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

[woolscarves]

13 hours ago, nobobaaddiction said:

Hello! First time poster and I really appreciate the mutual support in this community I am applying to political science and sociology PhD programs in the U.S. (I chose the programs based on the faculty of interest) and would love to hear your advice on my school choices. Thank you! 

Schools / Programs: Top 20 programs (PoliSci: Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Georgetown, UCSD, Cornell, Yale, UCLA; Sociology: Stanford, Berkeley, JHU, UCSB, UCLA, NYU, Emory, NW...) 

Undergrad: Top 3 in Asia 

Degrees: B.A. in Sociology 

GPA: 3.85 

GRE: Q169, V169, A 5.0 

Research Experience: I have worked as a RA remotely for professors at top U.S. schools, but my work was quite elementary and my contact with the profs was quite limited. 

Policy Area of Interest: Authoritarianism 

LOR: 3 U.S. professors I worked for, with 1 strong letter and 3 med 

International Experience: 

• Exchange program in the UK and the US
• Research experience in Hong Kong, the UK, and the US 

Quant Experience: 1 quantitative course, working on R and basic statistics through self-study 

Now I have finished a batch of applications, I was wondering if I should apply to schools on the lower tiers (e.g. CUNY-Albany, Penn State, etc.)? This is my second time applying and I don't want to face all rejections again  

Thank you and I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy! ❤️

This isn't the right forum for that (this is predominately an MPA/MPP area). You'll be better off here:

https://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/36-political-science-forum/

[HDBokchoy]

Hey all! First time poster on these forums and really appreciate everyone's thoughts here!  I'm applying to MPP dual-degree programs with Environmental Science with a background in tech, and have taken the past year shoring up my quantitative skills at a community college. Would love the advice!

Schools and Programs:  

• University of Chicago
• Duke
• Indiana University - Bloomington
• University of Michigan
• ASU
• University of Colorado - Denver

Undergrad: Top 100 US institution

Degree: B.S. Business Admin., concentration in Info Systems '17

GPA:

• Undergrad: 3.29 / 4.00 (cumulative and major. I often worked multiple part-time jobs to pay through college while also enhancing my resume. I addressed this as part of my application addendum, stating that personal financial obligation was a considerable barrier through my undergrad experience)
• 2021 - 2022 community college courses: 3.76 / 4.00

GRE: 154Q, 160V, AW Pending 

Work Experience: 4 years

Policy Area of Interest: Environmental Policy, emphasis on climate change and disaster management / development in Southeast Asia

Relevant Experience:

• 6 months - contract role with UN focusing on disaster relief in Southeast Asia
• 2 years various analysis and reporting-related roles at name brands
• 2 years tech consulting at Big 4
• 1.5 year board member experience at Southeast Asian nonprofit

Quant experience:

• Tech background
• Math classes taken at community college this past year while working full-time
  • Calc I - III, Linear Algebra, Intro to ODEs, Intro to Stats, Intro to Micro/Macro, CS). 3.76 cumulative GPA
• Programming skills learned independently 

Strength of SOP: Fairly strong. I framed my SOP around refining my technical skill set to address environmental policy and development issues to specifically tackle climate change and disaster management. This is based on my experience with the UN as well as cultural relevancy working with Southeast Asian nonprofits the past 1.5+ year.

LOR: Three very strong LORs from:

• A professor I did research with while an undergrad (organizational behavior) who is also dean of my business school
• Chair of my nonprofit
• Direct lead from my time with the UN

International and Expeditionary Experience: UN role, focused on developing a framework for disaster relief resource mobilization in tropical Southeast Asia.

Leadership roles: 

• Board Member of a culture-focused nonprofit
• Leadership fellowship program while at undergrad institution
• President of nonprofit consulting organization while at undergrad institution
• President of school of business student council

[PolicyApplier]

16 hours ago, HDBokchoy said:

Hey all! First time poster on these forums and really appreciate everyone's thoughts here!  I'm applying to MPP dual-degree programs with Environmental Science with a background in tech, and have taken the past year shoring up my quantitative skills at a community college. Would love the advice!

Schools and Programs:  

• University of Chicago
• Duke
• Indiana University - Bloomington
• University of Michigan
• ASU
• University of Colorado - Denver

Undergrad: Top 100 US institution

Degree: B.S. Business Admin., concentration in Info Systems '17

GPA:

• Undergrad: 3.29 / 4.00 (cumulative and major. I often worked multiple part-time jobs to pay through college while also enhancing my resume. I addressed this as part of my application addendum, stating that personal financial obligation was a considerable barrier through my undergrad experience)
• 2021 - 2022 community college courses: 3.76 / 4.00

GRE: 154Q, 160V, AW Pending 

Work Experience: 4 years

Policy Area of Interest: Environmental Policy, emphasis on climate change and disaster management / development in Southeast Asia

Relevant Experience:

• 6 months - contract role with UN focusing on disaster relief in Southeast Asia
• 2 years various analysis and reporting-related roles at name brands
• 2 years tech consulting at Big 4
• 1.5 year board member experience at Southeast Asian nonprofit

Quant experience:

• Tech background
• Math classes taken at community college this past year while working full-time
  • Calc I - III, Linear Algebra, Intro to ODEs, Intro to Stats, Intro to Micro/Macro, CS). 3.76 cumulative GPA
• Programming skills learned independently 

Strength of SOP: Fairly strong. I framed my SOP around refining my technical skill set to address environmental policy and development issues to specifically tackle climate change and disaster management. This is based on my experience with the UN as well as cultural relevancy working with Southeast Asian nonprofits the past 1.5+ year.

LOR: Three very strong LORs from:

• A professor I did research with while an undergrad (organizational behavior) who is also dean of my business school
• Chair of my nonprofit
• Direct lead from my time with the UN

International and Expeditionary Experience: UN role, focused on developing a framework for disaster relief resource mobilization in tropical Southeast Asia.

Leadership roles: 

• Board Member of a culture-focused nonprofit
• Leadership fellowship program while at undergrad institution
• President of nonprofit consulting organization while at undergrad institution
• President of school of business student council

When did you get your apps in for those schools? Are you hitting the early deadlines or the standard ones (with the exception of UMich)?

While I can’t say anything in regards to your worthiness of admission, I’ve surfed a lot of these “am I competitive” threads and I haven’t seen anyone else make up for their quant like you did. That is really impressive.

