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I am the happiest I have ever been in my life right now. Yesterday, I got accepted at the Princeton Woodrow Wilson School for a Masters in Public Policy.
WWS is my dream school because they offer a good program and everyone is FULLY funded. That means I get everything from tuition, housing, and food covered. Additionally, you get a stipend! It's pretty rare that you leave a Master's program positive afterwards.
For those reasons, the acceptance rate was 10% and this school actually was on the back of my mind, I just didn't think I was going to get in. My goal was to get into one of my other 4 schools I applied to.
Some background: I went to a top liberal arts school and majored in Economics. But I have never felt that I was smart. Every class I have been in I am always struggled to get that A-. I never knew I would make it into the Ivies (not saying only smart people go there, I just never considered myself an Ivy leaguer so it was a shocker).
Sorry if this seems like a semi brag blog, I'm just too ecstatic not to share! Also, I wanted everyone to know dreams can come true even if you are a die hard esports fan at the age of 25  I literally watch esports everyday and have been master's league for 11 seasons 
If anyone has any question about grad school, I would like to share my experience. It doesn't have to be specific about public policy / econ. I spent a long time researching all different paths, studying for GREs, and learning about financial aid. I'd also love to hear about anyone else that got into grad school this round!
My best advice for those applying for grad school in the future: RECS RECS RECS!! Suck it up and find some good people to write your recs. Work hard for them and they will write you a good rec. Remember, you need to think ahead for recs, you can't expect someone that barely knows you to write you a good rec.
PS: this only slightly beats the time I met Flash
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/hxwB3mR.jpg)
Just kidding, grad school is my 2nd happiest moment. FLASH !@#@$!!
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Congrats. Are you looking to do a PhD in econ or public policy afterwards?
Agreed with you about the recs. I managed to go from a middling public undergrad to a top grad school only thanks to great recs and professors who worked behind the scenes on my behalf.
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iamho, Thanks!!
I was considering econ PhD up until this year and changed to MPP. I didn't think I was ready / want to commit 5 years of my life. But it will always be in the back of my mind since I have always wanted to try to get a PhD and become an economist (I work at the Federal Reserve under an Economist right now). But, as of right now, I am not sure. I will weigh my options after the first year.
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I'm not american so this might sound ignorant, but afaik you normally spend tons of money in US to get university education, how can they afford to pay everything for you when the acceptance rate is as high as 10%? I assume there are thousands of students who try to be admitted every year.
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I assume it's same as PhDs, they are trying to invest in people for the future Princeton name.
Or they just happen to have alot of rich alumni?
but yeah normally you do have to pay a lot. I got an offer of 0 funding from another school which would of put me in > 100k debt
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Congrats dude! Awesome accomplishment! And you work at the Fed to boot (those good recs you were referencing . Looking forward to leaving DC for Jersey? (Assuming you worked at the big building and not a branch.)
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Thanks! Jersey is fine since it's so close to NY and Philly wooooo!
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On March 13 2015 00:03 KingAlphard wrote:
I'm not american so this might sound ignorant, but afaik you normally spend tons of money in US to get university education, how can they afford to pay everything for you when the acceptance rate is as high as 10%? I assume there are thousands of students who try to be admitted every year.
Private funding is very popular there. People who get economical success and went to a school usually give money to it. Plus the students fee is no joke as well.
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Congratulations man, I am sure you put in a lot of hard work to get that. Make the most of it!
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You're smart but don't think you're smart?
So that makes you the complete opposite of Woodrow Wilson?
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5/5 for that FlaSh pic !
Congrats for grad school btw. :D
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OMG Flash is PLAYING !
I guess it sounds wrong saying I don't feel smart. but working in an environment full of PhDs does that to you. I feel like I know nothing.
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Flash lost 
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congrats. i just made my decision today. hope your program works out for you
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thanks and congrats to you too! Where did you decide on?
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UC Santa Cruz. won't say which program  but that campus is friggin gorgeous i can't wait to go there
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Awesome, I'll be jealous of that weather!
