CakeTea

I had a look at Oxford MPP yearbook a few years ago. Most students tend to have a few years work experience in full time jobs. Public sector, non profits and sometimes private sector. Some high flying civil servants are sponsored by their government. Oxford MPP clearly values seasoning and plans to set it apart from other UK MPP programmes. Applicants straight out of undergrad will face an uphill battle.

Howdy, y'all! I went to UT Austin for undergrad and absolutely loved it; Austin is an absolutely kickass city. This being said, prices are rising as Austin is very quickly growing (and gentrifying, which is going to be a hot topic btw, should you move there). You'll find that most students, undergrads included, do not live in university housing. Maybe freshmen, but from what I understand, even freshmen aren't guaranteed housing anymore. I personally never lived on-campus (I lived in West Campus for 3 years, then spent my senior year in Hyde Park). Here's my little breakdown on student living as I saw it. I'll outline the more common student neighborhoods, although there are definitely more!
POPULAR STUDENT NEIGHBORHOODS: 
West Campus : Right behind Guadalupe St., the large stretch that separates West Campus and Main Campus. Guadalupe St. is also lovingly referred to by Longhorns as "the drag." The Drag has a ton of businesses, cafés and small restaurants that, sadly, fluctuate in and out of business. Certain staples like Caffé Medici, however, are super popular meeting spots for all types of students (namely Liberal Arts). West campus tends to extend from MLK Jr. to roughly ~31st street, and between Guadalupe St. and  Lamar Boulevard. Super expensive because of its proximity to campus (2br/2ba will run anywhere from 850-1500 per room, price decreasing as you go towards Lamar). Apartments are tall, new, rather nice and furnished. You may be able to find more humble abodes sprinkled around, if you look hard enough. Also, beware -- this is the Fraternity and Sorority neighborhood, which may not be the most savory for graduate students (unless you're dying to hear the Kappa Delta chant every day in August!) Super popular for undergrads leaving campus housing and getting their first apartment with friends, as well as people in Greek Life. 
Far West: Essentially the area between MLK Jr. and 51st, but between Lamar Blvd and Mopac Expressway. Way quieter and relatively cheaper than West/NW Campus, but Mopac can be a nightmare, so beware! I don't personally know many people who lived here, but the expressway is a great way to traverse Austin if you're not stuck on it between 4 and 6 PM. This back area has a lot of little businesses and houses; I've seen some apartments, but small room-for-rent houses definitely seem to be more common. If you go west enough, you'll start to see rather large, family houses, some of which may also rent to students. The only people I knew here were two PhD Candidates who were near defense. Seems to be pretty popular with standard Austinites and young professors. 
North/North West Campus : The areas surrounding Guadalupe, extending to Lamar (west) and I-35 (east), around 31st to 38th streets. Much calmer than West Campus. Still a heavy student population density, and still rather expensive. Mostly small, multi-bedroom houses as well. There are apartments, but they're not nearly as swanky as West Campus (2br/2ba will probably be in the 650-950 range per room). Next to some cool pubs, brunch places and bars, but not as busy as the West/Main Campus area. Good parties here for upperclassmen and graduate students. If you go east of Guadalupe, towards I-35, you essentially run into the engineering department of UT and the beginnings of Hyde Park, which is a super cool area. 
Mueller : 38th to 51st but on the east side of I-35. I love Mueller and spent a lot of time here. The East Side of Austin is historically a very African-American/Hispanic/Latinx population, but as I previously mentioned, gentrification is challenging that. Mueller housing is mostly professors, TAs and young lecturers, and the student population starts to wane off a bit. However, you can find some awesome, authentic food in this area, and it's incredibly cheap. Also has very cool, hole-in-the-wall coffee shops. Mostly houses, as well, prices comparable to Hyde Park, possibly a bit cheaper.
Cherrywood: from 28th to Airport, on the east side of I-35 (Austin starts to get very loopy and curvy on this side of I-35 around Cherrywood/Mueller, so it's harder to differentiate the neighborhoods). Mostly houses as well, super similar to Mueller. Cherrywood Coffeehouse was one of my favorites during undergrad
Hyde Park : Where I lived during my senior year, a personal favorite neighborhood of mine! Very quaint, mostly house rentals. Lots of trees and cute houses. Little shacks that sell sandwiches and coffee/pastries are not rare. This area is east of Guadalupe, from around 38th to 51st street, between Guadalupe and I-35. I had an awesome studio for about $800 (still a lot, but it was very spacious and nice, I also had my dog). You may be able to find a studio starting around $700 or even $650. I had friends in a 6 bed, 3 bath home who paid around $450-$650 a person. Super popular for upperclassmen, graduate students and young professors/lecturers. Also, people/students with families. A lot of parks and many, many cafés, almost no parties. Suburban in the cozier sense. TONS of buses that run to UT. 
The Triangle: Between 38th and 45th on the west side of Guadalupe, you find a ton of shopping centers. Housing picks back up again after 45th up until about 51st in The Triangle. I know some underclassmen who lived here, and surprisingly, not a lot of graduate students. Rent isn't necessarily cheaper than say Northwest campus, though, because the residential area is really nice and in a pretty swanky shopping center. So it's nice, but further away. Thankfully, the 801/803/1/5 buses run really frequently to UT and it doesn't take too long to get from the Triangle to Main Campus (the bus typically stops along the Drag). If you have a car, it's even easier. Super close to grocery shopping, suburban in the fancier sense. 
Riverside : South of the lake, along Riverside Drive. Even more south than Downtown. Incredibly popular low-cost housing options for undergrads and graduate students alike. A 1br/1ba will run around $500-$700 for a pretty nice space in a newer apartment complex. Heavily suggest having a car, though, because I've heard buses are irregular from here -- had a ton of friends in undergrad who lived in this area who would run late for class. Students in Riverside tend to be cut off from the general UT population, which can stink. It's a rather suburban area near the river, and has great access to outdoorsy-Austin, SoCo and downtown. However, it does have some safety issues (such as theft. Rest assured, Austin is a generally safe city overall!) 
Downtown (super south) : From MLK to Cesar Chavez. A huge business district and high rises galore. Some coffee shops with almost no capacity, I don't even try going down there during finals. I don't know anybody who lived here, personally, but a cool place to take family that's visiting! Buses run from UT Campus to 6th street/Rainey/Red River very frequently, with nightbuses on weekends and Thursdays (pour one out for the dirty 6th!) In terms of nightlife, 6th street is very undergraduate-dense, Rainey tends to be more for graduate students and upperclassmen with IDs. The West End is Downtown around 6th Street and Lamar, and is very, very swanky, with the Whole Foods and lots of fancy Yoga places. South Congress is south of the river, and is mainly for new graduates and general Austinites. 
North of 51st (super north): Around Burnet and the North Loop, the student population tends to wane off as well. Not too sure about the graduate student density, but these areas have great, quieter, larger coffee shops and tend to cater to standard Austinites. 
OTHER HINTS: 
Should I bring a car? I did, and it really helped with stuff such as groceries. However, if you have a roommate, you may fare well with one car between you. The buses are pretty good, but not as frequent as much bigger cities. UT Austin students get free bus fare as well, so benefit from that, especially since downtown parking is impossible!
Is food cheap? Food is pretty standard; not as expensive as a big city such as NYC, but maybe more comparable to the quieter parts of Seattle/Portland. TONS of awesome takeout places and really diverse cuisine! South of the lake, you'll find really nice, little gourmet restaurants  Tons of HEBs, Wal-Marts and Targets, if you don't want to spend too much money on food. You WILL, however, have to partake in ATX craft beer culture from time to time  TONS and TONS of coffee shops. Coffee shop culture is gigantic in ATX, and all UT students have their favorites/opinions! 
How is the UT Campus? UT is absolutely stunning as a campus and I miss it dearly. It's a sprawling, shockingly green campus with tons of trees, fountains and beautiful places to study. You'll also find a ton of good food and coffee places on campus (F*** Starbucks and GO TO TEXAS COFFEE TRADERS!)  
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So yeah, that's my very rough beginner's guide to ATX! It was an awesome city with tons of diners, cafés and fun things to do. If anybody has any questions, don't be shy  I was in Liberal Arts, but know a little bit about every department!

