The 'Am I competitive' thread - READ ME BEFORE POSTING

[pablito]

New here so sorry if I'm not doing things the right way.

Program Applying to: Planning on MA/MSc in IR, Global Politics, Comparative Politics/MPP/MPA/ something along those lines. I would love to go to LSE, but plan on applying to King's College London, Sciences Po, and some other schools.  

Undergraduate Institution: top 10 school in Canada (doesn't mean much ? )

Undergraduate GPA: A tad bit under 3.4 cumulative, 3.6 ish last 20 courses (not sure if UK schools care about last 20)

Undergraduate Major: political science

GRE: Not taken since I'm not planning on applying to US schools and European schools don't usually require them. 

 Years Out of Undergrad:  Still have a year of undergrad left.

Years of Work Experience:  Almost 2 years (all from internships)

Describe Relevant Work Experience:
-worked in the federal department of foreign affairs and international trade on helping businesses export, foreign direct investment, and security;
-worked at my uni's international development office seeking out strategic opportunities from development projects and some other stuff related to events and programs; 
-worked on programs, policy, and community engagement for a royal charity; 

Other notable experience: 
-wrote articles for online IR publications 
-served as a Regional Director for an IR publication
-started an IR publication at my uni
-served as president of a major political club 
-did model UN
-currently a student mentor 
-currently an advisor at a youth-run think tank
-volunteer at a legal research centre

 

I was wondering if I could get some honest input on what my chances could be based on your experience or based on the experiences of people you know. Open to hearing any advice/suggestions you have and looking forward to hearing from you all! Thanks!

Edited June 9, 2020 by pablito

[d535]

Hi all, also new here so please bear with me if I do this wrong. 

Program Applying to: MPP and maybe concurrent MPH. Target school is GSPP, but also applying to Luskin, HKS, Price, Harris, Ford, and Sanford

Undergraduate Institution: Top liberal arts school

Undergraduate GPA: 3.52

Undergraduate Major: Economics

GRE: Not taken yet but expecting Q160+ V160+ AWA 5.0+

 Years Out of Undergrad:  4

Years of Work Experience:  4

Describe Relevant Work Experience:
-Worked as a Research Assistant for economics professors in undergrad, so experience with development/international/labor economics

-1.5 years in economic consulting. Developed strong quantitative skills as well as experience in the private sector.

-2 years in a non-partisan public policy research institution, specializing in the social safety net and health policy. Have co-authored some reports as well as short articles. 

Other notable experience: 
-Not too much outside of work activities which is what I'm concerned about, but my job takes me to the state capitol pretty often so I get to meet bureaucrats, legislators, etc. 

 

Any feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

 

 

[woolscarves]

32 minutes ago, dannyprimus said:

Hi all, also new here so please bear with me if I do this wrong. 

Program Applying to: MPP and maybe concurrent MPH. Target school is GSPP, but also applying to Luskin, HKS, Price, Harris, Ford, and Sanford

Undergraduate Institution: Top liberal arts school

Undergraduate GPA: 3.52

Undergraduate Major: Economics

GRE: Not taken yet but expecting Q160+ V160+ AWA 5.0+

 Years Out of Undergrad:  4

Years of Work Experience:  4

Describe Relevant Work Experience:
-Worked as a Research Assistant for economics professors in undergrad, so experience with development/international/labor economics

-1.5 years in economic consulting. Developed strong quantitative skills as well as experience in the private sector.

-2 years in a non-partisan public policy research institution, specializing in the social safety net and health policy. Have co-authored some reports as well as short articles. 

Other notable experience: 
-Not too much outside of work activities which is what I'm concerned about, but my job takes me to the state capitol pretty often so I get to meet bureaucrats, legislators, etc. 

 

Any feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

 

 

You'll be in with a good scholarship at Sanford and Price. Definitely in with a decent chance at a good scholarship at Harris and Ford. In at GSPP, maybe a tough chance at scholarship. Decent chance at HKS (scholarships there are a bit hard to predict). You'll also definitely get in to Luskin, but I haven't seen great scholarship packages from them.

[readingange]

Hello! Would love any advice as I'm another newbie here and would love to hear anything on my chances or what else I should look into ? 

Program Applying to: Not sure yet, looking for best schools for public policy/intnl affairs but most likely Canadian schools MPP or MA in public policy, NPSIA, MGA (Munk?), Max Bell Public Policy, LSE, Sciences Po, or John Hopkins SAIS

Undergraduate Institution: Top 10 I believe in Canada

Undergraduate GPA: 3.3 cumulative 

Undergraduate Major: Global studies

GRE: Have not taken, I'm guessing this is mandatory for US school apps though?

 Years Out of Undergrad: 0

Years of Work Experience:  2

Describe Relevant Work Experience:
- School Journal Editor for 2 years 

- part of executive team in a few clubs at school 

- worked with federal government departments as a student helping with administration and writing briefing papers, etc and health related work 

- worked to help create events and have experience with digital skills

-  volunteer with multiple NPOs, very active in volunteering and facilitating workshops, going to the House of Commons for a program, helping a professor as a volunteer for an event one time

Other notable experience: 
- still volunteering with an NPO for domestic and international/sustainability work 

- volunteered as mentor for students and various events 

Would appreciate advice, thank you! 

[workmanlike]

Hi all, would love any thoughts you have to share! Appreciate all the effort folks put in here to help out.

 

Program Applying to: Princeton MPA, Berkeley Goldman MPP,  UW Evans MPA, USC Price MPA (open to suggestions for more programs!)

Undergraduate Institution: Top 50 US liberal arts college

Undergraduate GPA: 3.97 (top 1% of class)

Undergraduate Major: Cultural studies

Quant: Intro to Microeconomics, Intro to Macroeconomics, Calculus I

GRE: 170V/165Q/6W

Years Out of Undergrad:  3

Years of Work Experience:  2.5

Describe Relevant Work Experience: 
2.5 years in state government, first year in competitive internship program and subsequently as journeyman-level policy analyst within civil service. Worked in project management and legislative affairs

Other notable experience: 
Undergrad: student body president, research assistant, internships with local government and small nonprofits, volunteer in local schools, honors thesis, publisher of literary journal

Post-graduation: served on board of government-related nonprofit, volunteer tax preparer, graduate certificate in policy and government

Edited July 27, 2020 by workmanlike

[Whoknows141317]

Hi, all! Just wanted to see what my chances are. Have a lower GPA and irrelevant work experience, but good test scores. What can I do to be more competitive?

