First, I owe a big thank you to the entire gradcafe community. As a lurker, I learned quite a bit about everything from GRE prep to which programs are more academic vs. more professionally oriented. I'm coming back to school after a few years working, so it's been really nice to have a support system (even if none of you know me).
Long-Term Goal: I'm 95% sure I would eventually like to obtain my PhD in Political Science and do a mix of teaching, researching, and consulting.
Short-Term Goal: Lacking peer-reviewed pieces, I think the best route is probably to do a Master's degree and go from there. Public Policy has always been fascinating to me, so I've been evaluating MPP/MPA programs. If you feel there might be a better/smarter direction, please let me know.
Current List: UC Berkeley (Goldman), Georgetown (McCourt), Chicago (Harris), UVA (Batten), UMichigan (Ford), UWashington (Evans) -- also, I'm interested in MIT's MSci program, so if anyone can shed light on whether that might be a good fit, that would be wonderful.
GPA: 3.65, 3.9 Major GPA (International Studies, Focus on US Foreign Policy, Top 10 program for field, but definitely not Ivy).
GRE: 169V, 161Q, Writing unknown (took it yesterday).
Work Experience: 2 political campaign cycles in leadership positions (plus an internship in '08), 2 years in small business leadership (non-founder but with some policy overlap), 1 year as an academic coach at a community college (with experience setting/implementing new training/assessment policies).
LOR: Reaching out to undergrad professors who knew me very well at the time; hopefully that goes well (if anyone has experience doing this and has suggestions, that would be wonderful). Will have one very good professional rec.
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makingtheleap.back
First, I owe a big thank you to the entire gradcafe community. As a lurker, I learned quite a bit about everything from GRE prep to which programs are more academic vs. more professionally oriented. I'm coming back to school after a few years working, so it's been really nice to have a support system (even if none of you know me).
Long-Term Goal: I'm 95% sure I would eventually like to obtain my PhD in Political Science and do a mix of teaching, researching, and consulting.
Short-Term Goal: Lacking peer-reviewed pieces, I think the best route is probably to do a Master's degree and go from there. Public Policy has always been fascinating to me, so I've been evaluating MPP/MPA programs. If you feel there might be a better/smarter direction, please let me know.
Current List: UC Berkeley (Goldman), Georgetown (McCourt), Chicago (Harris), UVA (Batten), UMichigan (Ford), UWashington (Evans) -- also, I'm interested in MIT's MSci program, so if anyone can shed light on whether that might be a good fit, that would be wonderful.
GPA: 3.65, 3.9 Major GPA (International Studies, Focus on US Foreign Policy, Top 10 program for field, but definitely not Ivy).
GRE: 169V, 161Q, Writing unknown (took it yesterday).
Work Experience: 2 political campaign cycles in leadership positions (plus an internship in '08), 2 years in small business leadership (non-founder but with some policy overlap), 1 year as an academic coach at a community college (with experience setting/implementing new training/assessment policies).
LOR: Reaching out to undergrad professors who knew me very well at the time; hopefully that goes well (if anyone has experience doing this and has suggestions, that would be wonderful). Will have one very good professional rec.
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