[sanctaphrax]

Hi all! First time applicant here from India. So far I have submitted applications to three schools and I am really not sure where I stand - some days I am confident about my candidature and some days I just look at this thread and get intimidated/ disillusioned with my ability and what I represent..

Schools / Programs: HKS MPP, Princeton SPIA MPA, Columbia MPA (to these so far) 

Oxford MPP, Fletcher MALD, UChicago MPP, LSE MPP (plan to complete this month)

Undergrad: Top Public University in India where my course's intake rate was less than 2%

Degrees: Bachelor in Business, followed by a PG Degree in Liberal Arts from a private liberal arts university, which is considered the best for the discipline in India

GPA: Undergrad did not have the GPA System, however it is obvious I did poorly in some semesters. The grading in my particular course is a bit peculiar, and I hope my low scores are not misinterpreted, because even while performing low, I was not doing so poorly relative to the class, Postgrade GPA was 3.6/4

GRE: 163Q, 160V

Language Skills: English, and 3 Indian languages

Work Experience: 3+ years

• 1.5 years in a large philanthropic organization in India working in public health strategy
• Nearly 2 years as an RA at a Research Centre. I mainly study gender, rural development and entrepreneurship. This is a quant heavy job, and has increased my interest in econ and demography.

Policy Area of Interest: International Development 

LOR: 

• from my supervisor at my previous workplace
• from a known economist (was a teaching assistant for his course a few years ago)
• UG professor who taught law

International Experience: 

• all work restricted to India

Quant Experience: the RA job is as quant heavy as a job can be. I did poorly in a few quant courses in UG, especially econ, but have taught 2 introductory econ courses as a teaching assistant.

Leadership / Extracurricular Roles:

• Editor of the Uni Newspaper
• Member of the Academic Committee in my postgrad
• Won a few policy awards, completed a fellowship in political economy from a University in the USA

SOP: I draw on the development story in India and relate to my work. I also focus on the agrarian crisis and farmer protests in India and tie it to my identity, as someone coming from the peasant class in India. 

Would love to know what y'all think.

Edited January 3, 2022 by sanctaphrax

[hycent]

Hi everyone, I am an applicant from Nigeria and would like to know what my chances are. Below is my profile and background.

School applied to: MPA Columbia, MSFS Georgetown, MA International Policy Stanford, MPP UChicago.

Undergrad: BSc Economics from a University in Nigeria which admission would be unfamiliar with

Postgrad: Public Financial Management from SOAS University of London, United Kingdom.

GPA: Undergrad 4.51/5

GPA: Postgrad did not have GPA as most UK university... However, I graduated with a distinction, the highest achievable grade. (will admission be familiar that UK university do not use a GPA system?)

GRE: No GRE

Language Skills: English and other Nigerian Language

Work Experience: 5 years experience

• worked in public policy specifically in transparency in governance and accountability across Sub-Saharan Africa by providing public accessibility and awareness to 7000+ government policies, laws, regulations, and guidelines across Sub-Saharan African Countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Zambia, and South Africa and in various sectors such as health, education, environment, finance, investment, and trade.
• Technical support to regional and country-level governance and public sector reforms in 14 Western Balkans and East European countries such as Belarus, Moldova, Kosovo, Georgia, Montenegro, and Azerbaijan under several projects by the World Bank and the Switzerland State Secretariat for Economic Affairs.

Quant Experience: As an economic graduate, this include, macroeconomics, microeconomics, econometrics, Statistics, mathematical economics.

Policy Interest: International Development and Public sector reform

Awards: 

• UK government scholarship for my postgraduate degree
• Honors row for all academic year in Undergrad
• 1 of only 2 first class graduate in a graduating class of 100 students in my undergrad.

LOR: Should be fine

Leadership/Volunteer Exp: 

• Principal project advisor for a Non-profit serving about 200 children in poor communities in Nigeria
• President of Undergrad student organisation of 300+ members
• President of Community group of 500+ members providing community services.

SOP: Talked about my childhood experience in a poor community and passion to tackle global challenges, Coursework in selected program, and desire to pursue a future career in public sector reforms in Africa and other developing countries at institutions such as World bank, IMF, AFDB.

Edited January 25, 2022 by hycent

[tshirt]

Hi all! I'm applying to matriculate in the fall of 2023. Interesting in hearing your thoughts.

Schools / Programs: HKS MPP; Brown Watson MPA; Syracuse MPA; Science Po MPA; LSE MSc in Public Policy; Kings College London MSc in Political Economy. I'm applying to all one-year programs, with the exception of HKS.

Undergrad: Top 50 private research university in the U.S. 

Degrees: Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs and Political Science

GPA: Cumulative 3.29. I failed a class freshman year which set me back – without it, my GPA is closer to 3.5. In major GPAs for International Affairs - 3.7 and Political Science - 3.8.

GRE: 159Q, 159V, AW 5.0

Language Skills: English and French

Work Experience: Will be 5 years at time of application, 6 at matriculation

• ~2 years as executive director of state-based nonprofit with ~$3m budget. We work on economic justice issues.
• ~3 years as a political consultant at a well known group.
• ~1 year on political campaigns – namely a presidential campaign as an organizer.

Policy Area of Interest: Future of work / our changing economy; health + the economy; civic engagement; public-private partnerships. 

LOR: 

• Legislator I completed policy work for during my fellowship (see leadership section)
• Board chair of my nonprofit
• Professor in college that I haven't been close with, but I got an A in the class, and it was graduate level. 

International Experience: 

• Study abroad in Aix-en-Provence, France

Quant Experience: Looking for recs on how to beef up my quant. I took an Intro to Statistics (B+), Microeconomics (B), and International Economics (A-) in college. I also completed Harvard's CS50 through EdX, and completed a data bootcamp for my industry. 

Leadership / Extracurricular Roles:

• Completed a summer policy fellowship known for being an MPP feeder. 
• Volunteer ESL teacher. 
• Was on exec board for a few student orgs while in college. 
• Could build this up more – would love thoughts I may have. 

SOP: Focus on how changes in our economy w/o investment into care economy (childcare, paid leave, healthcare) affects women, and how there are opportunities for public-private partnerships to make a change, want to lead an organization that does that work. Tied in personal experiences as well.

I will say, I am interested in getting a masters as I've come to a point where many of my peers have one, and if I want to continue to grow in my field, I need one to serve in leadership roles at national organizations or companies that do social impact work. 

Would love any and all feedback!

[GradSchoolGrad]

2 hours ago, tshirt said:

Hi all! I'm applying to matriculate in the fall of 2023. Interesting in hearing your thoughts.