Program Applying to: MPP; HKS, Harris, Batten, Sanford, McCourt. 

Undergraduate Institution: Public; ranked 100-150 in national universities

Undergraduate GPA: 3.3X

Undergraduate Majors: Business & Humanities

Graduate Degree: Data Science, 4.0 (why get an MPP when I already have a background in data science, you might ask? Because I want the non-quantitative aspects of learning about policy). 

GRE: Q165+, V165+, AWA 5.0

 Years Out of Undergrad:  4-6

Years of Work Experience:  4-6

Describe Relevant Work Experience:
-Four years in M&A tax, not exactly relevant but developed quantitative skills and experience digging through legislation/regulations. Research heavy, lots of memos. 

-One year in a policy-adjacent analytics position

Other notable experience: 
-Speak four languages, if that helps

-Heavy volunteer activity in a specific policy area I am passionate about

Edited August 8, 2020 by Whoknows141317

[GradSchoolGrad]

3 hours ago, Whoknows141317 said:

Hi, all! Just wanted to see what my chances are. Have a lower GPA and irrelevant work experience, but good test scores. What can I do to be more competitive?

Program Applying to: MPP; HKS, Harris, Batten, Sanford, McCourt. 

Undergraduate Institution: Public; ranked 100-150 in national universities

Undergraduate GPA: 3.3X

Undergraduate Majors: Business & Humanities

Graduate Degree: Data Science, 4.0 (why get an MPP when I already have a background in data science, you might ask? Because I want the non-quantitative aspects of learning about policy). 

GRE: Q165+, V165+, AWA 5.0

 Years Out of Undergrad:  4-6

Years of Work Experience:  4-6

Describe Relevant Work Experience:
-Four years in M&A tax, not exactly relevant but developed quantitative skills and experience digging through legislation/regulations. Research heavy, lots of memos. 

-One year in a policy-adjacent analytics position

Other notable experience: 
-Speak four languages, if that helps

-Heavy volunteer activity in a specific policy area I am passionate about

So no one can realistically predict how things work anymore because of COVID + uncertain economic future. So I'll give you my thoughts based upon pre-COVID.

1. Absolutely not to HKS

2. Stretch for Harris, but wouldn't count on it... 

3. Maybe for Sanford - probably a good fit

4. Very likely for McCourt - but I wouldn't go there because of not so great learning environment + you wouldn't get what you want in terms of quality non-qual stuff.

5. Very likely for Batten as well - I do think that might be your best fit (not know more about you). 

[Yass]

7 hours ago, GradSchoolGrad said:

So no one can realistically predict how things work anymore because of COVID + uncertain economic future. So I'll give you my thoughts based upon pre-COVID.

1. Absolutely not to HKS

2. Stretch for Harris, but wouldn't count on it... 

3. Maybe for Sanford - probably a good fit

4. Very likely for McCourt - but I wouldn't go there because of not so great learning environment + you wouldn't get what you want in terms of quality non-qual stuff.

5. Very likely for Batten as well - I do think that might be your best fit (not know more about you). 

Why is it a stretch for Harris? The candidate has very good GRE scores and good quant skills.

Would be good to know grad school GPA as well. 

[Whoknows141317]

Grad GPA was a 4.0. I was under the impression that grad GPA mattered less than undergrad?

Would more relevant work experience help with HKS, or is the GPA just going to be a no-go?

Edited August 9, 2020 by Whoknows141317

[CYP07]

Hi! I'm currently a prospective student looking to apply for Fall 2021

I've always wanted to take my graduate studies in the States, though I am not sure if I am competitive enough to apply.

Would appreciate any thoughts or comments!

 

Schools/Programs Applying To:  MPP/MPA or IR programs. Current options are HKS, Yale Jackson, Stanford Ford Dorsey, SAIS, SIPA, Georgetown MSFS, Brown Watson, Duke Sanford and NYU Wagner
Undergraduate institution: Top 3 university in the Philippines. Top ranking university for my undergrad program
Undergraduate GPA: 3.7
Undergraduate Major: Architecture (5 year program)
GRE: Not taken yet. Probably my greatest weakness as I dont fare so well with standardized tests
Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 2
Years of Work Experience: 2

Describe Relevant Work Experience: Worked around a year as an English teacher/coordinator in an English academy in Korea. Currently serving in the Korean Army as a Sergeant, Head Liaison of a Nationwide Military Task Force and currently a front-line interpreting officer for COVID-19 Emergency Response Team

Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): Probably would talk mostly about my experience growing up as a TCK(Third Culture Kid) and how it helped broaden my perspective on international affairs. Other points on my SOP include policy making related experiences and things I've gained by working with international foundations and various NGOs.

Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): 
Academic LOR - 1 from undergrad thesis adviser, 1 from Assistant Dean/ Professional LOR - 2 from my Commanding Officers in the army

Other notable experience:
- Multilingual - Korean, English, Filipino (Tagalog)
- Student government during university for 5 years (Director of ** Committee, Executive Associate to the President etc.)
- VP for International Affairs at a central student organization
- Campus Director for an international foundation
- Model UN
- Youth Ambassador to the Youth Assembly at the UN
- Executive Director of partnership organizations with  top US universities, and international NGOs
- Campus Head of a multilateral organization
- Headed the university delegation to various international conferences

 

Edited August 10, 2020 by CYP07

[excxn]

Sorry in advance for the length!!

Schools/Programs Applying To: Don't have a final list yet - I would say Georgetown McCourt, GW Trachtenberg, and U of M Ford are my top choices (all MPPs). Other possibilities (including some big reaches and hopefully some safeties, but you can be the judge): HKS, U Chicago Harris, Duke Sanford, USC Price, American, UCLA, UVa Batten, George Mason.

  
Undergraduate institution: small LAC
Undergraduate GPA: 3.54
Undergraduate Major: Economics, Psychology
GRE Quantitative Score: 155 (studying again to retake and hopefully improve)
GRE Verbal Score: 162
GRE AW Score: 4.5
Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): will be about 2.5 at time of application, 3+ at start
Years of Work Experience: 2.5 time of application, 3+ at start. 3.5/4+ if including experience during undergrad

Quant Experience: Took college statistics in highschool - got an A but no grade on transcript, Intermediate Micro (A-), Econometrics (A), Calculus (C - horrible I know... was a rough semester). Lots of data related work experience.