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so much oil but no water? No one expected this
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Hey man congrats :D
I just finished my masters in public admin, currently doing research on public policies though while trying to get in a PhD program. Good stuff and good luck to you!
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On March 17 2015 09:32 Djzapz wrote:
Hey man congrats :D
I just finished my masters in public admin, currently doing research on public policies though while trying to get in a PhD program. Good stuff and good luck to you!
Hey, that's great!
Do you have any advice for me as I am also interested in a PhD after graduation (just one of my possible routes)? Should I just take the most quantitative courses?
Thanks!
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On March 17 2015 23:39 lantz wrote:Show nested quote +On March 17 2015 09:32 Djzapz wrote:
Hey man congrats :D
I just finished my masters in public admin, currently doing research on public policies though while trying to get in a PhD program. Good stuff and good luck to you! Hey, that's great! Do you have any advice for me as I am also interested in a PhD after graduation (just one of my possible routes)? Should I just take the most quantitative courses? Thanks!
I unfortunately don't have all that much advice to give outside of work your ass off, because even though basically everyone's friends in grad school, we're all going after more or less the same jobs and the same extra credits from internships and all that. Also, you may want to do extracurricular stuff and teaching is a pretty good experience to have if you intend to get yourself a career of teaching.
If the coursework is anything like McGill's, it's all seminars with very few lectures, so you probably want to go above and beyond the work that's assigned to you so you'll be able to bring something new and insightful to the discussions. Some grad students who the bare minimum and would essentially be able to make a bland summary of the various topics. That kind of work will get the mediocre grade it deserves, even though as an undergrad you may have gotten an A+ for it.
I don't know about Princeton, but I know that most US unis value quantitative work. McGill did because it's pretty "American" for a Canadian university, and qualitative work was very undervalued there. I myself am doing qualitative work in a new uni because McGill didn't care for it. I'd say it's perhaps less glamorous, especially in the US. If you intend to go to the parts of academia where the European/French influences are strong, you may want to look into qualitative courses.
Either way in my experience, you learn more from your colleagues than from the courses you take. And you certainly learn more from writing your master's thesis, too. The thesis was really my first time doing something that wasn't artificial.
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On March 18 2015 02:47 Djzapz wrote:
I unfortunately don't have all that much advice to give outside of work your ass off, because even though basically everyone's friends in grad school, we're all going after more or less the same jobs and the same extra credits from internships and all that.
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don't be like that
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On March 18 2015 03:27 bookwyrm wrote:Show nested quote +On March 18 2015 02:47 Djzapz wrote:
I unfortunately don't have all that much advice to give outside of work your ass off, because even though basically everyone's friends in grad school, we're all going after more or less the same jobs and the same extra credits from internships and all that. :| don't be like that
What do you mean . It's competitive.
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Yeah, I mean, you could think about it that way. Or you could realize that doing academic work is an inherently collaborative activity which is about sharing ideas, building networks, and thinking about problems together. Letting yourself get interpellated into corporate busyness culture is a sure recipe for hating your life and having everybody else hate you also. But maybe that's what your field is like idk, if so I feel sorry for you.
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On March 18 2015 02:47 Djzapz wrote:Show nested quote +On March 17 2015 23:39 lantz wrote:On March 17 2015 09:32 Djzapz wrote:
Hey man congrats :D
I just finished my masters in public admin, currently doing research on public policies though while trying to get in a PhD program. Good stuff and good luck to you! Hey, that's great! Do you have any advice for me as I am also interested in a PhD after graduation (just one of my possible routes)? Should I just take the most quantitative courses? Thanks! I unfortunately don't have all that much advice to give outside of work your ass off, because even though basically everyone's friends in grad school, we're all going after more or less the same jobs and the same extra credits from internships and all that. Also, you may want to do extracurricular stuff and teaching is a pretty good experience to have if you intend to get yourself a career of teaching. If the coursework is anything like McGill's, it's all seminars with very few lectures, so you probably want to go above and beyond the work that's assigned to you so you'll be able to bring something new and insightful to the discussions. Some grad students who the bare minimum and would essentially be able to make a bland summary of the various topics. That kind of work will get the mediocre grade it deserves, even though as an undergrad you may have gotten an A+ for it. I don't know about Princeton, but I know that most US unis value quantitative work. McGill did because it's pretty "American" for a Canadian university, and qualitative work was very undervalued there. I myself am doing qualitative work in a new uni because McGill didn't care for it. I'd say it's perhaps less glamorous, especially in the US. If you intend to go to the parts of academia where the European/French influences are strong, you may want to look into qualitative courses. Either way in my experience, you learn more from your colleagues than from the courses you take. And you certainly learn more from writing your master's thesis, too. The thesis was really my first time doing something that wasn't artificial.
Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely be working my butt off. I decided for a masters instead of a PhD in Econ bc I thought I wasn't ready (even though I may have gotten in a program, I didn't want to fail out).
Princeton has different quantitative level tracks they call B, C , D (hardest). So it seems they value qualitative work. I'm more of a quantitative guy and struggle with qualitative work anyways, so I'll try for D and if it's too much, drop to C.
I just don't know if knowing the material is more important, or grades are more important for getting into PhD programs.
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On March 18 2015 04:56 bookwyrm wrote:
Yeah, I mean, you could think about it that way. Or you could realize that doing academic work is an inherently collaborative activity which is about sharing ideas, building networks, and thinking about problems together. Letting yourself get interpellated into corporate busyness culture is a sure recipe for hating your life and having everybody else hate you also. But maybe that's what your field is like idk, if so I feel sorry for you.
I think that if you live your life being honest with yourself instead of repeating feel-good doctrine, you'll rapidly understand that these disneyesque idealized worldviews are better left in cartoons. Academic work is part of life, but for people like me, it needs to amount to something. You can't view it as just this beautiful thing that should be appreciated for its own intrinsic value, because that is a very simplistic view of academia. I love what I do, I love political science, I love administration, I love urban planning, I love the analysis of public policies, but above it all, I like to think that I can make a living out of it. And how do you make a living out of it? Not with sweet ideas or rainbows, bookwyrm. At least not for me, I don't have enough money to stay in school forever without giving back to the world. In order to stay, I need to excel at what I do. I need to show that I'm worthy of staying in academia. You want to know what the best way to keep your two feet in academia is? Becoming a professor. Literally everything else is wholly inferior: you get less visibility, you get less people who are willing to work with you, you get less money, you get less resources.
People are not hired as professors by sharing ideas, building networks and thinking about problem together. People are hired as professors because they individually excel, based on criterion that are more or less bullshit. And so my primary concern, since I'm not guaranteed a permanent seat in academia, is to meet those demands. It's the reasonable long-term plan, isn't it?
So please, spare me the pity. If I don't excel, my journey through academia will be cut short. I'll never lead my own research team or a research chair, I'll never have a $200,000 grant for said research. And this is where the real collaborate activity is. The creation of knowledge, when tied to financial resources, to me is so much more noble than the simple, selfish absorption of knowledge. If I do well now, I'll actually get to contribute in a meaningful way while being paid for my research in the future instead of making small contributions now and having to leave academia after grad school to go work a government admin job for 60k for the rest of my life (which is a fine choice but not what I'm interested in).
But I want to go further than that and say, even if I had no plan to become a professor, who are you to judge people who go through school solely for practical reasons. What about those who don't? Do you feel bad for people like my brother who have menial jobs, as if they were less worthy than you? Would you feel sorry for me if I had done what so many people do and gone to engineering school even though they don't like it that much but it gives them a good living? Different people have different goals and aspirations, don't be so judgmental. Some of my colleagues also have this very idealized of what academia is, but they also know that their future in it depends on their individual performance. Whether we like it or not, we're pitted against our colleagues. It sucks but it's life. And going to school for the sole purpose of getting well-paying job in a big business is fine.