Schools / Programs: HKS MPP; Brown Watson MPA; Syracuse MPA; Science Po MPA; LSE MSc in Public Policy; Kings College London MSc in Political Economy. I'm applying to all one-year programs, with the exception of HKS.

Undergrad: Top 50 private research university in the U.S. 

Degrees: Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs and Political Science

GPA: Cumulative 3.29. I failed a class freshman year which set me back – without it, my GPA is closer to 3.5. In major GPAs for International Affairs - 3.7 and Political Science - 3.8.

GRE: 159Q, 159V, AW 5.0

Language Skills: English and French

Work Experience: Will be 5 years at time of application, 6 at matriculation

• ~2 years as executive director of state-based nonprofit with ~$3m budget. We work on economic justice issues.
• ~3 years as a political consultant at a well known group.
• ~1 year on political campaigns – namely a presidential campaign as an organizer.

Policy Area of Interest: Future of work / our changing economy; health + the economy; civic engagement; public-private partnerships. 

LOR: 

• Legislator I completed policy work for during my fellowship (see leadership section)
• Board chair of my nonprofit
• Professor in college that I haven't been close with, but I got an A in the class, and it was graduate level. 

International Experience: 

• Study abroad in Aix-en-Provence, France

Quant Experience: Looking for recs on how to beef up my quant. I took an Intro to Statistics (B+), Microeconomics (B), and International Economics (A-) in college. I also completed Harvard's CS50 through EdX, and completed a data bootcamp for my industry. 

Leadership / Extracurricular Roles:

• Completed a summer policy fellowship known for being an MPP feeder. 
• Volunteer ESL teacher. 
• Was on exec board for a few student orgs while in college. 
• Could build this up more – would love thoughts I may have. 

SOP: Focus on how changes in our economy w/o investment into care economy (childcare, paid leave, healthcare) affects women, and how there are opportunities for public-private partnerships to make a change, want to lead an organization that does that work. Tied in personal experiences as well.

I will say, I am interested in getting a masters as I've come to a point where many of my peers have one, and if I want to continue to grow in my field, I need one to serve in leadership roles at national organizations or companies that do social impact work. 

Would love any and all feedback!

I think you would have a very hard time to get into HKS MPP since academic credentials are thin in the quant front.

As for 1 year programs... if you are trying to get a job in the US, I don't see how there is that much of a career boost with any of those programs. If you are looking for another career trajectory I am not aware of, there may be pathways that make sense of those 1 year degrees.

I do recommend you avoid Brown Watson - academically and professionally thing. It is trading on brand to make money.

[ToMPPOrNotToMPP]

Hi all! Long time lurker, finally getting in the grad school game. I'm in a unique position because I've already heard back from one program (described below) - looking forward to hearing what you guys think about my shot at the rest of these schools!

Schools / Programs: McCourt MPP (accepted, $28.5k/yr merit), HKS MPP, NYU MSPP, Princeton SPIA

Undergrad: Top 50 Liberal Arts College

Degrees: Bachelor's in political science, Minor in sociology

GPA: Cumulative 3.8 (Community College GPA: 3.66, College GPA: 3.89)

GRE: 167 V, 162 Q, 6.0 AWA

Work Experience: ~2 years (complicated)

• Took time off from college to work on entry-level role in presidential campaign
• Managed organizing and data programs for local campaign
• Currently completing public affairs fellowship

Policy Area of Interest: Education

LOR: Campaign supervisor (assuming strong), former professor (assuming very strong), current supervisor (assuming very strong)

Quant Experience: Covered through GRE Q score, undergrad courses (lots of econ, intermediate micro/intermediate macro/stats for behavioral sciences), and data science professional development (DataCamp, Google Data Analytics)

Leadership / Extracurricular Roles:

• Leader in College Democrats
• Speech and Debate Team statewide semifinalist

SOP: talked about personal experiences in the education system, from attending multiple school districts to public college / private liberal arts college, and how personal experience has shaped my commitment to building a fairer education system

[GradSchoolGrad]

2 hours ago, ToMPPOrNotToMPP said:

Hi all! Long time lurker, finally getting in the grad school game. I'm in a unique position because I've already heard back from one program (described below) - looking forward to hearing what you guys think about my shot at the rest of these schools!

Schools / Programs: McCourt MPP (accepted, $28.5k/yr merit), HKS MPP, NYU MSPP, Princeton SPIA

Undergrad: Top 50 Liberal Arts College

Degrees: Bachelor's in political science, Minor in sociology

GPA: Cumulative 3.8 (Community College GPA: 3.66, College GPA: 3.89)

GRE: 167 V, 162 Q, 6.0 AWA

Work Experience: ~2 years (complicated)

• Took time off from college to work on entry-level role in presidential campaign
• Managed organizing and data programs for local campaign
• Currently completing public affairs fellowship

Policy Area of Interest: Education

LOR: Campaign supervisor (assuming strong), former professor (assuming very strong), current supervisor (assuming very strong)

Quant Experience: Covered through GRE Q score, undergrad courses (lots of econ, intermediate micro/intermediate macro/stats for behavioral sciences), and data science professional development (DataCamp, Google Data Analytics)

Leadership / Extracurricular Roles:

• Leader in College Democrats
• Speech and Debate Team statewide semifinalist

SOP: talked about personal experiences in the education system, from attending multiple school districts to public college / private liberal arts college, and how personal experience has shaped my commitment to building a fairer education system

I think you might have a shot with NYU MSPP… but a much worse shot with HKS and SPIA. They historically like those with a bit more work experience.

If you really like education, McCourt is okay, but nothing great. They only have one really rock star education professor (Dr. Nora Gordon), but I can’t think of a single Ed person who got an interesting job. Almost all of them go to policy analysis roles at research or advocacy centers.

Please appreciate that education people are a dime a dozen and if you really want a career boost from it/make the most out of it, you really need to go to an awesome program for it. I recommend you take advantage of the hot job market for more experience (like 2 more) and then get an HKS, Ford, or Terry Sanford (they cover different areas of education really well) and go to town. 
 

A shadow way I seen people get into education policy is do it via MPH or MBA.

 

 

[k1lgore_trout]

Hi everyone - I'm still about 2 years out from applying and haven't taken the GRE yet, but I figured I'd post to get a sense of where I currently stand and what goals I need to accomplish before applying.

