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

[GradSchoolGrad]

5 hours ago, Suleman said:

@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  .

You might want to look at the array of professors for each program and go for the program with the professors with the backgrounds most relevant to your professional interests. Also talk to some students to see how accessible they are to you and if they help with employment.

[sbga96]

Hello! I am planning on applying for an MBA (HBS, Stanford GSB, or Wharton) + HKS MPA concurrently and was hoping to hear people's thoughts on my competitiveness given that my profile is geared much more towards the MBA but my goals align with the MPA as well. Thanks in advance for any feedback!

Schools / Programs: HKS MPA or MPA/ID (any other school recommendations that allow for a joint MBA +MPA also much appreciated)

Undergrad: Top 20 US

Degrees: B.Sc. in Business Administration w/ Concentrations in Finance & Statistics

GPA: 3.812 (Magna Cum Laude)

GMAT: 750 (Q50, V42) - 98% Percentile

Language Skills: 2 fluent and 3 conversational in addition to English 

Work Experience: 4 years by the time of matriculation, all in New York

• 1.5 years in Investment Banking focused on industrial and technology companies
• 2.5 years in Private Equity focused on software, telecom infrastructure and education investments in developed and developing regions (particularly Latin America and Africa)

Policy Area of Interest: International Development / Social Innovation

LOR: Mid and senior level supervisors that I worked for on my international infrastructure projects

International Experience: 

• Originally from Eastern Europe (EU citizen)
• Studied abroad in the UK and China
• Interned abroad in software venture capital in China and infrastructure investment banking in Bulgaria
• Completed 1-week consulting project in Hong Kong & Macau in college

Quant Experience: Covered through work, undergrad major and GMAT score

Leadership / Extracurricular Roles:

• Undergrad's LGBTQ+ Alumni Network Board of Directors
• LGBTQ+ Immigration non profit - Co-Chair of Junior Board
• Education-focused non profit - Online Fundraising & Marketing Committee on Junior Board
• Venture Philanthropy Fund (a non-profit grants fund)- Partner
• Established first LGBTQ+ employee resource group at my first employer and started first LGBTQ+ undergrad recruiting campaign
• Entrepreneurship competition judge for current employer's entrepreneurship grant program
• Grant grader for current employer's charitable foundation 

SOP: I want to ultimately work in venture capital focused on international development / social innovation. While the MBA and my prior experience in IB / PE will help be a good investor, I envision getting the MPA or MPA/ID to gear me towards being an investor abroad in often fragile markets. As a gay immigrant from Eastern Europe, I've had the academic and economic opportunities a lot of people back home haven't and have seen what impact a lack of economic opportunities has on talent, and I see investing in social innovation in developing markets as my long-term purpose.

Thanks again in advance!!

[minko2022]

Hi everyone, 

I have been interested in public affairs/public policy but my education and work experience is almost totally irrelevant. My company will sponsor an advanced degree so I think this is my best chance to shoot for something I long for. Right I am trying to understand whether my profile and consideration make sense. 

Background: Originally from China, which is part of the reason why I want to study public policy - I simply do not have the chance in China (you know what I mean...). I don't have much interest serving the government back home neither do I have any say in how the government should run. However, I do find myself passionate about this field, esp. after studying/living in the state for a few years. 

Program planning to apply to: HKS, Stanford MIP, MIT TPP for fall 2023 (really debating whether I should also consider Princeton bc I may not be able to work in the public sector due to company sponsorship)

Education: 1) Decent private school in the US, top undergrad business program (easier to find a job in the US as an intl student); 2) online master in computer and info tech (did this because I was trying to find something to fill my time during COVID) 

GPA: 1) 3.7; 2) 3.9

GRE: shooting for 330+

Years out of undergrad/year of work experience: 3 by enrollment

Work experience: 1 year as a research analyst at a major investment bank, then switched to consulting at MBB in the US; In both of my roles, I have a strong focus on energy/climate/sustainability themes - one reason why I think MPP/MPA makes sense to me because these areas are heavily influenced by policies and regulations. 

No work experience in the public sector. 

Quant: decent exposure to quantitative coursework - one of my majors is data science, minor in math; my master's is in computer and info tech

EC: business development at a sizable start-up serving immigrants; pro-bono consulting for a local business in a developing country; career coaching for the new immigrant community

Strength of SOP: Professionally, I want to focus on policy surrounding environment, energy - this is where I came from and I have a strong motivation to acquire more expertise in these topics; personally, simply grateful for having the chance to learn about government, democracy and policy making. For me it is a win-win. 

Meanwhile, I am also struggling to articulate my story/commitment to public service. My past life is very, very finance/business centric. I am very much an idealist in heart, want to make impacts, but all sounds a bit too vague. 

Strength of LOR: good professional LOR; the academic one might be tricky since I was not very close to my professors... 

Other (why not MBA): I already studied business in undergrad and tbh MBB is like another mini business school. 

It's a bit long, but really appreciate any insights here!! Thanks folks. 

Edited April 10, 2022 by minko2022

[GradSchoolGrad]

On 3/19/2022 at 5:32 AM, 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 experience will make your future application more competitive. Fulbright alone won’t carry to the elite schools.

[Trojan19]

Hey all! Would be grateful for any kind feedback on my grad school prospects. First-gen college grad here, so figuring out many education related goals as I go.

Schools / Programs: McCourt (undecided about MPA or MPM), SIPA MPA, Heinz MPM, and maybe HKS MPA. I'm looking at matriculating in 2024.

Undergrad: Top 20 / Private

Degrees: Bachelor's in political science, minors in nonprofit management/classical antiquity

GPA: Cumulative 3.50 (I struggled during my freshman year and into my sophomore year a little bit. I'm from a very small town and was 2,000 miles away from my family during undergrad. But my grades had a really strong upward trajectory junior/senior year, which I accomplished while also working full time).

