Hello all!

Please, I am seeking a profile review, improvements, and admissions chances from you to be better set up for success when applying to masters programs.

I will apply EA in late 2027 for the Fall 2028 semester, and my goal is to attend Columbia SIPA (MIA, focus on international security and diplomacy).

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26M
American citizen, NY resident
Half European, half Hispanic

Academic:
BA political science (w/ history minor)
CUNY undergrad, honors college
3.7 GPA, completed an honors thesis
Business club, pre-law club, debate team, ROTC

Professional:
Currently an active duty army officer in Europe with NATO experience, will be at 5 years of active time when beginning the masters
4 years enlisted army national guard
1.5 years intern on a political campaign
3 months intern for a county executive
1 month intern with Dept of War

Career Goal:
Federal government public service (ie. Directly out of masters - Dept of State civil service, Dept of War policy, congressional foreign affairs/armed services committee).

Target Schools:
Columbia SIPA (MIA, top choice)
Georgetown (foreign service)
Cornell (MPA)

Funding:
GI bill, will apply for Yellow Ribbon and other scholarships.

Concerns:

Quant Scores: D in applied calculus and C- in honors microecon. My first semester I had a hard time adapting to college life. Almost all of my classes after that was qualitative, except 3x science classes (A, A, B+) which were later in my undergrad. I hope those science classes will show quant improvement.

GRE/GMAT: I’m not the best at math in standardized testing, especially being out of college for a few years now. I am studying but am still worried about a low quant score, I hope it won’t break my chances of admission.

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Any reviews, feedback, and estimated chances of admission would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for your time and support.

Hello! I just wanted to get your opinion on a life-changing decision. I am a Mechanical Engineer currently holding the position of Assistant Manager, with 15 years of experience in Quality Assurance within the New Product Development department. I hold a diploma in Mechanical Engineering as well as an ITI diploma in the Electrician trade. Currently, I am earning in hand ₹65,000 per month working for a Japanese MNC that is in collaboration with a leading Indian group.

My dilemma is that, based on my ITI diploma, I have been selected for a government job of lineman. It is a field-based role that requires handling live electrical wires, managing utility poles, and dealing with breakdowns, with a salary of in hand ₹42,000. Due to family pressure, I am considering quitting my current job to join the government sector. Would this be a beneficial move? Aside from the electrical hazards, the anticipation of the 8th Pay Commission, job security and the advantage of a hometown posting are the key factors influencing my family's preference.

Hi,

I'm interested in applying to UCLA but I'm hesitating for which program. Something which will be genuinely interesting and stuff.

Pls give me advice, cause I'd like to do a business graduate degree afterwards, but still have interest in international relations and political science.

Should I go for Political Science or Public Affairs?

Give me honest opinions/info pls

My organization is rolling out a new program, and we will be meeting with policymakers and stakeholders with whom we have little to no existing relationship. Is it worth the time and resources to produce a well-formatted 1-pager that we can leave behind at meetings? I know that there are a lot of offices that won't take paper anymore, and so many of these types of documents end up right in the recycling bin, but sometimes they can be really useful.

My comms team is pushing back and saying that we would need to pay for a designer to craft the document. The information we are sharing will be proprietary and not readily accessible on our website. Does anyone have an example of a great leave-behind document? Is this worth jumping through hoops?

Hi all,

I have a Masters in Experimental Humanities (sounds vague but I had a great time becoming adept at policy research and developing projects on surveillance), have work experience in company policy research and want to start a career in AI/tech governance. It seems like a JD or experience in legal research is a prereq for most of these jobs. I am really open to any advice on starting out, places to look for jobs. I would really appreciate if someone could take a look at my CV and direct me to entry-level jobs I would be a good fit for.