Schools/Programs: MPP programs for U-Chicago Harris, U-Mich Ford, Georgetown McCourt, Duke Sanford, Carnegie Mellon Heinz, GWU Trachtenberg

Undergrad: UC Berkeley, transferred from a community college

Degrees: Political science, minor in public policy

GPA: Cumulative 3.77 (Community college GPA: 3.92, UCB GPA: 3.61)

Work Experience: 2 years of full-time experience as of writing, 3-4 years by time of application

• 2 years as a full-time research assistant at a public opinion research firm, working on polls for various candidates and ballot measure campaigns
• 1 semester as an intern for a labor union
• 2 months as a summer legislative intern on Capitol Hill
• 3 months as an intern in a different congressperson's district office
• 6 months as an intern for another public opinion research firm

Policy interests: transit, urban development, energy, international trade, and national security

LOR:

• Current supervisor(s) (has the potential to be strong, but who knows, I might screw things up in the next year)
• Former professor (assuming strong)
• Former grad student instructor who now has a PhD (unsure about this one based on their credentials/experience, but they certainly know me better than the professor does)

Quant experience: Quantitative Research Methods (B+), Intro to Microeconomics (A), Intro to Macroeconomics (A), International Political Economy (A), Intro to Public Policy Analysis (A), Intro to Statistics (A), Game Theory (B), and College Math (A, but not sure I should even bother counting that one).

Over the last year, I also went back to community college and took Trigonometry (A) and Pre-Calc (B) in an effort to work my way up to Calculus 1 and eventually Linear Algebra, but got burnt out with work and decided to drop Calc 1 one week into the class. Would the fact that I took Pre-Calc after obtaining my BA, without following through to Calc 1 hurt my application?

My current job has me constantly immersed with numbers and data, but not sure if it will factor in heavily for me because the math isn't exactly complicated.

Leadership/Extracurricular:

• Served 1 year serving on a City advisory commission
• Spent a semester volunteering as an after-school tutor at a local elementary school
• Writer for the community college newspaper (won an award at one point)
• Other involvement in school activities include: College Democrats, undergrad polisci association, club wrestling

SOP: To explain my commitment and motivation for pursuing public policy, I was thinking of discussing my background as the child of refugees and growing up in relative poverty, making use of various social programs throughout my life to get me to where I am today. I was also thinking of discussing career aspirations for think tanks and the IMF and World Bank.

Edited February 1, 2022 by k1lgore_trout

[GradSchoolGrad]

25 minutes ago, k1lgore_trout said:

Hi everyone - I'm still about 2 years out from applying and haven't taken the GRE yet, but I figured I'd post to get a sense of where I currently stand and what goals I need to accomplish before applying.

Schools/Programs: MPP programs for U-Chicago Harris, U-Mich Ford, Georgetown McCourt, Duke Sanford, Carnegie Mellon Heinz, GWU Trachtenberg

Undergrad: UC Berkeley, transferred from a community college

Degrees: Political science, minor in public policy

GPA: Cumulative 3.77 (Community college GPA: 3.92, UCB GPA: 3.61)

Work Experience: 2 years of full-time experience as of writing, 3-4 years by time of application

• 2 years as a full-time research assistant at a public opinion research firm, working on polls for various candidates and ballot measure campaigns
• 1 semester as an intern for a labor union
• 2 months as a summer legislative intern on Capitol Hill
• 3 months as an intern in a different congressperson's district office
• 6 months as an intern for another public opinion research firm

Policy interests: transit, urban development, energy, international trade, and national security

LOR:

• Current supervisor(s) (has the potential to be strong, but who knows, I might screw things up in the next year)
• Former professor (assuming strong)
• Former grad student instructor who now has a PhD (unsure about this one based on their credentials/experience, but they certainly know me better than the professor does)

Quant experience: Quantitative Research Methods (B+), Intro to Microeconomics (A), Intro to Macroeconomics (A), International Political Economy (A), Intro to Public Policy Analysis (A), Intro to Statistics (A), Game Theory (B), and College Math (A, but not sure I should even bother counting that one).

Over the last year, I also went back to community college and took Trigonometry (A) and Pre-Calc (B) in an effort to work my way up to Calculus 1 and eventually Linear Algebra, but got burnt out with work and decided to drop Calc 1 one week into the class. Would the fact that I took Pre-Calc after obtaining my BA, without following through to Calc 1 hurt my application?

My current job has me constantly immersed with numbers and data, but not sure if it will factor in heavily for me because the math isn't exactly complicated.

Leadership/Extracurricular:

• Served 1 year serving on a City advisory commission
• Spent a semester volunteering as an after-school tutor at a local elementary school
• Writer for the community college newspaper (won an award at one point)
• Other involvement in school activities include: College Democrats, undergrad polisci association, club wrestling

SOP: To explain my commitment and motivation for pursuing public policy, I was thinking of discussing my background as the child of refugees and growing up in relative poverty, making use of various social programs throughout my life to get me to where I am today. I was also thinking of discussing career aspirations for think tanks and the IMF and World Bank.

I really recommend what you take some time and figure out what policy you want to work for and actually make sure it makes sense for you before you play the schools name game. For me it is borderline depressing that so many people enter policy school wanting to work in the IMF and World Bank and Think Tanks and 95% cannot coherently explain what is that they do that is so exciting based upon real knowledge of those organizations. It is like kids saying they want to be big name Hollywood actresses or actors without knowing what it takes to get there and what the job is like.

Among those that do get in in the non-leadership/non-operations side of IMF, World Bank, and Think Tanks without a PhD, nearly every one that I know haven't really enjoyed it because those organizations don't exactly have career satisfaction as part of their innate design and focus areas. At best it is a temporary stepping stone where you realize you aren't exactly making that much impact. *I am not criticizing these organizations. I'm just highlighting the labor dynamics internally with an Masters only. 

Also, please realize that you are a dime a dozen in terms of people of people interested in refugees and World Bank type stuff. Policy school is one of those interesting spaces where prestige in policy area matters more to students than things like actual impact or even career viability. Be smart, and don't follow the herd. 

 

 

[k1lgore_trout]

26 minutes ago, GradSchoolGrad said:

I really recommend what you take some time and figure out what policy you want to work for and actually make sure it makes sense for you before you play the schools name game. For me it is borderline depressing that so many people enter policy school wanting to work in the IMF and World Bank and Think Tanks and 95% cannot coherently explain what is that they do that is so exciting based upon real knowledge of those organizations. It is like kids saying they want to be big name Hollywood actresses or actors without knowing what it takes to get there and what the job is like.