On March 18 2015 08:16 lantz wrote:Show nested quote +On March 18 2015 02:47 Djzapz wrote:On March 17 2015 23:39 lantz wrote:On March 17 2015 09:32 Djzapz wrote:
Hey man congrats :D
I just finished my masters in public admin, currently doing research on public policies though while trying to get in a PhD program. Good stuff and good luck to you! Hey, that's great! Do you have any advice for me as I am also interested in a PhD after graduation (just one of my possible routes)? Should I just take the most quantitative courses? Thanks! I unfortunately don't have all that much advice to give outside of work your ass off, because even though basically everyone's friends in grad school, we're all going after more or less the same jobs and the same extra credits from internships and all that. Also, you may want to do extracurricular stuff and teaching is a pretty good experience to have if you intend to get yourself a career of teaching. If the coursework is anything like McGill's, it's all seminars with very few lectures, so you probably want to go above and beyond the work that's assigned to you so you'll be able to bring something new and insightful to the discussions. Some grad students who the bare minimum and would essentially be able to make a bland summary of the various topics. That kind of work will get the mediocre grade it deserves, even though as an undergrad you may have gotten an A+ for it. I don't know about Princeton, but I know that most US unis value quantitative work. McGill did because it's pretty "American" for a Canadian university, and qualitative work was very undervalued there. I myself am doing qualitative work in a new uni because McGill didn't care for it. I'd say it's perhaps less glamorous, especially in the US. If you intend to go to the parts of academia where the European/French influences are strong, you may want to look into qualitative courses. Either way in my experience, you learn more from your colleagues than from the courses you take. And you certainly learn more from writing your master's thesis, too. The thesis was really my first time doing something that wasn't artificial. Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely be working my butt off. I decided for a masters instead of a PhD in Econ bc I thought I wasn't ready (even though I may have gotten in a program, I didn't want to fail out). Princeton has different quantitative level tracks they call B, C , D (hardest). So it seems they value qualitative work. I'm more of a quantitative guy and struggle with qualitative work anyways, so I'll try for D and if it's too much, drop to C. I just don't know if knowing the material is more important, or grades are more important for getting into PhD programs.
Around here to be considered for the PhD program you need an average of A, and then they make you jump through a series of hoops to see if you're competent at doing research. They've never really asked me to be savvy at anything I learned in my grad school courses.
Edit: however I think in the US they have a bunch of program where you don't need a master's degree, and the PhD program is right after the undergrad program or something? Anyway here it's undergrad -> grad -> PhD for most programs. Basically I'm not too familiar with the level tracks or the programs you're talking about!
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On March 18 2015 08:46 Djzapz wrote:
Whether we like it or not, we're pitted against our colleagues. It sucks but it's life. And going to school for the sole purpose of getting well-paying job in a big business is fine.
The terrifying thing is that someone who is supposedly studying "public policy" takes the completely inviolability of the status quo as a basic working assumption.
The philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it.
The situation in the academy is beyond fucked up. If you think there is any practical reason to enter the academy, you are just in it for the wrong reasons - not because you are dirtying some pure ideal, but because you are just making a really, really, really stupid decision. What we need to do is think about how we can blow up the system and start over. Let's break shit and steal what we can on the way out. Fuck your 200,000 research grants - what the hell are you studying anyway if you think we can even change the shitty conditions of academic labor in this fucking country? I think at that point we just should burn it down and walk away.
Your attitude that you are going so somehow win the rat race by clawing your way up the heap at the expense of intellectual community, instead of recognizing your own structural position in the great ponzi scheme called "academia," is part of the attitude which prevents the formation of solidarity with other people like you - i.e. these colleagues you are supposedly competing with.
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Oh sorry I didn't know you were like that
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like what
edit: anyway, well... good luck with your career and everything. I'm sure it's going to turn out to be a really great financial decision. you're bound for academic stardom!
