Winter Admissions Webinar (2024)

Hi everybody, welcome in. Thank you all for being here on time.

We are going to give it another minute or two to make sure that folks have all had the chance to join us and then we will be getting started shortly. So thanks to everyone for being here.

Feel free to say hi in the chat, include where you're coming from.

We had our first like snow of the season in Connecticut today, which is very exciting, but hopefully some of you are calling in from warmer climates.

Rwanda, we have our one of our current students, Alejandro, is also in the chat. He's joining us from Mexico City. So it's definitely a bit warmer there than it is here in Connecticut. I think he made the right choice to be there.

OK, we got North Carolina, South Africa, Mumbai, Doha, Nigeria. You guys are really coming from nice warm places.

Awesome, so it looks like our registration has evened off Umm, some folks might join us later, but uh, as a reminder, this call will be recorded and you all will get that e-mail with the link to the recording in about 24 hours. So for folks who might join late, umm, no worries, you'll be able to hear all this information in your own time. Umm, most of you have been using the chat already, so as you know, you can post comments, questions in the chat.

Current student Alejandro will be in there monitoring the chat, so if you have questions that come up, he will be taking a look at those and then we'll have plenty of time for Q&A at the end. So I will also be answering some of those questions. Umm, there's a few other, you know, technical, logistical pieces up here on the screen that I will let you read through. Umm, But most of you who are joining us here today are interested in the Jackson School and applying for admissions for this upcoming cycle. So really my goal is to talk a little bit more about the school and our degree program.

You know what that experience is like as a student. Of course, I'll end by talking about the admissions process and what we are looking for. And then, as I said, we'll end by taking some questions and answers. So the Jackson School actually has quite an interesting history. We are a part of Yale, of course. We are the newest professional school here at Gill. We only became the school in 2022. But Jackson actually has a much longer history than that. We have been around in different shapes and forms and names since the.

40s we were at one point the global affairs or international relations department. We became a distinctive institute in 2010. And then, as I said, we became a school in 2022. And they really think that that means for you as a student that you have the best of both worlds, right? You have access to Yale, which is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the United States with an incredible alumni network and wealth of resources.

But it also means that when Jackson was becoming a school and when we were designing these degree types.

Our leadership was very thoughtful in thinking through what those degrees should look like, right? They are all pretty active practitioners in the global affairs sphere. And so when they were designing this degree, they were thinking through, you know, what are the really core essential skills that our students need to not only be a part of the global affairs field, but to drive change and to lead those conversations. And so the degree is one that is very flexible and was really designed to help students make that impact in their chosen field.

And flexibility is really a core part of this degree. Uh, so we have 2° here at the Jackson School. We have our two year masters in public policy and then our one year master of advanced studies. Uh, the vast, vast majority of us on this call today are interested in the two year MPP degree. So that is what I will spend the majority of my time focusing on. But if anyone has specific questions about the MAS course, drop those in the chat. Umm, and I'm happy to discuss more about that. So the two year MPP degree is really.

For folks who traditionally have a few years of work experience, sometimes on the policy sphere, but not always. And usually these people who are interested in the MPP know what it is that they want to do and that policy sphere, but are missing perhaps some of the education or the knowledge, the resources, connections to make that happen. And so MPP is designed to help you make that pivot in your in your field.

The MAS is really designed for folks who are much further along in their career. We call it our.

Mid career degrees, So we usually see people with seven or eight or more years of experience applying for that degree. Typically they are pretty well established in their careers and this can serve as a bit of a springboard. Perhaps there's some additional knowledge or networking that you're seeking to get. The MAS might be a better fit for you. But both of these programs are incredibly flexible. So our two year MPP degree, you can see that there are 16 total courses that are required as a part of that.

Four of them are pre selected for you as a core.

Of those four courses, 2 will be more quantitative focused and two will be more qualitative focused. And really the intention behind this core is to help round out your knowledge and give you different tools to answer some of these global affairs and policy questions. Perhaps you are coming to Jackson and you have an economics background, right? That's what your training is in. Those courses that are more focused on the political science and the history of things will give you a better sense of, you know why?