Among those that do get in in the non-leadership/non-operations side of IMF, World Bank, and Think Tanks without a PhD, nearly every one that I know haven't really enjoyed it because those organizations don't exactly have career satisfaction as part of their innate design and focus areas. At best it is a temporary stepping stone where you realize you aren't exactly making that much impact. *I am not criticizing these organizations. I'm just highlighting the labor dynamics internally with an Masters only. 

Also, please realize that you are a dime a dozen in terms of people of people interested in refugees and World Bank type stuff. Policy school is one of those interesting spaces where prestige in policy area matters more to students than things like actual impact or even career viability. Be smart, and don't follow the herd.
 

I appreciate your reply, it's given me a number of things to reflect on. I take your point about think tanks, IMF, World Bank, etc. and I completely agree with you that I should narrow my policy focus and look at other career outcomes before even starting to think about applying.

That said though, I can't help but feel as though you're projecting you feelings about starry-eyed white-savior do-gooders onto me.

My listed work experience has been entirely in domestic policy at the local, state, and federal level. Of the policy interests I listed, two were on the international level - international trade and national security. I listed those areas specifically because international relations was my undergraduate subfield and I thought that I could maybe make use of that part of my degree.

The other three policy areas I mentioned are domestic and if anything, extremely local issues. My one mention of refugees was in reference to my parents and my socioeconomic background; immigration and refugee policy is important to me insofar as I think it's important to be an informed citizen, but I never said anything about wanting working in that area.

Again, I want to emphasize that I genuinely appreciated your feedback - because I was spitballing as I typed in the words "think tank" and "World Bank," and a career in this field requires more thought than that. But I also have to push back against what I believe are some unfair characterizations.

[GradSchoolGrad]

1 hour ago, k1lgore_trout said:

I appreciate your reply, it's given me a number of things to reflect on. I take your point about think tanks, IMF, World Bank, etc. and I completely agree with you that I should narrow my policy focus and look at other career outcomes before even starting to think about applying.

That said though, I can't help but feel as though you're projecting you feelings about starry-eyed white-savior do-gooders onto me.

My listed work experience has been entirely in domestic policy at the local, state, and federal level. Of the policy interests I listed, two were on the international level - international trade and national security. I listed those areas specifically because international relations was my undergraduate subfield and I thought that I could maybe make use of that part of my degree.

The other three policy areas I mentioned are domestic and if anything, extremely local issues. My one mention of refugees was in reference to my parents and my socioeconomic background; immigration and refugee policy is important to me insofar as I think it's important to be an informed citizen, but I never said anything about wanting working in that area.

Again, I want to emphasize that I genuinely appreciated your feedback - because I was spitballing as I typed in the words "think tank" and "World Bank," and a career in this field requires more thought than that. But I also have to push back against what I believe are some unfair characterizations.

1. First of all, I am not trying to push back against you. I'm trying to highlight consistent trends from my lived experience of interacting with policy students/alums to illustrate my perspective about World Bank and etc. + shared by other people I have encountered that been to policy school. I use it as a baseline for you to consider your life decisions with.

2. I would actually love it if people (of any color) actually follow through with their desire to be a savior. What I have seen in policy instead is that people's passion to be a "savior" of any any particular thing shifts to what is convenient for them rather than actual desire to make impact. Some ways I have seen this manifest are:

- Someone entering policy school interested in K-12 education  get swept up by the perceived prestige of working at the World Bank or UN, so they go through the pain of changing their grad school trajectory to follow a shiny object rather than understanding what it really is.

- Someone entering policy school with an interest in homelessness and rapidly changes their trajectory to government consulting after realizing the cost of grad school.

- Someone entering policy school interested in solving housing issues, but refuses to learn the intricacies of zoning, construction finance, or urban planning technology. 

Obviously, I believe people should do whatever they want to do in life. However, as a frequent career/grad school coach, I am often frustrated by how the average incoming grad student doesn't really have a good sense of what they really want to do and thereby spitballs everything under the sun or disingenuously says something they heard that sounds good or seems prestigious. This makes it harder for people to help you and makes it more difficult for you to align which school best serves your career objectives.  

For example. If you care most about international development, you need to go to a specialized program in U. Chicago or Georgetown School of Foreign Service.  If you care about state and local - then Terry Sanford makes sense. If you care about Urban planning stuff - Harvard MUP makes sense. 

When someone has a massive shotgun blast of ideas that aren't distilled among 2-3 main prioritized pathways, then they need to go back to the drawing board.

3. What you do in undergrad doesn't have to connect with what you do in grad. An engineer who has a strong grad internship experience with a development think tank for 2 months has more credibility than an undergrad who may have done an honors thesis about development. 

4. The content of your professional work experiencer matters less than the skills you acquired during that professional experience. This is why I never assume that someone who was focused in domestic wants to continue domestic and vice versa. I focus on what their intended purpose for going to grad school is. 

Edited February 1, 2022 by GradSchoolGrad

[_KITE]

Just a note, but I will probably delete this post a bit later.

 

Hi everyone. I just thought I would put this out here and see what advice I can get. I applied for a few schools this past cycle and I am coming to terms with the notion that I may very well be rejected from all of them. I am hoping to get into an MPP or MIA and so I am hoping to improve my application. Which schools might be a realistic target for me?

Schools Applying To: seeking advice from you

Undergraduate institution: a College in the NESCAC

Undergraduate GPA: 3.18

Undergraduate Majors: Political Science, Japanese

GRE- 155 (v), 154 (q), 5.0 (a) ---> I am studying for this and will raise my scores across the board.

Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): >2

Years of Work Experience: 2 years + a Fulbright Scholarship

Describe Relevant Work Experience: 1.5 years as an interpreter, 0.5 years in local/state government

Future plans: I would like to work for the UN and/or become an FSO.

Questions/concerns: Assuming I can actually get my GRE up to the mid-320s/low 330s, would an Ivy League School or an Oxbridge remain unattainable for me? I am actually most interested in the idea of going to UTokyo (because of the chance to also graduate from SIPA), but was recently rejected from the MPP and have since started to come back down to Earth. Could the LSE and/or Yale Jackson possibly be a fit? Can I do anything with this GPA and GRE?

[grassrootsactivisteducatio]

I wanted to ask what chances I have of getting into an Education Policy Program.

BEFORE you tell me education policy majors are a dime a dozen, I am not a typical education policy candidate....Not at all...

