GRE Quantitative Score: 790 (91st) GRE Verbal Score: 740 (99th) GRE AW Score: 4.5 (67th) Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 3.5 Years of Work Experience: 3.5 Describe Relevant Work Experience: Public-sector economic consulting Languages: English, French Quant: Several econometrics and stats courses, various math courses (including linear algebra, multivariate calc, diff-eq, etc.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldenbear26 Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 @fenderpete: i, too, would like clarification on what you meant. did you mean to say that WWS would likely release next wed / thursday (march 7th/8th)? Is that when they released last year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DualCitizenIR Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Just when I thought February would never end, we got the 29th! Oh well, the month of destiny is just about 12 hours away. I am going on a trip to London around mid-to-late-March, and I am going to be freaking out over the (relative) lack of internet access for sure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now