sklorange

Thanks! It's crazy how common it is for students to go into the grad application process with absolutely no knowledge of the negotiation game with admissions. I literally went in thinking it was "too disrespectful" to ask for more aid, but my professor taught me a few tricks. I think your blog is great. I would have loved to put those tips to use to potentially have gotten a better deal from HKS, but what's done is done, and as a Californian, I'm more than okay with Berkeley (although, name-wise, of course it can't compete with Harvard). All of this has really gotten me more energized to work with education policy in the future. Initially, I am a lot more interested in K-12 education, but looking back at this whole process, college affordability in general really needs some substantive attention. This "you have to either work AND beg hard enough to be "considered" to be awarded your fellowship OR accept a debt-burdened life" structure that we have for prospective working class students is abysmal. One student loan horror story is enough to affect an entire community's perception of the "true value" of a graduate (or maybe even an undergraduate) degree.

I am going to decline a "full ride," offer over a partial fellowship, so you can bet I have that feeling, but at the end of the day, I know the choice I made it going to be completely worth it! As much as I may hate to be in debt (only about $30k or less if I play my cards right), it is worth it to stay in the state I want to work in (California) than to have to brave the snows of Madison! But yes, I already see myself doubting my decision in subtle ways...like, "I could have my own apartment in an affordable city" and stuff like that. Just remember that in the end, you chose your actual option for a reason. You did a cost-benefit analysis (correctly, hopefully...lol) and you determined which one would be the best fit for you. Hypothetically, you'd have more regret if you made your 2nd choice option or one of the other ones.

​I am very excited to announce that I will be attending Berkeley this fall! I just got off the phone with the assistant dean, and now they offered me a deal that is completely more manageable! My 1st year fees are ALL covered, plus I get a $10k stipend. I also negotiated to get my Year 2 professional degree fees of $8k covered as well. As long as I work a GSI position during my time there, I can leave this program with a very manageable amount of debt! I really owe this to my professor who wrote a letter of recommendation for me. She taught me how to play the negotiation game with admissions regarding funding opportunities, and boy has it worked! I am so honored and excited about all of this! And I'm glad I don't have to go to Wisconsin now! Hoorah! Hey, there, I will send you a PM about this so we can see if we would be compatible enough for a living situation. I'm thinking of living north of campus (south of campus is full of undergrads and it's quite chaotic). We can talk more about this via PM. Maybe enough of us can band together to get a good deal on a house or something! Hello Jack, believe it or not, I know just how to feel. I had my eyes set for UCB when I graduated from high school. I was the valedictorian of my school and had a ton of extra-curriculars, so I thought for SURE they'd accept me, but they didn't. They even accepted some people from my school with significantly fewer achievements/GPA/extra-curriculars/etc. I was bitter about it, but I think admissions are sometimes not as predictable as we'd like them to be. To be completely honest, I think what made my application relatively strong is the fact that one of my recommenders was a woman who is very well-connected and highly regarded in education policy circles. She is even colleagues with the dean of the GSPP! I think work experience is also highly valued - more so than I originally thought. I used to think it was all just GPA and GRE scores. Honestly, my GRE scores weren't even that great. I got a 155 for verbal, 157 for quant, but I did receive a perfect score for writing (that has always been my strongest suit). I keep hearing GRE scores aren't as hefty as we make them out to be for admissions decision. Obviously, it makes an impact that you didn't totally bomb on it, but if you're in the "above average" range and can vouch for yourself about it, then you're good. I would really recommend really selling your work experience and ensuring your recommenders are top-notch (or at least one of them). If you PM me, I would be more than glad to answer more questions about the statement of purpose or anything like that. A close friend of mine used to work for a university program that helped students how to write all of those documents, so if mine were strong, it was really due to her help, and I'd be glad to share her words of wisdom.

It worked! I got my 1st year tuition and fees completely covered, a $10k stipend for the first year, and my $8k professional degree fees are also covered for the second year. I would still need to take out some loans for living costs, but this is SO manageable for a Berkeley degree! I am so insanely grateful that UCB pulled through!

Update: I got a call from the FinAid people this morning! It looks like they are wanting me to accept their offer, so they are looking into whether they can provide me with a fellowship! I told them about my free ride offer from Madison, and though she was trying to highlight the negative points of living in Wisconsin, she did sell the program really well. I talked to Andrew (from this thread) who put me at ease with the GSIship concerns I had, so I think I'll be going to Berkeley! I have a phone call tomorrow with the FinAid person, so I'll see what they say. If so, us new MPP students should start getting to know each other and maybe even discuss housing options (for those who don't have anything secured).

I was about to accept Madison today when Berkeley called me this morning! All of a sudden, they want to negotiate a deal for funding once I mentioned I was more than likely going to choose Madison's "free ride" offer. She is going to call me tomorrow at 10:30am to let me know how much she was able to secure. This is exciting. I hope it's more than just a few k! Wish me luck!

Hello, Andrew! I sent you an email about this. Hope we can chat/talk about this before April 15th. Thanks!

I was also accepted, but I was only offered a $10k fellowship, which covers a really small fraction for someone with out-of-state tuition. So, yeah, I will open up an additional spot for wait listed students once I officially decline. I have a friend who goes to Ann Arbor, and she says she loves it!