Describe Relevant Work Experience:                                                                                                                                                          
Undergrad: Worked as a research assistant in the economics department for a year in undergrad. Worked with a professor specializing in international trade, most substantial project was doing data work (in Stata) for a series of papers sponsored by the US International Trade Commission. Unfortunately not at all my area of interest, but was a great first experience. Not necessarily "work experience," but I won a research scholarship from a prominent think tank where I wrote a research paper related to social welfare programs (included a full literature review, data analysis, etc).

Post grad: Spent the first year after undergrad as a research assistant at a large nonprofit, mostly working in education related research. Am a coauthor on a couple of reports and was really able to refine my abilities in Stata. Became primary data manager for most of my projects. Am currently working for the federal government doing research for Congress. I plan to stay here until the 2021 fall semester so it'll be about 2 years in this position by the time I start. This position is obviously the most directly related to policy, and is what helped me finally decide on pursuing an MPP. This position is again mostly data-related work, still primarily in Stata although I've learned R here as well (mostly for data visualization). My work is mostly related to education and labor policy, although I assist with projects spanning many topics in domestic social policy. 

Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): 

Haven't written yet, but I think I can put together a good narrative of how my experience has led me to pursuing an MPP. 

Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): 
I think they will be fairly strong. I have 2 options for strong academic letters (supervisor for RA job and mentor for research project mentioned above). However since I've been out over 2 years and my undergrad isn't well known and doesn't emphasize teaching I'm thinking it might be better to have 2 from work (probably current job).

Questions I have: 

I'm most worried about lack of recognition of my undergrad and the combined C in calc and not great quant GRE score (I think I can get it a little higher, but not super significantly), so wondering how much people think that will hold me back. Also Georgetown is one of my top choices, mostly because I want to stay in DC and I think it would be good for connections, and also I'm thinking about doing part time so I can keep my current job (it's a 3 year NTE position, but I could potentially reach the GS-11 by the end which I think would be great for future job prospects). However, I've seen some negative comments about Georgetown in this thread so I'd be interested to hear more about that if anyone is willing.

[GradSchoolGrad]

1 hour ago, excxn said:

Sorry in advance for the length!!

Schools/Programs Applying To: Don't have a final list yet - I would say Georgetown McCourt, GW Trachtenberg, and U of M Ford are my top choices (all MPPs). Other possibilities (including some big reaches and hopefully some safeties, but you can be the judge): HKS, U Chicago Harris, Duke Sanford, USC Price, American, UCLA, UVa Batten, George Mason.

  
Undergraduate institution: small LAC
Undergraduate GPA: 3.54
Undergraduate Major: Economics, Psychology
GRE Quantitative Score: 155 (studying again to retake and hopefully improve)
GRE Verbal Score: 162
GRE AW Score: 4.5
Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): will be about 2.5 at time of application, 3+ at start
Years of Work Experience: 2.5 time of application, 3+ at start. 3.5/4+ if including experience during undergrad

Quant Experience: Took college statistics in highschool - got an A but no grade on transcript, Intermediate Micro (A-), Econometrics (A), Calculus (C - horrible I know... was a rough semester). Lots of data related work experience.

Describe Relevant Work Experience:                                                                                                                                                          
Undergrad: Worked as a research assistant in the economics department for a year in undergrad. Worked with a professor specializing in international trade, most substantial project was doing data work (in Stata) for a series of papers sponsored by the US International Trade Commission. Unfortunately not at all my area of interest, but was a great first experience. Not necessarily "work experience," but I won a research scholarship from a prominent think tank where I wrote a research paper related to social welfare programs (included a full literature review, data analysis, etc).

Post grad: Spent the first year after undergrad as a research assistant at a large nonprofit, mostly working in education related research. Am a coauthor on a couple of reports and was really able to refine my abilities in Stata. Became primary data manager for most of my projects. Am currently working for the federal government doing research for Congress. I plan to stay here until the 2021 fall semester so it'll be about 2 years in this position by the time I start. This position is obviously the most directly related to policy, and is what helped me finally decide on pursuing an MPP. This position is again mostly data-related work, still primarily in Stata although I've learned R here as well (mostly for data visualization). My work is mostly related to education and labor policy, although I assist with projects spanning many topics in domestic social policy. 

Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): 

Haven't written yet, but I think I can put together a good narrative of how my experience has led me to pursuing an MPP. 

Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): 
I think they will be fairly strong. I have 2 options for strong academic letters (supervisor for RA job and mentor for research project mentioned above). However since I've been out over 2 years and my undergrad isn't well known and doesn't emphasize teaching I'm thinking it might be better to have 2 from work (probably current job).

Questions I have: 

I'm most worried about lack of recognition of my undergrad and the combined C in calc and not great quant GRE score (I think I can get it a little higher, but not super significantly), so wondering how much people think that will hold me back. Also Georgetown is one of my top choices, mostly because I want to stay in DC and I think it would be good for connections, and also I'm thinking about doing part time so I can keep my current job (it's a 3 year NTE position, but I could potentially reach the GS-11 by the end which I think would be great for future job prospects). However, I've seen some negative comments about Georgetown in this thread so I'd be interested to hear more about that if anyone is willing.

If you want to go to McCourt MPP, get the brand, not really network, and learn some quant stuff, then that works for you (especially if you do part time). None of the part-times really did any active community engagement unless they worked at Georgetown. 

But ya, given what you pay for and your high expectations, McCourt doesn't really do much to build your professional skills and it isn't really a career oriented MPP program. The program focuses more on all things quant and school clubs that do at times bring in cool speakers, but have limited career value. 

If you care about having a more positive professionally oriented / social impact oriented experience, I would say look elsewhere. Your sweet spot might be UVA Batten school if you can get your GRE up. 

I think it needs to be clear where the C in calc impacts you and where it doesn't. Places that do calc based economics metrics like U. Michigan Ford and U. Chicago Harris are probably out for you - don't waste your time. HKS is likely out for you even though, they don't necessary require calc (though it can help). It won't matter for GWU, McCourt, Sanford.

