CakeTea

Thanks for the correction, my fault. This makes LBJ even more affordable.

No, I am not confused at all, just look at the numbers. I looked at SPEA and it does not work for me. Total out of state tuition: Humphrey charges out of state students $50,700 total. Twin Cities are more urban and offer more internship and networking opportunities. TAMU Bush has the policy to give all admits out of state waiver, this makes it $22,000 total. This was confirmed by the admissions manager. Possibly the most affordable MPP. UTexas LBJ: $49,600 Uni of Georgia: $50,000 Even UCLA Luskin costs $56,000. In some previous posts, admits at SPEA and similar programs would receive same or even more generous funding at peer school.

If one looks at metrics, it makes sense. SPEA is attractive for in state applicants with Indiana goals. The out of state tuition rate makes it more expensive for non-residents and they think twice given other options. Incidentally, SPEA's funding is problematic compared to other better funded public research schools (LBJ, Ford, Humphrey, Wisconsin). Students with federal government goals or IR interests gravitate towards high profile D.C, New England and NYC programmes.

What are your career goals, local public policy or international relations? Would all 3 schools be equally beneficial and are preferred concentrations not available at peers? Have you crunched all numbers on yr spreadsheet and how does the length of payback/ROI work out? I am international student and my weak currency fell against the strong $ too. Sigh.

Booth and Wharton are highly selective with 20% admission rate. Both are ranked top5. Your best chance would be Georgetown's Business School. I think McDough has an admission rate of 55-60% and is ranked outside top 30.

Different dynamics in terms of Return on Investment (ROI) for MPP and MBA/JD/MD. MPP grads work mostly in NGO and public sector with lower salaries and bonuses/no stock options. Hence I think MPPs should not go massively into debt ($100,000+) and expect to pay if off in 7-8 years (normal length for top MBAs). MBAs learn different skill set and focus more on functions and industries. MPP skill sets are more generic. But in most MPP programmes, you can take an elective each semester at the uni's Business School and hone your business skill. Popular courses are project management, finance, innovation and data analytics. I can choose just my favourite programme as I have to factor in funding.

Ditto, excitement of admission and 50% scholarship. I still have to come up with $40K for tuition plus CoL. Yet can't make the numbers work on my spreadsheet. Decision will be likely ruled by what I can afford. It is so near and yet so far. Schools know it as they have their yield management tools and historical figures. Government Affairs schools and jobs have a moderate post graduate salary, hence we cannot go into debt as much as business or law school folks.

@coffeeandtravel: After the admissions (GRE, GPA, work, SoP etc), one gets admitted and can see the finish line. Finally there is this huge obstacle of funding that keeps most admits out. Interestingly even with a 50% scholarship at an expensive school, people struggle to make the numbers work. Cost of living in D.C. is high, too.

I may sound strange, but I think securing funding (around 30% of class receive 25-100%) is actually more difficult than admissions. Even on this forum with high achievers, there are more admits but fewer people with $$$. Van Gaals conservative ball possession based game is not conducive to scoring lots of goals like in the old days under Ferguson. Whereas liverpool under Klopp is gegenpressing (to borrow Audi's motto: Vorsprung durch Technik), high tempo, multi-tasking game. Klopp named his philosophy as heavy metal football.

what about class profile, are both schools similar? I recall that Bush relies quite a bit on adjuncts to complement the syllabus. Ditto for Pitt? Bush has some good security profs and employers.

You are correct. Some arguments are fine, but enrollment depends on funding. To quote J MacGuire: "Show me the Money".On another note, are you watching tonight's North derby aka Europa League ManU vs Liverpool? Tough job to overcome first leg's deficit. The scousers are very confident.

Congratulations on your admissions and outreach effort by an educator. I was told that it happens, one can see it as a personal touch to match your interests with a prof in your area. His/her outreach is kinda targeted marketing to convince you that GWU is the perfect fit for you. It is a good sign as not all admitted students get this treatment. There are various levels of outreach by stakeholders: dean > profs > administration > current students/alumni. The aim is to make you enroll as GWU knows that most admits have multiple offers.

The fit depends on your profile, professional goals, academic interests, debt tolerance and geographic preference.

I think the rule of thumb is to be debt averse and not take too much debt for prestigious course. One should not take more debt than first year's gross salary. So if your target job pays $55,000, this should be your maximum debt limit. Some of my older supervisors with master's and debt advise me to be careful with debt. We public sector workers don't enjoy the salary rise of private sector. Hence better to be more conservative than business or law school students who benefit from higher salaries.

