Profile Evaluation for PhD in Public Policy

[Shuktara]

Hi,

I have applied to several schools for PhD in Public Policy for Fall-2017. My master's is in Public Policy from the University of Texas at Arlington (GPA:3.75), another master's in Public Policy and Governance from the North South University in Bangladesh (GPA: 3.36), Bachelor in Social Work from the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh (GPA: 3.35, top in the class). My GRE scores are 148 (V), 149 (Q), 3.0 (AW). I also have four years of research experiences with different international NGOs. I have applied to
1. American University,
2. University of Maryland College Park,
3. University of Maryland Baltimore County,
4. Rutgers University,
5. University of Mass Boston,
6. Georgia State.
I already received rejection from the Rutgers, UMBC, and Georgia State. I understand that I picked up very high ranked schools comparing to my profile. I would like to know which schools would be suitable for my profile.

Thanks in advance for your reply.

[guest56436]

There are not many people who apply to public policy programs on this subforum.

Edited March 14, 2017 by Comparativist

[TheWalkingGrad]

Hi!

I didn't apply to Public Policy directly so I don't know about many programs, but I got accepted at UT Austin for the Public Policy subfield. I went to visit day and it was great, Bryan Jones is the main POI in the field but I got a sense they are very interdisciplinary. I think it's a good option for you, but I would work on improving your GRE first. I got in with 166V and 162Q. I would also try to explain your low undergrad GPA in your SoP (I understand that international GPAs don't translate well to the US and that a 3.35 in Bangladesh might be a 4.0 in the US, but sometimes when committees are reading 300+ applications people tend to be reduced to numbers). Try to get strong rec letters that also address this issue and emphasize you were at the top of your class.

Good luck!

[ralphwiththeconch]

Hi! I spoke to a number of Public Policy PhD students during my application process (I had considered it at a time), and my impression from those conversations was that programs are rather competitive - if mostly because most are quite small - and quant skills are important to demonstrate. There are more econ majors in Public Policy programs than I had expected, so I'd try to bump up your quant GRE score in particular, and verbal skills can be improved pretty dramatically by studying the vocabulary that is tested on the exam. You might also try reaching out to current students in programs that you applied to if their contact info is online and they are willing to talk, or a possible better option is to reach out to the affiliated MPP programs to ask for introductions to their PhD students and offer pointers as well. Good luck!

[Shuktara]

On 3/14/2017 at 1:30 PM, TheWalkingGrad said:

Hi!

I didn't apply to Public Policy directly so I don't know about many programs, but I got accepted at UT Austin for the Public Policy subfield. I went to visit day and it was great, Bryan Jones is the main POI in the field but I got a sense they are very interdisciplinary. I think it's a good option for you, but I would work on improving your GRE first. I got in with 166V and 162Q. I would also try to explain your low undergrad GPA in your SoP (I understand that international GPAs don't translate well to the US and that a 3.35 in Bangladesh might be a 4.0 in the US, but sometimes when committees are reading 300+ applications people tend to be reduced to numbers). Try to get strong rec letters that also address this issue and emphasize you were at the top of your class.

Good luck!

Thank you very much for your suggestions. It is very helpful to me.

[Shuktara]

On 3/15/2017 at 3:19 PM, ralphwiththeconch said:

Hi! I spoke to a number of Public Policy PhD students during my application process (I had considered it at a time), and my impression from those conversations was that programs are rather competitive - if mostly because most are quite small - and quant skills are important to demonstrate. There are more econ majors in Public Policy programs than I had expected, so I'd try to bump up your quant GRE score in particular, and verbal skills can be improved pretty dramatically by studying the vocabulary that is tested on the exam. You might also try reaching out to current students in programs that you applied to if their contact info is online and they are willing to talk, or a possible better option is to reach out to the affiliated MPP programs to ask for introductions to their PhD students and offer pointers as well. Good luck!

Thank you very much for your reply. I will work on improving my GRE scores.