Can't be perfect economic policy always be implemented, right? And really help you to appreciate some of the different disciplines that might fall under the global affairs umbrella. And it helps push you to develop a language to talk about some of these different problems, right and develop that skill set. So those four courses are pre selected for you. You will take those with your cohort as a really great bonding experience. The other 12 courses are completely up to you what you want to take. So you not only get to pick any of the courses offered here.

At Jackson, which is quite a wide range, you can actually pick any of the courses offered at Yale. So if there is a course on human rights law at the Yale Law School that you want to take, or one about, you know, international trade and trade policy over at our School of Management, all of those are open to you as a Jackson student. So this degree is really great for folks who, you know, know exactly what it is that they want to do here at Jackson, right? Because the entirety of Yale is open to you. We typically see.

Who are successful or the students who are successful are the ones who can really articulate exactly what it is that they want out of this degree. And I'll talk a little bit more about that when we get to the admissions section. We do also offer joint degrees. So perhaps if you are very, very interested in law, right, maybe you want to at some point practice as a lawyer or work to create like policy.

You want to do a joint degree with the School of Law. That is something that you can do. And we offer that with all of really the Yale professional schools. So School of Law, School of Management and the School of Environment tend to be the most popular options.

If you are interested in that joint degree, just a few sort of caveats to note. You do need to apply to both schools separately. So you would apply in this example, you would apply to us as Jackson and then you would also apply to the Yale Law School. If you are accepted to both, right, then you will then be part of that joint degree program and work to achieve both degrees. The funding that is offered to you through Jackson only applies to Jackson courses. So I'll talk a little bit more about funding later, but just note that if you are thinking of a joint.

You will need to be able to fund that portion of your degree that's happening through the other school on your own. Joint degrees are really best for students who have a very strong or well articulated interest in that alternate field, right? Again, students who are taking courses at Jackson as a part of the MPP can take those courses in other departments. So if you were thinking about a joint degree, it is really worth thinking through what is the value of that additional degree? Is that something that's worth pursuing?

But something that I love the most about our MPP program, Emily Jackson as a whole.

Is the size of it. You know, it's quite a small cohort as you can see on the screen, 30 to 35 students in a given year. And for that MAS, it tends to be quite small as well, around two to five students. So that means that you are getting to know every single student in your cohort, right? And they are getting to know you.

Another resource that some of our students might choose to take advantage of are some of the various centers that are run through the Jackson School. So you can see all of our different centers or institutes up here. I won't read them all out loud.

But if you are have a particular focus in one of these areas, this can really be a great resource to leverage. Just one that I'll highlight is arsenic program on artificial intelligence. They run exchange programs with the Chinese university that I believe it's the Peking University. They regularly have leaders in the field come to speak. They run different workshops and really the whole goal of this center is to give policymakers a better understanding of the technical aspects of artificial intelligence and vice versa. They.

To give those with the technical expertise a better understanding of that policy field and what it looks like to make policy around artificial intelligence. So really trying to facilitate some of that interdisciplinary knowledge, right, and connect folks across these areas of study. So if any of these are centers or areas that interest you, I highly encourage you to check out their website. All of these centers do a wonderful job of bringing leading professionals in their field to campus. Most of them will host some sort of colloquially.

Colloquium, excuse me, or other conference at some point in the year. And so this is really a great chance to build that community around an area that you might be interested in.

And Speaking of community, as I said earlier, I really do believe that's one of the most special parts of Jackson is the students that you're surrounded by. You know, when we as admissions are thinking about the community that we're trying to create, we want a community in which lots of different backgrounds and perspectives are represented.

In which you are not only learning from your faculty, who are some of the leaders in their field, but you're also learning from your peers around you, right? They hold different backgrounds and perspectives. And you are challenged by them inside the classroom and outside the classroom. Because Jackson is such a small community, you really are getting to know everyone. And our students are always doing like such fun things together, not only as a means of, you know, professional bonding. I know they host a number of workshops in colloquial. They watch.

