WWS MPA - Question - PLEASE ANSWER!!

[Revolutionary]

Dear Gradcafe community,

As an international student, I can not afford to study at the US on my own funds. So I looked towards other means of funding and I have secured the Fulright award in a second tier policy program for 2018. HOWEVER, there is a big downside to Fulbright - grantees have (and I've made it bold to show that staying in the US is simply not an option legally) to return immediately to their home country right after the program ends. This means the US job market is off for me. Because of this (I really, really want to gain professional work experience in the US), I was considering applying to graduate policy programs that are known to give aid, for 2018, and then compare them as alternative options to my Fulbright.

The most well known of these, of course, is Princeton's WWS and the fully funded program if offers, the MPA.

Now, what I want to know is what kind of people WWS admits, and whether I have a shot at it or not, no matter how small. You see, if you look at the MPA statistics on the WWS "Graduate Admissions Viewbook", you see some pretty intimidating numbers. Like, really, off the chart numbers, on a whole different league compared to other programs.

65% of applicants have 4 or greater years of work experience. Only 15% have less than 3 years of work experience. 76% have GPA above 3.7, and the highest percentiles on the GRE are also pretty average for the WWS MPA applicant.

Now, what would really help me out is if someone already enrolled in the WWS MPA program or a graduate of the program could tell me about the class profiles at WWS. Of course, I would also appreciate advice from the rest of the Gradcafe community.

If the WWS seems like a bit too competitive for my profile, what would you guys recommend I do? Take the Fulbright and just do the second-tier program and then return to my home country, squashing my dream of working in the US (and keep in mind that there is not much use of my MPA degree in my home country)? Or forfeit the award this year and try my luck next year by improving my profile for WWS? Please keep in mind that I just can not afford self-financed programs and am certainly not going to take debt for any unless they are solid return-on-investment options (which are those by the way? HKS? SAIS? Or do none exist - its a gamble with all of them?) And of course, also keep in mind the H1B visa issue - is it true that even if one is a top profile candidate, a WWS MPA graduate or HKS MPP graduate with a job or two already secured, the H1B lottery and simply send him home despite all his achievements? In other words, is studying the US to look for work afterwards in the country just not possible anymore? Especially after a policy degree?

Thanks,

Fulbright award grantee who wants to spend some years working in the US

PS One last thing, what programs other than WWS MPA are know to give substantial amounts of aid?

 

Edited December 7, 2017 by Revolutionary

[nycpolicy]

I'd also like to know others' opinions on this. Is it even worth applying to WWS if none of your stats match up to those given in their viewbook?

[op1920]

The admit rate last year was 13%. Here are the profiles of current students but I'm not sure how much this helps (this is just current students who wrote their own profile and it's pretty open-ended.)

http://wws.princeton.edu/admissions/mpa/biographical-profiles-current-mpa-graduate-students

 

Edited December 7, 2017 by op1920

[invincible49]

I'm also in a similar predicament (Indian applicant) without the Fulbright.

 

Here's the thing: MPP and MPA degrees are not STEM and I've seen many LinkedIn profiles of students who studied at HKS and WWS and are back in India. The H1B is really hard to get for non-STEM programmes.

Two options the way I see it:

1. Which is the mid-tier university you got into? If it's free education it is worth considering, in my opinion. You can always end up working in another country which isn't the US.

2. If you aren't going to use the Fulbright, then apply to some STEM programmes which gives you a 3 year OPT. Research Berkeley's MDP. Harris also has one (if you know more, do let me know).

WWS isn't a guarantee you'll be working in the US so you need to remove that notion from your head. But if you are hell bent on going to WWS reassess your application and see where you are weak and spend the next year strengthening your profile. 

[frankfurtercardozo]

I am not able to trace the section for GRE/ TOEFL scores on the online WWS MPA application. Anyone here facing the same situation?

[Revolutionary]

On 12/8/2017 at 9:23 AM, invincible49 said:

I'm also in a similar predicament (Indian applicant) without the Fulbright.

 

Here's the thing: MPP and MPA degrees are not STEM and I've seen many LinkedIn profiles of students who studied at HKS and WWS and are back in India. The H1B is really hard to get for non-STEM programmes.

Two options the way I see it:

1. Which is the mid-tier university you got into? If it's free education it is worth considering, in my opinion. You can always end up working in another country which isn't the US.

2. If you aren't going to use the Fulbright, then apply to some STEM programmes which gives you a 3 year OPT. Research Berkeley's MDP. Harris also has one (if you know more, do let me know).

WWS isn't a guarantee you'll be working in the US so you need to remove that notion from your head. But if you are hell bent on going to WWS reassess your application and see where you are weak and spend the next year strengthening your profile. 

Hey, thanks for the reply. I was caught up in work so was unable to answer earlier.

 

1. Cornell. It's free education plus I get a living stipend BUT I'll be leaving a stable well paying job at an MNC that leads to management levels in the future, plus there's the opportunity cost of the 2 years that I could have something else, that would actually lead me to a work-visa track in North America

2. Harris is a good option but I don't know if they'll take me considering my weak quant score of 156 and CGPA 3.04. Not aware of others, imo if you want to go for a STEM option then go machine learning/data science/AI, not hybrid policy programs. Any opinions from the community on this?

3. Did your friends who went to WWS/HKS WANT to come back or HAD to come back?

[Revolutionary]

14 hours ago, frankfurtercardozo said:

I am not able to trace the section for GRE/ TOEFL scores on the online WWS MPA application. Anyone here facing the same situation?

Yes, the section isn't there. 

[frankfurtercardozo]

Thanks for your reply! I am guessing the official scores that ETS sends them suffice?

[Revolutionary]

36 minutes ago, frankfurtercardozo said:

Thanks for your reply! I am guessing the official scores that ETS sends them suffice?

Your guess is as good as mine, but that would be the logical explanation. Just double-check your ETS score receipt on their website, that's what I did.