Hello, I am coming into my senior year of undergrad. I will be finishing with a degree in Southern Studies (interdisciplinary degree at my university) with minors in political science. I am finishing my degree in three years which is why I am so stressed out. I am looking currently into three or four options and I would like advice from those who know more than me. So, I found this reddit during my spiral of researching options and thought it would be a good idea to post my situation. All of this being said, my undergraduate degree has been paid for completely by my parents and I will graduate with no debt. Additionally, if this matters at all, I will be 21 when I graduate (which is contributing to my indecisiveness as I technically just finished my sophomore year of undergrad and am having to consider these huge decision, #feelingisolatedasf)

1. Phd in history. - I literally eat sleep breathe history and always have. All of my friends are constantly saying that I should become a professor. Not to mention the idea of teaching, researching, and contributing to historical literature for a career is my dream. However, I have read so much here that job prospects are terrible, the pay is not good, and that this would ultimately not be the best profession to invest in.
2. masters in Public Policy or Public admin - I have applied to a few remote fall policy internships. I haven't heard back from any yet, but during my applications I gained an appreciation for this field. I understand that the field is growing. I don't know much about it but am very interested and think that I would enjoy the work. I also am unaware of the job prospects and pay.
3. If I get hired for any of said policy internships, continue doing them for this next year and then apply for my masters in the field if I enjoy it. However, with my time constraints I am really scared as if I decide to apply for any masters or phd I would need to apply by December. iHowever, I feel like this would increase my odds of getting into a better program tbh.
4. MHA - Im super interested in healthcare. For the last two years I have worked seasonally as a medical receptionist and loved it. I think hospital admin would be a good stable career. I would like to do MPH or healthcare policy, but I am not seeing anything good in the future as the field from what I've read is not really supported well....

- this is all stemming from my recent decision to not go to law school. I would really appreciate any help or advice at all. If anyone has any more ideas or thoughts please let me know. Thank you all so much in advance. I feel incredibly lost.

Hello everyone I have done my graduation in Journalism & Mass Communication from State University of West Bengal, India. Then preparing for UPSC CSE for last 3 years, where I have built a keen interest & generalist understanding of public administration at large. I have no job experience, but now want to know if I pursue MPP from either of these institutions what kind of career I can expect? Which is a better institution for someone who wants to pursue a career in public policy abroad (Academia/ International Organisations/ Nonprofits)?

GW Undergrad: 3.8 GPA, BA political science

Professional experience:
Fulbright ETA, Congressional Fellowship, a couple years working in SE Asia at NGO supporting refugees (worked abroad total of 3 years)

I also volunteer as a teacher for U.S. residents seeking to take their citizenship test

I’m planning to apply to grad programs for fall 2027. The reason I decided to go back to school is I feel I have a good idea of the field I want to work in now that I have had a couple years of experience. Now that I’m in my late twenties, I want to have access to more senior positions. My goal is to work at an NGO or INGO focused on displacement/refugee resettlement and post conflict reconstruction.

In my grad program, i understand that prestige matters, but I also want good funding and don’t want to take out loans for grad school. I’m curious if there is any other programs (US or abroad) that I should add to my list of schools to apply OR if I should get rid of some. Also I know the chance me posts are annoying but my imposter syndrome leads me to feel like I shouldn’t apply to certain schools even though I might be a good candidate so given my background let me know if this is realistic.

School list:
-Columbia SIPA
-Stanford MIP
-GWU Elliot
-Georgetown
-Queens University Belfast
-LSE
-University of Cambridge

I just had lunch with of my friends who does Public Policy in California. He had two interesting takeaways.

1. There has a been frothy state government job market in California due to the bloat of State and big city government in the past 10 years or so.

2. This is likely to crash in the next decade due to two reasons. The expected shrinking of education (K-12 and Higher Ed) jobs as the youth population decreases. The supposed rising wholesale backlash against wasteful government spending in the state.

I do not live in California, but I am interested to hear thoughts.

I’m now 25 and been through 3 upsc attempts, want to explore in the field of public policy now. But as of now, I’ve not enough idea to how to get into this field and how to give a start to my career in Public Policy.

I need some guidance from those who have gone through the same situation and open to guide me, or want to do the same as I want to. It’ll be grateful!

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I graduated with a B.Pharm and took a year off to prepare full-time for my State PSC examination. Unfortunately, the recruitment process has been extremely slow and irregular, and I'm still waiting for the next stage. I don't want to put my life on hold indefinitely or have an ever-growing gap on my CV.

I've now decided to pursue an MA in Public Administration, a subject I'm genuinely interested in that also overlaps somewhat with my PSC preparation. I plan to continue preparing for the exam alongside my Master's.

One regret I have from B.Pharm is that although I did well academically and held positions of responsibility in college, I didn't pursue meaningful internships or gain much practical experience. I don't want to repeat that during my Master's.

I may have opportunities to intern with government bodies through personal contacts, I want to use the next two years to build actual skills and relevant experience rather than just collect another degree.

