LGBTQ Panamanian reapplicant accepted to Columbia SIPA MPA program
Juan had a graduate school “golden ticket” when he came to The Art of Applying® — he worked in the public sector in Panama, and the government had already awarded him a scholarship at the school of his choice. But he wanted to get to the best school possible, and set his sights on Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, and its Masters of Public Administration program.
And then he worked with The Art of Applying® twice to get there. The first time, he came to us in October 2017, and only had a few months to try to get everything in shape. Though there was more to do than he could effectively complete in those few months, he saw value in what we offered him the first time, came back to work with us a second time, and got to celebrate his success.
He experienced what many of our clients experience — a walkthrough of his life story to find what graduate committees might find particularly resonant. In his case, it was his commitment to working in the public sector, and specifically to return from grad school to his home country to make it better.
But he also found that the diversity of our team helped him. As a first-generation Panamanian, whose parents didn’t speak English, and who was the first in his family to travel to the United States to go to school, he felt heard and understood.
“So I will tell my fellow Latin Americans that in working with The Art of Applying®, you will feel like you’re working with somebody that understands your background,” he told us.
“What happens if nobody in your day-to-day environment understands how difficult it is to apply to grad school?” he asks. “You find that niche with The Art of Applying® — a lot of encouragement and a lot of positive energy to keep working and to keep applying.”
It was in that second time working with us that he got to fully experience what got him to a successful application: the mindset coaches helping him through the emotional aspects of the process, guidance on the essays, and even the calendars we provide to keep our clients mindful of their deadlines.
Start Date: October 2017 | End Date: May 2019
Applicant Information
- 26 years old
- Latin American (first-generation Panamanian)
- School: Earlham College
Acceptances
- Columbia SIPA MPA (Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs)
Scholarships & Fellowships
- Scholarship through Panamanian government
Attending
- Columbia SIPA MPA (Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs)
Notable Quotes
“I came across your website and I was really struck by the profiles of the consultants that work with you. And that’s what really got me motivated to look into the entire process with your team, and also, all the information you put out in the form of informational posts on the website. So that’s how the ball got rolling.”
“The first time I reached out to The Art of Applying® was October 2017 and I decided to work with your team and and it was a really wonderful experience. But because of timing — I don’t know if every applicant knows, but a lot of grad schools have their deadlines and December and in January, especially for public policy schools — that gave me very little room to improve things that were not my essays, and that’s essentially why I decided to apply a second time, and keep working with your team. I felt that the first time, I learned a lot, and your team really pushed me to think outside of the box.”
“I absolutely advise anybody who wants to work with The Art of Applying® to reach out as early as possible in your application process. Because you do need time to improve any test scores, you have to take supplemental courses, you have to reach out … to whoever is going to give you a recommendation … and to apply for scholarships. The Art of Applying® provides an amazing platform for you to apply for assistantships and scholarships, but you do need a lot of time for that … I would suggest you have to work on every single component of your application from a very early stage.”
“I expected my Breakthrough Call to be more about talking about The Art of Applying® and about what you offer, but instead, it was about finding my own path. In a way, I felt that I was receiving coaching on how to do things, even though I was not a client yet … it helped expose a lot of my background [to me] and really gave me a sense of why am I doing this … [at the end of the call,] I feel confident that this was really the path I wanted to move forward with.”
“I had a family loss when I was in the middle of my application process and I received a lot of positive support from The Art of Applying®. I actually received flowers at my house and that felt really personal … At that point, I felt that this was not just a client-business relationship, but [that these were] people who actually cared about my entire application process.”
“So I will tell my fellow Latin Americans that in working with The Art of Applying®, you will feel like you’re working with somebody that understands your background. If a lot of you never had a family member who studied in the US or in North America, or for that matter, if nobody in your family speaks English, The Art of Applying® provides a platform for you to navigate those vacancies in your application process. At the same time, they provide a platform for you to get support because, besides all the preparation process. It’s normal to feel very nervous and anxious about the process, and at least in my case, I was surrounded by a lot of friends that understood what I was going through. But what happens if nobody in your day-to-day environment understands how difficult it is to apply to grad school? You find that niche with The Art of Applying® — a lot of encouragement and a lot of positive energy to keep working and to keep applying.”
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