Cool to have someone in the same boat! I visited Cornell in Feb and they arranged meetings for me with the executive director, the head of career management, and about six different students throughout the day. Everyone repetedly stressed the flexibility of CIPA's programming. They really support students designing a program that works for them, and I think the ability to take classes from any of the schools across campus is a great asset (Yale Jackson does the same). I went to Brown (no core requirements) so being able to choose my coursework is something I really value. The other thing that I've heard over and over is how collaborative and friendly the cohort dynamic is; they specified that they know that a lot of other programs at Cornell have the reputation of being cutthroat/competitive, but that CIPA has a very different "familial" culture. The Open House videos are available online now--I watched them the other day, and you might find them helpful!
Re: SPA, did you happen to be at Top Prospects weekend in Feb? Since then, I've had further contact with Jennifer Forney, an alum, and a prof. I have to say that they are head and shoulders above other schools in terms of reaching out on a personal level. I've heard a lot about the collaborative atmosphere of SPA, too. I think one difference between the programs is that by virtue of being in DC, SPA just seems to be more intense/busy. Jennifer has said on a couple occasions that "everyone is busy and there will be no sympathy for you." 
Here are some of the other main differences that I'm factoring into my decision: Cornell has a better global brand, but AU has a better brand in DC/the field of Public Affairs; cost of living (152 in DC vs 98 in Ithaca); can't beat Ithaca for access to nature and a culture of outdoorsiness (which is something very important to me), but can't beat DC for caliber of speakers/cultural events/etc; accessibility/ease of travel; Cornell seems to have significantly more opportunities for international opportunities (check out the SMART program if you haven't already); AU has more general quant requirements while Cornell has more specific; Cornell has a wider variety of course selection due to having access to all of the schools; AU seems to be faster-paced in terms of balancing school + job + internships; AU stresses more about the point of the program being career-readiness/ROI. There are others but these are kinda this big things that I'm looking at, along with aid. I have similar aid offers from both, but a portion of AU's comes from a GAship, while 100% of Cornell's is tuition remission. Self-quarantining has meant that I've had too much time on my hands to flip flop between the two! 

I am not familiar with MSc Global Health Policy Distance learning. But I have been to LSHTM on Keppel St and know people who did
MSc Public Health Full time, MSc Health Policy, Planning, Financing, MSc Control of Infectious Diseases part time
LSHTM is specialised in public health and diseases, has one of UK's premier bio labs, excellent track record in field work and scholarship. Profs publish in peer reviewed journals such as The Lancet or Epidemiology journals. The MPH programe is one of the best in Europe and very established. In the UK, LSHTM MPH full time program is certainly top 3 along with Oxford, ICL and maybe UCL. The course also offers some advanced quantitative modules of statistical modelling. LSHTM is dialed in the international research community with joint research projects with international partners and grants from gov, EU and industry. Excellent guest speaker series: EcoLab seminar on Ebola. LSHTM has been actively involved in responding to ebola epidemic with research and field work.
I know a nurse who did MSc Control of Infectious Diseases part time. The course is academically challenging and requires some time management along with understanding employer as her work is located 200 miles away. She reckons that she can transfer the theory of class room into her work and use a work project as basis of her MSc dissertation.
The student body is international with many Europeans, Asians and Africans. They are smart and driven with healthcare goals. Some have scholarships from school or their governments. Cohesive culture and you can see small study groups in the Common Room. The library is well stocked with subscription to leading journals. LSHTM is a specialised institution with graduate degrees and maybe little known to the general public. But among health professionals, it has a formidable reputation.
Good luck