GRE: unknown, but I feel very confident in my verbal - any test I've ever taken (SAT, ACT, ASVAB) has put me in 95-99 percentiles. Quant should be acceptable but weakest, and writing should be better than most but not the best.

Work Experience: ~5+ years including internships

• During college: interned for a large LGBTQ rights organization for 8 months, 4 months on a gubernatorial campaign, 4 months for a state senator who's now the majority leader, 3 years in events, and 2 years working full time-ish (35 hours a week) for my university president while still enrolled. The nature of the work with the president's office went well beyond internship/entry level. Did some of these simultaneously - was very busy and mostly took classes at night. 
• Post grad: Worked for a top 20 university president for 2 years, had a really interesting experience where it was basically me and the chief of staff who ran an entire administration. Managed strategic initiatives/special projects/wrote speeches on behalf of the president (these were new initiatives, so it was conceptualizing them as well) and facilitated 7-9 figure projects and had a personal programmatic budget around 550k. Also had an assistant who was a PhD student and was the client for a master's practicum group on community reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
• Worked for a dean of a top school of public health for about 9 months (we didn't get along). The role focused on managing strategic initiatives. It was a top 10 school in its field. 
• Currently work for as a manager for a mid-sized city government in public safety and public health. Essentially, it's steering police reform my city (stressful) as well as continuum of support efforts to address the underlying causes for interactions with police - substance abuse, mental health, homelessness, etc. 

Policy Area of Interest: My work history has been all over... which I think demonstrates versatility, but also has downsides. Very interested in a career in politics.

LOR: Not sure how I want to tackle this. Can get the top 20 university president to write me a letter of rec, and the dean of a #3 ranked school of public policy who is my mentor. I also have connections with a professor who I took 4 classes with who obviously knows me well, and a professor who's the executive director of a decently wealthy foundation. I also have a really strong professional connection with a former CEO of a company related to the defense industry and is now the chair of a board of a fortune 50 company. It is a good problem to have, but I feel like have a comparatively strong professional network and I honestly don't know the best admixture to go with.

Quant Experience: My weakest area. Didn't take a ton of classes in undergrad and actually withdrew from a class freshman year (again, struggled) but now am in charge of setting up data collection efforts on a massive scale for multimillion dollar programs so there's related professional experience.

Awards:

• Was a QuestBridge scholar
• Got the largest scholarship for my political science program in undergrad

SOP: I feel confident about this. I grew up in pretty poverty-stricken setting with an extremely adverse background (loss of a parent, another who's an alcoholic, and gay in a super conservative area) and managed to *hopefully* break out of a cycle of poverty to make a difference in the world. I think I can demonstrate not only a sentiment to make a difference in the world but pretty clear achievements, from making a large institution carbon neutral to endowing an experiential learning program to piloting police reform efforts.

[GradSchoolGrad]

On 7/2/2022 at 7:42 PM, Trojan19 said:

Hey all! Would be grateful for any kind feedback on my grad school prospects. First-gen college grad here, so figuring out many education related goals as I go.

Schools / Programs: McCourt (undecided about MPA or MPM), SIPA MPA, Heinz MPM, and maybe HKS MPA. I'm looking at matriculating in 2024.

Undergrad: Top 20 / Private

Degrees: Bachelor's in political science, minors in nonprofit management/classical antiquity

GPA: Cumulative 3.50 (I struggled during my freshman year and into my sophomore year a little bit. I'm from a very small town and was 2,000 miles away from my family during undergrad. But my grades had a really strong upward trajectory junior/senior year, which I accomplished while also working full time).

GRE: unknown, but I feel very confident in my verbal - any test I've ever taken (SAT, ACT, ASVAB) has put me in 95-99 percentiles. Quant should be acceptable but weakest, and writing should be better than most but not the best.

Work Experience: ~5+ years including internships

• During college: interned for a large LGBTQ rights organization for 8 months, 4 months on a gubernatorial campaign, 4 months for a state senator who's now the majority leader, 3 years in events, and 2 years working full time-ish (35 hours a week) for my university president while still enrolled. The nature of the work with the president's office went well beyond internship/entry level. Did some of these simultaneously - was very busy and mostly took classes at night. 
• Post grad: Worked for a top 20 university president for 2 years, had a really interesting experience where it was basically me and the chief of staff who ran an entire administration. Managed strategic initiatives/special projects/wrote speeches on behalf of the president (these were new initiatives, so it was conceptualizing them as well) and facilitated 7-9 figure projects and had a personal programmatic budget around 550k. Also had an assistant who was a PhD student and was the client for a master's practicum group on community reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
• Worked for a dean of a top school of public health for about 9 months (we didn't get along). The role focused on managing strategic initiatives. It was a top 10 school in its field. 
• Currently work for as a manager for a mid-sized city government in public safety and public health. Essentially, it's steering police reform my city (stressful) as well as continuum of support efforts to address the underlying causes for interactions with police - substance abuse, mental health, homelessness, etc. 

Policy Area of Interest: My work history has been all over... which I think demonstrates versatility, but also has downsides. Very interested in a career in politics.

LOR: Not sure how I want to tackle this. Can get the top 20 university president to write me a letter of rec, and the dean of a #3 ranked school of public policy who is my mentor. I also have connections with a professor who I took 4 classes with who obviously knows me well, and a professor who's the executive director of a decently wealthy foundation. I also have a really strong professional connection with a former CEO of a company related to the defense industry and is now the chair of a board of a fortune 50 company. It is a good problem to have, but I feel like have a comparatively strong professional network and I honestly don't know the best admixture to go with.

Quant Experience: My weakest area. Didn't take a ton of classes in undergrad and actually withdrew from a class freshman year (again, struggled) but now am in charge of setting up data collection efforts on a massive scale for multimillion dollar programs so there's related professional experience.

