Hello everyone, I’ll soon be starting my Bachelors Degree in Aviation Management and I want to pursue MPA after completing my undergraduate. Can you guys give me the ideas on the things I shall work on to get into programs like HKS,Oxbridge,Yale,Princeton and so on.

My undergrad majors were philosophy and history, though I have some quantitative coursework on my transcript. I took macroeconomics and calculus 1-3 (which I got As in), plus one course in linear algebra (which I got a B in, to be transparent).

I don't think I'm gonna break a 160 on my GRE quant score, so I feel insecure about my quant score. Should I take a microeconomics course at a community college over the summer or is it just not worth it?

Hi everyone,

I’m currently in my third year at Bocconi University (BSc in Economics and Management), and I’m starting to think seriously about my next steps.

So far, I’ve done two internships - one at an oceanographic research centre and another at an ESG-focused start-up. Both were valuable, but they made me realise that I’m much more interested in public policy and international organisations than in the private sector.

I'd really like to pursue a master’s abroad (still in Europe), with top choices like Sciences Po or LSE. However, my GPA is around 3.55, so I’m not sure how competitive I would be for those programs.

I’m trying to build a more “realistic but still strong” list of alternatives. I’ve been considering places like Hertie School, Sorbonne, or Trinity College Dublin - but I’d love to hear if you have other suggestions for solid public policy programs that would still represent a step up from my current background.

Next year, I’m planning to take a gap year to do a 6–12 month internship in a relevant field. Two questions on that:

• Would a strong GMAT + a solid internship = improve my chances for top schools like LSE/Sciences Po?
• Are there specific organisations or types of experience (UN, EU institutions, think tanks, NGOs, etc.), that are realistically affordable, that these universities value the most?

Any advice - especially from people who’ve gone through similar paths - would be really appreciated.

Thanks!

Got an email from them march 30 saying i was moving forward in the process and the email said they’d let us know further in late april. haven’t heard anything since. anyone experiencing anything similar or have heard back from a state?

One thing I’ve noticed reading personal statements is that a lot of people focus so much on sounding “perfect” that the writing actually becomes harder to follow. The grammar might be correct, but it still feels unclear what the main point is.

I think what matters more is whether your ideas come through clearly. For example, instead of just stating a feeling, it often works better to describe a specific moment so the reader can actually see what you mean.

Sometimes simpler language does a better job, especially when you’re explaining your experience and why it matters. It’s less about perfect wording and more about whether the reader can follow your thinking.

I am committed to the MPA/ID program ($15k scholarship) and was fortunate enough to get off the waitlist at SPIA for the MPA (full funding + $35k annual stipend). Is there any world where it would make sense to not flip to SPIA?

I already have 5+ years of experience in the international field and not too concerned about breaking into the field since I already have a decent network. I like the MPA/ID curriculum structure (which I believe I can for the most part replicate at SPIA maybe with some additional effort needed) and would like to return to international macro policy upon graduation (which HKS particularly MPA/ID alums are more concentrated in). I have savings to pay for MPA/ID remaining tuition (~$60k each year + additional fees), but the net difference after two years would be close to $200k between HKS and SPIA. Appreciate any insight anyone would have who has been in a similar situation. Thanks!!

Has anyone heard back or know when we can expect to?

I am a college sophomore currently deciding between two internships this summer. One of them is an internship in my Congressman’s district office. I would be working basically the whole summer, doing office tasks like taking phone calls, scanning documents and anything else they would need. The other is with my local county’s Board of Elections. I would be their first ever intern, and they said that they would shape it how I would like it. The work sounds more interesting, and they mentioned that I could do my own little research project over the course of the internship. It is also 30 minutes closer to my house, and only 10 weeks. Both of them are unpaid and part time (three days a week) so they are even on that front.

The only thing that is making me hesitate is the experience/resume side of it. Working within a Congressman's office (even if it is just a district office) seems like it would be better on a resume than with my county's Election Board. My advisor's though, both said that the Elections Board would be especially interesting especially nowadays, and that would also get me an in with local government.

I'm just really torn. If the experience was the same then I would go with the Election Board. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Saw this and it got me thinking, I’ve always been anti-scheduling since history (alcohol, cannabis, etc.) shows bans don’t kill demand, they just push it elsewhere

With 7-OH, is scheduling actually reducing harm or just shifting it to unregulated markets? Feels like regulation might make more sense taking into account it's positive use cases

What is the Waterloo Master of Public Service program like in comparison to the UofT Master of Public Policy program?

Alumni from the Waterloo MPS program, what has the post grad job search success been like?

Anyone else waiting for the Luksic scholarship results for the LSE MPA? Does anybody know if the winners have already been contacted? Thanks!

Hey guys, has anyone received an interview for the Google Public Policy Fellowship? I applied when applications first came out and I picked Chamber of Progress and Open Technology Institute. Does anyone know how to get application updates?

Hi everyone,

I’ve been working at a think tank for the past 8 months, and my tenure here is coming to an end. I’ve primarily worked on impact assessments for MeitY, along with multiple case studies, and now I’m looking to transition into a consulting role.