I am a grassroots activist who fights for the rights of special needs children to get a free and appropriate education.  I am a gubernatorial appointee to a Special Education Advisory Committee.  I had a bill sponsored and passed through the legislature last year and I have at least one more going through this year.  I started an advocacy group with a friend which has grown and we help all people understand their children's rights as the current system in place really only helps wealthy people who can pay for what they need.  I have an amazing passion for this field as I see it as a true injustice perpetrated against disabled kids and their families.

 

Now on to the stats:

I took the GRE but did badly as my father was dying of cancer at the time and ended up in the 80th percentile. I  would like to retake them as that is the worst I have done on a standardized test.

Undergraduate:  3.2 at an ivory and 3.4 with double honors at a state school finishing with 3.7 at a small private college.

Graduate courses with 3.2 gpa while working 6o hours a week and attending school full time.

 

Target Schools:  Harvard, Stanford, Upenn, Columbia, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon, JHU

I am not a teacher and have no intention of teaching.  Since I have been working on legislation to improve education, I would like to continue working on that and possibly working for a think tank or the government itself.  I intend to focus specifically on civil rights for disabled children and people.

LORs:  might be a problem.  I have not been in school in some time.  I also run the advocacy group so I am the person in charge.  I have done research but largely to support the bills and show that the education provided is not the same.  I am thinking about this.

 

Advise for applications and what are my chances here?  I would like to go to Harvard because the staff there has done significant research on family engagement and education which I support as it is a predictor of academic success.

Thank you

 

 

 

Edited February 27, 2022 by grassrootsactivisteducatio

[PolicyApplier]

On 2/24/2022 at 4:14 AM, no-antidote said:

Just a note, but I will probably delete this post a bit later.

 

Hi everyone. I just thought I would put this out here and see what advice I can get. I applied for a few schools this past cycle and I am coming to terms with the notion that I may very well be rejected from all of them. I am hoping to get into an MPP or MIA and so I am hoping to improve my application. Which schools might be a realistic target for me?

Schools Applying To: seeking advice from you

Undergraduate institution: a College in the NESCAC

Undergraduate GPA: 3.18

Undergraduate Majors: Political Science, Japanese

GRE- 155 (v), 154 (q), 5.0 (a) ---> I am studying for this and will raise my scores across the board.

Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): >2

Years of Work Experience: 2 years + a Fulbright Scholarship

Describe Relevant Work Experience: 1.5 years as an interpreter, 0.5 years in local/state government

Future plans: I would like to work for the UN and/or become an FSO.

Questions/concerns: Assuming I can actually get my GRE up to the mid-320s/low 330s, would an Ivy League School or an Oxbridge remain unattainable for me? I am actually most interested in the idea of going to UTokyo (because of the chance to also graduate from SIPA), but was recently rejected from the MPP and have since started to come back down to Earth. Could the LSE and/or Yale Jackson possibly be a fit? Can I do anything with this GPA and GRE?

If I understand correctly, if your GPA is on the lower end you usually need some combination of strong work experience and GRE score.

There’s also value outside of just the Ivy League schools, so it may be worth looking into why you want the Ivy leagues outside of just their names. They are gonna be ungodly expensive and the value of education you get at them may not be that much better, if better at all, than schools like Washington, Syracuse, Wisconsin, Texas, etc. Hell, by US News MPP rankings Columbia is only slightly better than Minnesota and is ranked lower than Texas and Ohio State.

If I were you, I’d try to get your quant score to somewhere in the 160s and not focus on the Ivy Leagues with the exception of maybe one just to do it. Best of luck with your journey and be patient with yourself if possible. Grad school applications can be mentally shattering without some sort of self-patience.

[_KITE]

On 2/24/2022 at 7:14 PM, no-antidote said:

Just a note, but I will probably delete this post a bit later.

 

Hi everyone. I just thought I would put this out here and see what advice I can get. I applied for a few schools this past cycle and I am coming to terms with the notion that I may very well be rejected from all of them. I am hoping to get into an MPP or MIA and so I am hoping to improve my application. Which schools might be a realistic target for me?

Schools Applying To: seeking advice from you

Undergraduate institution: a College in the NESCAC

Undergraduate GPA: 3.18

Undergraduate Majors: Political Science, Japanese

GRE- 155 (v), 154 (q), 5.0 (a) ---> I am studying for this and will raise my scores across the board.

Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): >2

Years of Work Experience: 2 years + a Fulbright Scholarship

Describe Relevant Work Experience: 1.5 years as an interpreter, 0.5 years in local/state government

Future plans: I would like to work for the UN and/or become an FSO.

Questions/concerns: Assuming I can actually get my GRE up to the mid-320s/low 330s, would an Ivy League School or an Oxbridge remain unattainable for me? I am actually most interested in the idea of going to UTokyo (because of the chance to also graduate from SIPA), but was recently rejected from the MPP and have since started to come back down to Earth. Could the LSE and/or Yale Jackson possibly be a fit? Can I do anything with this GPA and GRE?

So I just realized I can't delete/edit my original post, but I just wanted to come back to update this for posterity.

 

I wanted to say thank you to @PolicyApplier and to say that they are 110% correct in their analysis -- especially when it comes to having patience and being gentle with yourself. I'm pretty sure that almost everyone reading this thread can imagine how it feels to get rejected from the program you really want to go to; I know I was personally torn up about it. 

 

However, the universe often works in really bizarre ways. A few days after I wrote this post, I got admitted into both Harvard and Yale. I do not know how it happened, but I do know that many tears were shed. I just wanted to share my particular story as an anecdote to anyone whom this may resonate with. 

 

Keep chipping away it; after the breakdown comes the breakthrough.

[river1216]

On 7/29/2011 at 12:37 PM, fenderpete said:

A note on applying to top schools:

 

It is worth noting that nobody here can tell you what your chances of getting into a top program (Harvard, Princeton, Georgetown etc.) because getting into a top program requires a certain amount of luck as well as a great profile. Some people get offers from Harvard with a 2.9 GPA, but also happen to have singlehandedly retaken an allied command post in the Korengal valley. It’s down to who reads your application and what they happen to be looking for with the current application cycle.

 

Spend time improving the elements of your application that you can (GRE, work experience, languages) and don’t waste time freaking out about the things you can’t change (GPA).

 

If you’ve read all of the above and really still can’t tell if your application is competitive, post your profile below.

Wanted to bump this....

This happened with me at Georgetown. It's possible. Make sure you application is relevant to current times, and building relationships with the admissions office is key. Eagerness and persistence goes a long way. 