Awards:

• Was a QuestBridge scholar
• Got the largest scholarship for my political science program in undergrad

SOP: I feel confident about this. I grew up in pretty poverty-stricken setting with an extremely adverse background (loss of a parent, another who's an alcoholic, and gay in a super conservative area) and managed to *hopefully* break out of a cycle of poverty to make a difference in the world. I think I can demonstrate not only a sentiment to make a difference in the world but pretty clear achievements, from making a large institution carbon neutral to endowing an experiential learning program to piloting police reform efforts.

1. If you are looking for a career in politics, you do not need to go to grad school - period... Figure out a way to get involved in local politics and rise up. If you want to go the work in DC for a fed government politics for a little bit route... grad school can help, but it is really easy to burn out that way, and I know next to 0 people who did it and lasted.

2. I don't think you would qualify for MPMs unless you have 7 or 8 years of non-intern work experience. Even if you did, you should not go to them unless you have a deeper resume. MPM programs are really for people to add some grad school shine to their resume + advancing in their current industry and not really for job switching.

3. You can and should do much better than McCourt. If you hate quant so much, I recommend more suitable academic options than McCourt.

4. The fame or prestige of your recommender doesn't matter beyond being an established professional who knows you well. The recommendation is about understanding how you would fit in the community, your employability, and compensate for any of your weaknesses. 

[Trojan19]

17 hours ago, GradSchoolGrad said:

1. If you are looking for a career in politics, you do not need to go to grad school - period... Figure out a way to get involved in local politics and rise up. If you want to go the work in DC for a fed government politics for a little bit route... grad school can help, but it is really easy to burn out that way, and I know next to 0 people who did it and lasted.

2. I don't think you would qualify for MPMs unless you have 7 or 8 years of non-intern work experience. Even if you did, you should not go to them unless you have a deeper resume. MPM programs are really for people to add some grad school shine to their resume + advancing in their current industry and not really for job switching.

3. You can and should do much better than McCourt. If you hate quant so much, I recommend more suitable academic options than McCourt.

4. The fame or prestige of your recommender doesn't matter beyond being an established professional who knows you well. The recommendation is about understanding how you would fit in the community, your employability, and compensate for any of your weaknesses. 

First, this is extremely helpful feedback! I find your responses here to be insightful.

Some of your points: 

1. This is fair. With that said, I've already gotten the sense that not having a graduate degree will negatively impact my career advancement. Basically, I am interested in the exercise of power - how do executive offices (or legislative bodies) wield that effectively for the public good? Right now when I look at the next positions I might reach for in my own and similar workplaces - assistant director/director level/chief of staff- they need graduate public policy or public administration degrees.

2. I've been trying to gauge this, so thank you.

3. I don't necessarily hate quant. I did calc in HS (not that that's relevant to a grad school app, but my own personal comfort level with it) and got A's and did macro Econ and got a B+ and honestly, I think leaders would do well to be able to draw on a background with more analytical tools that come with quant programs. The thing I'm most curious about out of the whole response is your line "better than McCourt" - is that an indictment of McCourt, or that other schools are more in line with my experience?

4. That makes sense. Quant and career pivots are probably my biggest weaknesses, and I think I can pull the right mix of recommenders to address those.

[GradSchoolGrad]

7 hours ago, Trojan19 said:

First, this is extremely helpful feedback! I find your responses here to be insightful.

Some of your points: 

1. This is fair. With that said, I've already gotten the sense that not having a graduate degree will negatively impact my career advancement. Basically, I am interested in the exercise of power - how do executive offices (or legislative bodies) wield that effectively for the public good? Right now when I look at the next positions I might reach for in my own and similar workplaces - assistant director/director level/chief of staff- they need graduate public policy or public administration degrees.

2. I've been trying to gauge this, so thank you.

3. I don't necessarily hate quant. I did calc in HS (not that that's relevant to a grad school app, but my own personal comfort level with it) and got A's and did macro Econ and got a B+ and honestly, I think leaders would do well to be able to draw on a background with more analytical tools that come with quant programs. The thing I'm most curious about out of the whole response is your line "better than McCourt" - is that an indictment of McCourt, or that other schools are more in line with my experience?

4. That makes sense. Quant and career pivots are probably my biggest weaknesses, and I think I can pull the right mix of recommenders to address those.

1. I think you are conflating academic competence and target job, which can be related but not necessarily. I still don’t know what type of job or career you are interested in within the broad category of politics, so I can’t more precisely advise you. Yes a grad degree can help in certain respects, but more so for campus hire roles into the federal government, consulting firms, and research orgs. Also, let me tell you point blank that it is pretty rare for a career switcher to land a Associate Director, Director or CoS role after policy grad school at a major organization (not counting small shops with title inflation). You will have to start as an Associate or Senior Associate and then work your way up. If you are referring to politics as in campaigns, lobbying, and political management, that is definitely networking and grinding it out although a grad degree can grease the wheels. You might get away with being a Manager if you do something tangential to your current job, but the further away you switch, the less you can expect.

2. McCourt is where ethics and ambition comes to die (exception for the MPM program since that has a much better program management). As an alum, I would be wary of hiring a McCourt alum unless there are significant mitigating factors that show ambition and ethics. Also if you want to go into politics, political power players don’t really go to McCourt. GU Politics program they brag about caters to undergrads and will matter less when McCourt moves downtown. The few McCourt alums that are elected to federal office are either unremarkable or arrested for crimes.

My recommendation is to figure out what jobs you really want to have and then I can recommend school options. 

[Excaliban]

Primary Interest: Working for Mulilateral institutions (Think World Bank, UN, IMF, OECD, etc.) I am not terribly picky about which of these i work for, as I believe them to be relatively lateral in approach and work experience and responsibility. 