What policy area is the one you think you are wanting to focus more on? Depending on what it is, do you research on which school's faculty is superior for your area (education, environment, drug, trade, transportation, community development, family, etc.). Look into the rankings (obviously not JUST the rankings because those always need to be taken with a grain of salt) for the relevant schools/programs to your desired area of expertise if the decision seems to be so even between the 2 options. For example, based on affordability, my final two programs have been Madison and UCLA. UCLA is offering me less money, and since I want to work with education policy, Madison is a much better match. It ranks #3 for ed policy and #5 for education. Whichever area you want to specialize on, do some research (reach out to alumni if that's an option), and ask to get a good feel of which school has the better professors and resources for what you're looking for. Seattle would be more expensive than Indiana, but it would also be a much more fun city to live in for those two years (unless you really hate rain). The programs are basically on the same spectrum so their differences on the rankings for MPP schools doesn't really play as big of a role. Both schools seem equally good to me, so it is ultimately up to you. Do you research and find out which school seems to have the better professors and resources for the area you would like to study. And if they still seem pretty on par with each other, assess how much cost will be in an issue for you. If you went to IU for undergrad, I'm assuming you might be an Indiana native, which means you wouldn't have to take out-of-state tuition for that school, you probably already have a place to settle in Bloomington based on your "Location," and living costs won't be as high as they would be in Seattle (not that Seattle is THAT expensive anyway). Calculate some estimates for loan debt after 2 years (including tuition, fees, and living costs), and that may make the decision easier (or even harder as it was for me). Ultimately, do that research and find out which school would be a better fit for you depending on your interests and expected career aspirations. Best of luck!

Thank you! Every time someone tells me to just take the debt because the Harvard name is "worth" it, I get so nervous. I don't want to take the consulting route, so I won't be making much money, especially right afterwards. I'm afraid I'm making a mistake by leaning toward the "free-ride" option of Madison and later regretting it, but I am very averse to debt.

That's an excellent idea, and I will definitely look into that! I hope it's as likely as I'd like for it to be!

That's what I'm planning at the moment. I asked for the extension. If I get it, I'll wait it out. If not, then I guess I need to start shopping for snow weather clothing. I am pretty set on wanting to work in California, which Madison does have some contact with (they've mentioned students of theirs that have moved on to work in SF and LA). I agree that one of the California schools would be a lot better suited for connecting me to a good California post-grad opportunity, but unless I can feasibly walk away with $25k or less of debt, I'm not sure if UCLA is worth it as much. Madison is a lot older and a much more reputable program relative to it; but the California factor does add a lot to it. Thanks to everyone for the advice! Any more advice would still really help, especially people from any of these schools!

I didn't apply to WWS, but I have been accepted into HKS. All of my advisors have warned me not to take out any debt that is substantially more than what you expect to make with this type of degree in your first couple of years post-grad. At most, that's around $60k, if you're lucky. If you got a dea where you can feasibly expect to leave either the HKS or WWS program with that amount of debt or less, I would choose the more financially viable one. However, the Harvard name attached to your degree is arguably worth at least $10k or $15k of extra debt, in my opinion, especially if you are ultimately seeking a private sector job. I hear that when it comes to public and nonprofit sector jobs, the HKS name isn't AS hefty of a tool compared to other comparably well-ranked program, which does include WWS. What aid packages are you looking at for HKS and WWS?

As of now, what do you personally assess your likelihood of going to HKS? Also, what are your other offers in terms of other schools and fellowships? HKS was sort of off the list already because of the unreasonably high amount of expected student debt; however, today, my boss made an announcement at this big collaborative meeting we had at work. Everyone was encouraging me to go for the HKS option (including a guy from my work collab team that just got admitted into a Harvard PhD program that is related to the HKS), but the PhD guy got a full-ride. He did tell me that going to HKS for a public service-oriented degree with no fellowship or guaranteed funding sources is kind of dangerous. So as of right now, my ranking in terms of what I'm likely to accept is: (1) UW-Madison (because of funding, well-ranked and has a very reputable ed program and it's very affordable to live in that area anyway), (2) UCLA (also funding options), (3) Berkeley (no fellowship, but I hope I can work out an arrangement to make it more viable), (4) HKS (no way I can accept 6-digit debt, but the Harvard name can really get you places), and (5) USC (a Dean's Merit Scholarship covers half of tuition, but for a private program like the Price School, that's not really much). The Ford School is out of the question since I would have to pay out-of-state tuition and only received a $10k fellowship.

Thank you SO much for this information. It is incredibly helpful. I've been accepted into a lot of really good MPP/MPA programs (HKS, GSPP, La Follete, Ford, Price, Luskin, etc.), and this information really put the debt issue into perspective. I want to work in the public sector with education policy, so the amount of loans I would wrack up at HKS or GSPP (6-digit debt for HKS and near 6-digit debt for GSPP) it SO MUCH more than I would be comfortable having after my MPP or MPA degree. I got a full-ride offer from Madison, and I've been debating accepting it relative to Berkeley or UCLA (HKS is sadly out of the question because of the price tag). Madison is similarly ranked to LBJ, so hearing the post-grad anecdotes you mentioned really left me at ease about accepting the Madison full-ride offer. The idea of leaving an MPA or MPP program debt-free sounds surreal and amazing.