I would cross Mason and American off your list unless you just want to stay in DC and get some letters next to your name and don't really care about student experience. For example, I knew someone who went to Mason, just so she could avoid having to socialize with people (in all fairness she was Government consultant and needed a degree to advance in her career). American invested in a nice shiny new building and got lots of spending, but I know they hire ABD PhDs (and not the high experienced ones) to teach grad school classes, which much less than ideal. 

Edited August 12, 2020 by GradSchoolGrad

[prokem]

17 hours ago, excxn said:

Sorry in advance for the length!!

Schools/Programs Applying To: Don't have a final list yet - I would say Georgetown McCourt, GW Trachtenberg, and U of M Ford are my top choices (all MPPs). Other possibilities (including some big reaches and hopefully some safeties, but you can be the judge): HKS, U Chicago Harris, Duke Sanford, USC Price, American, UCLA, UVa Batten, George Mason.

  
Undergraduate institution: small LAC
Undergraduate GPA: 3.54
Undergraduate Major: Economics, Psychology
GRE Quantitative Score: 155 (studying again to retake and hopefully improve)
GRE Verbal Score: 162
GRE AW Score: 4.5
Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): will be about 2.5 at time of application, 3+ at start
Years of Work Experience: 2.5 time of application, 3+ at start. 3.5/4+ if including experience during undergrad

Quant Experience: Took college statistics in highschool - got an A but no grade on transcript, Intermediate Micro (A-), Econometrics (A), Calculus (C - horrible I know... was a rough semester). Lots of data related work experience.

Describe Relevant Work Experience:                                                                                                                                                          
Undergrad: Worked as a research assistant in the economics department for a year in undergrad. Worked with a professor specializing in international trade, most substantial project was doing data work (in Stata) for a series of papers sponsored by the US International Trade Commission. Unfortunately not at all my area of interest, but was a great first experience. Not necessarily "work experience," but I won a research scholarship from a prominent think tank where I wrote a research paper related to social welfare programs (included a full literature review, data analysis, etc).

Post grad: Spent the first year after undergrad as a research assistant at a large nonprofit, mostly working in education related research. Am a coauthor on a couple of reports and was really able to refine my abilities in Stata. Became primary data manager for most of my projects. Am currently working for the federal government doing research for Congress. I plan to stay here until the 2021 fall semester so it'll be about 2 years in this position by the time I start. This position is obviously the most directly related to policy, and is what helped me finally decide on pursuing an MPP. This position is again mostly data-related work, still primarily in Stata although I've learned R here as well (mostly for data visualization). My work is mostly related to education and labor policy, although I assist with projects spanning many topics in domestic social policy. 

Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): 

Haven't written yet, but I think I can put together a good narrative of how my experience has led me to pursuing an MPP. 

Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): 
I think they will be fairly strong. I have 2 options for strong academic letters (supervisor for RA job and mentor for research project mentioned above). However since I've been out over 2 years and my undergrad isn't well known and doesn't emphasize teaching I'm thinking it might be better to have 2 from work (probably current job).

Questions I have: 

I'm most worried about lack of recognition of my undergrad and the combined C in calc and not great quant GRE score (I think I can get it a little higher, but not super significantly), so wondering how much people think that will hold me back. Also Georgetown is one of my top choices, mostly because I want to stay in DC and I think it would be good for connections, and also I'm thinking about doing part time so I can keep my current job (it's a 3 year NTE position, but I could potentially reach the GS-11 by the end which I think would be great for future job prospects). However, I've seen some negative comments about Georgetown in this thread so I'd be interested to hear more about that if anyone is willing.

I think I disagree slightly with @GradSchoolGrad. I do not think Ford would be a waste of time for you. I was accepted there with less undergrad econ coursework and without the apparently data-heavy work experience that you have. A lot of the accepted students I met had similar backgrounds to yours: econ undergrad, worked in local gov or analytical research oriented positions for a few years.

I think you can mitigate some of the concerns around the low Calc grade and the GRE by highlighting the quant-nature of your work and asking one or more of your recommenders to speak to your ability to handle that. For schools like HKS (and maybe Harris, I'm not really familiar with their application), that may still be something holding you back no matter how much you can mitigate it.

So if I could give you some advice it'd be: 1) try your best to improve the GRE quant score 2) ask one of your recommenders to focus on your quant abilities in their LOR 3) spend a lot of time working on your essays: make sure you drill down into what specific policy area you want to get into and why it's so important to you (make it compelling) 4) use linkedin or your school's career services office to find any alums who have gone to some of your options and talk to them about how they handled the lack of name rec (and how they enjoyed their exp in general) 5) find some current students or ask admissions to connect you to people who are doing part time at Gtown. In talking to current students when I was applying, I found that many were happy to be candid about their experiences, and I think it would be helpful to get insight on how part time has worked out for them.

[GradSchoolGrad]

58 minutes ago, prokem said:

I think I disagree slightly with @GradSchoolGrad. I do not think Ford would be a waste of time for you. I was accepted there with less undergrad econ coursework and without the apparently data-heavy work experience that you have. A lot of the accepted students I met had similar backgrounds to yours: econ undergrad, worked in local gov or analytical research oriented positions for a few years.

I think you can mitigate some of the concerns around the low Calc grade and the GRE by highlighting the quant-nature of your work and asking one or more of your recommenders to speak to your ability to handle that. For schools like HKS (and maybe Harris, I'm not really familiar with their application), that may still be something holding you back no matter how much you can mitigate it.

So if I could give you some advice it'd be: 1) try your best to improve the GRE quant score 2) ask one of your recommenders to focus on your quant abilities in their LOR 3) spend a lot of time working on your essays: make sure you drill down into what specific policy area you want to get into and why it's so important to you (make it compelling) 4) use linkedin or your school's career services office to find any alums who have gone to some of your options and talk to them about how they handled the lack of name rec (and how they enjoyed their exp in general) 5) find some current students or ask admissions to connect you to people who are doing part time at Gtown. In talking to current students when I was applying, I found that many were happy to be candid about their experiences, and I think it would be helpful to get insight on how part time has worked out for them.

I completely agree with @prokem. There are ways you can mitigate (much of it from advertising perspective on your transcript) your low Calc grade. I was speaking more towards if you don't take measures to aggressively mitigate your Calc grade per the person's advice + rock the GRE quant. 