Background: First Generation American, immigrated to Canada for University, Family moved back to Eastern Europe after I left USA, so very transatlantic. 

Schools / Programs: Columbia SIPA, Georgetown MSFS, HKS, WWS, JHU SAIS, Toronto MPP, IHIED Geneva, and Sciences Po. Maybe LSE? Unlikely as I am not really going for academic interests in IR and I understand that most of the LSE students use it as the European Masters into a PhD. 

For similar reasons I haven't really prioritized Fletcher, as I understand it to be mostly academic. I have considered west coast schools (Mainly Berkley and Stanford MIP but decided likely not for lack of networking stuff with multilaterals) 

Undergrad: UBC over in Vancouver, Canada

Degrees: Dual BA between Economics and Political Science, with a certificate in Russian and Spanish. 

GPA: (We use percentages, so 81%  -  (A-) - 3.77/4.3

GMAT: 710!

Language Skills: Russian (Fluent), Spanish (Conversational), French (Basic) 

Policy Area of Interest: Mulilateral Middle Manager. I am not kidding you, I legitimately just want to work in a Multilateral organization with the intention of having a say in the implementation and creation of the policy of these organizations, however small. Other than that, primarily immigration and financial work as secondary interests. 

Work Experience: This is where it gets iffy. I have completed 3 4 month full-time Co-ops, One at Royal Bank of Canada, one at Microsoft, and one at Exxon Mobil, all as slightly different roles (Credit analyst, Data analyst, and Finances forecaster). However, I would be applying straight after undergrad this term, (within 4 months of graduation). 

LOR: Decent but likely not great. I had a pretty good rapport with the prof, but only had one class with them though they liked my essay. nothing outstanding, definitely nothing poor. If it counts, one is a Harvard educated PhD who is often cited on American Politics, and the others are well cited Asian and Political Economic profs, but not sure they can comment on me specifically. 

International Experience: As I mentioned earlier, First-Generation American with most summers spent back in Eastern Europe, moved to Canada for four years to finish a degree (does Canada count as international?) Family primarily lives in Hungary, so not exactly American-centric. 

Quant Experience: Dual majored, one of which was Econ - I will admit that my quant grades were all over the place (e.g. Python and R and STATA classes with A+, intermediate Micro with a B+/C-, and then a thesis course with advanced empirics with another A- in both. But overall, a sizeable amount of quant - just not as good in grades as my polisci courses typically.  

Leadership / Extracurricular Roles: President of one geopolitics club, VP of Marketing for the economics club, worked on the sustainability council for students from the university, Treasurer for the environmental policy club, water polo team player (not anywhere good mind you), part of the Judo club, and I started a club that focuses on picking up trash around the city. 

SOP: Wrote about my family's story going all the way through WW2, Soviet Era Hungary, moving to the US, and finally Canada and mulling what Multiculturalism means to me and how it is important. My family was ethnically Roma (G*psy) and the only thing that ever saved us was education, immigration, and luck and how much I want to give other people that chance.... ended with a statement on how I can't save the world, but I might be able to help one family and that'll pay dividends for years. 

Overall, my concern is that my lack of work experience applying straight out of undergrad, in addition to my stated goal of heading for the Mulilateral jobs that are always competitive might be counter-productive. But I also can't guarantee I'll be able to go in the next few years to a familial obligation to my family to care for aging grandparents and parents. 

Advice anyone?

[GradSchoolGrad]

On 8/26/2022 at 9:49 PM, Excaliban said:

Primary Interest: Working for Mulilateral institutions (Think World Bank, UN, IMF, OECD, etc.) I am not terribly picky about which of these i work for, as I believe them to be relatively lateral in approach and work experience and responsibility. 

Background: First Generation American, immigrated to Canada for University, Family moved back to Eastern Europe after I left USA, so very transatlantic. 

Schools / Programs: Columbia SIPA, Georgetown MSFS, HKS, WWS, JHU SAIS, Toronto MPP, IHIED Geneva, and Sciences Po. Maybe LSE? Unlikely as I am not really going for academic interests in IR and I understand that most of the LSE students use it as the European Masters into a PhD. 

For similar reasons I haven't really prioritized Fletcher, as I understand it to be mostly academic. I have considered west coast schools (Mainly Berkley and Stanford MIP but decided likely not for lack of networking stuff with multilaterals) 

Undergrad: UBC over in Vancouver, Canada

Degrees: Dual BA between Economics and Political Science, with a certificate in Russian and Spanish. 

GPA: (We use percentages, so 81%  -  (A-) - 3.77/4.3

GMAT: 710!

Language Skills: Russian (Fluent), Spanish (Conversational), French (Basic) 

Policy Area of Interest: Mulilateral Middle Manager. I am not kidding you, I legitimately just want to work in a Multilateral organization with the intention of having a say in the implementation and creation of the policy of these organizations, however small. Other than that, primarily immigration and financial work as secondary interests. 

Work Experience: This is where it gets iffy. I have completed 3 4 month full-time Co-ops, One at Royal Bank of Canada, one at Microsoft, and one at Exxon Mobil, all as slightly different roles (Credit analyst, Data analyst, and Finances forecaster). However, I would be applying straight after undergrad this term, (within 4 months of graduation). 

LOR: Decent but likely not great. I had a pretty good rapport with the prof, but only had one class with them though they liked my essay. nothing outstanding, definitely nothing poor. If it counts, one is a Harvard educated PhD who is often cited on American Politics, and the others are well cited Asian and Political Economic profs, but not sure they can comment on me specifically. 

International Experience: As I mentioned earlier, First-Generation American with most summers spent back in Eastern Europe, moved to Canada for four years to finish a degree (does Canada count as international?) Family primarily lives in Hungary, so not exactly American-centric. 