I am actually extremely surprised by some of the responses to Elmo Says. As someone who has worked several years in the DC area, I can say that the depiction of the work/life/post-graduation scene in DC is extremely accurate. Those who say, "nahh... it's not that bad.. " with a load of debt are not being honest. Yes, YMMV with your graduate degree, but this is overall a very truthful post.
ExponentialDecay's rantings are not helpful. It portrays living in DC with debt as far easier than the reality. It portrays everyone as knowing exactly what the outcome of their degree will be. And attacking the person posting is certain never helpful. Having that rant as the first response took this thread into a weird direction since this is a very helpful post.
Thanks a lot, Elmo Says. It's unfortunate that you had to put up with some odd behavior on here, but your comments are appreciated and will likely be of great help to new applicants.

I graduated a few years ago from one of the top 5 master's programs that gets a lot of attention here at Gradcafe. I had a better than average outcome - I got a job within 2 months of graduation, and have a solid salary (~80k after two raises) with benefits.
Still, I would strongly caution anyone considering one of these programs to think long and hard about it, unless you have a trust fund and are 100% certain that you could never want to live anywhere but DC. These IR/MPP programs open a few doors, sure, but they close a lot of them too. In retrospect, I wish I had gotten an MBA or tried to climb my way up without the over-priced master's degree, and a lot of my friends from grad school have expressed similar things in the past few months, now that we're sick of our first job or two out of grad school but feel trapped with constrained career prospects and lots of debt in most cases.
Why I regret it:
Even after scholarships and some limited help from my parents, I still graduated with about 70k in debt. That's about half of what some of my classmates have, but it still sucks having to make $600+/month payments until I'm in my late 30s. Some of my friends with bigger debt loads are barely covering interest and will be lucky if they've paid down the loans by their 50th bdays. Less than half of people at my prestigious program got any aid whatsoever. Debt is a frequent conversation topic at all social events these days.  Most of the highest-paid gigs in IR/policy go to people with MBAs or JDs. If you manage to, say, scam your way into federal consulting at Deloitte you'll be getting paid 30-50% less than your similarly-credentialed colleagues with MBAs. A lot of the most prestigious-sounding jobs for pure IR/policy people have crappy salaries (most non-profits or working on the Hill) or no benefits (STCs at the World Bank and IMF), and the only ones who can take them are the rich international types and some Americans whose parents subsidize their lifestyles.  Most everyone else gets some boring office job that is vaguely policy-related, but no more interesting in practice than working at Dunder Mifflin or wherever the dude from Office Space worked. Your fancy degree does not get you out of cubicle hell. And your dreams of changing the world will be crushed when you realize the reports you're writing on healthcare policy are being sold to private companies and financial investors so that they can make even more money. Though I couldn't have predicted this when I enrolled, federal hiring is an absolute shitshow right now, or at least more so than usual - mass hiring freezes, extreme uncertainty about future staffing levels, long backups with security clearances. That's assuming you want to even work for this administration. Most people I know who are working for the federal government are contractors, which  means no loan forgiveness. DC is insanely overpriced, and the culture here is pretty boring, even though people tell me it has massively improved from 10-15 years ago. But if I never see another soulless luxury apartment building with a fancy spin studio and an overpriced trendy but bland restaurant in the ground floor retail space...it will be too soon. When you inevitably decide you want to leave DC, you will find that these degrees do not confer nearly as much prestige as the admissions' offices will have you believe.   And before someone accuses me of being bitter....well, I kind of am. And so are most of my friends, even the ones with jobs they could probably brag about if they felt so inclined.  

You have a good profile, your GPA may be mitigated by a strong GRE (mid to high 150s). Your work and international experience will be conducive. I think apart from SAIS and SIPA, you may consider Tufts Fletcher and maybe another DC school (Georgetown, GWU, AU).
Good luck.
 

I would recommend checking CMU's MSPPM program. You don't need to apply to the "data analytics" track specifically to take their classes.
I've written some pros/cons here:
  Since CMU's MSPPM program is housed in the same college as the information science program, you'll have access to a wide range of data-related courses, from the more social science-oriented like econometrics to programming courses in machine learning. Courses at the School of Computer Science are available as well if you're up for them. When I was applying to other policy schools, I compared the curriculum with other programs, and I must say that the breadth and depth of CMU's courses in data science far exceeds that of any public policy program and even many data science programs. Most topics you might be interested in--from data warehousing to unstructured data mining and from visualizations to operations research--are available, and pretty much any other topic you can think of is covered in the computer science department.
If you have any questions, feel free to message me.

I'm always repping YNAB really hard to my friends who have any need for budgeting. YNAB (You Need A Budget) is a really valueable tool- it helped me save several thousand dollars for grad school and generally get control of my finances. It's not a passive system like Mint, its an active "Envelope" method. Its a spreadsheet system but with some additional features and a lot of education and support for budgeting. 
 