[surreynotsurrey]

Hi all! Applying for a PhD in Public Policy (Not sure if this is the place to ask?). If not, just disregard this message. I posted on this forum last year applying for my current MPP and it was really, really useful.

Cycle: 2022-2023

Schools / Programs: HKS, Chicago Harris, Carnegie Mellon Heinz, Duke Sanford, USC Price, Syracuse Maxwell, Yale

Undergrad: No Name School

Law School: Top 3 in Canada

Masters: Top 3 in Britain

Current MPP: USC Price

GPA: 3.85/4.0 Collectively

GRE: 160Q, 162V, 5.0 AWA

Work Experience: 3 years as a tax lawyer

Research Experience: Collectively three years or so of policy research experience. Currently two published articles and hopefully more by the time of application.

Policy Area of Interest: Tax/Economic Policy

LOR: Current research supervisors + dissertation supervisor from Masters. Very strong references.

Quant Experience: 8 courses in statistics (including econometrics and causal inference) and published two papers based on novel applications of statistical methods.

SOP: Ties my experiences through school and work together into my desire to study and implement new tax policies based on the use of novel statistical methods.

Edited March 14, 2022 by Canuck2020

[GradSchoolGrad]

On 3/11/2022 at 9:52 AM, dchang11 said:

Wanted to bump this....

This happened with me at Georgetown. It's possible. Make sure you application is relevant to current times, and building relationships with the admissions office is key. Eagerness and persistence goes a long way. 

Look, I love Georgetown's SSP, and it is the best Security Studies program out there. However, we need to get real in that Georgetown SSP is no where near the level of competitiveness as Harvard Or Princeton's public policy or similar programs. 

Yes, having a relevant application and strong relationships with admissions helps. However, for the more elite programs (especially the ones that are quant oriented), no matter how good your story is, if there is doubts on your ability to graduate due to lack of foundations for graduation requirements, a candidate is simply not getting in. Georgetown SSP doesn't have a significant quant requirements. I know because I know people who failed quant based programs at other Georgetown migrate there in order to end up with a graduate degree. 

Look, I'm not trying the rain on your parade, because SSP churns out National Security studs, but we need to get real on how the mechanics of grad school admissions. 

[GradSchoolGrad]

On 2/27/2022 at 6:10 AM, grassrootsactivisteducatio said:

I wanted to ask what chances I have of getting into an Education Policy Program.

BEFORE you tell me education policy majors are a dime a dozen, I am not a typical education policy candidate....Not at all...

I am a grassroots activist who fights for the rights of special needs children to get a free and appropriate education.  I am a gubernatorial appointee to a Special Education Advisory Committee.  I had a bill sponsored and passed through the legislature last year and I have at least one more going through this year.  I started an advocacy group with a friend which has grown and we help all people understand their children's rights as the current system in place really only helps wealthy people who can pay for what they need.  I have an amazing passion for this field as I see it as a true injustice perpetrated against disabled kids and their families.

 

Now on to the stats:

I took the GRE but did badly as my father was dying of cancer at the time and ended up in the 80th percentile. I  would like to retake them as that is the worst I have done on a standardized test.

Undergraduate:  3.2 at an ivory and 3.4 with double honors at a state school finishing with 3.7 at a small private college.

Graduate courses with 3.2 gpa while working 6o hours a week and attending school full time.

 

Target Schools:  Harvard, Stanford, Upenn, Columbia, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon, JHU

I am not a teacher and have no intention of teaching.  Since I have been working on legislation to improve education, I would like to continue working on that and possibly working for a think tank or the government itself.  I intend to focus specifically on civil rights for disabled children and people.

LORs:  might be a problem.  I have not been in school in some time.  I also run the advocacy group so I am the person in charge.  I have done research but largely to support the bills and show that the education provided is not the same.  I am thinking about this.

 

Advise for applications and what are my chances here?  I would like to go to Harvard because the staff there has done significant research on family engagement and education which I support as it is a predictor of academic success.

Thank you

 

 

 

I am a bit confused about your school choices. Are you trying to go for policy schools and focus on education or Go to education schools and focus on policy. It actually makes a big difference. If you want to work for a Think Tank and Government (assuming you mean as an regulatory or research perspective), policy school with a an education focus make sense. You can hypothetically do it with an education school with a policy school, but it is MUCH MUCH MUCH harder. That being said, most people who go to education school matriculate back into teaching and/or try to go leadership track. There is always a small group that goes to private sector or do research. 

Also, the ability to get in varies greatly between the two. Policy schools generally have a quant foundations requirement one way or another (ability to graduate) 

I think the bigger concern is trying to pivot from advocacy to research/government. It is a drastic change of going from a people based business to a heads down on paper and analysis job where your impact is hard to feel and oftentimes super super slow. Its not a path I can ever say I seen among the ed space (most common being teacher to research/government).

Also, please keep in mind, there is definitely a former teacher mafia in ed policy that often serve as gatekeepers. You might think that advocacy might be taken well (and maybe it would be), but I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't take well. 

[grassrootsactivisteducatio]

Thank you for responding to my post.  Yes, I am very well aware of the teacher mafia that is out there.  I have run into them before and I keep telling them that this is for kids who are in single digit proficiency.  Improving their lives improves everyone's lives including those of teachers.  What I am trying to do has never (as far as I can see) been done before.  I could be wrong and if I am then let me know because if there is someone out there who has done this, I would love to hear how they went about it, etc.  I am trying to focus on changing the system (education reform).  There are laws in place but they aren't followed and they aren't appropriately established.  Education lacks the ability to be change and they approach everything from one lens instead of multiple.  The main reason it's done that way is because it's always been done that way.  But if we always did things the way it was done before we'd still be living in caves and hunting woolly mammoths.  I don't think the org I am going to build would be heads down.  I want to be able to actively support new and innovative methods with valid research as opposed to fads.  Schools always say that t hey believe in personalized learning but their methodology is anything but and they are still trying to put kids into square pegs.  Teachers lack creative autonomy over their classrooms.  I am not planning on going back to teaching.  I want to change the policies around education to make it better.  So if that's the case, is policy a better option?  I also like to present my case as to why it is good to have alternate points of view in the field.  The one sided point of view has contributed to stifling the field and limiting creative research.  so if I need to work on my quantitative, what do you recommend?  I also would like to add that I appreciate hte feedback and I realize that this is a bit confusing as I am trying to do something that is not really "traditional."  I do, however, find it is necessary as the current system is not effective.  I genuinely hope that you have additional feedback and i do apologize for the confusion.  My focus would be ot change the laws and the systems and have the research to support it as well as providing a voice for families who attend public schools.  No one stands up for them and it affects the outcomes.  I look forward to hearing from you.