Quant Experience: Dual majored, one of which was Econ - I will admit that my quant grades were all over the place (e.g. Python and R and STATA classes with A+, intermediate Micro with a B+/C-, and then a thesis course with advanced empirics with another A- in both. But overall, a sizeable amount of quant - just not as good in grades as my polisci courses typically.  

Leadership / Extracurricular Roles: President of one geopolitics club, VP of Marketing for the economics club, worked on the sustainability council for students from the university, Treasurer for the environmental policy club, water polo team player (not anywhere good mind you), part of the Judo club, and I started a club that focuses on picking up trash around the city. 

SOP: Wrote about my family's story going all the way through WW2, Soviet Era Hungary, moving to the US, and finally Canada and mulling what Multiculturalism means to me and how it is important. My family was ethnically Roma (G*psy) and the only thing that ever saved us was education, immigration, and luck and how much I want to give other people that chance.... ended with a statement on how I can't save the world, but I might be able to help one family and that'll pay dividends for years. 

Overall, my concern is that my lack of work experience applying straight out of undergrad, in addition to my stated goal of heading for the Mulilateral jobs that are always competitive might be counter-productive. But I also can't guarantee I'll be able to go in the next few years to a familial obligation to my family to care for aging grandparents and parents. 

Advice anyone?

Bottom line, if you want to get a PhD in IR (or something related), I think that could work well for you. I'll let someone who did the straight to PhD route to give you better guidance.

However, although professional master's programs are becoming incrementally more friendly to straight from undergrads. I STRONGLY recommend you get professional experience first (to be real, only full time professional experience counts. Internships might be nice, but they Arne't full time professional). Basically, it will be really tough for you to compete against those with work experience to get those middle manager roles without work experience. Please appreciate that international develop policy isn't just popular with American policy/IR grad students, but its popular internationally, so you are competing globally. You want to come in strong, rather be branded as the straight from undergrad. There might be exceptions out there, but I don't know of anyone coming from a US institution matriculate into a middle management role appropriate for a post-grad school role without prior work experience.

Also, not to sound like an annoying older person, but looking at my friends from IR and MPP, there are scores that sounded like you starting grad school, but changed their mind during grad school once they realized the total range of opportunities their degree could provide them.

Only 1 of my friends have stayed the multi-lateral institution route (and I don't know how long she will last 3 years after graduation). Bottom line, those institutions don't have the best professional development and growth culture (at large), and the impact (granted they do make a fair amount in a global setting) can be difficult to appreciate. Also, the level of competition more often than not doesn't exactly make it a collegial workplace for those without a PhD. 

That being said, if you are dead set on those multi-laterals, I strongly recommend a top notch program that has the alumni base and institutional connections. Yes you got HKS and Princeton, Georgetown MSFS, and Johns Hopkins SAIS, which are arguably the best options for you to go that route, but once again its really difficult to get in without prior work experience. The more direct options for your would be GWU Elliot School or Georgetown MPP. Columbia SIPA is a very unique case, basically - yes you have strong potential, but it is a type of school that lets you succeed or fail on your own, and especially as someone without work experience, it makes it very hard for you to do so - especially in an international and competitive city as NYC. 

[giraff]

I am an international student who will apply for MPA/MPP AND PhD in Policy programs this Fall. This is my second time applying. In 2019 I exclusively applied for PhD programs in Political Science (only top programs, my biggest mistake), didn't receive any offers for PhD but got 3 Masters offers in related programs. One of those was UCSD GPS.

I'm going insane with my chances due my undergrad GPA. It is below 3.0 converted to 4.0 scale. Granted, I wasn't the best student having working or doing research for most of my undergrad (65th percentile if memory serves me right), but our grades were SEVERILY deflated compared to the US system. No joke, I guess the top student of my cohort had 3.3-3.4. My Masters GPA is very good, however.

I'm mainly interested in programs with heavy quantitative workload, especially if it provides STEM visa.

Schools / Programs: Harvard HKS MPA-ID, Columbia SIPA MPA-DP & GSAS PhD in Susteinable Development, Chicago Harris PhD in Public Policy, Princeton SPIA MPA, Berkeley Goldman MDP, Duke Sanford (awaiting response if I can apply to PhD and be considered to MPP as well), Tufts Fletcher PhD in Public Policy, USC Price PhD in Public Policy, Georgetown McCourt MPP, Yale Jackson MPP.

Undergrad: Top college in my country, both BSc and Masters.
Degrees: Masters of Research in International Relations/Political Science; BSc in Economics
GPA: 3.85 (Masters); 2.75 (Undergrad)
GRE: 166Q / 161V / 4.5 AWA (planning on retaking it to score 167Q+)
Language Skills: Portuguese (Native); English (Fluent); Spanish (decent)
Work Experience: 5 full-time by the time of application + 1 year of internships + academic-related jobs (TA mostly):

• Internships: economic analyst intern of Congress bills for a large national consulting company; worked for the Dean of the Economics dept of my University;
• 1 year at a Big 4;
• Almost 3 years as a Government Affairs professional for the private sector. Mostly working as a Legislative Specialist and analyzing bills, but also doing low-level typical lobbying stuff (meeting with State-level lawmakers and associations). Had the opportunity to represent the company at initiatives such as UN Global Compact;
• 1.5 years as a full-time Research Assistant at an IGO in a development-related research. Veeery intensive Quantitative work here;
• TA during my Masters (Statistics). Graded assignments and conducted Stata labs.

Volunteering, Grants, Fellowships, etc.:

• 6 months: Coordinated and created the Advocacy initiative of a small Migration NGO linked to my University. Even had the opportunity to dialogue with a Congress Representative invested in re-creating the migration legislation framework in my country, which was nice
• 6 months analyzing COVID-related policy for the Oxford Government COVID Tracker chapter in my country;
• 1 year Grant for independent undergraduate research on urban transportation policy;
• Fellowship for outstanding performace during my Masters;
• Affiliated to the Quantitative Analysis Research group during my Masters.
• Presented working papers on international conventions such as ISA and LAPOP (nothing published, though);
• Very proeficient in Stata and R for quantitative analysis.