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On March 18 2015 09:36 bookwyrm wrote:
like what
The oddly hypocritical people who ask for a complete paradigm shift, criticize everyone else but never actually do anything except talk about it. Those pretentious revolutionaries with their iPads who complain about the price of tuition while sipping a $7 coffee. Of course you may not do either of these things, but you're not unlike them. You criticize but it's anger and nothing else.
I think my work furthers sciences. Perhaps more importantly to some, I like it and it makes me happy. And I'm doing what it takes to continue. But if I grow in a structure which you don't approve of, well I'm looking forward to the revolution that you will undoubtedly lead from your high horse.
Edit: My decision to do what I do was obviously not a financial one. Nobody goes in political science for the money. I mentioned the money because in the current state of affairs, you need money to get research done.
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On March 18 2015 09:43 Djzapz wrote: You criticize but it's anger and nothing else.
you concluded all this from my opening salvo?
look man, I'm not saying that I'm angry at you because you're going to grow in an unfair system. I'm saying that you're just not going to succeed, because none of us are - and allowing this belief to poison your sense of solidarity with the people who are basically in the same situation as you is counterproductive and works against your own interest. the belief that you are going to achieve this success is completely delusional and just sort of reveals an ignorance about the basic facts of our position as grad students and the deep dysfunction in the system.
Especially for someone who claims to be thinking about political issues as part of their intellectual project, you need to be able to took a long hard look at what's actually going on around you and think about what we are doing about it. If you're not, your field is bullshit anyway and I hope they defund your department.
I'm perfectly willing to talk about concrete things we should do and act on them. But first you have to acknowledge the problem. So your accusation of my being an ipad liberal or whatever are pure hypocrisy.
but here I am talking to someone who thinks politics is a science. If you can't even realize that the name of your field is an oxymoron how can you be expected to have class consciousness?
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On March 18 2015 09:49 bookwyrm wrote:Show nested quote +On March 18 2015 09:43 Djzapz wrote:On March 18 2015 09:36 bookwyrm wrote:
like what You criticize but it's anger and nothing else. you concluded all this from my opening salvo? look man, I'm not saying that I'm angry at you because you're going to grow in an unfair system. I'm saying that you're just not going to succeed, because none of us are - and allowing this belief to poison your sense of solidarity with the people who are basically in the same situation as you is counterproductive and works against your own interest. the belief that you are going to achieve this success is completely delusional and just sort of reveals an ignorance about the basic facts of position as grad students. Especially for someone who claims to be thinking about political issues as part of their intellectual project, you need to be able to took a long hard look at what's actually going on around you and think about what we are doing about it. If you're not, your field is bullshit anyway and I hope they defund your department.
Ah vicious! But if your point suddenly is that I'm going to fail (despite evidence to the contrary), then I definitely can't make sense of your anger.
Nonetheless I think it's clear that you misunderstand something. I have clearly said that you learn more from your colleagues than you do from courses. Your colleagues are allies in most things, as are your research partners! There is no bad blood, really.
Also my field helped to design streets which are safer for cyclists and pedestrians in urban settings.
but here I am talking to someone who thinks politics is a science. If you can't even realize that the name of your field is an oxymoron how can you be expected to have class consciousness?
We jokingly call political science and sociology "soft sciences" around here. We had this little chant (it's more catchy in French):
-WHO ARE WE?
-POLI SCI
-WHAT DO WE HAVE
-SOME OPINIONS
As for class consciousness... Have you read Marx or are you just having fun?
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So you'll learn from them but you will tell them you won't give them advice about how to do better in school because they are competing with you?
your comment just pissed me off. Go to BSchool or Law School something if that's how you feel about it
but I should quit picking fights with you because I have to go "contribute to science". go in peace comrade
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I'll learn from them, they'll hopefully learn from me, I'll help them in any way I can. I've never decided not to help a colleague because I'm competing with them in the long run. I just do as good as I can to come out on top - the competition is real but it's indirect enough that no one's grieving anybody else.
Anyway you take care too.
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guys this is supposed to be a happy thread
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EPT