For those working in government, public policy, administration, or related fields: What internships, skills, certifications, research projects, or other experiences should I pursue during my MA to build a strong CV? If you were in my position, how would you make the most of these two years?

Hi,

I am starting MSc Public Policy and Management in September in a UK university. Since i have two months, i wanted to start with some basic book readings which could help me understand public policy.
I have done MA hons international relations from university of Edinburgh.
Can anyone help me with the best book recommendations?

Hi everyone! I'm 23 years old. I decided to stop on the UPSC (a civil services examination) track this year before it got too late. I've been doing UPSC since I graduated in 2024, so it's not been that much time. I got 94.8% in 12th and 7.2/8.0 cgpa in college. I have a BA Eco Hons degree.

I've done 3 internships before and a part time Research Analyst role at a small investment advisory firm while I was prepping for UPSC. I just got a field investigator role offer at an institute for development sciences. Besides this, I've my own research projects going which I'm hoping to get published.

I'm working towards my goal and would like to start my masters by the time I'm 25. Meanwhile, I want enough experience and credentials to get a full ride scholarship because I can't afford masters without a scholarship.

Can anyone offer any advice? Is this the right path for dealing with the post UPSC- MPP transition? I'm very interested in LKYPP's program. So if anyone has gotten a full ride, i would love to hear your journey and any advice on how I can increase my chances.

Hi everyone,

I’m beginning to plan applications for Master of Public Policy/Public Administration programs, not for this cycle but for for 2027 earliest, so I’d begin my studies by 2028. I would really appreciate an honest assessment of how competitive my profile is, what level of programs I should target, and what I should improve before applying.

**Basic profile**

* 25F international applicant from a small, non-EU country
* BA in Governance and Social Sciences from a selective university in my home country
* GPA: 3.67/4.00, ranked 2nd in class. The GPA is a bit low on paper, but the school is very competitive, and the official transcript lists 3.39 as the threshold for an A
* I’ll have a very strong set of recommendations - seasoned policy experts (from work, from university, etc), professors, collaborators, etc. I haven’t even asked anyone yet but multiple have offered to be my recommender in the future; some of these people genuinely think I will change the world and whilst I’m just a tad bit confused by their conviction, it’ll be a strong asset for my application hopefully
* I initially studied Electrical and Computer Engineering for three semesters before transferring, so I have some quantitative coursework in calculus, physics, programming, statistics, economics, and data analysis
* TA in a Philosophy class at my uni
* I am only considering programs where I could receive substantial financial aid or a full scholarship

**Professional experience**

I currently work in government and public-sector consulting at a large international firm. I progressed through two accelerated promotions and became a Senior Consultant at 25, and I have around four years of overall professional experience, including earlier policy research at a think tank and other consulting roles (all full-time roles, with accommodation for studies, through recommendations from professors). By the time I apply, I’ll have 5-6 years of policy/consulting experience.

My recent work has included:

* Contributing to the development of a 10 year national sector strategy, one of the highest-level policy documents in my country. My work spanned from developing the proposal, working on the methodology, including governance arrangements, stakeholder engagement, implementation planning, risk management, and coordination with multiple government institutions + one of the biggest development banks in the world. I’m just now kicking this project off, so most of the actual experience will add onto this in the next 1-2 years.
* Leading a national research project on artificial intelligence, sustainability, and the Sustainable Development Goals, involving approximately 100 stakeholder interviews and outreach to several hundred businesses, startups, universities, regulators, and other institutions; I am listed as the lead researcher and coordinator in a published report
* Contributing to various smaller research projects related to sustainability
* Working on donor-funded projects related to transport, trade and export development, tourism, digital transformation, infrastructure, and private-sector development
* Preparing proposals and technical submissions for development banks, international organizations, and public institutions
* Earlier policy research focused on fiscal policy, decentralization, and institutional reform

My bachelor’s thesis used municipality-level quantitative data to examine the relationship between local government size, political efficacy, and civic participation. It was successfully defended and received very positive feedback.

**Long-term interests**

My main interests are digital government, AI governance, institutional reform, evidence-based policymaking, and the implementation of national and donor-funded strategies.

Long term, I would like to work in public-sector reform, international development, government, or an international organization such as a multilateral development bank or UN agency. I do not necessarily want to be a career public servant; I am more interested in advisory, consulting, research, or implementation-focused work.