At an election watch party last month, but also just like fun events, there was like a holiday cookie decorating event going on last week in our student lounge. They regularly celebrate lots of cultural events together. So this is a really wonderful resource. And again, I think something that's distinctive about Jackson, that you are not only leveraging your peers for those professional connections or, you know, seeing how you can learn from each other inside the classroom, but that they are truly creating that community. I think if you are the kind of person who likes to.

Sit in the back row of the classroom and like not be called on and not be challenged at all. Jackson is probably not the place for you, right? Your professors, your faculty, they are going to know you by name. Your peers are going to know you and exactly what you are interested in and they can really help to challenge you and draw you outside of your box. This is especially wonderful when it comes to taking advantage of a lot of the resources we have here on campus. You know, we have incredible speakers come to campus all the time.

We have like the president of Mexico is a regular fixture on our campus, right? And so that means.

When we have some of these luminaries giving talks and and meeting with our students, you're not going to be 1 of 200 in an auditorium and this person doesn't even see you and know that you're there. It means like you are one of a dozen in a classroom and you are having FaceTime with that person. And these are all things that you can use to leverage and to build your network when it comes to that post graduation success.

So Speaking of post graduation success, this is something that we do a lot to facilitate here at Jackson. I'll start with our summer experience. So this is required. This is for all of our MPP students that two year degree.

This is a required internship or hands on learning experience that happens in the summer between your first and your second year. We call it a summer experience. So you're welcome to do an internship. You are welcome to do research. It's up to you as a student. You know what seems to be calling you and what you're the most interested in. We have our amazing career office who works with you one-on-one to make sure that you are securing an experience that is interesting to you and valuable to your career. So you can see up here a little.

On the screen of where students tend to go, this is a great option to, you know, perhaps try out like something that you never thought you would be able to do before. Jackson is able to fund the summer experiences. We will give up to $6000 for a student to, you know, pay your rent, pay your way for that summer. So if there is like a non profit that you're really passionate about working for and they can't afford to pay you.

Jackson will support that experience and make sure that you're really able to build that professional connection.

And of course, these are all experiences that our students are leveraging to have that success after graduation. Again, you can see up here just a little bit of where our students are going. There's a pretty good mix between the nonprofit, the government and the private sector. Many of our students stay here within the US, but many will also go to other countries, whether that is returning home or perhaps living somewhere that they have never been before.

Again, our students are really having these varied outcomes and leveraging all of these experiences on campus.

And as I said before, I think our career development office does a lot to facilitate this. You know, I was speaking to our assistant director for the career services the other day, Kristen, and she told me because Jackson is so small, you know, she knows every single student on a first name basis and she knows exactly what they want to do after graduation. And so that means like if something comes across her desk and she's like, oh, this reminds me of that conversation I had with the student the other day, but she's passing it on to them or she's like going out and making.

Actions professional connections with an organization that a student might want to work with. So again, I think really this the size of our community and the fact that everyone knows everyone is something that is a huge advantage for our students in those post graduation opportunities. And you can see up here just a few examples of the things that our alum have been doing Umm as I said, Jackson is as a official school quite new only 2022, but we have a long history and that means that.

Are not only in positions all across the US, but all across the world, and this is absolutely a network that we are leveraging to your benefit.

Umm, and I see Alejandro just dropped a little bit in the chat. Yeah, Kristen is amazing. Umm and again, works super closely with all of our students. So I'm sure something that we are all thinking about is the money, right? How do you fund this degree? That is a big question. Well, here at Jackson, we are very fortunate to be able to say that for our next year's incoming class.

We are offering essentially a 100% tuition scholarship to every single admitted MPP student. So this means that if you are admitted for that two year program, tuition is taken care of. That is not something that you need to worry about. In addition to that, this past year we offered a full living scholarship to around half of the incoming class, and then the remaining half of the incoming class also received a half living scholarship.

So again, it's not a guarantee that every single student will receive some form of living scholarship, but in our last class that was the case that the vast majority of our students received either a fully funded living scholarship or a partial living scholarship. In addition to that, whether or not you receive any sort of assistance for those living expenses, we do have a number of jobs on campus and these are equally accessible to international and domestic students. So you are welcome to become ATA for a course.

