Sjn092

You should check out the Heller School at Brandeis. They offer an MPP solely focused on social policy issues and have a specific "Women and Gender Studies" concentration. The MPP itself has very small cohorts of students as well. Worth looking into, perhaps.

Congrats on making your decision! it's certainly a big relief to be done with this process. I can safely say Im thrilled about the prospective education/opportunities that I will receive from SPEA.

Yeah, I can talk a little bit about the impression I got from the day. First of all, the student community there is really great. Everyone I talked to was very welcoming, very enthusiastic, and I got the feeling that no one I spoke to would rather be anywhere else. For being such a big program (About 120 MPA students in each cohort + another bunch of dual students and MSES students), I got the feeling that there is a very tight knit culture at SPEA. They obviously have spent a bunch of time together, and the nature there is far more in the 'collaborative' camp than competitive. As far as the other prospective students go, I would say the plurality were 1-3 years out of undergrad, but there was certainly a sizable chunk who were coming straight from undergrad. For me, this works out fine, but it is something I feel like I should mention. A lot of them were also from the midwest, which I think is partially representative (they definitely have a big midwest draw) but also a bit skewed due to more people being likely to travel if they live close by. In terms of the faculty, I was very impressed by the range of interested represented. There are a TON of full time faculty; like, close to 100 or something. It's a really big program with a lot going on. All the professors I spoke too were very approachable. They also seem to be very good at finding client based projects for their classes to work on. The other great thing about SPEA is the huge alumni network. They are all over the place, and compared to another school I visited, they seem to be a way more integral part of the program. My impression is that geographically, students are placed in a wide variety of places. Obviously there is going to be an Indiana/midwestern bias, that's just the way it is. However, it is definitely more than possible to go elsewhere if thats your goal. The network certainly spans the whole country. I suppose I should mention that there will be construction in from of the SPEA building for the next couple years, in case anyone is, umm... really averse to that or something, I dont know. I suppose the biggest con is that the school isnt in a major policy center, which is a valid consideration. Ultimately, I walked away very impressed, they blew me away by how well organized, energetic, and thrilled about their program they were. I can nitpick, but for me they confirmed why I have thought so highly of them the whole time. It's also my most affordable option, so I can safely say I will be attending.

Divertan, I'm not sure there is a clear way to know how long the process will take. I STRONGLY encourage you to call the masters program office. They have been very friendly and helpful, and they will tell you exactly whats up. Additionally, there will be a second round starting after april 15th, and they prioritize giving out aid to those that havnt received any (versus boosting others funding offers).

Look. I'm not trying to say that a masters degree is a panacea at all. I just have this fear that there are people that are pretty sure of themselves, want to work in public service, and are willing to accept the debt burden who come to this forum and see nothing but talk of how it's not worth it unless you get absurdly good funding offers. I really appreciate there are people on here willing to dish out the hard truths, but that doesn't mean that everyone wanting to jump into a masters program relatively early is wrong, either. For my part, I'm not doing this so I can make a ton of money or buy a house earlier or support a family. I understand that it will be tough, and no job will come easy. But my priority at this point in my life is to do the type work that is interesting to me, as early as I can, and do whatever I can to put myself in a position to do that. Not only do I think a public affairs degree will help me from a professional standpoint, but to some people, there is a large intrinsic value in learning, in deepening your knowledge of the things that you find interesting. Different for everyone.

People might criticize this mindset here, but I personally would like to second this. I didn't go to a super well connected college, I don't have tons of real connections with people working in the field I want to work in. There are internships I can find, and I might get lucky and land a relevant job, I guess. I could slip back into campaign work, I suppose. But I have wanted to go for this degree for years, this isn't something I randomly decided on. Honestly, I could probably get better offers years down the line, but life is to short, and being able to simply "go get some relevant experience" is not a guarantee at all. I'm rolling the dice, the time feels right. edit: okay, that said, If I had zero funding offers at all, Id be a little more on the fence. As myself and others keep saying, every situation is unique.

Is your SPEA cost including cost of living? Their baseline tuition is only about 26.5k/year.

I also think that this forum has an audience of extremely well qualified people. My guess is that lots of people attend these, or less well known programs with no funding at all. But just looking at the recent poll on which IR school people are attending, as I post, 34/37 selected one of the very high quality schools the OP mentioned in the initial post. Only 3 selected other, and those may well be other top rank programs. I think this forum is very valuable, but it needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The funding offers that people post here are not representative of the norm in any way.

While I in no way fault people for being concerned with their debt burden, I do agree with part of this assessment. The chance to pursue a graduate degree at a top level institution such as the ones discussed on this board is not a privilege available to many. At the end of the day, I hope that people will only consider finances to be part of the equation in this decision process. For my part, I went into this process expecting to take on a large amount of debt. I have been lucky enough to get some offers to help make me more comfortable with my decision, but I do hope that people consider all of the factors related to the program before simply choosing the most affordable option. No offense meant to people that are all about debt shaving, I totally understand that inclination. Each individual case is very different, no doubt.

I also got a small offer about a week ago. I'm actually strongly considering American, even though it's still pretty expensive. Does anyone have any thoughts on the program? It really doesn't seem to get mentioned much here, and I'm not exactly sure why.

I think that at the least, it means 8k/year, to be applied towards each of the four semesters. I see it as an equivalent of "each year, you will get 8k, which will be divided equally for each semester". Bizarre wording, whatever the answer may be.

So I didn't apply to this program at all, but wow, that is the most cryptically worded sentence ever. I keep going back and forth on what that actually means. Despite the fact that I have no vested interest in this issue, I'll be very curious to hear what the answer ultimately ends up being!

Look, if your burning desire is to live in Austin, I have a really hard time imagining that SPEA is better equipped to place you there, even when it comes to their speciality of enviro policy. UT is just going to have the most connections there, regardless of specialization. I know you already know that, but if I knew exactly where I wanted to live my life, I would try to attend a nearby program, almost regardless of prestige. And UT is no slouch. It's a highly regarded, incredibly well known and well respected school, as far as I'm concerned. Maybe someone else disagrees.

Well, my personal confusion aside, congrats! How do you feel about whatever offer they gave you?

What? Ok, obviously it's rolling I guess. I'm just done worrying about it. They told me next week, so what will be will be. Hopefully I'll be at experience day.