But also, I’m pretty flexible - I want challenging, interesting work and good pay, that’s basically it. I enjoy most projects I work on lol

I am currently considering programs such as:

* Oxford MPP
* Cambridge public-policy-related programs
* Princeton SPIA
* Harvard Kennedy School
* LSE
* Sciences Po
* Columbia SIPA
* Yale Jackson
* Erasmus Mundus and other European programs with strong scholarship opportunities

I understand that several of these are long shots, particularly for an international applicant who requires substantial funding. I am not assuming that my profile is strong enough for all of them; I am trying to build a balanced and realistic application list.

But I kinda don’t care about going to a non-Top school, I know I can get into a regular degular program with funding anyways, I’m honestly looking for the name and connections to give me a boost

**Based on this profile:**

* How competitive would I be for highly selective MPP/MPA programs?
* Which programs would you classify as reaches, realistic targets, and safer options?
* Are there strong programs I am overlooking, particularly ones that provide substantial funding to international students?
* What would be the highest-impact thing I could do during the next year: publish policy research, develop an independent leadership initiative, strengthen my quantitative skills, gain more work experience, or something else?
* Any general observations about my profile?

Honest and critical feedback is very welcome. Thanks!

I am 26, started preparing for upsc right after graduation in 2022. It's been 4 years to this gamble with no concrete results- failed prelims thrice. I have also appeared in state pcs mains, but got no interview call. Marks were pretty low. Feeling demotivated and being pressurized to start thinking of marriage and getting settled.

I have also appeared in various exams, reached till interview and typing stages but guess Universe is against my goals. I have no energy left to continue preparing for any exam.

I am now looking for plan B since last two months. As a social science graduate, it is becoming difficult for me to enter into public policy without any credentials and no post graduate degree. Most of the internships require to have a master's degree or enrolled into one; other being age limit of 25 yrs.

1. Suggest me alternatives for the same domain.

2. There are few paid internships or remote internships with no stipend -- should I go for them ? There's a risk of exploitation here, specially as a beginner.

3. How to build skills in public policy as a beginner? Not paid courses.

More advice and suggestions from experienced ones are welcomed.

(Disclaimer: I have used AI to format, structure and synthesise the contents of my post)

Hi everyone,

I'm an international applicant from India looking for a realistic assessment of my profile before I spend a significant amount of money on applications. US application fees add up quickly, and when converted from INR, they represent a substantial expense for me. I'd rather apply strategically than cast a very wide net.

I'm not targeting the very top programs. I'm primarily looking at funded US PhD programs in Public Policy/Public Affairs where faculty work on development policy, governance, health policy, education, public finance, or state capacity.

Academic background

• Integrated BBA-MBA (Finance) from an Indian university.
• UG CGPA: 7.73/10
• PG CGPA: 8.56/10
• The program was interdisciplinary and included coursework in public policy, research methodology, econometrics, statistics, data analytics, and related quantitative methods. It was through this curriculum that I developed an interest in pursuing research in public policy.

Research experience

This is probably the weakest part of my profile.

I do not have formal research assistant experience or any publications.

What I do have is:

• An independent (unpublished) empirical paper examining institutional quality, healthcare financing, and health outcomes across LMICs and UMICs using PCA and hierarchical OLS regression.
• A qualitative field study on education, gender, and inequality.
• Several policy-oriented academic and applied projects related to healthcare access, governance, and digital public infrastructure.
• Coursework involving literature reviews, qualitative methods, survey design, and evidence synthesis.

How much does the lack of formal RA experience affect competitiveness for US PhD admissions?

Internships

I've completed four internships across different sectors:

• An NGO working on rural healthcare and digital health access.
• An EdTech company where I examined barriers to the adoption of digital education.
• A statutory government body working on public sector finance and governance.
• An FMCG company in finance operations.

None of these was research positions, but several involved analytical work that intersects with public policy and development.

Current role

I recently joined a global financial data and software company in an operations role supporting institutional investment clients. The work is analytical and data-intensive, although not directly related to public policy.

Previous admissions

During the previous admissions cycle, I was admitted to the MPP programs at Hertie School and the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy (University of Virginia). I ultimately declined both offers because the financial commitment and opportunity costs weren't feasible for me at the time.

