fadeindreams

Think people would pay me for advice? If so, I'm game! Hmm... Nah!

First, stop worrying about the rankings. Second, follow the money. Third, you need to look at the time period in which those job statistics are framed (upon graduation, within 6 months, within a year) and how they calculate those pursuing further education and those who are not seeking a job into their statistics. Fourth, think about your own personal fit with the programs in question. Fifth, follow the money, seriously! LBJ has a great reputation and frankly if they are paying for your degree it seems like a no-brainer.

Ignore your father and attend PSU. Done.

This isn't as easy as you make it sound. Unless you have someone in mind already, I would not base your funding on the assumption you will be able to obtain a cosigner. Remember that a cosigner must take on the loans if you default. Just be wary of relying on that. Make sure you have a secondary source available. Also, I would recommend speaking with your local EducationUSA office. I assume you're from India since you were talking about lakh. Here's a link to all EducationUSA advising centers in India. They may be able to direct you to aid that you are unaware of to this point. You can ask them how students they see are typically funded and about the availability of loans to students from India. Best of luck. Edit: EducationUSA main page - You can find advising centers here.

Are you an international student? If so, do you have sufficient funding for SIPA? If you are domestic, do you intend to take out government backed loans (via the FAFSA)? Do you intend to work for at least 10 years in the public sector (note: Foreign Service and other federal jobs overseas count)? If so, then I would take into account the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF). You should be able to come up with a reasonable estimate of future earnings in order to calculate your repayment schedule on Income Based Repayment (IBR). Once you have that, times that monthly by 120 and get your total repaid over 10 years. Anything over that amount is forgiven! In any case, I don't think SIPA is worth it, frankly. That is, and this is my subjective assessment, unless you are looking to work in the private sector and feel reasonably sure that you can secure a job raking in six figures. I really don't understand why you would think that SIPA is such a dramatically better option than your other choices. Maxwell is an outstanding school with an outstanding reputation. SIS and GSPIA are fantastic places from which you can launch an international career. In short, calculate your estimated IBR and what you'd pay over 10 years. If your choices all have total COAs above what will be forgiven, then this choice is moot. Go for the one you are most comfortable with. Keep in mind, however, that if you go for the PSLF you are committing yourself to 10 years in the public sector.

What do you mean by "very late"? Was it before or after April 15th? I've been admitted to Ford, it's my first choice and I have no aid. By the way, I hope that Sanford finds out how good of a recruiter you are for them and pays you for it! You've provided a lot of really excellent and interesting information. Heck, I'm interested in Sanford even though I didn't apply.

Thanks. It makes sense that you need to be enrolled or be an alumni to view the external jobs database. Considering how important funding is in any student's decision to attend a university, I do not understand why the on-campus jobs are hidden from admitted students. I do not intend to pay them $200+ in enrollment fees (not all of it is a deposit, read the fine print) just to view assistantship positions. It seems reasonable to provide that information to students in order for them to make an educated decision. It is very disappointing. Did they tell you why we had to be enrolled first and not simply admitted? How was open house? Anything interesting you feel like sharing? Did they talk any about second year in-state tuition and the process for it? Did they speak about how many students enter their second year funded (by percentage; internal or external funding)? Have you received any information on housing? What was your impression of career services? Do they seem willing to go the distance in order to help you obtain a good internship and a great job? Are they willing to help with fellowships and the like for your second year? As you can tell, my mind is 100% stuck on funding right now. I'm not expecting funding, mind you. I just like to have a clear idea of what I can work towards. I feel like I have a good grasp of what they can offer academically and within the program itself.

You can quote multiple posts by hitting the "MultiQuote" button in the bottom right hand corner. Light up multiple buttons then hit the standard blue "Add Reply" button. All posts you have tagged will be inserted into your reply. Neat, huh? As for your predicament, $6-8k is negligible, really. Actually, considering opportunity cost and all, I would think the program that takes less time and certifies him earlier is "worth" quite a deal more. That said, it sounds like your relationship wouldn't take it. Tell him the truth. Don't use insignificant budgetary concerns to try to sway him. Say that you couldn't take the distance. The two of you might have different values for your relationship and that's worth knowing too. If y'all break up, then maybe it wasn't going to work in the long run anyway.

Has anyone figured out a way to view the EvansJobs posting without paying the enrollment deposit? I don't think it's possible but I thought I'd ask all the same. By not publishing their jobs to admitted students and requiring us to be enrolled first instead, I believe that Evans is making it unnecessarily difficult for those of us trying to seriously consider multiple offers. My wife and I are stoked that she received a full RA offer but at this point they won't even tell us the likelihood of her retaining it for a second year. Right now it's only assigned for the first year. Ford, on the other hand, has been very transparent and quick to answer our questions. We're just trying to figure out our remaining financial burden from each school as a family. For Ford, this has been very easy. For Evans, it's been nigh impossible.

