Application Essays

The MPA/ID application includes several essays. The suggested length for all essays is 500-750 words.

  1. The Admissions Committee is interested in your academic, professional and personal development. List each significant position held, most recent first. Include in this listing the dates (include month and year, and full-time or part-time), agency or firm, title, starting and ending salary, major responsibilities, and name and title of your supervisor. Please explain any gaps in your employment history. You should also include information on personal hobbies and avocational interests. Your current resume, providing it includes all of the above information, is sufficient.
  2. (Optional) If you have any concerns about your prior academic background or if you believe the Admissions Committee may have concerns, please give a brief explanation of your performance in college and its relation to your past and future career accomplishments.
  3. Discuss your decision to choose international development as your professional career. Also, explain how developing your analytic skills relates to your career in development.
  4. Describe an event or experience in which you exercised a significant decision-making, management, or leadership role.
  5. Analyze a public policy or public management problem related to international development and analyze a range of solutions.
  6. At least one college level course in microeconomics, macroeconomics and multivariable calculus must be completed before enrollment. Statistics and linear algebra are desirable, but not required. Explain how you have met these requirements, or how you propose to meet them before enrolling in September. Please include descriptions of mathematics courses you have taken that covered calculus and multivariable calculus, as well as descriptions of any courses whose titles do not clearly indicate the content (e.g. Mathematics II or Advanced Mathematics). Official descriptions copied from your college’s course catalogue or on-line course catalogue are preferred.

Joint HBS/HKS applicants are asked to complete an additional essay explaining their reasons for pursuing a joint degree.

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