Work Experience a must for Stanford IPS, top MPP programs?

[jaymerchi]

I am a bachelor in Economics and Public Policy at a top 30 LAC. I am interested in MPPs at duke michigan or berkely and the IPS at stanford. My current Ugpa is 3.84 which is considered good for my school since we have grade deflation putting me in the top 3 % of my class. While I recognize that programs like the IPS and MPA-ID at harvard are extremely competitive and command significant work experience, I am very keen to go on straight to grad school. Would I be able to put forward a strong application with no work experience out of college or is it almost pointless to apply to such programs without any experience. Any other advice would be strongly appreciated. I am yet to take my GREs but am expecting a good score, at least in quant (780 or 800). Verbal would be a shoot around 600 ish. I have taken a lot of micro, macro, calc and even analysis so that should be alright.

[bbq555]

do you have any internship experience? and i've come across a handfull of people at berkley who got accepted straight from undergrad with little work experience.

[jaymerchi]

i do not have any internship experience as yet but I will hopefully be interning at a policy institute next summer. I have however worked over summer with a professor and have helped produce a policy paper which should be published in a journal. I have a fair amount of international experience as I have taken summer courses on Chinese economic policy in Beijing Uni through the LSE last summer and will be studying Economics and Politics at Oxford in spring 2010 for an entire semester.

[younglions]

Stanford IPS is a great program, however it's young and hasn't had an opportunity (or perhaps hasn't tried) to establish itself as a topnotch terminal policy degree program. Considering this, the barriers to entry, especially in terms of work experience, are lower than you'll find to the north at Berkeley or at east coast schools like Harvard and Princeton. On the other hand, Stanford has more stringent academic prerequisites than most other programs including calc-based stats, which undoubtedly reflects its more academic approach to the field. I think Stanford is a great program for academic high-achievers who aren't interested in gaining some work experience before pursuing their masters. It seems like a great match for you, and I bet you have a good shot.

[jaymerchi]

True true. The IPS definitely seems extremely academic in nature and highly quant based. Would it be fair to compare it to the MPA-ID at harvard ?

Even though the program is very young, it seemed like they had fairly decent placements across the board. Maybe they should offer a dual degree with their B school over 3 or 4 years which would definitely make IPS graduates more attractive on the job market. A lot of HKS grads seemed to be pairing their degrees with MBAs from HBS and that definitely makes an applicant more competitive. Whether the MBA adds substantially to the job seekers compatibility to the organization is a completely different point altogether.

[riz1]

IPS is academic in nature; HKS is not. All Kennedy School degree programs, historically and at present, are professional policy and government programs, and I don't foresee that changing. I have multiple friends who have completed the MPP, MPA or MPA/ID program and then gone on to do amazing things (one very good friend manages the Google Foundation and its development work overseas). While I have no doubt that IPS grads go on to do equally amazing things, I do know that getting into HKS requires significant relevant work experience. From what others are saying here, it seems that the focus of IPS is less on work experience and more on academic achievement and evidence / assurance of continued academic success.

[jaymerchi]

That seems like a fair assessment. What do you reckon the acceptance rate for the IPS and other MPP programs is. Any reliable source from where I can get them. I find it interesting that petersons has admissions % stats but the official websites do not. Any thoughts ?

[globalsun]

As an incoming IPS student, I have to contest the notion that it is a purely academic program. To find that you would have to look at Yale's or U Chicago's IR programs. Having high standards in terms of economics/quantitate training does equate to lowering the years of work experience. While several incoming students are recent graduates, the overwhelming majority of this year's cohort have several years plus of experience in very high profile corporate, government, and multilateral organizations. A better description for IPS would be an highly interdisciplinary professional program that fills the void between leading IR schools like SAIS and top policy programs like WWS.

