The Idealist.org Podcasts

In this episode of the Idealist.org Podcast, a panel of graduate admissions representatives talk about the graduate admissions application process and financial aid. Recorded during the summer Washington, D.C. Idealist.org Graduate Degree Fair for the Public Good hosted by the American University School of Public Affairs.

Hear answers to the following questions (in order):

• How do teaching assistantships work?
• Should I get a second masters?
• What are some of the issues that prospective students be thinking about?
• How do I transition from one area of study to another, eg, biochemistry to policy?
• Do your programs prefer or require professional work experience in your applicants?
• Would volunteer work related to my graduate field of interest count as experience in the application?
• What are some practical tools I should be using right now to pay for grad school?
• If I don't have a 4.0, how does that affect my scholarship eligibility?
• Are the different parts of the application weighed consistently across schools?
• How much time is spent reviewing each application?
• On the personal essay, what should I write about?
• How should I decide between full-time and part-time?
• What do you expect in regards to recommendations for applicants who have been out of school for more than five years?
• What is more important? The name on the recommendation letter or how closely they have worked with you?
• What if you are not working in the specific field that you want to study at grad school?
• Can you talk about a candidate that stood out for you in positive and negative ways?

This episode is an enhanced podcast file that allows you to skip ahead to specific questions within the episode.

Find dates and locations of upcoming Graduate Degree Fairs for the Public Good

Find more information on Grad School at the Public Service and Graduate Education Resource Center

Check out the original video of the panel discussion.

In this week's Questions With podcast, Douglas interviews Ben Smilowitz, founder of the Disaster Accountability Project. While helping in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Ben realized the deficits in disaster planning and overview in New Orleans and across the country. We cover the importance of emergency planning, the far reaching nature of disaster work and how you can help prepare your own community.

This episode is part of series where we'll be featuring 2008 Echoing Green fellows.  Echoing Green "invests in and supports outstanding emerging social entrepreneurs to launch new organizations that deliver bold, high-impact solutions."

In our latest podcast, Idealist's Douglas Coulter speaks with Nandini Narula, co-founder of the organization GreenMango. The mission of GreenMango is to connect entrepreneurs in India to the internet in order to promote and grow their small businesses.  Nandini talks about how she started the organization with Yasmina McCarty, internet usage in developing parts of India and how GreenMango is integrating mobile technology.

This episode is part of series where we'll be featuring 2008 Echoing Green fellows.  Echoing Green "invests in and supports outstanding emerging social entrepreneurs to launch new organizations that deliver bold, high-impact solutions."

This podcast is part of a series called "Questions With" in which we feature leaders in the social sector discussing their work and professional journeys.  Over the next few weeks, we'll be featuring 2008 Echoing Green fellows.  Echoing Green "invests in and supports outstanding emerging social entrepreneurs to launch new organizations that deliver bold, high-impact solutions."

In this episode, Douglas speaks with Anne Tamar-Mattis from the organization Advocate for Informed Choice.  AIC advocates for the legal rights of children who are born with ambiguous reproductive or sexual anatomy.  Anne talks about the issues facing intersex children and their parents and how her organization is filling the legal void for this community.

Today's guest on The New Service podcast is Aaliyah El-Amin, an alumna of Teach For America’s 2000 Atlanta corps. Teach For America is the national corps of recent college graduates who commit to teach for at least two years in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in expanding educational opportunity. In the 2008-09 school year, 6,200 corps members taught in over 1,600 schools in 29 regions across the country while more than 14,000 Teach For America alumni continue working from inside and outside the field of education for the fundamental changes necessary to ensure educational excellence and equity.
 
In 2000, at age twenty, Aaliyah El-Amin graduated from Davidson College and joined Teach For America to teach 4th and 5th grade in Atlanta, Georgia. It was through her corps experience, that Aaliyah found her calling. During her time in the classroom, Aaliyah received her Masters degree in Elementary Education from the University of Georgia. By the time she was twenty-three, she’d received her principal certification and had become an instructional facilitator at her placement school, providing professional development to veteran staff members. Aaliyah then became the executive director of Teach For America--Charlotte when she twenty-four. She is currently at Harvard University working on her doctorate in Educational Policy and Administration.   

Idealist's Amy Potthast talks with Aaliyah about the impact corps members are having in underserved classrooms across the country, how applicants can demonstrate the qualities Teach For America seeks, and how Teach For America alums are going on to become lifelong leaders in the field of education. They also talk about Aaliyah’s own career path and her personal passion for creating educational equity, and how you can get involved with the movement to end educational inequity whether or not you participate in the corps.

For other service opportunities, including teaching corps, check out The New Service blog from Idealist.org.