Right to do research with the faculty as an admissions office, we even hire several student assistants throughout the year, so you're welcome to come work with us and again, just to emphasize UMM that is equally open to students regardless of their citizenship. And the reason that we do this at Jackson UMM is twofold First, we know that policy UMM doesn't always tend to be the most lucrative field. And so we really want our graduates to feel empowered to go out and to pursue career outcomes that matter to them right take that job with.

Nonprofit or with the government that you're passionate about and not have to worry about repaying those loans. The second reason is because we do, yes, hope you learn from your faculty when you're on our campus, but just as much and maybe more, we want you to learn from your peers. And the peers that we have to offer you here at Jackson are truly some of the best and the brightest from around the world without regard to their finances.

So that is just a little bit about the funding for the MPP program as you can see up here.

For any folks who might be interested in the MAS, the one year we do not offer any funding for that program. So if you are interested in the one year that MAS, often times folks will have employers that will fund that degree for them. There are also outside scholarships or fellowships that you can pursue, but again, NPP we offer that full tuition scholarship for the MAS. We as a school do not offer any funding to our students.

Umm, for those who are interested in the MPP who are applying for that.

Again, just to note, if you are interested in receiving that living scholarship or being considered for that, you should check the box on your application that says that you intend to pursue or seek financial aid. So if you check that box saying that you want to pursue financial aid, you'll be considered for the living scholarships. I just really want to emphasize there is no disadvantage to checking that box. So you know, say you want to be considered for that and we will consider you for those living scholarships.

And you can see up here just a little bit around what our class tends to look like in a given year.

Again, age range folks are usually coming with a few years of work experience out of college. Umm, and really from not just all across the US but all across the world. Umm, I will be talking in just one second about the admissions qualifications criteria, but I just want to give this a second so folks have had a chance to read it. OK, so as most of us are applying for this upcoming cycle for the MPP, I'm sure what is really on all your minds are.

Like, how do we get in, right? What is that admissions process look like? So, uh, our application deadline closes on January 2nd. So this is absolutely the time to be thinking about that, right? And to be attending these webinars and asking those questions. Umm, for folks who have not sent us their standardized test scores, not standardized test is the GRE. Now is the time to do so. Umm, you should be taking this test before the end of December. Umm, we will, you know, look at your high score no matter what that score is.

Or when it was taken. So again, you should be taking that standardized test and you should be sending us that score quite soon. If you are a current applicant and you have sent us your score already, I just want to emphasize, please give our office some time to upload those scores, right? There's a few different steps that have to happen on our end for us to receive those scores and then for you as an applicant to see that we have received those scores. So we are working on it.

So no need to worry about that if you have set your score our way. We also ask for three letters of recommendation. Again, if you have not reached out to your recommenders, now is most definitely the time to be doing so. Uh, for those 3 letters of recommendation, we typically do ask that one of those letters come from an academic reference. Umm, We understand that many of you, you know, have been out of school for several years. You might not have kept in touch with professors. So if you are not able to.

A reference from an academic, umm, reference of yours. Then perhaps one of your professional references can speak a little bit more to, you know, how you might engage in the classroom intellectually, what that might look like, right? That's something that we're looking to get a sense of. Umm, On the other hand, if your academic, uh, record is perhaps not quite as strong as you wanted, right? Maybe you struggled in your undergrad, it might be helpful for us to have two academic references, right, to explain some of that and give context to our.

So again, 3 letters of recommendation and as you can see up here, those should be submitted no later than a week after January 2nd deadline. The statement of purpose, this is really the core of your application. So this is pretty much where you tell us, here's who I am, here's why I am interested in Jackson, here's what I would contribute to this community, and here's what I would get out of this degree.

This does not need to be a piece of creative writing, right? Your goal is not necessarily to make the admissions committee cry or to, you know, want to submit it for Pulitzer Prize.

Right. The goal is really to tell us about who you are and what you intend to get out of this degree. There are lots of people applying to, you know, Jackson and to be a member of this community. And so really being specific about what exactly it is that you hope to do here at Jackson, as well as how you'll leverage this degree in your future career. Are there really 2 important questions that the admissions committee is looking to get out of that statement of purpose?