Well, so long as you work in the public sector then, again, you would qualify for the PSLF. Since my plan (hope/dream/etc) has always been to work in the Foreign Service, the PSLF works out quite well for me!

You can find all of this on the studentaid.ed.gov site: Income Based Repayment (IBR) Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

Evans is also not as ridiculously expensive as SIPA or HKS. You could easily exit Evans with 1/4th or less of the debt and the virtually same longterm career prospects. HKS and SIPA may help you land your first job or two but in the end you'll be competing for the same jobs against grads from less financially burdensome programs (Evans, SPEA, et al). It's more than a bit irrational that proponents of the "WOW factor" schools will continually tout the ability to procure private sector jobs as grads from those programs while neglecting the best tool they would have available to them as graduates of a policy program - the PSLF. The fact of the matter is that six figure private sector jobs will not be granted to you simply by graduating from a "WOW factor" school and instead you'll most likely be employed in the public sector by the federal government or a non-profit. Those obtaining private sector jobs probably entered grad school with significant previous employment experience. Lastly, look at how big each class is from SIPA and look at the median salary*. Compare those same stats to those of Evans. Strikingly similar and yet the debt burden from Evans is incredibly less. *MPA numbers. You can find MIA and historical data here. Money isn't everything, either in debt or salary, and I know that SIPA may very well provide a better overall experience to its students. In full disclosure, I was denied admittance to SIPA. I would not, however, have attended even if I had been offered admission without a serious financial incentive. That was a judgement I had made prior to March. I don't know at this point whether I will be attending Evans or Ford. It's a difficult decision compounded by the fact that my wife was given full funding to both of those excellent programs.

Most likely. Who, exactly, would write a customized letter to every applicant? That's a bit much to expect isn't it? I'm sure that they'll respond to you personally if you need follow-up. Maybe for Ph.D. they should write unique and tailored letters. For anything with >50 applicants, forget it!

*sigh* Really? Why does everyone even bother to ask this question? Take the funding, silly.

Honestly, I don't know at all. Reading the GSI descriptions I made the same assumption that you did about us not being competitive as first year students. I'm interested to know if there is any merit based funding for second year students and how many students are newly funded, externally or by the institution, in their second year.

Yeah, not bad eh? Glad that question was answered. Now I can pursue a GSI with even more motivation (yay?)! The whole funding picture is becoming clearer everyday.

I'll be there as well.

Not yet for me. They've updated the Cost of Attendance (COA) and have a link saying they request my tax forms. We'll see if I get any other information today. Hopefully. Has anyone figured out for certain whether or not Ford is done giving out financial awards? I haven't seen anything since people were awarded full fellowships. I was expecting news on minor awards at some point.

I wouldn't change my graduate path one bit. Public policy, particularly international policy, is fascinating to me. I would, however, certainly change my undergraduate degree from history to something more aligned with my current interests. I went into history to be a teacher. If I were to choose again, knowing my career aspirations now, I would have double majored in international relations and economics. I don't think I'll go on from my MPP/MPA to a Ph.D. Though if I did I am already certain it would still be in public policy.

How's the skiing/snowboarding within a 2 to 3 hour drive from Ann Arbor? Closer the better, obviously. Anyone have any experience with winter sports in Michigan that they would like to share? Also, I will be visiting for Ford School's Student Preview day on April 9th and 10th. What are the can't miss food experiences in Ann Arbor (restaurants, brew pubs, grocery stores, etc)? I primarily eat natural if not organic food but I'm not a snob, just a foodie who loves beer. Any recommendations? Lastly, how easy is it to get student tickets to the Michigan football games? I will be moving up from Arkansas, where I attended the University of Arkansas, so football games are a big part of my university experience.

Yeah, it's certainly part of the whole equation. Both programs she received a full ride to are excellent for our interests. We didn't expect to have two choices with funding (albeit, it is her funding... ). It's exciting no matter how you look at it. Also, I'm not sure what she's doing with me, honestly. It's our anniversary this week too . We'll be attending the Preview Day for Ford. Ann Arbor sounds nice but we've never ever been to Michigan...

Via email in a personal message prior to the general acceptance emails. I received only the general acceptance email. Not sure if this means I am out of the running for funding in the future. We'll wait and see.

Yup, we both applied and were accepted to the MPP program. Still no funding for me!

From FSPP admissions. It was personalized but I'm not sure if it wasn't just a mail merge into a batch email or not. That's why I was wondering about when stucktomyshoe received theirs.

Congrats! When did you receive your email? I'm wondering if they are being staggered or all the full rides have gone out at once... My wife got her's at exactly 2:08:44 CST (3:08 EST).