Without mitigation, my list stands.

[excxn]

20 hours ago, GradSchoolGrad said:

If you want to go to McCourt MPP, get the brand, not really network, and learn some quant stuff, then that works for you (especially if you do part time). None of the part-times really did any active community engagement unless they worked at Georgetown. 

But ya, given what you pay for and your high expectations, McCourt doesn't really do much to build your professional skills and it isn't really a career oriented MPP program. The program focuses more on all things quant and school clubs that do at times bring in cool speakers, but have limited career value. 

If you care about having a more positive professionally oriented / social impact oriented experience, I would say look elsewhere. Your sweet spot might be UVA Batten school if you can get your GRE up. 

I think it needs to be clear where the C in calc impacts you and where it doesn't. Places that do calc based economics metrics like U. Michigan Ford and U. Chicago Harris are probably out for you - don't waste your time. HKS is likely out for you even though, they don't necessary require calc (though it can help). It won't matter for GWU, McCourt, Sanford.

I would cross Mason and American off your list unless you just want to stay in DC and get some letters next to your name and don't really care about student experience. For example, I knew someone who went to Mason, just so she could avoid having to socialize with people (in all fairness she was Government consultant and needed a degree to advance in her career). American invested in a nice shiny new building and got lots of spending, but I know they hire ABD PhDs (and not the high experienced ones) to teach grad school classes, which much less than ideal. 

@GradSchoolGrad Thanks for your reply and for the perspective on McCourt and where quant may be an issue! Also good to know about Mason and American. I was unsure about them, but I'm having a hard time gauging how competitive of an applicant I am (especially now with COVID), so was thinking I need to cast a net wide enough that I hopefully end up with a couple options to choose from, or at the very least get in somewhere. 

3 hours ago, prokem said:

I think I disagree slightly with @GradSchoolGrad. I do not think Ford would be a waste of time for you. I was accepted there with less undergrad econ coursework and without the apparently data-heavy work experience that you have. A lot of the accepted students I met had similar backgrounds to yours: econ undergrad, worked in local gov or analytical research oriented positions for a few years.

I think you can mitigate some of the concerns around the low Calc grade and the GRE by highlighting the quant-nature of your work and asking one or more of your recommenders to speak to your ability to handle that. For schools like HKS (and maybe Harris, I'm not really familiar with their application), that may still be something holding you back no matter how much you can mitigate it.

So if I could give you some advice it'd be: 1) try your best to improve the GRE quant score 2) ask one of your recommenders to focus on your quant abilities in their LOR 3) spend a lot of time working on your essays: make sure you drill down into what specific policy area you want to get into and why it's so important to you (make it compelling) 4) use linkedin or your school's career services office to find any alums who have gone to some of your options and talk to them about how they handled the lack of name rec (and how they enjoyed their exp in general) 5) find some current students or ask admissions to connect you to people who are doing part time at Gtown. In talking to current students when I was applying, I found that many were happy to be candid about their experiences, and I think it would be helpful to get insight on how part time has worked out for them.

@prokem  Thanks for your reply and very good advice as well! Very good point about asking recommenders to highlight quant experience - hadn't thought about that but I think it will definitely help. Harris may still be too much of a stretch, but I'm thinking I'll still apply to Ford based on this advice. I'm hoping it also helps that I'm originally from Michigan and my undergrad is in Michigan as well, so if any of the schools on my list are going to recognize it it's Ford. I know a significant number of alumni end up there for JDs and MSWs, but I'm going to reach out to professors (and poke around linked in) to see if they could connect me with any alumni who went for an MPP. 

 

Edited August 13, 2020 by excxn

[Can't Pick a Username]

4 hours ago, excxn said:

Harris may still be too much of a stretch, but I'm thinking I'll still apply to Ford based on this advice. I'm hoping it also helps that I'm originally from Michigan and my undergrad is in Michigan as well, so if any of the schools on my list are going to recognize it it's Ford. I know a significant number of alumni end up there for JDs and MSWs, but I'm going to reach out to professors (and poke around linked in) to see if they could connect me with any alumni who went for an MPP. 

 

@excxn I'd strongly suggest you still apply to Harris. I had similar work experience (education research & data analysis) but MUCH worse grades than you and still got into Harris with a very large scholarship. The fact that you know Stata means you probably know more data analysis than most incoming students. Whenever I've talked to Harris students and members of the admissions team, I've gotten the sense that they're not looking for quant gurus. They're just looking for people with strong enough quant skills who can be trained further. I think you've done enough to mitigate your one bad Calc grade. 

Of course, getting a higher GRE quant score doesn't hurt especially if you're looking for funding.  

[GradSchoolGrad]

7 hours ago, Can't Pick a Username said:

@excxn I'd strongly suggest you still apply to Harris. I had similar work experience (education research & data analysis) but MUCH worse grades than you and still got into Harris with a very large scholarship. The fact that you know Stata means you probably know more data analysis than most incoming students. Whenever I've talked to Harris students and members of the admissions team, I've gotten the sense that they're not looking for quant gurus. They're just looking for people with strong enough quant skills who can be trained further. I think you've done enough to mitigate your one bad Calc grade. 

Of course, getting a higher GRE quant score doesn't hurt especially if you're looking for funding.  

So tell me if I'm wrong, but those people that I have grad school coached who got into Harris despite bad (sometimes terrible grades) are people who have:

A: Brand name undergrad degrees: Ivy, Public Ivy, or Military Academy and the like

and/or

B: Interesting or extremely recognizable jobs that at least touched data:

Also, from your opinion, what is the noticeable effect of the COVID Dip in student quality for this year? I say this because it is my understanding that all MPP schools were going off their waitlist to fill their quotas. 

Edited August 13, 2020 by GradSchoolGrad

[Can't Pick a Username]

1 hour ago, GradSchoolGrad said:

So tell me if I'm wrong, but those people that I have grad school coached who got into Harris despite bad (sometimes terrible grades) are people who have:

A: Brand name undergrad degrees: Ivy, Public Ivy, or Military Academy and the like

and/or

B: Interesting or extremely recognizable jobs that at least touched data:

Also, from your opinion, what is the noticeable effect of the COVID Dip in student quality for this year? I say this because it is my understanding that all MPP schools were going off their waitlist to fill their quotas.

