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Alyssa@UGA-MPA

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  • Location
    Athens, GA
  • Application Season
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  • Program
    University of Georgia MPA Program

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  1. Hi chocolatecheesecake, thanks for pointing out my error. I had to go back and check, as it was a feeling I got after my visitation day. After doing some research to figure out what caused me to think Duke forbade working while going to school, I think I was wrong saying 'forbade.' On the Duke MPP website it looks like 'discourage' was the better word for working off campus: "Most students do not work off-campus while enrolled in the MPP program, as the curriculum is quite demanding." Also, Duke does not allow part-time study for people who work full-time. I do recall that at Duke all American students were offered assistantships that covered half tuition and a stipend of about $1000 a month, which was neat. The career services personnel also seemed extremely adept at their job, but did say during their presentation at visitation day that if we weren't looking to work in Washington, D.C. or the North Carolina area then it wasn't the program we should go in to because they don't have connections elsewhere. I chose UGA over Duke for a lot of reasons. Obviously it was a great program or I wouldn't have been considering it against my completely funded program options. In the end I wanted to keep my debt very low to non-existent, which was not possible at Duke even with an assistantship, I was looking for a heavy emphasis on gaining relevant work experience on the job so I could test out different career paths while seeking my degree, and I wanted to be able to move back to the West after my graduation. Different strokes for different folks!
  2. Sorry for the delay in response, I'm a bit new to this forum and haven't figured out how to get notifications when someone responds. I came in with Three years of work experience, a GPA of 3.9, a GRE Math 156, Language 164, and Writing 5. There is a broad range of achievements in the program, however. I had the option of Duke, UConn, University of Texas Austin, University of Montana, and University of Wyoming. All except the University of Texas had offered me full assistantships that incuded tuition and a stipend (though Duke's tuition waiver was only 50%). I chose UGA because it was the highest ranked out of all of these programs, allowed students to tailor their concentration and take classes in other departments, and the reputation of some of their faculty. I also just really liked the city of Athens due to its smaller size, but proximity to Atlanta. Another aspect I enjoyed was that they encouraged working or interning while going to school. Some programs such as Duke forbade working during the school year. I really wanted to be able to gain additional work experience while attending school since this is a professional program.
  3. Only a few years belated, but I wanted to point out to any future GradCafe readers that UGA is an exceptional school and has been repeatedly performed at high levels in a number of Public Administration/Public Policy fields. First of all, the program isn't what I consider regional. Job placement out of the program is nationwide with about 2/5ths of students leaving Georgia after graduation for jobs in DC, other states, or international jobs. There are also over 10% of international students enrolled in the program that often return to their home countries to work in high levels of government. While rankings certainly aren't everything, the US News rankings really highlight the strength of the faculty at UGA. The professors at this university are renowned scholars in the fields of finance, management, and policy. This ranking is backed up further by UGA recently being named the number one worldwide leader in Public Administration publications by an international study conducted by the University of Rotterdam in 2014. Lastly, I would not pigeon hole UGA’s program to local government. In addition to the diverse backgrounds of the scholars within the program, there are strong relationships with other UGA programs such as Higher Education, Nonprofit, and Public Health that allow students to take additional classes for specializations. The strength of policy can be seen in the programs' yearly invitation to the Fels Policy Challenge at the University of Pennsylvania. Here UGA MPA program students are pitted against other top tiered schools including Harvard, the University of Washington, Columbia, Princeton, University of Texas Austin, Georgetown, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, among others. Despite the stiff competition, UGA has placed as finalists for several years in a row.
  4. Feel free to ask me any questions you might have about the University of Georgia's Master of Public Administration program. I am a current student and intern with the career services office.
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