<p>Hey, so I'm fishing around for some odds on and advice for admission to top Pub Policy schools (mostly KSG, WWS, SIPA, and maybe Berkeley/Michigan).</p>
<p>I'll be appling for a joint JD/MPP (or MPA depending on the school). Here's my information:</p>
<p>Undergrad: top 30 school, 3.75 GPA (3.95 major in History), Phi Beta Kappa, top departmental award and departmental honors, Class President, student honor board.</p>
<p>Tests: 171 LSAT; 690V/750Q/6WR GRE</p>
<p>Work Experience: 1 summer at a labor firm, 14 months post-graduation at a Federal Agency...worked in tech issues and policy, worked with high-level agency staff on implementing new policies and conducting studies</p>
<p>Currently: 1L at a top-6 law school.</p>
<p>I have outstanding professional and academic references.</p>
<p>I'd love to do the joint degree and know that many of the good schools have joint degree arrangements. I ultimately hope to be involved in government (or public-policy related) work.</p>
<p>I guess I just have very limited knowledge of how the app process turns out for public policy applicants (as opposed to law school, which is GPA+LSAT = good indicator of odds).</p>
<p>Any suggestions of my odds or of what I can do to strengthen my application?</p>
<p>Pretty impressive. I would say your weak point is lack of experience. 3-5 more years of progressively more responsible work experience (number of years depends partly on how lucky you are with promotions) would make you a strong applicant for those programs.</p>
<p>Since i'm in law school, no can do (unfortunately)...should I try to explain that my WE is "short but intense" or should avoid mentioning its brevity?</p>
<p>Also, I've heard that some schools view time at professional schools as equivalent to "work experience"...isn't the purpose of work experience essentially to allow for contextualization of what's going on in class?</p>
<p>Your stats are very solid so I wouldn't worry about those. As far as work experience goes, I tend to remember admission to KSG being very much based on work experience. I think the average work experience for a KSG student is something like seven years before they enter the program. That is why you don't see alot of young graduates applying or going to KSG. Usually, mid career professionals end up there.
As far as SIPA and WWS go, both of these you would probably have a good shot at since SIPA, and to a lesser extent WWS, also give some slots to younger students who have recently graduated and dont necessarily have extensive work experience. WWS is a full-ride though (if I'm not mistaken), so expect some stiff competition. If I recall correctly, a few posters from here got in to SIPA with similar stats to yours, so getting in there seems doable.
Although I wouldn't call admission to Berkeley or Michigan slam dunks, you would probably have a good shot at Berkeley and a great shot a Michigan. Michigan admit 25% of it's incoming MPP class straight from undergrad with no real work experience. Berkeley also has a fair amount of younger kids who's work experience consists mainly of interships.
I have no clue about the joint MPA/JD thing. Have you thought about maybe finishing your JD before you get your MPA?</p>
<p>I think you have a good chance at getting into one of the top schools. The key will be a strong statement of purpose where you link your work experience, law experience, and future goals together. If you want more info, maybe try the grad board at *******.com...they're a little rough but they have a lot of people applying to IR/Public policy programs.</p>
<p>Well i know that KSG has an MPP program that has people generally like 2-5 years out and then they have the 1 year MPA program for those who are more "mid career"...generally 7+ years out.</p>