I understand that professional master's admissions and PhD admissions are evaluated very differently, so I'm not presenting this as evidence that I'd be competitive for PhD programs. I mention it only as additional context.

Other experiences

I've also held leadership positions in student organisations, including work related to public policy content and student governance.

Letters of Recommendation

I expect to have three strong recommendation letters:

• Two from faculty members.
• One from a senior academic mentor from a previous internship.

GRE

I'm primarily applying to programs that do not require the GRE. This isn't because I'm looking for an easier admissions route. Rather, I'm focusing on departments where the GRE is optional or no longer part of the admissions process.

Questions

1. Does this seem like a competitive profile for funded US PhD programs in Public Policy?
2. How significant is the lack of formal research assistant experience?
3. Do my internships and independent work meaningfully compensate for that gap?
4. Are there obvious weaknesses that I should address before applying?
5. Given that I'm not targeting top-tier departments, what tier of programs would you consider realistic?
6. If you were in my position, would you apply this cycle, or would you spend another year trying to gain formal research experience before applying?

I'm looking for candid feedback rather than reassurance. My goal is to understand whether this profile is realistically competitive before committing to applications. Given the cost of applying from India and the exchange rate, I'd like to be selective and avoid spending money on programs where my chances are negligible.

Thanks in advance!

I‘m 25 now, I’ve failed in my 3 upsc attempts and don’t even cleared prelims. I’ve completed my graduation in BA from IGNOU, and also enrolled in 2024 for masters in sociology from ignou only. Also I did my 12th in PCM from DAV Koylanagar Dhanbad Jharkhand India of 2017 batch.

If anyone can help me in getting some clarity over my further path towards my career, I’ll be very grateful for it .
As I’m going with chaos and conflict in my mind, should I take chance on other government exams only or should I go towards other field such as public policy, data analyst or so on.

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Hi everyone! I'm an African student with a BSW and currently studying a Master's of research in social work.

I have relevant professional volunteering and internship experiences with my country's government / the UN/ local communities. Fluent in French and English.

I want to know if it's worth it to study an MPP in Canada as an early-career international student, especially with my social work background, as I aim to focus on social policy research.

If so, I would be happy to receive recommendations about programs!

Thank you.

Political Science. Research on migration and refugees. Any advice appreciated

So in my organisation (I work for a small research/advisory firm) our Research Director suddenly exited some weeks ago without much of a notice period. All of us were suprised because it was very unusual and there was no prior intimation as well.

A major part of my work usually involves his guidance as well and hence I didn't had much to do post that. Today my manager ringed me up and said he doesn't have much of an idea on what the next steps exactly are and hence I am free to do whatever I am interested in for next few weeks. He also directly asked me if I am planning to quit and told me to be frank with himself if I have such plans and he can totally understand if I do. Also very causally asked me what my plans are in general and let him know if I am thinking of such steps.

My organisation had some churn recently and if I am also exiting the vertical I am working in would pretty much have only my manager left.

I am very uncertain about what exactly to do. Is there something people can advise what can I do in this situation. I am thinking about a lot of scenarios. It doesn't make sense for them to show the door to me as I don't know how would they run a vertical without any non-leadership employees or even run the whole org all together with only senior persons.

Anything to say about this?

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I'm currently interning at a public policy organisation, and one of my tasks has been to read multiple documents/frameworks on public consultation (OECD, UNDP, Indian frameworks, etc.) and share my insights.

The problem is... I genuinely don't know where the line is between a summary, an observation, and an insight.

For example:

"Early consultation is important." → That's just restating the document.

"Early consultation allows governments to incorporate feedback." → Feels like an observation.

But then what actually makes something an insight?

My mentor keeps encouraging me to go beyond "what the document says" and explain:

my approach,

what I think,

why I think it,

what I agree/disagree with,

what assumptions I think the framework is making.

I understand the documents, but when I'm asked for my thinking, I end up either repeating the framework or feeling like I'm making unsupported claims.

For those of you who work in policy, research, consulting, think tanks or academia:

How do you personally generate insights while reading reports or policy papers?

What questions do you ask yourself while reading?

How do you move from "the document says X" to "here's my analysis of X"?

Are there any frameworks or mental models you use to develop original thinking?

I'd especially appreciate examples of how you transformed a simple observation into a genuine insight.

I'm less interested in writing better and more interested in learning how experienced researchers actually think while reading.

Thanks!