[OD09]

I would say relevant work experience is necessary for the top programs, but not to extend that some have suggested. I was a natural science and humanities double with not too strong a quantitative background and no economics background, but with a high GPA and solid GRE scores. I had limited work experience in public policy (I did a few internships in neurophysiology research and worked for an advocacy center for literary arts). I was heavily involved with my extra-curriculars, but I had no full-time work experience. I applied to three policy programs and got into two (HKS and Chicago) on scholarship. You shouldn't speculate as to what your chances are... that'll drive you crazy and prevent you from applying. Just apply and see what happens. Good luck!

[jaymerchi]

yea i will definitely apply. Also do you believe that an initial rejection makes it harder to get accepted after putting in some work experience in a relevant field. On another note, do you think that dedicated MPP programs with their own schools would run more reputable programs than the relatively newer stanford ips. the IPS program pools in resources from across stanford while MPPs in places berkely and chicago for example have dedicated pools of faculty. It just seems like their MPPs are more "serious" if I must say. I would love to hear from someone who chose the IPS or is in the IPS right now to respond to this (no offense or anything).

[globalsun]

Jaymerchi,

I would have to emphasize that from my experience, IPS's shares far more applicants with the East Coast IR establishment (SAIS, SIPA, and Fletcher) than with the MPP programs, so my relative comparisons will remain with the IR programs I've been accepted to and understand well.

In respects to the "seriousness" of the program, I can assure you that its a red herring issue. Most of the core IPS courses are exclusively reserved for IPS and internal Stanford MPP masters students. Given the small size of the program, there is no chance of overbooked or overcrowded classrooms for the core curriculum. In comparison, students at more established IR schools like SIPA and SAIS often have to deal with quotas and huge impersonal core class sizes, even if the resources are not pooled from other programs. Each IPS student is also given a fully tenured Stanford professor to serve as their dedicated advisors. Very few masters programs can command that level of attention.

The interdisciplinary nature of the program also ensures that you do have the option to take courses at Stanford's world renowned Law, Business, and Engineering schools. Stanford is one of the few universities that can claim the majority of their graduate programs are ranked in the top 10, so the pooling collective university resources available at IPS will only serve to expand your intellectual horizons.

I had many of the same concerns initially, but most of them are due to the relatively weak salesmanship on the part of IPS. Once you dig more into the program, you will know why so many chose this younger program over many more "reputable" IR schools. Finally, initial rejection followed by greater WE cannot hurt your chances so do not worry.

[riz1]

As an incoming IPS student, I have to contest the notion that it is a purely academic program.

G-sun: thanks for the clarification. I guess we all have much to learn about Stanford's fledgling, on-the-up-and-up program. Thanks again!

[hippieva]

thanks for the informative post!

Jaymerchi,

I would have to emphasize that from my experience, IPS's shares far more applicants with the East Coast IR establishment (SAIS, SIPA, and Fletcher) than with the MPP programs, so my relative comparisons will remain with the IR programs I've been accepted to and understand well.

In respects to the "seriousness" of the program, I can assure you that its a red herring issue. Most of the core IPS courses are exclusively reserved for IPS and internal Stanford MPP masters students. Given the small size of the program, there is no chance of overbooked or overcrowded classrooms for the core curriculum. In comparison, students at more established IR schools like SIPA and SAIS often have to deal with quotas and huge impersonal core class sizes, even if the resources are not pooled from other programs. Each IPS student is also given a fully tenured Stanford professor to serve as their dedicated advisors. Very few masters programs can command that level of attention.

The interdisciplinary nature of the program also ensures that you do have the option to take courses at Stanford's world renowned Law, Business, and Engineering schools. Stanford is one of the few universities that can claim the majority of their graduate programs are ranked in the top 10, so the pooling collective university resources available at IPS will only serve to expand your intellectual horizons.

I had many of the same concerns initially, but most of them are due to the relatively weak salesmanship on the part of IPS. Once you dig more into the program, you will know why so many chose this younger program over many more "reputable" IR schools. Finally, initial rejection followed by greater WE cannot hurt your chances so do not worry.

[jaymerchi]

Yea thanks for the post. The only reason I was comparing it to MPP programs is because it seems far more quant heavy and has a lotta overlap with MPP core quant classes.