Policy Area of Interest: International Development

LOR: 2 from my RA at the IGO: one from a Head Economist (knew me well); other from a Policy researcher (PI, knew me really well). The other one will be from the Dean from the time of my Masters (she already wrote a letter, which was outstanding).

• My plan here is to ask for my former IGO superiors to write about my capacity to conduct heavy quantitative research, especially in policy. The ex-Dean will vouch for my academic credentials and quantitative preparadness (she once wrote me a letter saying I was one of the best graduate students of the history of the department, let's see if she still share the same sentiment now lol).

International Experience: 

• From a developing 3rd world country;
• Travelled solo to multiple countries, including Middle East and Cuba. Visited some zones of conflict/dispute such as Palestine, Ossetia and Abkhasia and the Iran-Iraq Kordestan border.

Quant Experience: my undergrad was a true baptism of fire, it was rough. Had linear algebra, 2 calculus courses, 3 (!!!) econometrics courses and 2 statistics courses with professors from the Mathematics department. 2 Microeconomics courses and 4 Macroeconomic courses (including int. economics). Additional quantitative methods for research during my Masters. And, well, was a TA in Statistics.

SOP: I will focus on my experience as Government Relations Specialist and RA at the IGO, but also on my research experience (of course, for PhD will be the RA + Research xp first and Specialist second). My Master thesis was in American Congress immigration policy (very quantitative), undergrad research was in urban transportation policy and my main project as RA was on environmental triggers for economic migration. I hope to leverage my experience as legislative analyst to explain I know how policy is implemented on the political level and my academic/RA experience to show I am deeply interested and capable of becoming a policy designer.

Both Masters and PhD have the same objective in mind, to make me an effective policy designer for population most prone to be impacted by climate change & emigirating as result. I wish to work for INGOs, IGOs and the like.

 

Thanks in advice for any suggestions.

Edited September 6, 2022 by giraff

[GradSchoolGrad]

On 9/6/2022 at 6:14 PM, giraff said:

I am an international student who will apply for MPA/MPP AND PhD in Policy programs this Fall. This is my second time applying. In 2019 I exclusively applied for PhD programs in Political Science (only top programs, my biggest mistake), didn't receive any offers for PhD but got 3 Masters offers in related programs. One of those was UCSD GPS.

I'm going insane with my chances due my undergrad GPA. It is below 3.0 converted to 4.0 scale. Granted, I wasn't the best student having working or doing research for most of my undergrad (65th percentile if memory serves me right), but our grades were SEVERILY deflated compared to the US system. No joke, I guess the top student of my cohort had 3.3-3.4. My Masters GPA is very good, however.

I'm mainly interested in programs with heavy quantitative workload, especially if it provides STEM visa.

Schools / Programs: Harvard HKS MPA-ID, Columbia SIPA MPA-DP & GSAS PhD in Susteinable Development, Chicago Harris PhD in Public Policy, Princeton SPIA MPA, Berkeley Goldman MDP, Duke Sanford (awaiting response if I can apply to PhD and be considered to MPP as well), Tufts Fletcher PhD in Public Policy, USC Price PhD in Public Policy, Georgetown McCourt MPP, Yale Jackson MPP.

Undergrad: Top college in my country, both BSc and Masters.
Degrees: Masters of Research in International Relations/Political Science; BSc in Economics
GPA: 3.85 (Masters); 2.75 (Undergrad)
GRE: 166Q / 161V / 4.5 AWA (planning on retaking it to score 167Q+)
Language Skills: Portuguese (Native); English (Fluent); Spanish (decent)
Work Experience: 5 full-time by the time of application + 1 year of internships + academic-related jobs (TA mostly):

• Internships: economic analyst intern of Congress bills for a large national consulting company; worked for the Dean of the Economics dept of my University;
• 1 year at a Big 4;
• Almost 3 years as a Government Affairs professional for the private sector. Mostly working as a Legislative Specialist and analyzing bills, but also doing low-level typical lobbying stuff (meeting with State-level lawmakers and associations). Had the opportunity to represent the company at initiatives such as UN Global Compact;
• 1.5 years as a full-time Research Assistant at an IGO in a development-related research. Veeery intensive Quantitative work here;
• TA during my Masters (Statistics). Graded assignments and conducted Stata labs.

Volunteering, Grants, Fellowships, etc.:

• 6 months: Coordinated and created the Advocacy initiative of a small Migration NGO linked to my University. Even had the opportunity to dialogue with a Congress Representative invested in re-creating the migration legislation framework in my country, which was nice
• 6 months analyzing COVID-related policy for the Oxford Government COVID Tracker chapter in my country;
• 1 year Grant for independent undergraduate research on urban transportation policy;
• Fellowship for outstanding performace during my Masters;
• Affiliated to the Quantitative Analysis Research group during my Masters.
• Presented working papers on international conventions such as ISA and LAPOP (nothing published, though);
• Very proeficient in Stata and R for quantitative analysis.

Policy Area of Interest: International Development

LOR: 2 from my RA at the IGO: one from a Head Economist (knew me well); other from a Policy researcher (PI, knew me really well). The other one will be from the Dean from the time of my Masters (she already wrote a letter, which was outstanding).

• My plan here is to ask for my former IGO superiors to write about my capacity to conduct heavy quantitative research, especially in policy. The ex-Dean will vouch for my academic credentials and quantitative preparadness (she once wrote me a letter saying I was one of the best graduate students of the history of the department, let's see if she still share the same sentiment now lol).

