coaks

Yep, except perhaps the schools that offer both the MPP and the MPA. I think these schools definitely make a distinction as to what sort of students with which kinds of goals they want to admit to each program. Although, as other posters have said, institutions that offer one or the other will differ considerably in the focus of their curriculum and faculty. For example, for a student that doesn't pursue anything out of the ordinary, the cookie-cutter MPP with which you would walk away from Berkeley/Ford/Harris would be very different, I think, than the cookie-cutter MPA with which you would walk away from Maxwell/Wagner. But in both cases you definitely should still be able to tailor your courses to best fit your future goals.

So are we all going to the Ford admitted students weekend? I will be there Saturday hopefully but can't make the Friday session, which is a shame because that is the more interesting-stuff-packed of the two.

Wow, so you discovered a financial aid award without getting notice from Ford? Is it a scholarship offer or a Stafford loan, or what? Congrats if it's a small merit-based award! Ford was definitely not done giving out funding if that's the case. That said, I would assume that Ford is just finalizing scholarship stuff now and will leave the government loan "awards" for a future date? I could totally be wrong though. What does your FA Status page say about your application status?

Just wanted to chime in with my status. Ford has updated my COA and the EFC from my FAFSA. There's no award/loan yet but the FA status page says the following: Application under Review: Your Financial Aid Application is currently under review. Until your Financial Aid Office has completed this review, your aid eligibility and awards will not be finalized.

Also re: MSPPM v. MPP, just put on your resume that you have an "MS in Public Policy" or a "Master's in Public Policy." You don't have to actually write Heinz' abbreviation. And I agree with Juli that anyone that is looking to hire an MPP will definitely know that Heinz is a top 10 program and probably also that they offer an MSPPM specifically. Anyone that isn't looking for an MPP will have little idea what it is anyway.

Well, the only aid they've given so far that people have reported seem to have been full fellowships? I'm holding out hope that the lesser merit-based awards are still to come.

Depending on the field you enter, MBA will definitely add more to your salary than another masters' degree. While private consulting firms working for public/NGOs definitely do hire the MPP/MIA/PhD set, they pursue MBAs far more aggressively in general. I suppose there are some positions at those firms where they are definitely looking for the MPP/PhD instead of the MBA. However, if you are unsure of what your future career path will be, the MBA will open more high salary doors in the private sector than the MPP will. I've also known a lot of MBAs that were able to really get some good loan breaks by virtue of having an MBA. I'm actually not sure if MPPs can walk into banks post-graduation and secure a 30 year timeline with a fixed interest rate below 2%, but I know quite a few MBAs that were able to do that recently (before 2008). I'm not saying that you can't get that type of deal, I just know a LOT of MBAs that have gotten to the point where it makes more sense right now to pay interest-only on their loans because they are making more money investing it in low-risk securities then they are losing keeping it outstanding. Just food for thought. Oh and lastly while ROI studies on MBAs are tragically flawed in that they don't control for what would have been the natural salary progression of people in the same fields if they did not pursue the MBA, I've seen ROI for the median MBA graduate from a national top 50 at less than 5 years after including foregone salary and cost of attendance. But again, none of these surveys ever tend to model the salary progression of someone that didn't go to school. My hunch though is that MBA is still a very worthwhile investment. And if you can get the same degree in one year, especially early in your career and at a school where you've been given good funding for your MPP terms, it's probably a good idea for a lot of careers. I guess it takes some reflection on your personal goals and plans. I personally intend to get both degrees, if at all possible.

Fantastic! Congrats! Was this a personal e-mail from an admissions committee member or an automatic e-mail from the FSPP e-mail address? Just trying to see whether I should hold my breath for anything or assume that I'll be paying my own ride. :-)

Same here, e-mail this afternoon with a mini-scholarship (seriously, not enough to influence anyone's decision). Applied on the Jan 7th deadline. Good luck everyone! As you can see, there's still money hanging around, so anything's possible for you.

Congrats to all the admits! Have any of the admitted students seen a status change on their Harris application -- is the decision only e-mailed or is it also posted to their application system?

I received an acceptance yesterday but one of my transcripts still says not received. The only received transcript is my full undergrad from UofM. My alternative transcript from a school here in NY was never posted as received. I hadn't checked the status page until last week and by then I figured they would have long ago contacted me if it was an issue. I think they are just less diligent about receiving the info into the WolverineAccess system. Best of luck -- hopefully you will hear good news soon.