Its free for students for a year:
https://www.youneedabudget.com/landing/college/

Congratulations on admissions to two excellent IR programs.
Generally speaking, LSE MSc IR is considered a center of international excellence and attracts plenty international students. I think strong areas include governance, theory, IPE, security and development. Def stronger on theoretical training and less on practical (project and crisis management, aid delivery, NGO grant application). LSE MSc IR is also a good feeder to PhD programs in Europe and US. The London location and LSE enables more interesting opps for guest speakers from politics and media. You can attend think tank events such as Chatham House IISS or Royal United Services Inst.
St. Andrews Security Studies MA is well regarded and one of their strongest area. Very established in terrorism, Middle East, Russian Studies and defence studies. 

On the contrary, perhaps I should've phrased my answer clearer: jobs in the IR industry do not pay enough money to pay down that debt. You shouldn't be taking out that loan for a degree in money tree horticulture, if your goal is to work in IR afterwards. Caveat, this is my personal opinion, as someone who likes to have savings and doesn't want to live with roommates when I'm 40. This is America, not Cameroon, so of course you won't be living in a cardboard box in an alley, but you will most likely face significant financial sacrifices.
NGO jobs pay 40-50. Fed jobs pay 50-60. Private sector jobs pay a bit or a lot more, depending on what private sector specifically, but if that's your goal, you're better off getting an MBA. I live in the District, where I pay a third of my salary in rent (and I make more than the numbers I quoted) and I live with roommates. Studios start at 1300 in Petworth and 1700 anywhere you want to live (without utilities). I found my place via Craigslist, where most of the other people in my price range were in their mid-30s. I have a friend in his early 30s who just got really excited at hitting the high 60s in salary, and he's in a quanty field. The metro costs ~$3 a ride depending on from and to, a taxi is $10-15 for short distances, a coffee is $3-5, lunch is $10 self-service or $25 sit-down, drinks are $6+ at happy hour, a quart of milk is ~$2, basic white eggs are $2, a big bag of Doritos is $5. Sales tax is 5.75%. You're paying 20-30% of your salary in various taxes before you take it home. Add a, what, $800 monthly loan payment to all that, and you're squeezed pretty tight.

Not a lawyer, but can comment on MPP. Both are professional programs.
Most MPP grads work in policy analysis as research analyst or public administration with federal/local government or non profits. Some end up in the private sector (public sector consulting, lobbying, public finance, data analysis).
skills: Project management (time line, delivery, budgeting), policy analysis (writing and presenting briefs, quant and qualitative analysis), implementation and impact evaluation using metrics. You learn about quantitative methods, governance, influencing decision makers, writing grant proposals, communication and people management skills for senior jobs. Internships have a practical element and there are capstone projects.
Personally, I believe that some work experience prior to MPP is conducive to one's development and highly valued by schools. Look at class profile and most schools prefer applicants with 2-5 yrs experience. You can relate to lectures and class discussions with your work, contribute and you will find it easier to find internships. Admissions take a more holistic view of your MPP profile: GPA/GRE, work, extracurriculars, LoR, essays, goals, fit with program. I think that law schools look closer at LSAT/GPA score and pedigree of your undergrad school.
Lifestyle: Average MPP salary is lower compared to lawyers, but most MPPs tend to have a work life balance. Lawyers in general have more pressure with billing and performance.

A lot of topics have been covered here, and I'll add one more to consider.
I think you're vastly overestimating the prestige of Cornell CIPA's program. Yes, Cornell is a well-known school generally speaking. But in US policy circles, CIPA is a decidedly second tier program in an oversaturated field. At the risk of causing offense, that's probably why they gave such a hefty scholarship to a candidate with one year of work experience, a below-average GPA, and an unspectacular GRE score. 
If you were just trying to get a US brand name school on you resume to go back to Pakistan, it might work out (lots of Chinese students do something similar at various non-elite programs). Or if you were already working in the US and needed a master's just to check a box for a very specific career goal, it could be worth it. But given your stated goals (finding a job that will allow you to stay in the US long-term) and your lack of practical experience, I think you should proceed very cautiously. 
There won't be that many US employers who are going to be thirsty enough for CIPA grads that they're willing to sponsor you for an H1b visa, unless you have a really unique skillset (usually something quanty). That leaves you with international multilaterals where you can get a diplomatic visa, but those organizations tend to recruit from schools like Harvard, SAIS, SIPA, etc. and/or are extremely hard to break into even for people with elite degrees and incredible work experience (I'm thinking of the UN here). 
And finally, it's a major uphill battle to get into any US doctorate program with policy or IR master's, as @ExponentialDecay suggests. This transition would only be made harder by coming from a lower-ranked program.  
 

Hey! I just got home from seven months of teaching English in France. It's really not as bad as it seems. Stay away from political activity, don't live in a sketchy neighborhood, don't act like you don't know where you're going, and stay away from big cities if possible. The political and social climate might seem bad based on what you see in the news, but the chances of something actually happening is still quite minimal (especially if you're not living in a major political center). But also, attacks have not just been happening in France; they've been happening everywhere. It makes absolutely no sense to think that France is worse off. Paris had a shooting hours after I took off from CDG airport, but ever since I returned, there've been at least two shootings in my home state as well. Those who make life decisions out of fear will have no life. I'm a scaredy-cat by all standards and will prioritize self-preservation above anything, but France isn't a war zone.

