Veteran trying to go to SIPA for his MPA

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>This isn't about me, but for my boyfriend. If you somehow know him, don't tell him I'm doing this as he would probably find it embarrassing or something haha</p>

<p>My boyfriend (we will shorten it to BF for the sake of this) has an interesting story. He was a bit of a screwup in high school (I think his GPA ended up being below a 2.0), and joined the military immediately after graduating. He had a very successful 4 year military career, became an Army Ranger in the 75th Ranger Regiment (meaning he was part of the US Special Operations Command) and was deployed twice to Afghanistan and once to Iraq.</p>

<p>After finishing up there, he went to a local community college, earned excellent grades and was the student vice president of his community college (over 40K students). </p>

<p>From there, he transfered to UNC Chapel Hill and earned a degree in Peace, War, and Defense with a concentration in National and International Security. His GPA was around a 3.45 and he did some game theory research for one of the professors but other than that was not heavily involved in any on campus organizations.</p>

<p>Since graduating in 2010, he has worked as a Military Affairs Advisor for the UNC system (16 public universities in the state of NC). He works with veterans, active duty military members and high ranking military officers, and university administration to help form a better bond between the universities and the military.</p>

<p>He is hoping to do the MPA program in International Security Policy. Do you guys think he has a good shot/can anyone offer any advice?</p>

<p>Thanks!!</p>

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<p>I think he would be a good fit for the MPA program. It can lead to a job in the State Department. He should apply.</p>

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<p>He’s definitely going to apply, I’m just trying to figure out how good his chances are of getting in. He’s probably only going to apply to two other schools, and Columbia is definitely his first choice.</p>

<p>Will not having any foreign language experience (he studied a little bit of Spanish but he is nowhere near fluent or even conversational) going to hurt him a lot? The MPA has no language requirement although the MA does.</p>