International Experience: 

• From a developing 3rd world country;
• Travelled solo to multiple countries, including Middle East and Cuba. Visited some zones of conflict/dispute such as Palestine, Ossetia and Abkhasia and the Iran-Iraq Kordestan border.

Quant Experience: my undergrad was a true baptism of fire, it was rough. Had linear algebra, 2 calculus courses, 3 (!!!) econometrics courses and 2 statistics courses with professors from the Mathematics department. 2 Microeconomics courses and 4 Macroeconomic courses (including int. economics). Additional quantitative methods for research during my Masters. And, well, was a TA in Statistics.

SOP: I will focus on my experience as Government Relations Specialist and RA at the IGO, but also on my research experience (of course, for PhD will be the RA + Research xp first and Specialist second). My Master thesis was in American Congress immigration policy (very quantitative), undergrad research was in urban transportation policy and my main project as RA was on environmental triggers for economic migration. I hope to leverage my experience as legislative analyst to explain I know how policy is implemented on the political level and my academic/RA experience to show I am deeply interested and capable of becoming a policy designer.

Both Masters and PhD have the same objective in mind, to make me an effective policy designer for population most prone to be impacted by climate change & emigirating as result. I wish to work for INGOs, IGOs and the like.

 

Thanks in advice for any suggestions.

Assuming your essay is good (and trust me a lot of people's essays become their down fall despite good stats and good background), you should be fine for MPP. Obviously, the top schools are always crap shoot no matter how good you are. I strongly recommend you explore which school fits your interests (academically, socially, and professionally) the most. The worst thing you can do is pay a lot of money for a school that you aren't happy at. 

Given that you have a high GPA in a quant field from your Masters, I don't think you need to worry about undergrad grades. You might want to note the grading system or any difficulties you had in your supplemental write up in the application. 

[giraff]

46 minutes ago, GradSchoolGrad said:

Assuming your essay is good (and trust me a lot of people's essays become their down fall despite good stats and good background), you should be fine for MPP. Obviously, the top schools are always crap shoot no matter how good you are. I strongly recommend you explore which school fits your interests (academically, socially, and professionally) the most. The worst thing you can do is pay a lot of money for a school that you aren't happy at. 

Given that you have a high GPA in a quant field from your Masters, I don't think you need to worry about undergrad grades. You might want to note the grading system or any difficulties you had in your supplemental write up in the application. 

Thanks for the advice!

Programs more focused on domestic policy is not something of my interest, but being accurate on which schools to choose has been hard, because not all departments provide detailed placement stats. Ie., HKS MPAID has stats for employment for international studens, but many of those don't discriminate between national or international. More than the curriculum, there's the financial issue. I would not be sponsored, so I need some security I will find a job that pays in dollar or euros after graduating in case I have to take in loans.

I'd like to ask, if you have this info, about the PhD. I'm struggling to find on internet any information about PhD in PP, most probably because there are very few graduates... All programs I've been seeing are really, really small. Generally PhDs take in a small number of students each year, but Policy seems something else: ie., Berkeley PhD in PP takes in 2 to 3 applicants each year, according to their website. I wonder if those PhD programs are designed to take in former MPA/MPP students from their own department, or even if have a Masters in a top American program is a must. In that case, applying for PhD now would be a waste of money I guess

Edited September 9, 2022 by giraff

[GradSchoolGrad]

13 minutes ago, giraff said:

Thanks for the advice!

Programs more focused on domestic policy is not something of my interest, but being accurate on which schools to choose has been hard, because not all departments provide detailed placement stats. Ie., HKS MPAID has stats for employment for international studens, but many of those don't discriminate between national or international. More than the curriculum, there's the financial issue. I would not be sponsored, so I need some security I will find a job that pays in dollar or euros after graduating in case I have to take in loans.

I'd like to ask, if you have this info, about the PhD. I'm struggling to find on internet any information about PhD in PP, most probably because there are very few graduates... All programs I've been seeing are really, really small. Generally PhDs take in a small number of students each year, but Policy seems something else: ie., Berkeley PhD in PP takes in 2 to 3 applicants each year, according to their website. I wonder if those PhD programs are designed to take in former MPA/MPP students from their own department, or even if have a Masters in a top American program is a must. In that case, applying for PhD now would be a waste of money I guess

 

13 minutes ago, giraff said:

Thanks for the advice!

Programs more focused on domestic policy is not something of my interest, but being accurate on which schools to choose has been hard, because not all departments provide detailed placement stats. Ie., HKS MPAID has stats for employment for international studens, but many of those don't discriminate between national or international. More than the curriculum, there's the financial issue. I would not be sponsored, so I need some security I will find a job that pays in dollar or euros after graduating in case I have to take in loans.

I'd like to ask, if you have this info, about the PhD. I'm struggling to find on internet any information about PhD in PP, most probably because there are very few graduates... All programs I've been seeing are really, really small. Generally PhDs take in a small number of students each year, but Policy seems something else: ie., Berkeley PhD in PP takes in 2 to 3 applicants each year, according to their website. I wonder if those PhD programs are designed to take in former MPA/MPP students from their own department, or even if have a Masters in a top American program is a must. In that case, applying for PhD now would be a waste of money I guess

1. As to MPP/MPA programs, most of them have Student Ambassador programs. I recommend you talk to one - especially an international student.

2. As for PhD programs for PP, the reason why they don't have stuff on the website because it is based on connectivity with a Professional. You shouldn't blindly apply, you should have at least networking relationship with a professor who knows of you and is interested in your talents and background. Unless you have earth shattering prior research or your name is well known in an area of interest of a particular professor, I would argue that you are already behind the game. 

Also, the numbers they can take in each year can vary greatly, depending on funding available. 

3. You don't need to be a former MPA/MPP from anybody's department to go onto a PhD in PP. Although that happens and can help marginally, it is not remotely a requirement.