Ha, it seems I have just what you might be looking for. I have these notes from 2016 when I did my own interview (I'm a principal candidate about to finalize my placement).
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1. Why Fulbright?
2. How would you contribute to [country name] upon return?
3. You're already very familiar with the US, how do you think spending more time stateside can help you contribute more toward cultural exchange in your country? (I had been a US undergrad 7 years back)
4. What is the biggest compliment someone can pay you?
5. How are you going to overcome ethnic prejudices to get a public service job upon return?
6. What would you do if you were placed at a university you hadn't even heard of?
7. What adversity have you overcome and how?
8. You went to [US undergrad school name]? How did you end up there?
9. Do you have relatives in the US?
10. What qualifies you to study public administration?
11. Your English seems perfect. Are you better skilled at your native language or English?
12. You work with XYZ, a respected US organization. What would bring you back after Fulbright when you could continue with XYZ in the States?
13. What universities would you like to go to?
14. Have you applied to the DV Lottery?
15. What countries have you been to?
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In my case, the panel consisted of five people: two Fulbright administrators from the respective embassy, a State Department official flown in from DC, and a Fulbright alum.
 

I think Ford has a domestic reach rather than regional focus. It attracts many students from out of state/abroad and grads are mobile. Look at career report and many grads work in the Midwest, DC and East Coast.
Fels is worth considering and strikes a good balance btw theory and practice. Fels is also a smaller, more cohesive program with easier access to profs than a mega program with 400 students (SIPA). Philadelphia is an excellent laboratory for internships and capstone projects. Some students intern with the major's office or local non profits. There are plenty opps as many Fels grads work in local and state government. 
Just to round up the discussion, these 2 MPPs with education focus are located in the South but merit some credit.
UVA: Joint MPP/MEd
Vanderbilt: Peabody College's MPP in Education Program. Three concentrations right up yr alley: K-12, Higher Education Policy and Quantitative Methods in Higher Ed Policy. Vanderbilt has one of the best Education departments in the country (see ranking)

An acquaintance has same interests (domestic education policy and k12) with a quantitative focus. He did his MPP at Ford, he chose Ford as the MPP has the best fit for him (faculty research, internship opps, alumni, quantitative training). He got some good funding and there are opportunities for some TA/RA positions for qualified students. Two Ford profs are quite well known in education circles and publish in peer reviewed academic journals and NYTimes pieces on education.
I am not a Ford student.
I think Penn Fels offers some education electives and works with Penn's Grad School of Education.
 

Check out median starting salaries coming out of these programs. Even the most elite range from $55-90k annual. I am talking about Hopkins SAIS, Fletcher MALD, Georgetown MSFS, and Columbia SIPA. 
These numbers are abysmal when you consider the perceived prestige of the programs, the competitiveness to get in, and the (usually very significant) prior work experience of the entering class. Top-tier public and international affairs programs cannot compete on salary with even third-tier regional MBA programs.
I went for the intrinsic value and because it was a life-long dream, but I would advise all out there to be very careful about "just going" and to drive a hard bargain if you get in. Paying full or nearly-full tuition just isn't worth it for at least 80% of prospective applicants.   

Scouring previous years' versions of this thread was extremely helpful to me in deciding on which schools to apply to and what my chances might be, so I can't imagine not paying it forward.
Program Applied To: They all have a different acronym, but all masters in public policy/management/administration
Schools Applied To: Princeton WWS, Cornell CIPA, Michigan Ford, UT LBJ, Texas A&M Bush, Carnegie Mellon Heinz
Schools Admitted To: Cornell CIPA (half tuition), Michigan Ford (no funding), UT LBJ (no funding), Texas A&M Bush ($10k/year, which almost covers their insanely affordable tuition), CMU Heinz (3-semester track, full tuition)
Schools Rejected From: WWS
Still Waiting: N/A
Interests: Nonprofit management, inequality/health care policy
Undergraduate institution: One of the NESCAC schools
Undergraduate GPA: 3.4 (an upward trend, rigorous coursework, and academic curiosity to a fault that led to some low grades that bogged down my GPA)
Undergraduate Major: Political Science, Economics, and a liberal arts major that I did "for fun"
GRE Quantitative Score: 161
GRE Verbal Score: 165
GRE AW Score: 5.0
Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 4
Years of Work Experience: 4
Describe Relevant Work Experience: I've spent the past four years rising through the ranks of the communications department at a medium-sized think tank.
Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): I was pretty happy with them. My boyfriend's mom is a writing teacher and professional editor, and she was enormously helpful in taking them from "probably would've been fine" to "probably really helped my applications." I started writing last summer and reworked and revised sporadically throughout the fall, submitting my final application sometime in mid-December. Don Asher's book on graduate admissions essays has been recommended a lot on this forum, and I think it helped me get into a good frame of mind to start writing.
Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): I was very stressed about not having kept in close contact with a lot of my professors and not being sure how strong their letters would be. I realized that the solution was right in front of me: have 2 from work and use the 1 professor who had very strong things to say about me. I ended up with one from my boss, one from our director of health policy, and one from a professor I took two courses with who liked me quite a bit. My best advice on letters is to ask early and often. Cornell doesn't have a specific deadline, but my goal was to have all my materials submitted my November 15. I gave that as my deadline to all my letter writers, and two turned them in on the 15 and my professor didn't submit hers until mid December- which was just in time for all the hard deadlines that I had. Those were an incredibly stressful few weeks as I started wondering if she was even going to write the letter, and I was very thankful that the November 15 deadline was there to give me a cushion for the others. My understanding is that this is a fairly common situation, and I get it: these are very busy people with a thousand other priorities who are doing you a favor for pretty much nothing in return.
Decision: CMU Heinz. They weren't my first choice going in, but seemed like a program that fit my interests and tended to give a lot of funding, so I applied. I thought that I would almost certainly end up at UT or Cornell (unless I got into Princeton), and I was willing to go into (a reasonable amount of) debt to go to those programs. But I'm glad CMU offered me so much money- it made me really look at their program and realize that it was the best fit for me. I want to be involved in think tank management & operations, and their program is absolutely phenomenal at providing the practical skills necessary to excel in that area.
Words of Advice:
Before you even start finalizing your list of schools, really think long and hard about where you want to be 5-10 years from now and how graduate school will help get you there. People say to do this to make sure grad school is the right choice for you, which is obviously an important distinction to make, but it's also very helpful for figuring out which programs make the most sense and getting your personal statements written. Every school's questions are a little different, but they all essentially want to know where you come from, where you're going, and why you need their program to get from A to B. I really thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do and why I wanted to go to school, and this process still took a while for me.  Once you've accomplished the above process, make sure the schools you choose really reflect your goals and interests. In hindsight, Princeton didn't reflect mine, and I put a lot of energy into that application because who DOESN'T want a free master's from Princeton, but that could have been spent elsewhere with a school that was a better fit. If you're interested in the public/nonprofit sectors, don't get hung up on prestige. First of all, there's no universally agreed upon ranking system that can tell you if school A is more prestigious than school B. If you're on gradcafe, chances are you're looking at and will get into programs that are well-respected and will open doors for you. Sure, if you're looking to go into certain career paths (consulting, etc.) or are an international student where name recognition matters, you may need to take perceived prestige into account. Otherwise, focus on what you'll learn from the program and where the alumni go. Once you have your acceptances and are making your decision, two pieces of advice: (1) talk to as many current students as you can at admitted students' days (and go to them in the first place!). The presentations are helpful, but the most valuable information I got at each event was from current students. How's the workload? What do they do for fun? What don't they like about the program? And (2) don't be afraid to ask for more money!! The worst they can do is say no. Carnegie Mellon originally offered me 90% tuition, which I was blown away by, and then sent an email saying we should let them know if we had a better offer. I sent them the offer from the Bush School and they upped it to full tuition. If they hadn't sent that email, I probably wouldn't have been brave enough to ask because I felt like 90 percent was amazing, and I would've spent several thousand dollars that I didn't need to. I also asked LBJ for money and they didn't budge, but there was no harm done in the process. If you like one school the best but are tempted by another financial offer, there's absolutely no harm in asking.

