vincehoward

I know that at least a few admitted EDLD candidates were notified today with phone calls from professors.That must be an amazing phone call to receive. Perhaps they will notify Masters students in the next week or two.

To all thinking about where to live, Cambridge, or even Somerville, is really easy for commuters. I worked in Kendall Sq for a couple of years and lived closer to Porter Sq (past Harvard) and the commute was great. I rode my bike to work everyday and took the T if there was snow on the ground. Super quick and easy. I'd advise against living in Harvard student housing unless you absolutely have to be right next to the university. It's a lot more expensive and you usually get less bang for your buck.

I'd wager HGSE will send out decisions around the same time as the rest of the graduate programs at Harvard (HKS, HBS 2nd rd, etc) which should be towards the end of next week. Maybe even the week after since HGSE gives March 25 as the latest notification date.

Wow, what will you guys do if the decisions aren't released today? Lots of anxiety in this thread...

I dunno. I'm not convinced today is the notification date and wouldn't be surprised if we heard about admissions in about a week or so. Don't ruin your day with stress folks.

I'm not arguing that HKS should be a means to earning a high salary. However, I am saying that prospective students should not be so eager to sign up for so much debt when they know it'll be a stretch to pay that money back. The cost just isn't justified when you look at the employment figures and salaries most grads end up making after they finish. You see it on Grad Cafe all the time where posters ask if they should take $$$ offered by a less prestigious program (LBJ, GSPP, Maxwell, etc) or go to Kennedy School with no funding. Often these posters choose HKS and say that they just can't turn down the chance to study at Kennedy School. This decision just seems irrational to me. Is the HKS name/degree really worth 150K+ of debt? Not sure where you're getting your information about BCG, but they still pay for their ACs to get their MBAs as long as they return to BCG as Consultants after they graduate. Many other consulting firms and banks do this as well. Yes, it should make sense financially to attend graduate school, just like college should make sense financially. I would never advise my child to attend a cash cow private university such as Colgate or Pepperdine if they had perfectly fine public schools that they could attend at a cheaper rate. Despite the Havard affiliation, HKS is comparable to those cash cows because it doesn't confer benefits far beyond that of its closest competitors. Most public sector jobs are not prestige driven, unlike law and business. In other words, it doesn't matter where you go for your MPP/MPA, at least it doesn't matter to the extent that people should be clamoring to take on 150K+ of loan debt.

I haven't seen enough conversation about the massive debt many HKS grads have after the program. Does this worry you at all? Sure it is a competitive school but an estimated $71,000 price tag (per year) just doesn't sound that appealing, especially if you have substantial scholarship money offered by other programs. WWS is the best and most attractive program in my opinion because its graduates finish the program debt free and in a much better position to actually commit to the public service jobs they covet so much because they aren't bound by the golden handcuffs. Absent one of the few merit aid scholarships HKS offers, many Kennedy School grads are finishing with debt burdens comparable to HBS grads (142K vs 174K over two years) who earn much more over the course of their careers and frequently get their pre-MBA employers to foot the bill for their degree. For most people, HKS just doesn't make financial sense and epitomizes the worst of the mad grab for prestigious sounding degrees.

Where are you all getting tomorrow as a notification date from? HGSE's website says online notification will be available "by March 25."

It can be annoying, especially at Harvard grad school parties.

So you never actually had this job but you listed it on your resume? That's a little fishy.

What's HGSE's acceptance rate? Around 50% or so? You guys should be fine.

You can't apply to HBS while you're a student at HKS so you would need to wait until your second year. You could apply to other b-schools during your first year but you'd need to have a good rationale for pursuing two masters degrees. Also you should think about whether the added debt and opportunity cost of another expensive masters degree would be worth it.

Great advice. Does anyone happen to know whether HKS still fully funds PPIA Fellows?

They should all be available by April 1 at the latest.

I think that only applies to international applicants.

I think you just find out with the rest of the M.Ed applicants in March.

It's a hypothetical scenario. I'm curious what people here would do in this situation. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

Just because schools do it doesn't mean it's the best way. Why not follow the Maxwell MPA 12 month blueprint or the legion of other public service oriented masters degree programs (M.Ed at Harvard/Stanford or many MPH programs) that award Masters degrees in one year? MPAs/MPPs aren't like MBAs where they need the summer to intern as a vital component of their job search. Most of the internships MPPs take are either unpaid or poorly paid so it is yet another way students get sort of abused during this process. Many MPP students don't even wind up working for the organization they intern with during the summer. It just seems to me that requiring two years instead of operating a 12 month program is a way to turn what should be less expensive graduate public service degrees into cash cows for the universities. Why on earth should an MPP/MPA candidate have anywhere near the educational debt of an MBA or a JD who both have much higher earning potential?

Why do these schools insist on requiring their students to take out even more loans to support a second year in a public service program?

I'm not sure if all merit aid notifications have gone out yet.

I got funding info from Syracuse about a week after my acceptance letter.

They did it because a sizable percentage of the class at HKS were trying to "backdoor" into HBS by applying during the first year. HBS wanted to cut down the number of applicants from HKS, and HKS wanted to discourage people who were only looking to attend Kennedy School as a backdoor to HBS from applying. Now in order to get the joint degree you have to meet the admissions standards for both schools at the same time. Makes sense to me.

Wow, that's a lot of degrees. What's the value add of another diploma?

I don't think decision are released until March.

Hey all. What would you do in this situation? I'm giving Maxwell a lot of thought (recently admitted) because the program is only one year and it's way more likely that I will get funding there. Would choosing Maxwell over Harvard be a poor decision no matter what? I'm looking to either apply for PhD programs or a program like PMF as opportunities post grad.