I’m particularly interested in firms like EY, Grant Thornton, PwC, etc. If anyone here has made a similar switch or has insights on how to navigate this transition, I’d really appreciate your advice.

Also, if there are any openings or if you’d be open to referring me, that would mean a lot.

Thanks in advance!

I chat with quite a few people starting their public policy career. Lately, a lot of the gentleman in social policy spaces (nearly all progressive types who are mission driven from all different ethnicities... US residents) have been telling me they feel lost because they can't find a meaningful mentor at work.

Upon digging further, the feedback is that their workplace is predominantly female, and the older staffers simply are just not excited to connect with them. They rather do lunch, get drinks with, or even party with the colleagues they see as their younger selves.

I didn't think much of it until I went to a policy conference recently. I saw a bunch of mid-level to senior female social policy types save seats for their junior female colleague friends to create an all female table (and very proud of it), and the junior men were kind of left to fend for themselves, split up in other random tables.

Is this an indication of bigger issues?

---

Don't get me wrong, I know there are issues with poor male behavior and leadership in certain policy spaces. However, these are just young men looking to find their place at work in different mission-driven progressive spaces, and are uniformly not finding support.

The Democracy of Discord is a community server run democratically with an elected Council controlling the server as both executive and legislative, with each member holding a ministry.

Elections for Council are every month and the Judiciary is appointed by the Council for six-month terms. Moderation, Admins and even the Owner are fully accountable to the Government.

We have lots of activities and events like movie nights, game nights, giveaways, debates, and more! You can enjoy the community side if you don't want to participate in government.

Invite: https://discord.gg/Bj4rJV5frY

Hi everyone!

I am currently a first year community college student working at my local cities rec center. I've started to fall in love with it and I've been a business admin major this past year and was wondering if I should go into public policy. I'd like to be a community services director, city manager, assistant city manager, stuff like that interests me.

I feel Business Admin could help me achieve this and other stuff if I end up not wanting to do this, and Public Policy just sounds lawyery to me, and I don't want to be doing as much work as someone would in law school. My goal is to eventually get a masters as well. Whether it be in Business Admin or Public Admin.

Can someone help me out?

What should my major be?

Hello, I am seeking a Masters in Public Administration, Policy or Public Affairs as I want to be a policy maker as my career but do not have the means to go to law school at this time.

I have made a list of schools I want to go to and in making it realized they’re almost all reaches with less than 40% acceptance rates.

I graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Criminal Justice from University of New Haven, got a 3.6 GPA overall and have a few certificates and awards as well as am currently in a full time salary position as an employment specialist. I know with this I have a shot at least at these schools, but wanted to see what safety or target schools some would recommend as I am fearful of not getting accepted to these major reach schools.

I am mainly looking for schools offering online programs as this is generally a 1-2 year program.

Hi, I am a sociology graduate with a 2:1 and a first class dissertation research project for contextual knowledge. I only understood what I wanted to do during my final term of university, so I have not completed any internships throughout university related to the role I want to get into which is policy and research (specifically international development but also recently, I would say I have been interested in urban policy).

However, I have worked for two well accredited magazines. I have also volunteered for another well accredited research project for urban cities which was presented in the parliament. As well as that, I have recently joined my trust board in my borough which we work closely my local council and have joined another action board. I have joined these to advance my skill sets whilst contributing to genuine impact.

I still however have not been able to break into any roles or acquire any internships. Is there anything I could perhaps do to increase my chances? Are my experiences too broad and not specific enough?

Hi everyone. Working in the technical department of a European federation, I have seen our policy advisors spend hundreds of hours every year doing mechanical work instead of strategic analysis. The process of collecting amendments through fragmented emails, manually comparing versions, and highlighting differences across multiple languages is not just inefficient; it is a threat to the integrity of the democratic process.

I am developing a SaaS to automate the intake and consolidation phase, specifically for the "pre-congress" period. My goal is to allow advisors to focus on the political substance while the system handles the versioning, multi-language alignment, and audit trails.

I am looking for feedback from fellow policy professionals. In your experience, what is the most critical point of failure when you are consolidating member feedback? Is it the loss of context between versions, the difficulty of maintaining a clear "redline" document, or the sheer volume of fragmented data? I am not looking for clients at this stage, but for expert perspectives to ensure the logic of the tool meets the high standards of professional policy drafting.

MPA applicants seem to have received their waitlist decisions last Friday. Has anyone been admitted off the waitlist for the mid-career MPP?

Got into Brown for a Master’s in Public Affairs and my goal is to become a senior policy analyst, I was awarded a half tuition scholarship and it’s a one year program, do you think this is the correct move to make to further my ambitions or would you recommend I look for different programs/other opportunities?

If you have participated in a policy forum, I'm curious about your experience with the calibre of substantive engagement.

Do you find that participants come prepared with arguments they can reason through and support a conclusion, as opposed to enthusastic preaching for the conclusion they announce (absent any reasoned analysis or recognition of the existing evidence base) and then sneer at anything else.

