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peppypundit

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About peppypundit

  • Birthday 06/07/1989

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  • Occupation
    Student

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  • My Tests
    Yes

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  • My Target Scores
    1600- GRE
    AWA- 6

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  1. Hey everyone, After much heated discussion in March and February, this thread appears to have gone Arctic. I'd love to hear what's been up in the lastfour months. Coffeemug and Mayflowers472 said they got offers in India and Africa respectively. So for the two of you, have JPAL finally allotted you your projects? What about everyone else on the forum? c0c0? ecommoner? treddi? In my case, I got the IPA summer internship in India. After 3 rounds of phone interviews, I have my final meeting this weekend, face-to-face with my PIs, for a regular one-year RA position . There have been long delays between every interview stage. So I'd like to assure applicants that 2 weeks or a little above is the standard time they need to come to a decision (unless you're ridiculously qualified with a PhD or something). Looking forward to hearing from all of you (and who knows, maybe have some of you as colleagues) Cheers
  2. Dear Mr Crawfurd, Thank you for the clarification. I'd like to ask one more related question, if it's all right by you. Recently, the advertisement for the Kenya internship was taken off both the JPAL and IPA websites. Does this indicate that the position has been filled? Or does it imply that IPA is no longer accepting applications (and is screening those already submitted)? Thanking you Yours sincerely Abhishek
  3. This goes out to those interested in development economics and applying for Masters programmes. This summer, IPA or Innovations for Poverty Action (JPAL's sister organization) has organized 3 kinds of internships- 1) Informal Savings study (various locations) 2) Weather Insurance in Kenya 3) General (unspecified as of now) With regard to all three, I'd like to ask: a) Has anyone applied and heard back from them for an interview? b) Was there an application deadline, as is the case for their longer assignments? c) Are the internships only for students of US Universities? Since the IPA staff themselves rarely reply to such queries, it would be great if we applicants could get together and work these issues out. Thanks for your time, and hope to hear from as many of you possible, especially ex-interns.:) Cheers Abhishek
  4. @ Coffemug, High five! See, what did I tell you about being patient with IFMR-CMF? Great going. So which evaluation are you handling? @TheSubEffect- It's great to know that there's a mentor and guide here who's been there, done that. Been here, done this- actually- since India (your JPAL work country) is home for me. I'd like to ask you a question about the chances of non-US (Indian) students applying for JPAL SA positions. Is it okay to send you a PM you at this point? Do let me know, and only then I'll pose my question. Cheers Abhishek
  5. Ecommoner, sorry to hear that. But you mentioned 2 interviews right? So doesn't that mean you still have a chance for the second? By the looks of it, the HR managers don't consider it necessary to inform interviewed applicants about their status unless they email them themselves.:hmm: I hope everything turns out right for you. Cheers Abhishek
  6. Hey there Econqwerty. Congratulations! I'm an Indian student who had applied for one of the local JPAL-SA RA positions. I'm just trying to figure out how long it takes to start getting interview calls. If I may ask, was yours for a Type 1 position in the States (at MIT) or in a developing country at the field level? Thanks a ton and all the best! Cheers Abhishek
  7. Treddi and Riley, thanks for your tips. It appears that most of these positions start in summer, after your exams. Do you apply for RA positions in January, before you take your final undergraduate examinations? That would mean that the GPA you report would be your score up till then. Like with other jobs, can the position be granted earlier (in February/March) conditional on a certain GPA on graduating? I've graduated but I have 2 diplomas whose exams are in June next year. So is it likely that the PI could say 'you're selected, provided that you score ___ % or a GPA of ___ in your exams'? And what are the statistical models or techniques you used most often as an RA? Cheers Abhishek
  8. Hey there amigos. I'm an Indian graduate in Economics deep into development and political economy, a hence considering an RA position with J-PAL for next year (completing the application by Jan 2011). I can't help but notice that no BA student of an Indian university has been selected so far, even if the evaluations are in India. At best there are Indian RAs accepted but only after they complete a Masters Degree in the US or UK. Strange, because the BA degrees from a lot of US/Uk institutions seems to suffice for RA positions- I know this from the J-PAL website. Nevertheless, I'll do whatever it takes to be deserving and ready in the next 5 months. I'd be really grateful if you could have a look at my background and evaluate my chances of being taken in::) Academics:grad: Degree: BA Economics (3 years, not 4 like in the States) Institution: St. Xavier's College, Mumbai University. The college is among the top 3 for arts in the country but the University itself doesn't have much to boast about in its current state. GPA: About 3.8. Don't know how this corresponds exactly to the Indian system. Did about 16 projects, most of them As GRE: Exam in December, aiming at 1580+, 6 in AWA Undergrad Minors- Political Science and Eng Lit (and hence limited Quantitative content- a year-long paper each in Maths for Economics and Econometrics) Graduate Coursework 2 Distance Diplomas, both concluding by June next year: 1) Mathematics & Statistics (LSE) 2) Population studies (IIPS- this institution conducts most of India's official demographic surveys) Also, short courses on Design of Experiments and ANOVA; Survey Design and Analysis of Data of Complex Samples; upcoming courses on Generalized Linear Models, Bayesian Statistics and Multivariate Analysis (http://www.statistics.com)- all with the necessary computing skills. Skills Programming skills Currently studying Stata(not part of curriculum in India, Advanced Netcourse certificate by Mid Jan) Research Experience: a) 2 months with the Reserve Bank of India (India's Central bank) after clearing a national level exam where only 50 students were selected b) Planning to evaluate BRAC's Targeting the Ultra-Poor programme in January Other Strengths: Linguistic: I speak 8 languages, including French and Spanish which feature in RA job requirements Extensive experience in partnering NGOs- AIESEC, Rang De (Microfinance group in India) I don't want to unload the entire La Vida Loca on you- so let's stop here. If anyone could appraise my chances or inform me on possible reasons why non-US/UK universities have not been preferred so far, I think I'd be indebted to you for life!:p Looking forward to meeting some of you Cheers Abhishek
  9. Hey there;) I'm an Indian student (recent graduate in Economics) currently applying for the position of Research Associate with MIT's Poverty Action Lab. I hit a roadblock while filling their online form. At one place they ask for a scan of my Undergraduate Transcript. At another, they ask for coursework and grades received. How is coursework different from syllabus exactly? If my scores are what they want, it's already in the transcript, right?:mad: In college, we had an additional 'honours' programme (unlike most universities in India) where we undertook additional projects outside the 'main' syllabus. These projects and essays received grades. Is that what 'coursework' might be referring to? After all, we get marks only and not grades for our core subjects anyway. If anyone understands the fine semantics of Western academia, I'd be really grateful for a little advise. Plus if you know what kind of coursework J-PAL values, I really wouldn't know how to thank you. Adios! -Abhishek
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