We're also looking for a resume. This will give us context as to what you've been doing since graduation, right? And again, how you've developed some of that professional expertise. So.

As you're crafting this application, we know that you have quite limited space despite us asking for many materials.

So thinking about the resume and the statement of purpose hand in hand, right, We will read your entire application. So if something is in your resume, you shouldn't feel the need to repeat it line for line in your statement of purpose. Again, the statement of purpose is where you're adding a lot of that context and a lot of the why the resume can provide some light as to the actual, you know, day-to-day functions of your role. So make sure that you're thinking about these different pieces of your application.

In tandem with one another, we will of course be asking for transcripts. We are an academic program, so we want to know how have you performed in the classroom in the past? What kind of academic performance can we expect out of you if you become a member of our community? These do not have to be official transcripts. However, if you are accepted and decide to enroll, then we will ask for those to be official transcripts. So.

Just something to note.

And I can see there are a few questions around the fee waiver. So it's good timing. Uh, our automatic fee waiver deadline was on December 1st. So for folks who submitted the actual application that does not include your standardized testing or your letters of recommendation on or before December 1st, you automatically got a waiver for that $75 application fee. Umm, there is going to be no extension for that automatic fee waiver. So if you missed it, then you will have to pay that $75 application fee.

There is a slight caveat to that for folks who have been involved in a few different programs, including things like Peace Corps, the Pickering and the Wrangle Fellowships, I believe Fulbright as well. You can find a complete list on our website. You are welcome to apply for that fee waiver. I believe today is the last day or we are nearing the last day. So if you fall under one of those groups, if you have received that fellowship, please go to our website and apply for that fee waiver.

If you are not one of those folks.

But unfortunately, you will have to pay that application fee, unless you'd like to wait until next year, in which case the application fee will be waived if you apply prior to December 1st. We do also require English language testing scores for folks whose native language is not English or who did not attend undergrad in an English speaking university. So if your native language is, let's say Spanish, but you attended college at a school that teaches in English, you are exempt from.

English language requirement, right? So again, you can find all this information in writing on our website. We accept TOEFL, we accept IELTS, we accept Cambridge. So those will need to be official scores that are submitted as well.

Alright, I've talked for quite a while now about Jackson and about what that looks like. I see that there are questions that have been popping in in the chat. I know Alejandro is a rock star and he has been answering those questions, but I do want to open up the floor again for folks who have any of those questions. Now is the time to drop them in the chat.

Alright, I'm just trying to read the questions and see which ones Alejandro has gotten to. He's very, very speedy.

OK, so Arushi asked a question around what kinds of like information should we be putting in the additional documents? The short answer is anything that you think needs more context. Umm, So I think this can be especially helpful if perhaps there are gaps in your academic record or in your professional resume. Umm, you know, like maybe you had to take a year off of school to go like take care of a family member or, you know, and that affected your grades. Umm, or like you were supposed to do some fellowship and it got cancelled because of COVID.

Those can be really helpful things to explain and that additional information, right, Anything that we as an admissions committee might want more context around.

If you, you know, perhaps had like a research abstract that you felt like didn't fit anywhere in the rest of your application, right, you can also put things in there. So this is sometimes like we call it the Wild West of the application, you know, your additional information section. But again, anything that you feel was not fully explained elsewhere in the application.

The additional information is where that should go.

Uh, there is a question around is it possible to submit the GRE after January 2nd? UMM, and his work experience needed UMM, so I will go back to the application requirement slide. I think this might be helpful for folks to see. Umm, we do have a little bit of a grace period around those scores being submitted. UMM, but again, you really should be taking the GRE by the end of December because it can sometimes be a two week turn around between.

Taking the GRE score and our office uploading it into your application. So if you do not foresee yourself being able to make that deadline, you're welcome to reach out to our office and we can talk to you on an individual basis. But again, that GRE score is required in order to be considered for admission. So we really do need that GRE score by early December.

Oh, and then the second part of the question is work experience needed to apply for the MPP? Umm, yes. So this is a great question. Typically candidates do have several years of work experience.