As promised....
Ultimate Decision & Why: When I first started this whole process, I was unquestionably sure I would end up going to Heller if I got in because I wanted to attend a program that had a super strong Social Policy program with my specific focus (Child & Family Policy). Much to my surprise, there was A LOT of back and forth between Brandeis Heller and Duke Sanford. I easily knocked off the schools that I applied to that weren’t a good fit (for many reasons) and didn’t give me enough funding to afford grad school. I also ended up negotiating a bit more money out of both Heller and Sanford ( I didn't try to with the other schools and took myself out of the running for one school's aid). 
In the end I decided to go with Sanford because I thought that their program was more out-right quantitatively rigorous than Brandeis (another important aspect for me, which was doable at Brandeis but it seemed that I would have to work for it), they have a diversity of coursework (something I valued more the further along I went in the decision making process) yet I am still able to focus on social policy, it is a bigger program yet still a good size, along with all of the personal life things (such as a my spouse and finances etc).
Advice for Future Applicants:
Breathe! Take it one step at a time. Allow your mind to change throughout this process. One thing I really cannot stress enough, do your research – both before you apply to a program and after you get in. I started doing my extensive comparison research and outreach as soon as all of my applications were in – and this really helped me narrow down my options and thoughts as admission results came in. In hindsight, I wish I had spent more time researching other programs (and found grad café earlier in the game), and not applying to some schools that weren’t a good fit for all of the things I was looking for (seriously don’t do this. It’s better to have fewer applications than waste time and money on a program you don’t want). When making your decision, be sure to talk to current students/alums/faculty (all three if you can!) and visit the school so that you can sit in on classes. It really changes your perspective on the program’s fit for you. Focus on what you want out of a program, and what is a good fit for you. Take advice from others and learn as much as you can, but in the end, tune everyone out and go with your gut and what works for you. Grad school decisions are a very personal process and everyone is looking to get something a little bit different out of it.

I did my double major with French at UT not long ago, and I can confirm that it can be a great experience, or it could be an absolute mess. During my time, I had the ability to interact/rant with a number of graduate students, especially as I go through the app cycle, and they've confirmed quite a bit of what you've said. I've essentially concluded that the issue with UT's French department is a very, very profound lack of rules and guidance compared to other graduate programs and a pretty (really) bad proportion of lecturers to professors.
I don't immediately know which professor you're talking about in regards to sexual harassment (especially if they teach grads, since I was an undergrad), but our department was pretty renowned across the languages for having sleazier professors, especially lecturers. Yeah, this is a common university corruption, but it was bad; It got to the point where there were professors recognized- not by their abilities- but for who they slept with (e.g. "Oh yeah!! Pr. Steve! He hooked up with Stacy and Becky yeah??") If you were a major, the group was small enough for these things to be common knowledge; I couldn't even imagine what it's like as a grad student. Now, I'm all for consent and free love (and I'm male so this wasn't really an issue for me), but It was honestly pretty gross, inappropriate and turned me off from the department when I thought about applying for grad school.
I was an RA/student mentor for freshmen when I was a sophomore, and the university even made me sign a contract saying I wouldn't fraternize with my "students", if that puts it into perspective... Apparently, that protocol just doesn't exist in the department. Sure you can sweep it under the rug, but it made events/talks/presentations uncomfortable knowing a professor slept with the girl sitting next to you and is hitting on the girl across from you, and the department isn't doing anything; I may just be prudent though. The big problem is that it spoke for the department's lack of HR, sensitivity training, etc. and that does suck. 
On the contrary, UT Austin has some absolutely amazing professors. I'm talking amazing, supportive, understanding, love their topic, incredibly open, etc. However, the program is so polarized between literature/linguistics and is so understaffed, that you're really gonna have to fight for a good advisor who can give you the time without being pressed between 20 other grad students/undergrads who are vying for their attention. As an undergrad, I probably only had 4 or 5 post-doc professors as a major candidate, everybody else was a grad student lecturer. Adjunct positions are a growing crisis in academia, but UT's French department had a way higher percentage of them compared to my second major (also in humanities). Assignments are super haphazard, and professors change/aren't placed until the first week. I knew someone on a lectureship contract who would get sections changed after the session began, sessions would get cancelled, etc. There were also scandals about professor placements every year and a lot of talk about why people left/got fired, cause it was rarely on good terms (If you're wondering, "How did he know all of that as an undergrad?" Well, small department in a big school... word gets around.)
As for PhD retention, I'm not too versed on that since my scope is more limited to the department as a whole.
I originally wanted to defend my alma mater because Austin is a phenomenal city and UT as a whole is a pretty good school. In general, I enjoyed my time in the French department because I genuinely believed I got lucky with good professors. However, thinking back, I have heard and experienced a lot that validates your concerns- it is rather upsetting. If you're thinking of UT and you really wanna go, just please do your research, make contacts early and set your own morals and guidelines, cause it can potentially end up being a good experience if you can get past the administrative mess.

