irishnyc213

No intrusion at all:) I ended up going with the MPP at Harris. The program is outstanding and flexible, and the faculty is great. I'm still a little concerned about the signalling from an MPP vs. MS stats, but I think it's the right decision overall. I talked to several people about the decision, including a few professors with whom I would LOVE to work one day. The MS stats does indeed offer a slight advantage over the MPP when applying to PhD programs of various kinds; however, it's not so much of an advantage that it's worth spending $40-60K more for the MS stats than for the MPP program. Also, Harris's MPP is flexible enough that you can take all of the courses required for an MS stats anyway. From what I understand, an MPP prepares you for a variety of PhD programs; it just depends on what courses you take and what you do with your time there. One of the professors encouraged me to apply to marketing, OB, and decision and risk PhD's in addition to public policy PhD's. This is because my interests lie in applied behavioral economics (specifically to achieve social impact) so there are many PhD-paths to the same destination. The people I work with matter more than the program itself. Another professor said that it would be possible to get into an econ PhD program but that it would be very, very difficult. His recommendation was not to work or do anything but take as many math courses as possible and get A's in all of them. Research at the master's level doesn't matter unless you author a paper. An MS stats might help a little more than an MPP if you're definitely interested in a PhD in econ, but you'd have to ace real analysis courses (and ideally higher-level optimization courses) which may be difficult to work into the stats curriculum, depending on where you go. (In any case, for other reasons, I've decided not to pursue a PhD in econ, so my advice to you there is limited.) What are your specific interests? Best of luck deciding!!

Haha; thanks! I don't like the cold, but I need to be studying anyway... I would like to go directly into the PhD program. The PhD programs to which I applied this last year were all in public policy and decision sciences (e.g, Harris's PhD, CMU's SDS program). I plan to re-apply during the last year of the master's. I'm 29 and not getting any younger... So, I know plenty of people at this point who aimed for an academic career and either missed the mark or opted out for their own reasons. Hence, a strong back-up plan is really important. I'm contacting a few professors next week to get their advice, but if there's anyone who's been through a similar dilemma (MPP vs. MS Stats), I would really appreciate your two cents!!

Thanks, ZacharyObama! And congrats on your acceptance to USC!! Great school!! On the Harris thread: the Harris people are lovely! I'm surprised anyone had a difficult time contacting them! Following the money is definitely a good rule of thumb, but there's another consideration: because the MPP is two years while the MS Stats is only one year, I'd be out of the workforce for an additional year in the former case. Hence, the $60K UofC MS Statistics would not be that much more expensive than the MPP, assuming I make around that amount once I finally re-enter the workforce (with or without a PhD). I mean, I'm quite debt averse, so the cost is not a negligible consideration, but the main question remains: which is better for a research career at the intersection of decision sciences and policy design/evaluation: the MPP or the MS Stats?

Ultimately, I would like to study decision sciences in the context of welfare or policy-related issues. I prefer a career in academia but would be happy with a nice research position at a think tank. While I was rejected from every PhD program this year, I am pursing a master's degree in hopes that it will train me well for doctoral-level analysis and boost my application for Fall 2014/2015 entry. I've been admitted to the following: Harris, MPP, full tuition scholarship plus small stipend for both years UofC, MS Statistics, standard 25% tuition waiver Duke, MS Statistical and Economic Modeling, no word on funding (and I likely won't get any) Columbia, MA Quantitiatve Methods in Social Sciences--no word yet, but I'm hopeful about getting in and not hopeful about receiving any funding Although I know that quant-heavy master's degrees are generally much more marketable than the MPP, are they so much more marketable that they justify $60-100K of debt? Has anyone been in a position to evaluate the qualifications of people with these different degrees, either for a research-based job or for a PhD?

How prestigious are the non-econ/non-law programs at LSE? How much (if at all) do the MSc's boost competitiveness for PhD programs? In particular, does anyone know about the following programs at LSE, especially which PhD programs students end up in (which is not available on the LSE website)? MSc Social Research Methods MSc Management (Decision Sciences) MSc Social Policy/ Social Policy and Development Is the two-year MSc Economics so much better that it's worth spending 250% more (not even including the opportunity costs of being in school for an additional year)? Background: I'm interested in researching behavioral economics applications in policy, so there are many programs that provide useful training but from different angles. I don't, however, have the math background for a PhD in econ, and the two-year econ program at LSE is super-expensive for someone pursuing a career in academia. Hence, I'm applying to a series of doctoral and master's programs, the latter of which would be an attempt to boost my competitiveness for Fall 2014 entry into a PhD program (e.g., PhD Public Policy or PhD Marketing at a department whose faculty explores applications in public policy). I very much appreciate any advice you have to offer!

Some programs are more competitive than others. Does anyone have a sense of the relative competitiveness of the following? ... I'm interested in studying (and even developing) applications of behavioral science that achieve social impact. This means that there are several PhD-paths to the same research-destination: Public Policy, Economics, Statistics, Decision Sciences (a la CMU), and even Marketing. I just need a combination of graduate-level statistics, microeconomics, and psychology. However, my application is not particularly strong: Undergrad Institution: Boston University GPA: 3.7 Major: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Philosophy (double) GRE Quant: 166 GRE Verbal: 164 Work experience: extensive experience at an applied behavioral economics think tank and a higher education consulting company; none in policy I'm pretty sure economics programs are out. Does anyone have an opinion, however, about how competitive I might be fore the following PhD programs? UChicago, Harris: Public Policy Stanford, GSB: Marketing CMU: Decision Sciences Harvard, Kennedy: Public Policy Harvard, HBS: Marketing UC-Berkeley, GSPP: Public Policy What other programs might you recommend? More generally, which programs tend to be more competitive: Public Policy, Marketing, Decision Sciences (often in business schools), ...?