The average in our most recent class was five years of work experience. Umm, this is because we really want our students to have a variety of perspectives. Umm, excuse me, most of our oh, I see Alejandro's putting it in the chat as well. He's so quick. Umm, but I'll expand on it a little bit. Umm, a lot of folks don't actually come from a strict policy background, right? So if that's you, if you have not had work experience like.

A think tank or a government? Umm, I just want to ease your concerns.

Really, we're looking for people who have a wide variety of backgrounds and perspectives and can enrich that classroom conversation, right? As I said several times, like you are not just learning from your faculty here at Jackson, you're learning from your peers around you. And so a lot of the breadth of perspectives that work experience can offer is a part of that requirement. So again, we do typically ask for several years of work experience. If your work experience doesn't look like perhaps what you want it to, the additional information might be a good place to talk about that.

Abraham asked a question, yeah, around minimum GPA requirement, which I see Alejandro has answered for us. How speedy as he said, yeah, there is no minimum GPA requirement. And the same thing goes for testing. We practice holistic admissions, which is, you know, the same philosophy a lot of US highly selective schools practice, which means that regardless of the the test scores that you have, the GPA that you have, we will look at your application and consider it fully.

We don't have a minimum score that we require for admission. Umm, again, we are looking to see that students are generally.

You know, academically competitive, our goal is always to admit students who will succeed in our program, and so the testing and the GPA can be helpful ways of conveying that to us.

Andy is a great question. They say, you know, passionate about global affairs, but I'm not certain it's the path they want to take. Umm, do you recommend getting additional work experience or exposure Or, you know, is Jackson a place to help you explore what you want to do? This is a really great question and I think because the Jackson education is so flexible.

On one hand, you certainly can't explore lots of different ideas and lots of different fields, right? I mean, you can take classes like Across Yield, across our professional schools. So certainly it is exploratory in that sense.

The flip side of it is that, you know, you kind of get lost in that pretty easily. So students who tend to be successful at Jackson, both in the admissions process and in their time here as a student, are ones who can really articulate what exactly it is that they want out of this degree. So, you know, this might be an instance in which it is better to have a year or two of work experience. You know, maybe that work experience isn't exactly what you want to do in your future, but at least it might help give you some clarity. So again, that's something we think about.

That statement of purpose, right? Is this a student who will come to Jackson and hit the ground running and know exactly what they want to do? Or is this a student who perhaps might take courses across lots of different areas and emerge without any real expertise or any knowledge or skills to build on? So I think students who do better at Jackson, again, both in the admissions process and as a student, are really able to articulate what it is that they're looking for in that degree and how that will contribute to their professional success.

As Ian asked a question in the chat around how old can IELTS exams be, Alejandro had a link that he shared earlier that talk about our testing requirements. I do not know offhand, I must confess, what the expiration date for the scores are, but all of that information will be on our website.

And we still have about 30 minutes left, so if you have questions, now is the time. Do not be shy, drop them in the chat.

Alright, I will give it a few more minutes. OK Andy has a question. Umm what are the four core classes? I don't, that's always a tongue twister for me. The requirements for the MPP program umm, Alejandro will know the specific names better than me umm, so perhaps he could drop those in the chat when he gets a second umm. But there are, as I said, two quantitative courses and two qualitative courses umm So for the quantitative courses you'll take more econ and more stats focused course umm just to give a bit of.

Context for that, if you are coming to Jackson without any, you know, quantitative stats, econ background, that is perfectly fine. We admit plenty of students every single year who do not have that background and they do just fine in those courses. As I said, there are two of those courses that are required as the core, but we offer an optional course in the fall of your first year that you can take is kind of an onboarding course for that stats and that econ to give you some of that background.

The other two courses, one of them will be more of a history course.

And then the other one will be political science. So really they're all in pretty different fields. Again, the goal of that is to like, expose you to the different ways of thinking about these issues and global affairs. Umm, and, you know, challenging your own perspectives.

Umm, there is a question around foreign language training opportunities. Umm, this person wants to like learn more languages. Is that possible? Yes, it's the short answer. So, uh, for the MPP, it is required that you have proficiency in at least one foreign language as a graduation requirement. So you don't need to come in with exposure to a foreign language. Although I will say it's helpful, umm, you know, to go from zero to proficiency in two years is quite a tall task. So it's not to say you can't do it, but.