Exactly right but, thankfully for those of us with low GPAs, there is no minimum GPA requirement for Rackham. Rackham is only going to verify you received your degree, request your official transcripts, verify your test score reports and, in rare cases, qualify your admission with certain academic requirements for your first term or year.

Congrats to the two Harris MPP admits that received full rides! So excited to hear from Harris either way. Those posts came really late in the day -- did U Chicago send the e-mail after close of business today?

Congrats to you and your SO. I think it's awesome that you applied together and that you BOTH earned admittance to very selective grad programs at two schools. You sound like a power couple. I was also accepted at Ford today (2.9 GPA, liberal arts major, never worked for a public/non-profit org). Wishing the best of luck to those still waiting to hear back. I hope that there will be a second round of admits for you all.

Looking back at the 2009 results page, it seems like Harris repeatedly missed deadlines they quoted to inquiring applicants. But it looks like the funded admits received notice on 3/18, unfunded admits on 3/19 and the waitlisted and overlooked applicants got word on 3/20 or later. Perhaps it'll be similar this year. I hope we hear sooner, though.

Ironically, Michigan's business school releases their admissions decisions to domestic applicants by randomly calling them a few days before decision release day. Callers are adcom refs and student staff.

US News & World Report's Public Policy Analysis rankings within their public affairs section are generally agreed to be fairly close to an MPP ranking, for most intents and purposes. Obviously, people will disagree with the ranking methodology, the ranks themselves and the utility of using the list to decide on schools. http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-public-affairs-schools/public-policy-analysis You could ask for employment reports for summer internships and post-grad data, if the schools have it. That would give you a good understanding of where the degree is taking the students right after school. You could also ask them for any connections that they might have within your given specialty, people you could reach out to who aren't directly connected to the university. I'd be curious to see what else everyone here can suggest.

Also, at Heinz you should be able to take some classes at the Tepper business school, which is very highly-regarded for its strength in finance, much more so than business programs at any of the other schools you applied. The finance program is held in higher esteem than the one at, for example, Michigan, which many would say has a better-respected business school overall. Wall St. firms and national banks will actively recruit Tepper MBAs. I sat in on a valuation finance elective at Tepper and I was very impressed with the students and how the class was conducted. I can give you some more info about it if you're really interested.

Congrats! Great to hear. Another application I can officially start stressing about incessantly.

Yeah, tough year to apply to Chicago. Apparently Chicago undergrad received around a 40% jump in applications, for no apparent reason. (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-university-of-chicago-admissjan14,0,1037524.story) I've heard the business school was projecting to receive about 5000 applications, which would be about 1000 more than they received in 08-09, if it were true (don't know for certain yet). And Harris' PhD and MPP apps are likewise crazy. People are blaming Obama.

Is anyone that still hasn't heard back truly confident about their app to GSPP? I get the impression that GSPP really draws on that personal history statement to find candidates devoted to public service, and weighs that fit more heavily than other programs, at least as compared to the hard stats like GPA/GRE. Does anyone else get that same impression?

Yeah and there are or were many top programs with acceptance rates near 50%. Compared to other professional programs, application fees are relatively low, extra effort for extra applications is relatively low (re-wording your SOP is much easier than writing brand spanking new essays, like you have to do for business schools, for example), cost of applying after submission is zero (no interview requirement where you're tempted to visit the school, like other programs), funding seems relatively easy to grab and degree candidates seem more cost sensitive. All this seems to add up to surprisingly low yields at all the top programs and a good amount of overlap between admit lists. In essence, schools are really letting us sort out our preferences after they admit us rather than before.

In NY, thinking of putting my webcam out by the mailbox and skyping my house during workhouse to see if the mailperson delivers any large envelopes. Creeeepy.

Haha, how could you hold out on us??? Congrats! Hmm, that makes me wonder if there any left to go out.

Hey, I called the office early last week and they told me at the time that not all accepted students had been notified. Even though it's been almost two full business weeks, I haven't seen any notices hit the results board since then and still haven't seen any waitlisted applicants. I think there's still hope but it's been a horribly stressful process. I would much prefer a later notification if ALL notices went out on the same day and I didn't have to stress until then. Some of the business schools to which I've applied for a joint degree manage the process very well. Obviously the policy schools spend less on office overhead than the business schools (although per app? not sure) but I think they could definitely benefit their applicants by taking a page or two from the MBA adcom playbook.