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vincehoward

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Everything posted by vincehoward

  1. People generally say schools have great "career services" because students' career outcomes happen to be great at those institutions. Obviously WWS' student body is among the most (if not the absolute first) qualified and elite public policy/management candidates in the US. They are highly sought after by public, private, nonprofit and international employers everywhere. I'm not sure that there is any compensating for this aside from doing very well in school, and leveraging the networks you already have. In my experience the people who know *exactly* what they want to do tend to have the most satisfaction in their career outcomes because they absolutely gun for those positions early and hard, maybe even before they matriculate to their program. Also having great work experience to tout helps with the job hunt during your MPA/MPP. Princeton students tend to have exemplary work experience before they start WWS (just check Linkedin), whereas I see many students at other schools go straight from undergrad or soft work experiences then wonder why they aren't having much success with their job hunt. Experience is highly valued so perhaps seek that out before you go to grad school if this is a concern. Hope this helps.
  2. PMF placement is really finicky and contingent on the availability of jobs in each dept and the depth/experiences of the applicant pool. If you think you have a great resume then your choice of grad programs really doesn't matter all that much. I wouldn't let marginally better or worse historical placement numbers weigh heavily on my decision of what program to attend.
  3. Most deadlines have passed by now. I'd still check APSIA but in general you should conduct your fellowship/scholarship search the summer before you plan to apply (for all those prospective applicants out there). I'd also ask your school if there are any available assistantships or on-campus gigs.
  4. Thanks for the info! Your rationale makes a lot of sense. Good luck at GW.
  5. I would call the office to ask about your financial aid. How was admitted students day? Are you leaning towards Maxwell or one of your other choices?
  6. Student loans are nondischargeable so if you hit hard times there is no way to escape the debt. You want to minimize your student loan debt as much as possible, not pile it on with more and more just so you can pay your car note. If I were you I'd sell the car and take the T. You'll be near Boston and a quick bus or train ride away from most places you'd need to go. Get a friend to drive you or rent a zipcar if you absolutely need to drive somewhere which should be rare since you'll be a student.
  7. The merit aid notifications have gone out already. If you didn't receive one of the few fellowship (Zuckerman, Urban Scholars, Leadership in Ed) offers then your "financial aid" will be a list of loan sources to contact about raising that 65-75K you'll need over the course of the program.
  8. I'm assuming you don't have to make loan payments for undergrad/grad school, right? That really changes everything. You can say you're living comfortably now because you aren't shelling out $800+ a month to repay your debts. Some people would also like to have kids around 28-30 which also adds quite a lot to the heap in a major city. DC/NYC rent is also a bit higher than Boston which makes a difference too. Living comfortably in a secondary city like Boston or Chicago, and especially an even lower tier city like Atlanta or Houston is possible on 50K + minor loan payments. My main point is that I think it's nuts someone would even consider taking 100K in loans for a degree they think will only earn them a $50,000 starting salary.
  9. Perhaps this is the new normal. I'd say that as a highly trained professional I'd expect to make more than an average wage in a major city. 50K isn't very much at all if you count high rent (unless you have a roommate but who wants to live with a roommate after the age of 25-26), overall higher cost of living for fuel/public transit and food, and loan payments, etc. I guess if that is really how much some people expect to make then the most rational strategy is to try and minimize debt as much as possible or even avoid graduate school altogether.
  10. Do you guys live in major cities? 50K is not very much for a single person, let alone if you want to get married and have kids. Perhaps if you have a spouse earning a significantly higher wage then it doesn't really matter but at that point it's probably more cost effective to stay at home with the kids instead of working full time.
  11. What kind of funding did Maxwell give you if don't mind my asking? I received a half tuition fellowship, but was hoping for more, perhaps an assistantship.
  12. LOL at this scenario. People are ridiculous. Wait for the financial aid to come back and if HKS offers full tuition THEN this becomes a worthwhile conversation topic. Otherwise go to Princeton and do not look back.
  13. What's incomprehensible to me is that people turn down offers of full tuition at peer schools like Duke, Syracuse, Berkeley, etc (some even turn down Princeton which should be enough to satisfy even the most brand conscious) in order to pay full sticker at HKS. And for what reason? To work for the federal government in a PMF type program? To get a non profit or city government gig? As if these students couldn't land the exact same jobs if they went to a much more affordable, or even free, MPP/MPA program. There's a lot to be said for the mass perception of Harvard that otherwise smarter than median people would opt into 100K+ of debt for a shot at a public sector job.
  14. I'm interested in hearing about the visit too. I may try to get up there for one of the admitted student days, but I probably won't be able to take off from work. Really love Maxwell though. The fact that it's a one year MPA pretty much makes it a slam dunk for me unless HKS throws a full fellowship my way.
  15. I expect to make about 95-100K out of my grad school program. I'm not sure this is typical but I'm in a specialized field where my work experience plus an MPA usually earns that much. I expect I'll top out around 225K over the course of my career and probably more if I enter the private sector in a decade.
  16. Congrats everyone. I got in as well but will probably pursue other grad opportunities instead. What are you all interested in doing after HGSE? Any prospective EDLD applicants thinking about applying this fall?
  17. What schools are you choosing between? I ask because we are talking about public policy degrees here and I just don't see how it matters much what school your MPP/MPA comes from, definitely not enough to justify taking tens of thousands more in debt if you don't have to. The career outcomes between certain schools just aren't that different to be honest. I guess a more detailed description of your work experience, targeted jobs post grad, and choices of grad schools and funding would help posters here give you better advice. As a general rule of thumb, there are very few public sector employers who will care all that much about where you got your graduate degree. I worked on a few hiring committees at Teach For America (one of the higher paying, prestige conscious non profit employers mind you) and not once did we hire a manager because he/she went to Kennedy School instead of Trachtenberg.
  18. I'm dealing with this exact dilemma. I received decent funding to Maxwell and it is a one year program so ideally I'd be back out in the workforce by next July or August. That bumps it ahead of HKS (assuming I even get in and get poor funding) despite the Harvard brand, in my opinion. Still, there is no guarantee of the utility of a public policy degree since it isn't a professional credential like a JD or an MD and doesn't have the same brand strength of an MBA. Your decision should depend on where you're at in your career now and whether an MPP/MPA will help you earn more money and advance more quickly up the ladder than you would by simply doing an excellent job in your current position.
  19. Yes, I got my letter in the mail yesterday. PM me if you want more info.
  20. I received an admissions letter (MPA student) in the mail today which also informed me that I received a 20 hour tuition scholarship. Does anyone know if other opportunities for aid are available? I'm particularly interested in a research assistantship.
  21. Definitely take the funding at a school like Vandy, especially if you get into HGSE and have to pay full (or close to full) sticker. The *prestige* matters enough to take the debt if you're considering, say, Harvard Law vs. Vanderbilt Law since your job prospects in law (clerkships, biglaw firms, etc) are driven largely by the prestige of your law school. But as an education professional, you'll have just as many doors open for you coming from Vanderbilt as you would coming from Harvard. Congrats on getting funding at Vandy though. Avoiding debt should be near the top of every prospective graduate student's list, especially in this economy.
  22. I'm betting they will send out the notifications late next week on either Wednesday or Thursday.
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