Sure, I think your list is accurate for places like HKS and maybe Goldman but I would argue that @excxn doesn't have terrible grades. They have one bad grade, which they've mitigated through extensive data analysis and research experience post college. They even have publications, which is impressive. The other thing to note is that Harris has a summer math program for people with weaker quant backgrounds so they're not expecting everyone to be a star right off the bat. If the original poster is simply trying to get accepted (and not necessarily score a full scholarship), they've done enough to at least apply. If they bump up their GRE score, I believe they may even have a decent shot at Harris.

(FYI: I fell into your Category B when applying and got a full scholarship at Harris. I think if I'd applied a year or two earlier, I could've still gotten in but without the scholarship.)

To your last question on the Covid dip, I don't have an answer. I'd have to see the data on that. For instance, what % of folks in their incoming class were initially waitlisted, and how far apart were they in terms of qualifications than the rest of the class? How do they perform vs their peers in the first semester of school? Etc. We'll probably never get this data. From my purely anecdotal experience (acknowledging that I'm also a sample size of 1), I met several people without any quant backgrounds get in to Harris (including English majors). My friend got in with a 158 GRE Q score and a 50% scholarship. Her GPA was only slightly higher than @excxn. 

Basically my point is that while there are schools that may always be out of reach for someone like the poster because there are just way too many unicorns out there in the world (think Princeton), I don't think Harris is one of them. 

[GradSchoolGrad]

2 hours ago, Can't Pick a Username said:

Sure, I think your list is accurate for places like HKS and maybe Goldman but I would argue that @excxn doesn't have terrible grades. They have one bad grade, which they've mitigated through extensive data analysis and research experience post college. They even have publications, which is impressive. The other thing to note is that Harris has a summer math program for people with weaker quant backgrounds so they're not expecting everyone to be a star right off the bat. If the original poster is simply trying to get accepted (and not necessarily score a full scholarship), they've done enough to at least apply. If they bump up their GRE score, I believe they may even have a decent shot at Harris.

(FYI: I fell into your Category B when applying and got a full scholarship at Harris. I think if I'd applied a year or two earlier, I could've still gotten in but without the scholarship.)

To your last question on the Covid dip, I don't have an answer. I'd have to see the data on that. For instance, what % of folks in their incoming class were initially waitlisted, and how far apart were they in terms of qualifications than the rest of the class? How do they perform vs their peers in the first semester of school? Etc. We'll probably never get this data. From my purely anecdotal experience (acknowledging that I'm also a sample size of 1), I met several people without any quant backgrounds get in to Harris (including English majors). My friend got in with a 158 GRE Q score and a 50% scholarship. Her GPA was only slightly higher than @excxn. 

Basically my point is that while there are schools that may always be out of reach for someone like the poster because there are just way too many unicorns out there in the world (think Princeton), I don't think Harris is one of them. 

Gotcha. I'm not speaking about @excxn in terms of referencing terrible grades. I know one person with a 2.3 GPA who got into Harris, but he was a Navy Seal who did quasi quant projects later on in life... 

[2711383]

Schools/Programs Applying To: HKS MPA/ID (mostly concerned with getting my chances for this one evaluated), Princeton MPA, SAIS MIEF, Yale IDE, maybe Harris MPP

  
Undergraduate institution: Top 10 IR school
Undergraduate GPA: 3.55
Undergraduate Major: International Affairs
GRE Quantitative Score: 168
GRE Verbal Score: 169
GRE AW Score: 5.0
Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 3.5 by the time I apply, 4 by the time I enroll
Years of Work Experience: 3.5 by the time I apply, 4 by the time I enroll

Quant Experience: Only took Calculus I (A-) in college, but I've been working on improving my quant portfolio. I have now taken Intro to Stats (A), Calculus II (A), Linear Algebra and Real Analysis (A-) (this last one is a proof based linear algebra and multivariable differential calculus course with a real analysis module)

Econ Experience: Here's where I'm lacking, and I can't really take any more courses before applying due to professional commitments + I need to save money for grad school. In college I took Intro to Macro (A), Intro to Micro (B, ouch), Intro to International Economics (A-)

Describe Relevant Work Experience:  Among other things, 6 months as an intern at a DC think tank doing research on my region of expertise, 1 year at a political risk start up in my developing country,  1 (2 by the time I enroll) years doing high level policy advisory work for big companies in my developing country. I don't want to go into too much detail with this last one, but my work is development related, which I know the HKS MPA/ID values.                                                                                                  

Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): Haven't started writing this yet, but I'm confident in my narrative. 

Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): 
Two of them will be strong, one from my former boss and one from my current boss, both high level people in my country, one of them well known in political science circles abroad. Third might not be so strong, I'm currently looking for the right college professor to write me a letter (it's been a while since I graduated and I unfortunately haven't kept in touch)

Questions I have: I meet the minimum requirements for all of the programs I listed but I can't tell whether I'm competitive. Clearly my GRE is one of my strongest areas, and I think my work experience will be impressive if I manage to explain correctly why that is. But my GPA is average, and probably below average for the places I'm applying to. I know that over half of MPA/ID students are econ majors so I'm also not sure how much my IR background holds me back.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated 

[solareclipse]

Schools/Programs Applying To: Still thinking about my list as I am leaning towards waiting to apply for admission in the Fall 2022 class instead of the Fall 2021 class. The programs I’m considering are:

Georgetown Walsh, GW Elliot, Michigan Ford, UW-Madison La Follette, UT-Austin LBJ, HKS, SIPA, WWS

Undergraduate institution: Pretty highly-ranked liberal arts college
Undergraduate GPA: 3.7
Undergraduate Major: International Studies, Spanish
GRE Quantitative Score: 161
GRE Verbal Score: 168
GRE AW Score: Just took GRE a couple days ago (above scores are from post-test unofficial scores), will get AW when I get official scores in 10-15 days
Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): Just graduated, will be 1-2 years by the time I enroll
Years of Work Experience: 3-4 (1-2 postgrad years by the time I enroll, 2 from internships during undergrad). 1 year of undergrad work and postgrad years will all be relevant (2-3 years total)

Quant/Econ Experience: B+ in Microeconomics, B in Macroeconomics. Took Calc in high school but no other quant experience. Looking into taking an online stats course before applying to try to fill that gap a bit

Describe Relevant Work Experience:  

1 year working at a boutique political risk consulting firm (started as a research assistant, moved up to research coordinator by the end of my time there)

Just started work at a top 25 ranked law firm (research/staff position), would have 1-2 years of experience by the time I plan to enroll

Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): Haven’t started writing this yet, but I’m confident in my writing abilities and my ability to craft a narrative, especially as I plan to start work on it now even if I don’t apply until Nov/Dec 2021

Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): 

Hoping these are pretty strong, 1 is International Studies department chair at my college (was also my senior thesis advisor and taught me twice), 1 is my boss/founder of the political risk consulting firm (also a professor at a top 10 IR school), and I’m planning on the final one being my current supervisor.

