Ronunique Clark, MPP’23

During my fall semester of senior year at Boston University, I was remote learning while also drowning myself in LSAT prep books and study groups, as I had the dream of becoming a lawyer. After months of connecting to law schools, LSAT study groups/courses, and gathering my application materials, I was in the middle of writing my personal statement for law school that I realized I did not want to be a lawyer anymore. It was now the end of November: I opted out of taking the January 2021 LSAT and was back to the drawing board of what I wanted to do after graduation. The most important part of the next journey was that I knew I wanted to work in the government sector, but I did not want to enforce laws. I wanted to create, implement, and assist in helping communities gain adequate access to government resources. After consistently asking myself “What are you going to do?” I came across the Master of Public Policy at the Heller School of Social Policy.

I was familiar with Brandeis University, as a Posse scholar hailing from the Bay Area, and I knew if Brandeis was a Posse partner school, then this university prided itself on working to making the next leaders in our generation. After reading more about the Master of Public Policy program, it embodied every element I wanted to gain knowledge on. I appreciated Heller’s dedication to social justice and encouraging their students to think beyond the current social structures, providing them with the tools to addressing systematic inequities while developing equitable solutions. From there, I knew I wanted to apply for this program.

After attending my admission interview with Andrea, who is now a 2nd year MPP student, she made me feel much more confident in my application. Andrea was sweet, informative, and she answered the questions that I had to the fullest extent. After logging off my zoom call my anxiety was through the roof— I wanted to know in the next 24 hours if I was admitted into the program or not.  Almost 2 weeks went by before I received the decision letter. I had just walked into my dorm room from taking graduation photos when I felt my Apple watch buzz that there was an update made to my application. Without a second thought, I yanked my phone out of my pocket, nearly dropping it in my rush to the status page. And there it was: “Congratulations we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted in the Master of Public Policy program at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management with a scholarship.” I screamed my very first graduate school acceptance letter and with the scholarship offer, it was the best thing yet. I screenshotted the status page and texted it to my mother: just like any other proud parent, she posted about it before I even got the chance to decide. Yet we knew the decision that was going to be made. The scholarship money was a plus, but being accepted into the Heller School of Social Policy and Management told me that it was the beginning of my new official journey of fighting for the social causes I believed in.

It now has been 3 weeks since I started at Heller, and I know it was the right decision. My cohort, the professors, and the team at Heller admissions have been so helpful and enlightening. I am so excited to see how these next two years will become I hope to gain the most knowledge and skills from this program.