For your own.

Planning as a student, again, that can be helpful if you already have proficiency in a language, in two languages, maybe you want to take one more. Absolutely, that is open to you. Those would be some of your elective courses that you take. So that's something that, you know, just depends on you as a student, if you feel like that is worth your time. Another great thing about Yale is that, you know, beyond Jackson, it's an incredibly global school, right? We have students from I don't even know how many countries.

So let's say that you really want to learn Arabic, but it doesn't fit into your course schedule to take those courses.

There are plenty of social groups and clubs that you could join that are more focused on, again, learning that language in a casual setting. So lots of opportunities to learn that language if that is something that you are interested in.

Catherine asked a question around can you share positive consideration for Coverdell applicants? I'm not quite sure I understand the question. Are you asking if we positively consider Coverdale applicants? UMM, I do believe that Coverdell is one of the UMM fellowships that we offer that application fee waiver for.

But like with any fellowship, right, just having a certain fellowship or having a certain title on your resume is not going to be the end all be all when it comes to admissions. Doing some of that deeper reflection and thinking about why was that fellowship meaningful for me? How does that shape, right? Like who I might be in the classroom and how I might contribute to that community. That will be much more important when it comes to the application process.

I see that Emma asked a question around what sort of extracurricular opportunities or student organizations are there for Jackson students.

Umm, I will defer that one to Alejandro because he is the current student. Umm, so I'm sure he's working away in the chat. Yep, he just dropped a question or an answer to that question. Umm, so big shout out to Alejandro for that.

Rebecca asked if they're interested in coming back to their home country, umm, to work on domestic policy, umm, should they talk about that or should they talk about their interest in global affairs? You should talk about what you're interested in. I mean that genuinely, right? Like your statement of purpose, like.

Please don't feel like you should focus on one thing more than the other because you think it will appeal to us, us as an admissions committee. Wait. Like we really want to know, like, who do you want to be if you come here? And if you want to be someone that, you know, you go back to your home country and focus on domestic policy, then like, that is what you should talk about. When we're assessing students and when we're thinking about fit, you know, being honest about what you intend to study is a really big part of that. And so in order for us to make that match and assess that fit, right, you do have to be.

Clear about your intentions. If you want to study both, then like you should include that information as well, right? Or talk about how you see those fields working together in tandem. But absolutely, whatever it is that you genuinely want to study or do after graduation, that is the information I would like to see in your statement of purpose.

There are a few questions around joint degree and what that process looks like.

So there's some questions around essentially like what makes someone successful in that joint degree or what does it like look like to apply for that joint degree? So as the questions have noted, you do have to apply to both schools separately, right? So whether that is, you know, school of engineering or environment, right? Like you're going to apply for the school separately. Some of the schools might ask for a joint degree statement asking you to explain essentially like what do you hope to get out of this joint degree? Like what is the point of it for you?

The question was around what? What is Jackson looking for and what makes a successful joint degree application?

So really what it comes down to is, again, because Jackson and the MPP is incredibly flexible and you can already take those courses at, you know, in this instance, the school of umm, the environment. I think it really is important for you to explain like why the joint degree, like why are you taking that additional step and what additional value does that degree offer to you versus just taking a few classes there? That's a pretty personal question. It really depends on your career goals, right, and what you want out of this degree.

But that is exactly what I'm looking for as a student who can really articulate the additional benefit of that degree.

There's a question around how.

Strict is the work experience requirement.

You know, the student has done some internships. You know, we do consider internships like put this on your resume, like we would love to know more about them. But again, we really are looking for students who have at least several years of that full time work experience. You know, we've often found that being in the workplace and having that full time work experience really provides students with a pretty different perspective.

When they get here to Jackson, I know I'll speak for myself. It's quite easy to think that you want to do something and then perhaps when you get into the workplace, you realize like you were not thinking about that in the way that you thought you were. So it's not to say that we never admit students without work experience, but I would say it is quite rare. Again, the vast majority of our incoming class has at least several years of that work experience.

