A bit of advice... unranked school or shoot for the stars?

[bruingirl11]

Hi everyone! If any of you could please give me some feedback, it would be much appreciated. I have only applied to one Fall 2012 program at a local state school and was provisionally admitted with the requirement that I take 1 stats class. The school is unranked, only offered me loans, is evening/online, and will take four quarters (3k tuition per quarter). It is the only program that I have applied to, so far, since I am too late for Fall 2012 and too early for Fall 2013 programs. I am now debating whether I ought to go ahead and take this opportunity, or wait until this fall and apply for more highly ranked schools for Fall 2013.

What sort of programs would any of you suggest that I should be aiming for with this profile?

Potential Program: MPA and IR


Undergrad: dual B.A.'s in Music Performance and Philosophy




Undergrad GPA: 3.4




GRE: verbal low 500’s / quant 425, and 4.5 I will be studying to improve this.

Quant: I don't have any prior econ, math, or quant. coursework behind me. This and the GRE are my weak points.

Goals: Either to prepare for an enter a career in foreign services, in City Management (Emergency Services/Safety), or City HR. 


LOR: I am thinking of asking the city manager and an HR analyst that I am working under for LOR's. The academic letter may be difficult to get because I have been out of school for 5 years.

Languages: German (intermediate) and Japanese (definitely need to work on this one)


I have worked in education since graduating from a top 25 public university in '07. For the past 2.5 years I had been teaching English in Japan, and since the start of summer of this year I have been volunteer-working for full work-week hours at my local City Hall HR department, doing multiple policy research projects to help them update their EIIPP-related Risk Management policies (concerning DOT, zoonautics, worker's comp issues, and the like). I have also been volunteer interning in my local City Manager's office, helping with city events planning among other tasks.

Thank you all in advance! For those of you who will be applying this fall, too, I will try my best to give feedback to your own submissions. : )

Edited July 24, 2012 by bruingirl11

[OregonGal]

Without knowing what school you're referring to, it's hard to give you specific advice about it. I will say that $12000 for a Masters is a good deal--I'm in a two-year program with a price tag about 10x that! However, grad schools are much more than the degree.

I think you need to look at what you want to do and what level you want to do it. If you want to work locally, that degree is probably fine. However, the advantage that a more prestigious program gives is its connections, its career services, and its brand recognition. Attending a program with a strong alumni network and dedicated career services can really help open doors for you if you want to work in national or more prestigious companies/institutions.

Your GRE scores and lack of quant are points of concern; however, your years of teaching in Japan and your experience in your local city hall really give you some strong points on your resume.

[scholl43]

I'd agree with the last response on the quant scores. Mine aren't that high, but I have some math, stats, econ, and a fellowship that had econ, which will make my weaker quant GRE score a little less of a weak point (I had an admissions person tell me not to retake it.) Here's a potential solution:

Apply to bigger schools this fall while taking a Stats or Econ course and studying for/taking the GRE. That may be a big load, but it would show that you're motivated if you do well on both. You'll either have to figure out a past academic LOR or start building a new relationship (slim chance for applying this year).

If you're looking for Foreign Service, I don't think you're prepared (resume wise) to compete for bigger schools. If you really want that, you could spend this year in macro, micro, and a stats class. Preferably you take a couple of those classes with one teacher and develop a good relationship so you have a fresh LOR for Fall 2013.

[fenderpete]

Shoot for the stars, but also be prepared to put in the hours to get there. You need to up your GRE score - I'd be shooting for a minimum of 650 in each, but if you can break 700 you should be golden. The test is very much something you can study for and improve your score, and for 2-3 months of your life now you could be getting into a far better grad program.

If you apply for Fall 2013, look at boosting your resume as much as you can in that year. Volunteering in the area of public policy you want to work in shows your commitment to public service and will also provide some great insight that you can add into your SOP. If you haven't already, think about asking to take sole responsibility for a project or initiate something of your own - that's SOP gold.

Micro/macro would also help overcome your weaker quant background, as this signals an awareness that it's something you want to work on to the adcomms.

If you don't apply to the best schools you'll always wonder 'what if'.