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hey guys I got valuable advice from here last year too so should probably give back to the group in some way. Last year, I applied for the Jan deadline. Heard back from one IPA country office in Africa at the beginning of March then had an interview on skype a few days later and didn't hear anything from them until the end of the month. Right after the interview I sent a short email thanking the country director for taking the time to interview me, repeated how motivated I was and the usual "I look forward to hearing from you". No response for a week or so, sent another email, still no response. At the end of March (after waiting like 3 weeks) they finally told me that I hadn't made the cut for the interview with the PIs and that they had already hired someone else. Anyway, I was pretty distraught and didn't hear from any other projects. I reapplied to a few and then decided to focus on my coming exams instead. I graduated at the start of the summer, started working in an IB with the plan to start an MSc at LSE in the fall when I got an email from a CD at an another IPA office in Africa. I passed a Stata test, got an interview in person with the CD in London then interviewed with the PIs on the phone and got an offer mid August. Long story short: don't despair, even if it takes a while it can still work out. Also, getting an offer is a mixed blessing. It's not all rosy over here. Hot, dusty and exhausting a lot of the time ;-) Don't hesitate to PM me with any questions. Good luck!!

Well mckinsey sounds less evil than IB ah ah you could even probably get into development that way. a friend of mine did the ODI fellowship and is now working for mckinsey on tons of dev related projects... I think Illl wait until the end of the week and then send an email. It's just a little stressful because I have these two women from HR (in the IB) calling me everyday in the last week, twice today argh, to check whether I've decided to accept. apparently there are "lots of other candidates who are just as good as you and more motivated"..im sure thats true, I just want to get jpaaal/ipaaa Anyone here got an offer yet ?! I know one girl who has (for India) but she was totally super-over--uber-qualified so that doesnt count lol

Tell me about it ! Argh I only got interviewed by IPA for one position and I bloody hope it works out because the only alternative I have is selling my soul and going off to work in investment banking (best offer I got in terms of interest and $)...Man that would be sad....