Out of state tuition waiver plus fellowship. Not great, but doable. Minneapolis as a large city has reasonable cost of living compared to my other schools.

I am in the same boat. Humphrey has an odd decision process: application action, long wait, admission, long wait for funding. this is rather odd given that Humphrey isn't a large programme and still takes its time to make funding decision. One would expect a smoother process.

Good for you, these are great schools. Durham and Pittsburgh have more reasonable cost of living and the student prospectus points out to quality/affordability. NYC prices are just insane and I get sticker price shock. I wish I could stack my various scholarships into a big one like Best Buy coupons. I think for most people the ultimate choice is a mix of fit and funding.

@sp108: Wow, you have a good memory to recall multiple threads. I was admitted to Sanford and awarded a small fellowship, though no automatic assistantship as I am international student. I have a spreadsheet and the current numbers don't add up. I still await news from outside funding. With outside funding, Heinz or Sanford may work. Even with moderate scholarship, it is challenging to come up with the rest to cover remaining tuition and cost of living. I have admission to a programme in Europe that is affordable, but I rather prefer a US MPP programme. The weak exchange rate against strong $ does not help either. It feels so close and yet so far. Sigh. What is your preference?

I am also admitted to MSPPM Pittsburgh track with a moderate scholarship. Still need to crunch some numbers.

Fit: Does programme have relevant concentrations, research clusters and profs in my specific areas of interests? Placement: Quality of careers office. Key recruiters, functions and salary. Employment rates of graduating class Funding: Public sector jobs don't pay much and I cannot borrow much, minimize debt burden Accessibility of profs Class profile: I prefer class mates with some seasoning and public sector goals Location: Determines cost of living and housing options.

To clarify, it was an agency affiliated to German government departments as main funding source. Her internship was as research analyst. i am puzzled as well as I thought that German gov organisations strong prefer Germans. Hertie has to my knowledge a corporate culture and I saw some government affairs career path (lobbying). I was concerned that due to its smaller class and faculty, Hertie offers fewer electives and policy concentrations than peers. I saw that you are admitted to Sciences Po too, chapeau!

@haru_ko: No, I am not a current student at Hertie. I just visited Hertie and did some due diligence last fall, but Hertie was not the right fit for my academic interests. I reached out to some students, spoke to officials and attended a class. I singled out some internationals about internships/jobs. It depends on your German proficiency, but it can be done. Example: An Asian student managed to intern with a German government organisation and landed a job with a think tank in Germany post graduation. Others went for IO (Brussels, World Bank) or national government gigs at home. I don't have like for like numbers of private sector employment with peers (LSE, Ox, Sciences Po and IHEID). Ox MPP strongly prefers admits with proven public sector track record/seasoning and some are government sponsored with return requirement. Hence, one does not see many private career changers at Ox. Different student demographics than Hertie. But Hertie's history may be a reason, it was founded by endowment of German retail family with support of various German corporation (see named scholarships and chairs). KPMG, Springer, Bertelsmann, BMW, LBBW and Commerzbank are sponsors and hire grads. One Hertie scholarship requires fellow to have finance background and career goal. Hertie also enrols more younger students straight out of undergrad, they may just change their mind and join the private sector in contrast to public sector professionals. I was puzzled that a stellar programme such as JHU SAIS MA sends 42% of its students to the private sector.

Hertie's facilities as a stand alone school can't be compared with government affairs programmes in the US. It is only one building and it has smaller number of student clubs or events. Granted, as Hertie student one can use facilities (libraries, cafeteria, gym) of the other 3 large Berlin unis, but only HU is close to Hertie whereas TU/FU are in different districts. I was not too impressed by Hertie's small library, meagre online journal subscription, iffy database and opening hrs compared to my undergrad uni. The librarian explained it that its budget is smaller than larger unis. It also depends on your academic interests as Hertie has some areas of strengths (governance, European Relations) but is weaker in other areas. Hertie is mostly known among policy makers in the Berlin and Brussels Bubble, but less known to the general public in Europe. The central location is in the government/think tank/uni neigbourhood with good subway transport from (affordable) outer districts where most students live. I noticed the refugee crisis in Berlin as there were queues at various government offices responsible for housing and documentation. There were some collection points for donations. Some Germans also mentioned the strain on social services (housing, education and health). Just to give you a heads up as it is a difference to read about it in the media and see so many refugees in Berlin.

Thanks for the update and clarification. I have waited so long and we sit all in the same boat. It is worse with other programmes where some people are admitted with scholarships and I still await notification, sigh. My work day isn't very productive at the moment.

Count me in, still waiting.