This year I applied to the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University. One of my life goals is to earn a Ph.D. in public policy and/or theology. NYU’s Wagner school is a very good public policy school. I love NYU; I’m an alum of the NYU Law School (LL.M. 1999). The Wagner School has a part-time Ph.D. program, which would suit me very well since I teach just uptown at CUNY. However, I inquired of some of the Wagner faculty last fall about the Ph.D. program, and it appeared that my background and research focus isn’t specific enough to gain a slot in that program. So, one possible plan is to work on a Master’s in Public Policy at Wagner, get to know some the faculty, and then try to transfer into the Ph.D. Problem is, Wagner is very expensive. I figured I’d apply and see if I qualified for any scholarships.
Well, yesterday my wife fielded a call from the Assistant Dean for Admissions and Enrollment at Wagner, with a message that I should call back. Unfortunately, I keep getting voice mail. I’m almost certain that a call like this means I’ve qualified for some significant scholarship money. Of course, it could be something much more mundane — maybe they lost my essay, or want to invite me to an open house, or some other dumb thing. But I think they’d just do that by email. So — tune in tomorrow afternoon, and we’ll see!
Well, as usual, it wasn’t exactly what I thought. The admissions committee thinks I’m too experienced for the basic Masters’ degree, and wants to switch me over as an applicant for a mid-career M.S. or a Ph.D. Now this could be good — I really want to go for the Ph.D. But, I had corresponded with some of the faculty previously and it seemed that my research interests wouldn’t fit, which is why I thought of back-dooring it through the basic Masters. So, they are going to run my file by the Ph.D. admissions committee, but I’m skeptical of how that would turn out. And as for the mid-career M.S., I don’t think there’s any scholarship that apply to that.
Sigh. Nothing can ever just work.