Questions I have: My GPA and GRE are both pretty strong, I believe, but I'm wondering whether my lack of Quant/Econ experience will detract from my application significantly. Also, any thoughts on whether I should wait another year to get extra work experience or just go ahead and apply for Fall 2021?  What do y'all think about the list I have so far? Any I should cut or add?

I know a lot of the programs I’m applying to are pretty highly ranked as well so any advice or thoughts on that or anything else would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[GradSchoolGrad]

59 minutes ago, solareclipse said:

Schools/Programs Applying To: Still thinking about my list as I am leaning towards waiting to apply for admission in the Fall 2022 class instead of the Fall 2021 class. The programs I’m considering are:

Georgetown Walsh, GW Elliot, Michigan Ford, UW-Madison La Follette, UT-Austin LBJ, HKS, SIPA, WWS

Undergraduate institution: Pretty highly-ranked liberal arts college
Undergraduate GPA: 3.7
Undergraduate Major: International Studies, Spanish
GRE Quantitative Score: 161
GRE Verbal Score: 168
GRE AW Score: Just took GRE a couple days ago (above scores are from post-test unofficial scores), will get AW when I get official scores in 10-15 days
Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): Just graduated, will be 1-2 years by the time I enroll
Years of Work Experience: 3-4 (1-2 postgrad years by the time I enroll, 2 from internships during undergrad). 1 year of undergrad work and postgrad years will all be relevant (2-3 years total)

Quant/Econ Experience: B+ in Microeconomics, B in Macroeconomics. Took Calc in high school but no other quant experience. Looking into taking an online stats course before applying to try to fill that gap a bit

Describe Relevant Work Experience:  

1 year working at a boutique political risk consulting firm (started as a research assistant, moved up to research coordinator by the end of my time there)

Just started work at a top 25 ranked law firm (research/staff position), would have 1-2 years of experience by the time I plan to enroll

Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): Haven’t started writing this yet, but I’m confident in my writing abilities and my ability to craft a narrative, especially as I plan to start work on it now even if I don’t apply until Nov/Dec 2021

Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): 

Hoping these are pretty strong, 1 is International Studies department chair at my college (was also my senior thesis advisor and taught me twice), 1 is my boss/founder of the political risk consulting firm (also a professor at a top 10 IR school), and I’m planning on the final one being my current supervisor.

Questions I have: My GPA and GRE are both pretty strong, I believe, but I'm wondering whether my lack of Quant/Econ experience will detract from my application significantly. Also, any thoughts on whether I should wait another year to get extra work experience or just go ahead and apply for Fall 2021?  What do y'all think about the list I have so far? Any I should cut or add?

I know a lot of the programs I’m applying to are pretty highly ranked as well so any advice or thoughts on that or anything else would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

Can you please give us more clarity on what policy/international areas interest. I can't really give you good advice without understanding what your desired outcomes are.

I will say, I recommend to everyone they have AT LEAST 2 years of work experience before they start an Policy/IR graduate school program (exception goes for the British schools). The reason is because you don't want to be uncompetitive among your peers (grades don't matter) for job opportunities by virtue of have much less work experience. 

So many times I have seen those straight from undergrad / only 1 year or so work experience struggle to use the grad degree as an appropriate job boost (it has happened! but rarely). 

[solareclipse]

Just now, GradSchoolGrad said:

Can you please give us more clarity on what policy/international areas interest. I can't really give you good advice without understanding what your desired outcomes are.

I will say, I recommend to everyone they have AT LEAST 2 years of work experience before they start an Policy/IR graduate school program (exception goes for the British schools). The reason is because you don't want to be uncompetitive among your peers (grades don't matter) for job opportunities by virtue of have much less work experience. 

So many times I have seen those straight from undergrad / only 1 year or so work experience struggle to use the grad degree as an appropriate job boost (it has happened! but rarely). 

Hi, yes absolutely, I completely forgot about that part!

I focused on Latin America (mostly the Southern Cone) during undergrad, and am looking to continue with that focus in grad school and in my career. The three main areas I'm looking to get into would be internationally-oriented think tanks (Brookings, CFR, CSIS, etc), political risk consulting(Eurasia Group, Control Risks, to name a few), or NGOs focusing on salient issues in Latin America today (Human rights, economic development, etc). There are also some specific concentrations that I found interesting at some of the schools I listed (La Follette's energy analysis certificate is interesting given its possible use related to Latin America's energy development, for example. Other concentrations that were interesting include the regional specializations that most programs have, plus Human rights concentrations, like at SIPA)

I'm also considering working towards a dual degree (MPP/JD), as all of the programs I listed above do some form of that, which would allow me to either go deeper into the human rights/rule of law/etc realm or work in a law firm with a significant work in or related to Latin America. Obviously that is still quite broad, and the dual degree idea is not something I'm set on at this moment, but that's partially why I'm posting this now as opposed to waiting until whenever my applications are completed. 

Could you possibly go into a bit more detail about what leads to a policy/IR grad degree not giving much of a job boost (if any)? That is definitely something for me to keep in mind as I continue thinking about when makes the most sense for me to go to grad school for the best results.

 

Thanks for responding so quickly!

[GradSchoolGrad]

13 hours ago, solareclipse said:

Hi, yes absolutely, I completely forgot about that part!