I don’t post here much, but throughout the application process I have found reading other people’s results from previous years to be very helpful (and in some ways reassuring!).  I’m glad to finally be in a position to do the same for others . So, here goes!
Program Applied To: MPA, MSSP (this is a Master of Science in Social Policy that’s just offered at Penn)
Schools Applied To: Penn Fels, Penn SP2, Princeton WWS, Syracuse Maxwell, NYU Wagner, UDel SPPA
Schools Admitted To: Penn Fels + SP2 (~75% scholarship), Syracuse Maxwell (~60% scholarship + 54k stipend), UDel SPPA (90% scholarship + $18k stipend), NYU Wagner (no funding)
Schools Rejected From: WWS
Still Waiting: N/A
Interests: Domestic social policy, specifically food insecurity and safety net programs.
Undergraduate institution: Top 100 liberal arts college
Undergraduate GPA: 3.97
Last 60 hours of Undergraduate GPA (if applicable): 3.98
Undergraduate Major: American Studies, with a specific focus on poverty and racial inequality in the US.
GRE Quantitative Score: 157
GRE Verbal Score: 170
GRE AW Score: 5.5
Years Out of Undergrad (if applicable): 5
Years of Work Experience: 5
Describe Relevant Work Experience: Nonprofit development/fundraising at two different well-established organizations whose missions are directly related to the policy areas of interest to me: food insecurity, poverty, safety net programs. I also serve as the Secretary of the Board of Directors for my neighborhood food co-op, and I have significant community service experience.  
Strength of SOP (be honest, describe the process, etc): My guess is very. I opened with a compelling personal story that connects my family background to the policy issues I care about, and then led into how that experience shaped my career goals in terms of the work I’ve done in nonprofit development over the past 5 years, why I am now pursuing an MPA, and what I want to do in the long-term. I also customized my SOP for each school to demonstrate "fit" with their program and show I did my homework.  
Strength of LOR's (be honest, describe the process, etc): I didn’t see my rec letters, but my guess is that they were also strong. I had one letter from each of my direct supervisors at the nonprofits I’ve worked for, and have good relationships with both of them.  My third letter came from my college advisor, who has described me in the past as one of the best students he’s taught.     
Decision: I’m doing the MPA + MSSP dual degree program at Penn. Since I know I want to stay in the Philly area for the foreseeable future for family reasons, the Fels MPA offers a great network – and I’m really interested in pairing that with the ability to focus specifically on social policy analysis through the MSSP. 
Words of Advice:
Start the application process early. Between my full-time job and community involvement I tend to be a very busy person, so taking a full year to research schools and work on my applications gave me the time I needed to apply confidently. I decided I officially wanted to apply to grad school in December 2015, so from January - August I studied for and took the GRE (I originally intended to take it in the spring but life got in the way). Then I spent August - December visiting schools, writing essays, coordinating with recommenders, and filling out applications.  Maybe if you aren’t as busy as I am you could do it in less than a year, but regardless I would recommend starting earlier than you might think you should.  A year sounded like SO much time to me but it really wasn’t.
  MAGOOSH!! Magoosh is a really stellar online test prep service that I truly cannot recommend highly enough – and at $99 for a 6 month subscription, it made WAY more sense for me than spending upwards of $1,000 on test prep from Kaplan or Princeton Review. They have fantastic study plans, very helpful video lessons, a gazillion practice questions that mirror the test format, and 8 excellent practice tests. It’s self-guided, which worked well for my schedule. I’m not great with standardized tests: I first took the GRE in my senior year of college with minimal preparation and did poorly (152Q, 160V, 4.5 AWA). For a long time I wondered if I would ever actually apply to grad school because the GRE felt like such a big hurdle. I really credit Magoosh with helping me get my scores up.
  You CAN avoid going into massive debt if you make it a priority. I knew I was not willing to take on any more than $30,000 in debt for grad school, so as I was researching programs I made sure to look into the amount of aid available. I only considered schools in a very limited geographic area, but even within that I made sure that my list of schools included a couple where I would have a good chance of getting funding. I also worked really hard to get my GRE scores up knowing what an impact that can have on schools’ financial aid decisions. I was fortunate that I was able to afford my top-choice school because of the scholarship I was offered, but if that hadn’t worked out I definitely had a good “safety” school option that would have ensured I could get my master’s without going into massive debt.
  Getting into the most selective school isn’t everything. I’m not gonna lie, I was disappointed when I didn’t get into WWS. If I had gotten in, I would have gone without a question because I felt like it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. I mean, essentially getting paid to get your master’s from a top program is pretty awesome. But I realize now that I had built WWS up in my mind because of the prestige factor and the incredible funding they offer. If I’m being honest with myself, I knew deep down that WWS wasn't right fit for me when I visited in the fall; I walked away from that visit feeling less excited about the program, not more. I really think it was a blessing in disguise that I didn’t get in, because I know I will be much happier at Penn in just about every way -- academically, personally, and professionally. Since I intend to stay in the Philly area, I think Penn will actually open more doors for me here than Princeton would. And I absolutely fell in love with Fels the two times I visited. I know there’s a temptation to just try to go to the “best” or most highly ranked school you can, but I would recommend really putting a lot of thought into what you want to get out of your degree and what makes the most sense for you. 