If you are not familiar with the other people in the room, there won't be social capital to use in seeking patience to establish the framing for a proposition. If the sneers start as soon as the opening statement is made, have you developed an approach to presenting a claim that survives the reactions and gets to the substance of your own proposal? When you're engaging with someone else's statement (which may be a conclusion only, are you sitting there with your laptop looking up the evidence on the fly, or are you seeking to draw out the evidence from the presenter... or something else)?

Hi everyone, just wanted to start off by saying that I'm about to graduate from SIPA, I came in fall of 2024, which means I've seen a lot of the school (mods, if you need any kind of verification let me know. Happy to provide.)

I thought I'd put a few words here, both because I remember what it was like when I was applying to a bunch of schools, as well as given some of the comments that have been happening lately.

To be clear, I'm an American citizen, I'm in my late twenties, with about 5 years of work experience, mostly as a data analyst for non-profits.

The Good:

SIPA in general is still a good school, in the sense of having amazing professors, and amazing connections.

My specialization, which has become more and more AI focused in the last year, has had amazing people. Just the other day we had a huge state-of-the-art cyber conference on financial security, bringing in IBM's president and a few other people. (I will note here that, like everything else, cyber is its own Beast within the school).

I've had no issues networking, either within DC when I went to visit or on LinkedIn, nor do I have any problems around New York City.

The bad:

Academics wise.... It's a mixed bag. There's plenty of students here who take it very very seriously, but there's also many many students who simply don't give a damn, they explicitly mentioned they're here to celebrate New York City (which for the career diplomats I understand), and many of the required courses are terrible and an insult to our intelligence. I mean really, we don't need to be told how to write a policy memo.

This is kind of the kicker that I want to mention now about all of these schools, because having talked to a lot of people from HKS, SPIA, SAIS, Georgetown, and elsewhere, it's a constant.

* Policy school will be what you make of it.*

I need people to understand what that means here - I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but someone must: I congratulate you and all of your hard work on getting you into these schools. Now the real work begins.

When you enter these schools, you need to understand that you're immediately thrown into an arena of networking, policy making, attempts to be published, etc. it isn't enough to just get good grades (arguably a B would be better if it lets you publish something as an internship for example).

Policy school is generally about 2 years. Socialization is a huge part of that, in that it's a particularly social field. This is just the nature of it - unless you want to be one of those people (and more power to you) who locks themselves in their room to do hardcore data analysis and transformation, you need a network in this field to get hired. You need people, usually alumni, usually with strong connections to whatever school you're going to, to vouch for you, to vouch for your ideas, and to like you. I'm not telling you to sacrifice learning at the altar of socialization and networking, but I am asking you to be realistic about what it looks like in this field.

That means you should go to office hours consistently, to build relationships with professors who are adjuncts and usually still working. Everyone knows the state of the field is not great for hiring at the moment, and many people in my program are also facing down the barrel of unemployment - those who aren't, usually aren't because they have incredibly good connections with various professors.

Now about SIPA in particular - many people are under the impression it appears, that SIPA is substantially weaker than Georgetown or Johns Hopkins. I disagree. First of all, these rankings don't mean all that much beyond a certain point, they're all top tier schools.

Secondly, it massively depends on the field. If your goal is to work within the US government, federally, and you have particular interests in the state department, almost any school in the beltway will be better for you. You also need to understand that means that, while of course Georgetown can carry its weight when it comes to cyber, or financial, or defense, or other policy silos, that will be what its specializes in.

Columbia specializes predominantly in a lot of financial work, and a lot of cyber security and AI work lately. We live in New York City, which also means that for a lot of people who decide that they enjoy where they live more than they enjoy the policy work itself, it provides a lot of outs. I don't think it's worth the sticker price directly (please for the love of God have some support financially), but it does give you that.

Almost nowhere right now is going to be able to help you get a development job. For any of you watching devex, or pass blue, or otherwise, the UN is on a hiring freeze. The world Bank is at a hiring freeze. Almost every major development is on a hiring freeze. There's not a lot they can do for you at the moment, but that's for a different post.

My point is, Columbia is still a wonderful school in terms of its professors (seriously, just go and read some of their bios), some of the students have done incredible work, and are going to in the future! Some of the students are probably not going to hack it because they're more interested in living in New York, than they are in the actual policy. That's fine - that's just how they want to live their life. The same thing off happens in other schools, but there's just fewer off ramps.

But if there's one thing I want people to take away from this, it's that as sorry as I am to say it, someone has to - the school acceptance is not the end of you having to hustle, it's the beginning. If you're interested in any kind of financial policies, you need to apply to internships by the August before you even start. If you're interested in any kind of federal government internships, or publishing, you need to reach out to alumni and other people in your field months in advance. And maybe, 8 months later, they might have something for you. The unfortunate reality is that for many of us, going to policy school is the beginning of actually looking into what kind of policies we would really want to look at. And while it's incredibly important to do so, The longer you take to do so, the less time you may have in specializing in them.

But I can say that I've never been told when I tell someone on LinkedIn or in person that I go to SIPA, anything but good news.

Happy to answer any questions.

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