If you want to go the PhD route, I recommend you think about Economics, Political science, as well as public policy (if it is relevant). 

Edited September 9, 2022 by GradSchoolGrad

[IndominusTaco]

Program Applied To (MPA, MPP, IR, etc.): MPP

Schools Applying To (in descending order of choice): UChicago Harris, UCSD GPS, Denver Korbel, University of Illinois Chicago

Undergraduate institution: small state school

Undergraduate GPA: 3.47 (4.0 scale)

Undergrad degree: Bachelors in Business Administration, Marketing concentration; Econ minor

GRE: did not take

Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 2

Years of (Relevant) Work Experience: 0

Describe Relevant Work Experience: no policy experience, currently working in retail management

Quant: Intermediate Micro & Macro, Managerial Econ, International Economics, Business Statistics, Quantitative Business Methods, Calc I

Strength of SOP: I think is strong but not sure what else to add to make it exceptional. Focusing on how an MPP degree will pivot my career and help me break into environmental policy, which is my passion and career aspiration.

Strength of LOR (be honest, describe the process, etc): 1 professor, 1 club advisor, 1 work supervisor. I had a good relationship with my professor, took half of my econ courses with him and also independent study where he oversaw my work on a research paper on labor economics. He was very enthused about giving me a strong LOR.

Club advisor knows my interests and extracurricular work from when I held officer positions for multiple student organizations.

Work supervisor knows my work ethic and has worked with me for 2-3 years in retail. Can speak to my volunteering efforts with the company and leadership capability.

Other: Overall nervous about my qualifications. I know that my weak spots are my lack of work experience, lack of academic honors/awards, lack of quant background, (and possibly no GRE for some schools). Spent the last 10 months preparing by volunteering more, taking Calc 1 at a local community college, and getting to know the admissions staff at Harris and attending their events. I think my volunteer experience is strong. I'm hoping that my overall profile conveys that although I don't have the experience, I have the passion/drive and the capability to thrive with the right resources.

[mindlesslydreaming]

Hello! I have been a longtime lurker on this thread and since my grad school applications are finally getting into full swing, decided I would try too! appreciate any feedback+comments. I am particularly interested in security issues (and also decided it would be my best shot looking at my background) and its intersection with tech. Another big consideration for me was my lack of quant background (and frankly, my unwillingness to touch it more than I can help in grad school). Financial aid is also a very important factor for me, and am wondering whether I am competitive enough to get a substantial amount. Am still wondering whether to stay and hopefully find a job in the US, or head back to my home country, and would like to know maybe which school would be the best marketable in the security/tech/consulting sphere? Thanks!

Schools / Programs: Georgetown Walsh SSP, GWU Elliott SPS, Tufts Fletcher MALD (I had a pre-admission interview with Tufts and I believe it went well) 

Undergrad: Among top 20 schools in the world (depending on ranking), top 5 school in Asia 

Degrees: Undergrad bachelors in Political Science

GPA: My school is on a different scale but after some rough calculation, should work out to be 3.56/3.6ish

GRE: 167V, 162Q, 5.5AW

Language Skills: English, Mandarin, and picking up a third Southeast Asian language

Work Experience: I graduated 2021, and have been working for a year in my country's version of the department of defense. By the time I start school, I wouldve worked for about 1.5 years.

LOR: Thesis supervisor, research supervisor, and a former internship supervisor. All should be pretty solid, with one of my profs explaining about an incident in school which impacted my grades.

International Experience: Lived overseas as a child, and also did a semester abroad. 

Quant Experience: Compulsory course in R, and that's it haha

Leadership/extracurricular: Without going into much detail, I have substantial volunteering experiences during colleges and still volunteer in several organisations related to IR/youth advocacy etc

SOP: Will write about my experiences currently working in the DOD, and how I wish to pivot to another role within the DOD which a master's would be highly beneficial for. 

Edited November 10, 2022 by mindlesslydreaming

[redaxcx]

Hey everyone, happy holidays! Would be interested in what you think, especially for Oxford. I know my undergrad GPA is low but I have great research positions and experience in getting funding, and I'm certain that I'll get great LORs.

Schools / Programs: I only am looking at one-year programs, Oxford's MSc in Politics Research (top choice), University of Toronto's MA in Political Science, University of British Columbia MA in Political Science, Central European University MA Political Science, Trinity College Dublin MA in International Politics.

Undergrad: One of the better universities in France, spent the last year at the University of Geneva. 

Post-graduate: Digital Humanities master at France's top school. Very prestigious.

Degrees: Undergrad bachelors in Social Science with a good amount of courses in PoliSci. Currently doing an MSc in Digital Humanities at France's most prestigious school.

GPA: This is my negative imho, I have a 3.4/4.0. But in my current master's I'll end up with a 3.9/4.0.

GRE: DId not take the GRE.

Language Skills: Amazigh, Arabic, English and French all fluently.

Work Experience: I am currently a research assistant at Sorbonne University and the National Institute for Art History. Just before this, I was a research assistant at Sciences Po. I interned at a think tank before (with somewhat big achievements) and worked at a polling institution. Going to SantAnna School of Advanced Studies during spring, then to University of Toronto for the summer, both for research internships.

LOR: Thesis supervisor (Sciences Po), research position supervisor (Sorbonne Université), and a current professor (Ecole Normale Supérieure). All should be pretty solid.

International Experience: Lived in like 8 countries. Interned and worked around the world.

Quant Experience: Lots of R and Python and other stuff during my Digital Humanities master.

SOP: Will write about my experiences doing research, my master's thesis subject and my interest in comparartive politics and personal life and how as a refugee it wasn't easy for me.

Other: A bunch of decent scholarships (around 30k and this is Europe so they aren't concerning tuition fee), just won one of $12,000CAD from the Canadian government for a research internship at the University of Toronto.