MPA / M(I)PP: how critical is length of experience?

[Tom_fr]

Hi,

I am considering applying to a number of mid-careers MPA / MPP / MIPP programs for Fall 2012. The thing is, I may be a tad short on relevant professional experience, since I had sort of a career change some time ago. Basically, my application would read as such:

• age: 33 (at time of applying)
• relevant experience: 6 years (at time of entry), would be 9 years including non-relevant experience
• diplomas: MBA (Top 3 French B-school), MSc in Political Sciences (Top French Politcal Sciences School, well-regarded abroad) with majors in IR, MSc in Economics & Statistics (Top 5 French Engineering School, would be Top 3 in Economics) with majors in Financial economics
• non-relevant experience : 2 years part time plus 1.5 year full time in investment banking (market side)
• relevant experience: 4 years as economist at the French Embassy in India, currently serving a 2-year term as senior economist at the French Embassy in Senegal (with responsibility on the whole ECOWAS)
• grades: about 3.2 to 3.5 GPA-equivalent at each of the three schools
• programs targeted: HKS, SIPA, GWU, JHU SAIS and WWS at least, possibly others
• GRE scores: have to go through it again, but had 540 verbal and 800 quantitative back in 2004

So any feedback on the relative importance of each of these items would be great, based on the targeted programs. In particular, when a program requires, say, seven or nine years of relevant experience, is this duration taken strictly or is there some margin depending on the rest of the application? Let me know if I can add any relevant details.

Cheers,

Tom

[CC139]

I think that despite your career change, you are a very strong candidate for all of the schools -maybe I'm just not sure about WWS because there everyone is a great applicant! While your experience so-so, it's good enough to had gotten you through great masters, so you'd have nothing to prove on that regard.

Best of luck!

[Tom_fr]

Thanks for this feedback and good wishes! The thing is, I got the diplomas first (with the part time experience during that time), and the relevant experience only afterwards.

Also, due to the time elapsed since leaving school (six years), I'm a bit stuck on the academic LoR. At the current time, I'm thinking:

- professional 1: a French Ambassador, formerly Chieff of Staff at the French presidency

- professional 2: a Minister-Counsellor at the French Treasury

- academic: here is getting trickier, since my small-group courses had little to do with my current targets, and I do not expect tenured professors giving a lesson in front of 500 people to draft letters for any one of them, unless they have known them in other circumstances. My best bets would be:

• either the supervisor of my economics master thesis; pro: knew me well (was seeing him one afternoon per week for a whole academic year); con: is not too well known
• or the head of the jury for this thesis; pro: reasonably well known; con: only had limited interaction with her
• or the head of the jury for my professional thesis; pro: very well known; con:... but in a matter which has little to do with the schools targeted (highly specialized statistics)
• last option: the microeconomics professor at my MBA school who I had been a TA for; pro: had accepted to do LoR for me back in 2004l; con: well, that was back in 2004...
• so unfortunately, no idea of referee from my political sciences school...

In fact, I tend to find it a bit weird that these executive programs require an academic LoR for people who may have had no contact whatsoever with their alma mater for 10, 15 or 20 years. So here again, any suggestion would be appreciated.

Tom

[Tom_fr]

Ok, just a small bump and a caveat: when writing the initial post, I was considering the mid-careers programs, like MPP (but not MPA) at WWS or MC/MPA (but not MPA2 or MPP) at HKS. However, after spending the best part of the afternoon assessing the resume of recent WWS MPP graduates, and as wonderfully put by a previous poster (), it seems such programs not only have very reduced intakes, but also primarily welcome "long term, pure players" in terms of public service (lots of Army guys and NGO senior officers, with 15+ years of experience).

As a consequence, I have turned my attention to more "junior" programs (i.e. MPA at WWS or MPA2 at HKS), the "junior" part being relative considering the experience of a number of candidates. I am however now concerned that, age-wise, I may reaaaally be on the upper-side of the class and that any job offer at the end of the program may thus be tailored for more junior candidates (in terms of academics or age, and that said without any value judgement).

I would thus be happy to hear about candidates entering a standard MPA/ MPP program (i.e. not a "mid-careers executive with 10+ years of experience") around 32-35. I have searched the forums, but have only found testimonies up to the age of 31. OK, General Petraeus gratuated from the MPA at 33...

Cheers,

Tom