[ne683]

Hi all, so I just got rejected from Oxford (migration studies) and I am now trying to start thinking about what to do next..
 

Schools / Programs: Harvard HKS, Columbia Human Rights (still needing to look at other programs)

Undergrad: good school for IA

Degrees: BA in international affairs, minor in economics..chosen as the graduating distinguished scholar along with various other awards for leadership…if I would’ve been accepted into Oxford, my undergraduate university awarded me a full scholarship (which makes the rejection hurt just a bit more lol)

GPA: 3.82 (summa)

GMAT: haven’t taken yet

Language Skills: French (basic) Turkish (working on getting proficiency) 

Policy Area of Interest: labor rights//global labor rights 

Work Experience: currently on a Fulbright ETA, graduated in 2020 so program was delayed by 6 months, within that time frame I interned at UNICEF, while also working at a large migrant labor union in the Midwest. In undergrad I interned at DOS trafficking in persons office, and had experience at other international rights organizations 

 

LOR: thesis advisor (will be good) previous prof and department head (will be good) will probably reach out to old supervisor at unicef who was a previous FSO 

International Experience: currently on Fulbright, because my program was delayed I stayed another year so I’ll have 1.5 years living in the country teaching at a university. During my time here I’ve also become very involved with a community organization working with refugees and doing work at migrant labor camps, I stayed last summer to work and plan on staying this summer as well. Spent a semester studying at Sciences Po and a summer in South Africa working on trafficking issues during undergrad.

Quant Experience: minor in Econ, so intermediate micro/macro, international economics, statistics…worried about this though 

Leadership / Extracurricular Roles: did a lot of community organizing for migrant workers in undergrad which led to my role at the migrant labor union (which I still do unpaid work for now…have discussed working for them when I return building out more of their international focus with the IUF etc), had other typical leadership experience running the on campus food pantry (districting food to about 800 students a semester) as well as other human rights students organizations where I had a leadership role

SOP: will write about my interest in global labor rights, tracing my experiences from South Africa to migrant labor in the US, to my current role with refugees and labor as well as speak on the barriers etc I’ve seen to combatting forced and child labor while on Fulbright due to the country's political issues 

 

I guess right now I’m a little stuck…do I apply for grad school next cycle or do I return to the US and work for a year? What would make me more competitive, should I work on research experience? Any insight would help as I’ve been spiraling since Oxford rejection this morning :’) thank you all so much 

[GradSchoolGrad]

8 hours ago, ne683 said:

 

Hi all, so I just got rejected from Oxford (migration studies) and I am now trying to start thinking about what to do next..
 

Schools / Programs: Harvard HKS, Columbia Human Rights (still needing to look at other programs)

Undergrad: good school for IA

Degrees: BA in international affairs, minor in economics..chosen as the graduating distinguished scholar along with various other awards for leadership…if I would’ve been accepted into Oxford, my undergraduate university awarded me a full scholarship (which makes the rejection hurt just a bit more lol)

GPA: 3.82 (summa)

GMAT: haven’t taken yet

Language Skills: French (basic) Turkish (working on getting proficiency) 

Policy Area of Interest: labor rights//global labor rights 

Work Experience: currently on a Fulbright ETA, graduated in 2020 so program was delayed by 6 months, within that time frame I interned at UNICEF, while also working at a large migrant labor union in the Midwest. In undergrad I interned at DOS trafficking in persons office, and had experience at other international rights organizations 

 

LOR: thesis advisor (will be good) previous prof and department head (will be good) will probably reach out to old supervisor at unicef who was a previous FSO 

International Experience: currently on Fulbright, because my program was delayed I stayed another year so I’ll have 1.5 years living in the country teaching at a university. During my time here I’ve also become very involved with a community organization working with refugees and doing work at migrant labor camps, I stayed last summer to work and plan on staying this summer as well. Spent a semester studying at Sciences Po and a summer in South Africa working on trafficking issues during undergrad.

Quant Experience: minor in Econ, so intermediate micro/macro, international economics, statistics…worried about this though 

Leadership / Extracurricular Roles: did a lot of community organizing for migrant workers in undergrad which led to my role at the migrant labor union (which I still do unpaid work for now…have discussed working for them when I return building out more of their international focus with the IUF etc), had other typical leadership experience running the on campus food pantry (districting food to about 800 students a semester) as well as other human rights students organizations where I had a leadership role

SOP: will write about my interest in global labor rights, tracing my experiences from South Africa to migrant labor in the US, to my current role with refugees and labor as well as speak on the barriers etc I’ve seen to combatting forced and child labor while on Fulbright due to the country's political issues 

 

I guess right now I’m a little stuck…do I apply for grad school next cycle or do I return to the US and work for a year? What would make me more competitive, should I work on research experience? Any insight would help as I’ve been spiraling since Oxford rejection this morning :’) thank you all so much 

Work for a year or 2. Period. Sure you might get into places with Fulbright. But 2 years solid works experience makes you super competitive 

[MPAaspirant]

@GradSchoolGrad and other members are requested to pitch in with their valuable comments:

 

Hi everyone. 

I am in a middle of a conundrum and I would appreciate your comments/suggestions.

I applied to Columbia MPA, MPA-DP, Berkeley MDP, Michigan MPP, Cornell MPA, LSE MPA. I got offers from all universities. I am inclined towards Columbia and a little bit towards Berkeley MDP. Major reason for this decision is the availability of a scholarship program and my employer’s funding for these programs. 

Now, I can’t choose between Columbia MPA, MPA-DP and Berkeley’s MDP and I would want your suggestions/input in helping me make this decision.

 

Background: I am central banker with an experience of 7 years in Development Finance. I have worked extensively in the financial inclusion area and improving access to finance to priority areas of Pakistan like SME financing, Agri Financing, Housing financing women entrepreneurship and micro financing.

 

Aspirations/ Goals: continue to work in these areas with more suited skills and scientific approach. Given an opportunity, I would love to take my work to a national level in improving Access to Finance and Financial inclusion, which is currently limited to provincial/regional level, and going forward, if an opportunity comes around, I would like to work at international development institutions, like UN, ADB, World Bank, DFID etc

 

Now, which degree is best suited for me in your opinion:

1- Columbia MPA

2- Columbia MPA-DP

3- Berkeley MDP

 

Thanking you in advance for your valuable input  .