essaysnark wrote:Hi ksc1940 -- quick correction (sorry to be always doing this to you!)
Tuck actually interviews all candidates who come to Hanover (often adcom-conducted), and Duke has a by-request interview policy at least in the Fall, after which they switch to interview only.
Getting a better GMAT score is always important and we absolutely agree with that strategy - but please don't delay an app due to boosting extracurrics. *Maybe* this is warranted, but possibly not. At most schools, ECs don't matter nearly as much as many people think, and also, a very recent EC implies that you just did it for your apps - the adcoms may be suspicious that it's not something you're genuinely committed to (they may think it's a ploy).
Of course, we don't know what exactly you've got in the works, so maybe it is worth it to delay apps for!
The public policy puts you in a unique category, are you looking at the HKS program with Sloan?
EssaySnark
No problem with the correction. I totally forgot about tuck!
I agree with you that in general starting an extracurricular right before app deadline is very fishy. In this case though I was involved with a major nonprofit (mentoring inner-city high school students) for a year, but i'm in the process of applying for a position on their associate board in charge of fundraising. If i get it, i will have 4 months of serious work to show adcom. So I felt that in my case, combined with a higher gmat, it could help. Ideally, i could have gotten a higher score earlier, but I have to make lemons out of lemonade. The one silver lining is that since i applied 2 years ago, i am NOT considered a re-applicant at sloan or columbia. So my app will be fresh, which is a good thing in terms of the essays.
My short-term career goal is either NY federal reserve's cross-market analyst program or sovereign debt/currency research focusing on east asia, ideally at a major investment firm with a strong presence in that part of the world (blackrock, HSBC, standard chartered, etc.). Hence, a joint MBA/MPP makes sense in my case. So yeah, i'm looking at wharton/booth/sloan/columbia for MBA and then HKS/johns hopkins SAIS/maybe columbia SIPA on the policy side. Princeton's woodrow wilson, georgetown, and tufts fletcher are a bit too focused on international relations theory, which would not be a good fit for my career goals. I need a rigorous combination of economics, stat, policy analysis, political economy, along with management and leadership skills that will allow me to run my own investment advisory firm in the future.
