thegr8gatesb

I was wondering if anybody else was having this debate! Prospective MPP here. I'll try to go to both admitted students' weekends, but I'm trying to come into it with some good baseline knowledge. Duke gave me a half ride, Michigan a one-third ride. Future goals include academic research in public policy, and I've read that Michigan has a bit more academic focus compared to Duke's practical focus, but I have no idea if this is actually the case. I'm originally from the Midwest, but am currently living and working in the South, so neither region offers more intangibles than the other for me. Edited to add my policy area focus: I want to look at the effects of poverty on educational attainment, and policy measures to alleviate poverty. So a bit of an intersection between straight-up public policy analysis, social policy, and ed policy. My focus will mainly be domestic, but I'd ideally like to throw some comparative case studies in there. Does anybody have any intel on academic vs. practical emphases for these programs? How about quality of life for grad students? Town culture for Ann Arbor/Durham? School culture-- does either attract a specific "type" of student (multiple ways to think about that question)?