There is a question around can someone who studies library and information science applied to the MPP. So certainly you can. My question as a member of the admissions committee, uh, would be why are you applying for the NPP when your background is not in policy? Umm, and this is true, right, of any student or applicant who might be applying for the MPP and not come from a policy background. So again, that is perfectly fine and normal and good. We want that variety of perspectives.

But there's just always going to be the question in our minds of why is this the degree for you and how do you know that's what you want to study? Are you looking to make a pivot to policy? You know, sometimes we'll see like people coming from an engineering background and they want to work on engineering policy, whereas, you know, prior to this they've been on the technical side. That is perfectly great and wonderful. But again, the onus is on you as the applicant to explain that and to explain how are you going to use the MPP.

You know, how are you going to leverage that in your career?

After graduation.

There's a great question around.

Umm what is like the difference in applicant profiles between the MPP and the MAS? Because yes, we have spoken pretty much only about the MPP at this point in time. Umm So essentially the major difference is where folks are coming from in their careers. So applicants for the MPP tend to be early stage professionals. You know, you've, you've had a few years of experience, you know, we'll say around 5 is average umm, but typically there is something stopping you from achieving that next level in your umm career.

There is like lack of a formal degree. Maybe you need additional qualification skills training, maybe you need some more, you know, enhanced networking and connections, you know, where you want to get in your career, but something is stopping you from getting there. And the MPP is designed to bridge that gap. So, you know, especially as we think about folks who might be making a little bit of a pivot in their careers, this is oftentimes really helpful in gaining some of that knowledge, again, intended to get you to that next level.

The MAS is really the next step. So typically we see folks.

You know, I would say like 30s, like mid to late 30s is a more common age for this degree. Umm, this is intended to be a little bit quicker, right? You get in, you get out, just one year and it's done. Umm, these are folks who usually are quite well established in their fields or in their career. Umm, generally they are not looking to pivot. They are not looking to switch fields. Umm, but again, perhaps they might just be looking to, you know, deepen their knowledge in a particular area.

Especially if their employer is willing to fund that degree for a year. That's something that we see quite often. So main difference between MPP and MAS is that early career versus mid career MPP might be looking to to pivot or to change their focus a little bit, whereas MAS are usually pretty solidified in their career path. Oh, and then they also ask a question around cybersecurity, International Security studies within both degrees.

I'm sure Alejandro will drop a link at some point 'cause he's so speedy. Umm. And I think the Schmidt Center, the Schmidt Institute would be a really great program for you to check out, as well as the computer science department.

Because you can take courses across departments.

Alejandro is so quick, so I'm just trying to look through our questions and see which ones he has not answered. Umm. But again, we have about 15 minutes left, so umm, if you do have those, umm, any of those questions, drop them in the chat.

League asked a question around, you know, if you have a low GRE score, but your TOEFL or your GPA is quite high, Like how does that balance out? Umm, because it's a holistic admissions process, right? There is no like minimum GPA. There is no minimum UMM, GRE that is required for admission. I'm just putting the screen up with the admissions requirements again so you all can reference that in the additional information. Whether it's the GRE, whether it's your GPA that was lower than you would have wanted. Umm, that can be a place.

For you to explain it and give some, excuse me, some context around why that number looks the way it does. Umm, again, as an admissions committee, like we want to admit students who will be academically successful. And so testing and GPA are good ways for us to assess that. So that is our concern. When we see either a low test score or a low GPA, we want to know that you will be able to take our courses and be able to do well in our courses. So umm speaking to that in your application.

Would be the most helpful thing that you can do in that situation.

Alright, we seem to have a bit of a lull. I'm going to give it another minute or two. Umm, just to make sure that there are no other questions coming in.

Already think that we are about ready to wrap up. I'll give it just a few more seconds. I really want to thank folks for taking the time out of their day or night. And I know a lot of you are calling in internationally and so I'm sure this is like a weird time for you. But thank you again for being here with us today and for all of your energy and attention. I really do wish everybody the best of luck when it comes to their application process.

And submitting those materials. And if you do have those questions, again, please be in touch with our office.

And happy holidays to everybody. Thank you all for being here.