The answer to your questions depends on where you are, where you want to go, and how driven you are.
I'm currently a student at Heinz College, so my views may be slanted in favor of it, but here's what I know:
Pros:
I've received internship offers from several highly selective employers (i.e. many top 20 schools represented, less than 1% interviewed, intelligence tests required, previous experience including PwC and the White House, etc.) and they have all been impressed by the Carnegie Mellon name. This isn't Harvard, but it's clear that for all except the snobbiest of employers, the CMU name will help. If you want to go to a policy school that will grant you technical skills, CMU is it. The reason why I chose the school is because I couldn't find the range of quantitative courses in any other public policy program. If you're careful, you can set up your entire curriculum to be focused on things like decision science, operations research, data mining, machine learning, and etc. With the exemptions I have and the focus of my course planning, I'll likely have at least 45 (i.e. 1.5 years) semester credits (or 135 units in the CMU system) of coursework in these technical fields. And you can always take less if it's too much---the point is that the opportunity is here. Of course, the flip side of this is that if you're not careful, you may end up taking softer courses that you don't want or need. I've never heard anything bad about the softer courses since the subjects are interesting, but make sure you know what you want. CMU's strength is in computer science, data analytics, and related subjects. I feel it is wise to take advantage of this. Most of my interviewers have been impressed by the skills I've gained at CMU--R data mining, SQL, econometrics, decision analytics, and etc. that help me to analyze international issues with greater rigor than a typical MPP. Also, the information science school is housed in the same building. We can share classes, students, and perspectives, which broadens our networks and friend groups. A majority of my closest friends are in fact in the MISM (MS information system management) program. My most rigorous and interesting courses are oftentimes part of the MISM elective/core curriculum. Below, I note that one con is that there isn't much available in the way for careers focused on diplomacy/international affairs. But right next door is the University of Pittsburgh. If you join CMU as a student, you are always free to travel to Pitt to network with professors and students. You can key skills during the day at CMU and at night talk to people at Pitt to get a different perspective and/or develop your network. Students here all have strong backgrounds. Two founded NGOs in their home country. Several worked for CBO. One worked for the UN, founded a startup, and worked in state government. Another worked in a senior position at the Ministry of Defense in his home country and yet another fought in Afghanistan for several years. There's always something to learn from these people. If you got in, be proud of your accomplishments and be ready to listen to others' stories of what they did before grad school. Cons:
Not really a con, but just a reminder: brand name isn't everything. Deloitte and PwC, along with major public sector employers like CBO, GAO, the NSA, and the Treasury all recruit heavily here. Many Heinz students are hired. But they're all still competing with each other like they would at any other school. Just like not every grad of a top 25 school is hired into a top employer, not every Heinz student makes it through Deloitte's case interview. If you really want a specific position, the resources *are* here to help you get in. But be prepared to work for it. If you want an internationally focused career (UN, etc.), then CMU isn't as well connected as WWS, SAIS, or HKS. 40% of students are international, so students sometimes end up working for the World Bank and other top employers. I've received internship offers from these organizations. But that's because we've worked to get into those organizations. Professors here are top-notch, with ground-breaking research being done in domestic policy and quantitative disciplines, but it's not like at SAIS where the dean of your school happens to sometimes be a former undersecretary of the State Department. It's not DC. While employers from all over the country recruit here, public sector and multilateral employers aren't always a 15-minute drive away--we're 4.5 hours from DC. As noted before, employers like the NSA and GAO have sent their representatives to recruit at Heinz multiple times this past year, but the DC factor is something we Heinz students obviously don't get unless we're in the MS-DC program. I've heard from other grads that our core curriculum is a bit more restrictive than it is at other grad schools. I haven't had any issues personally--I got exemptions and I actually love their quant core courses like stochastic and optimization management science--but that's something to consider if other schools allow you to customizes your studies more and have a reputation that ranges more broadly. If you want more info, feel free to PM me. I may not check the Grad Cafe every day, but I'll try to respond when I can.

Decisions will come out tomorrow, since only admitted MPPs can apply to this Ford fellowship, and it says the Fellowship application opens Tuesday, March 14. Wishing Ford could see all of our investigative research and analysis based on data we have found

SAIS and Georgetown have established programs in International Relations. The MPP is more recent. I heard that McCourt MPP may have slightly better funding than SAIS MPP.
Take it with a pinch of salt: A WWS in her 40s told me that when she went to WWS, it has more analytical training than KSG.
Personally, I think some public universities offer excellent MPP degrees and train people for public service on federal and state levels. Attrative for people who wish to stay in state. Goldman, Ford, LBJ, Humphrey