I focused on Latin America (mostly the Southern Cone) during undergrad, and am looking to continue with that focus in grad school and in my career. The three main areas I'm looking to get into would be internationally-oriented think tanks (Brookings, CFR, CSIS, etc), political risk consulting(Eurasia Group, Control Risks, to name a few), or NGOs focusing on salient issues in Latin America today (Human rights, economic development, etc). There are also some specific concentrations that I found interesting at some of the schools I listed (La Follette's energy analysis certificate is interesting given its possible use related to Latin America's energy development, for example. Other concentrations that were interesting include the regional specializations that most programs have, plus Human rights concentrations, like at SIPA)

I'm also considering working towards a dual degree (MPP/JD), as all of the programs I listed above do some form of that, which would allow me to either go deeper into the human rights/rule of law/etc realm or work in a law firm with a significant work in or related to Latin America. Obviously that is still quite broad, and the dual degree idea is not something I'm set on at this moment, but that's partially why I'm posting this now as opposed to waiting until whenever my applications are completed. 

Could you possibly go into a bit more detail about what leads to a policy/IR grad degree not giving much of a job boost (if any)? That is definitely something for me to keep in mind as I continue thinking about when makes the most sense for me to go to grad school for the best results.

 

Thanks for responding so quickly!

So here are my thoughts.

1. You really need to tighten your story of what you want to do career wise coming out of grad school. You have a good start in wanting to focus on LATAM, but you are all over place in terms of possible career outcomes. Right now you are picking "industries". Clearly some are from your prior professional experience. However, right now it is confusing because there is limited pattern among your industries of interest.

Obviously, you can change your mind in grad school. However, for the time being, I recommend you have a more focused functional considerations. For example, do you want to be more legal, more operations, more data analysis, more consultant oriented, stakeholder engagement, or more stakeholder driven, and etc. (I realize at a certain point, they kind of blend together)

2. I have seen it happen for someone with limited work experience + grad school to matriculate into a job that is = to post undergrad (assuming some competitive internships) or at best case scenario --> post undergrad plus 2 years work experience, so your grad school doesn't really give you a real boost in terms of salary or responsibility. 

When someone has more work experience coming out of grad school (again at least 2 years, but arguably, the sweet spot is probably 4), you:
A. are more competitive period to get roles

B. are more competitive to get roles at a more senior level (if it is individual contributor) or even management role

C. I have seen people take a legitimate salary / responsibility cut, but they are career switching and grad school sets them up in a desired career path that they probably could not attain without grad school

3. Grad Certificates don't really matter (I know... I have 4 of them hanging on my wall right now). What matters more is having legitimate project experience, but it via graduate school, research, or summer internships

4. In terms of next steps, I recommend you think really hard about what is right for you. Some food for though.
A. Think Tanks sound cool at first, but honestly with just a Master's you are most often a 2nd class citizen inside the organization (exceptions to management and fundraising roles) as PhDs are considered prime time. Also, its grueling hours with little career progression. 

B. Political consulting is rather cool... however these are boutique firms (relatively speaking) and very relationship driven. Also you can focus on a certain area, but they generally require you to be a bit more generalist towards a functional area (i.e. defense, trade, and etc.)

C. In terms of NGOs... those vary. You would be surprised what are good places to work and what are bad places to work. Normally, if they have graduate school pipeline that helps.

5.Schools thoughts: It seems like to me, given your current line of interests (notably with the legal), you wouldn't really stand to benefit with high quant. So it makes way more sense for you to go to Georgetown MSFS over Johns Hopkins SAIS. It also doesn't really make sense for you to go Princeton since that high quant and less notable for the IR stuff. U. Mich MPP is the same way. If you do choose to do a dual degree with JD, you really need to anchor your school decision on the law school. Bottom line is unless you really got to a top tier law school with international connections, it gets really hard to do international law (there are obviously niche areas for certain schools... I'm thinking along the lines of trade). 

[punpun]

I'm new to this forum, so if this isn't the right page to post this thread, please tell me! Mostly, I'm looking for your help and advice, so anything will be appreciated!

Type of student: Asian (Indonesian), female

Undergraduate school: Top 3 National University in Indonesia. I studied abroad for one semester at the National University of Singapore and Osaka University, which is why I'm going to graduate a year late compared to my peers.

Major: Public Administration (Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration); Thesis on Decentralization and COVID-19; I will graduate in late December

GPA: 3.8/4.0

GRE: 338 (170 in Verbal, 168 in Quantitative)

TOEFL iBT: 118/120

Language skills: Proficient in English, Chinese (Simplified, HSK 4), Japanese (N3), Beginner in Korean

Quantitative courses: Introduction to Statistics (A), Economic System of Indonesia (A), Economic Development (AB), Public Sector Economics (AB)

Publications: For one year, I worked as a research assistant in my academic department, and I published five papers in peer-reviewed journals (Q2 and Q3) with my name as the second to third author. I conveyed the ideas and authored all of these full papers under the supervision of my professor (who is the first author because I worked under her and she was the one that reviewed my works before the submission). My research focus has been consistent on governance/government, public policy, women's public service leadership, e-government and women's leadership, as well as innovations in the public sector.

Work experience: I don't have any professional work experience, but I have a few internships in the public sector and in a research institution. My internships in the public sector vary from two to three months in the offices of the Supreme Court, the ASEAN Foundation, the Ministry of Law and Human Rights and the Ministry of State Secretariat. I have only one internship experience at a research institution called the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Tentative school: HKS MPP/HLS JD

Goal: I'm still confused about my future, which means I'm not sure which graduate school I'm supposed to take. I want to be a university lecturer, and I'm really interested in public policy and/or administrative law. I really want to apply to HKS MPP because it really matches my undergraduate studies and my subject of interest, but the school needs two to three full careers and strong quantitative courses (which is why I'm not sure because I lack in these two aspects). I'd like to continue my studies straight out of college because that's what my parents are asking me to do. On the other hand, I consider HLS JD because I'm interested in administrative law, but I'm not sure about my candidacy since I only have three law subjects in my academic transcript. I especially don't want to practice law (as in becoming a lawyer), so I'm also not sure if JD is the right path if I want to be a lecturer. My goal, at the end of the day, is to be either public policy or administrative law lecturer in my home country. That's why, since my aim is Harvard, based on my current profile, do you think I have a chance to go to Harvard? What is your advice for me? Should I be open to other schools in the US (I'm not so familiar with that but I'm very open to know)?

Thank you so much!

Edited August 17, 2020 by punpun