MD guy

Yeah lmao terrible terrible two schools to use as examples...in quotations nonetheless. He's definitely speaking generally Right...uh tell that to an employer. "Hey I learned micro analysis (believable) and nonprofit management (not so believable) by reading Quora!" Look at the job market. Everybody and their uncle wants a graduate degree with 5 years of experience (exaggeration). BA-only has no mobility in many of the fields MPP/MPA candidates are interested in. Sad times but true. That being said, yes. Do not be a fool who thinks >100k for an MPP is "worth it." This ain't a top-tier MBA or JD or MD. It's a tough road out there

Why not also consider retaking the GRE to raise the quant? It's rather easy to get the score up with targeted studying and it would settle any qualms for you that the GRE is the reason you got shut out. You would also open up doors to the top schools as pointed out by @energizer92. I would recommend this option above all others first. Easiest one to plan out and execute.

Don't mean that at all! You are being realistic about what people in your home country are looking for. My point remains: rankings are a good starting point, but no need to obsess about them.

Very very good place you are in, young Padawan. Many would fist fight for a chance to go to a program in their preferred location with only $25,000 in the red over two years. Congrats. I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that a fresh MPP/MPA grad can make more than $25k the first year out.

Oh didn't know you were international. You know the situation in your country better so I won't argue about that. My point about not focusing so much on the top #s is that in the U.S., pitting top private programs against other top private programs is a useless exercise. Almost all of them will offer great job prospects, networks, and opportunity. I'm not saying you shouldn't apply to top places, but that your tone in gunning for a "top 10" place is misguided; there's no need to obsess about rankings like that. But if your goal is to go back to your home country where people are prestige whores, then by all means, do what is necessary!

My ex-girlfriend is going to a well-reputed MSW program this fall, hoping to do macro work. So I'll write about what I know. The biggest difference is that even when you go to a macro-focused MSW program, the assumption is that you want to do client-based work, what we would imagine as "generic" social worker type jobs. Most of the curriculum in the MSW revolves around this professional paradigm. So if you only want to do policy-related work, it's going to be a waste of your time or you won't be as interested in half (arbitrary number) of the stuff they teach you. With the MPP/MPA, the assumption is that your primary interest is policy and public service. So if you're not that interested in traditional social worker like stuff, skip the MSW and vice versa for policy. An additional advantage of many MPP/MPA programs is the networking you'll get. MSW is all about training and field placements during school, but you'll rarely find that they dedicate real time to networking since it's just not as required in the field of social work. Along this line of thinking, MPP/MPA can often carry better name recognition, though the utility of this varies widely based on career path. IMO a macro-focused MSW is no replacement for an MPP/MPA. There is a reason quant features so heavily in these programs – the making of public policy at its core requires quantitative analysis, especially with microeconomic principles. You will get an awfully scant amount of that at most MSWs. But like all grad school decisions, you should reach out to the people you know in the field and ask them where you should go based on what you're aiming for.

Agreed. With OP's career goals, save the money 10/10

1. What is this "top 10" you speak of... 2. Stop thinking in terms of "top #" anything. Nobody cares (at least not that much) 3. Profit. (Literally. As this thread shows, you'll save money and heartache by ditching these preconceptions)

I have never personally met anyone from Oxbridge, but to think that people in DC or NYC have not heard of those schools is silly. How much they care for it, say, as opposed to SIPA or SAIS, is very very area-dependent and in many instances workplace-dependent. And tbh quite often person-dependent because you never know who's making the hiring decisions. As usual for public service I think the answer is to pick the cheapest option. With the right internship and connections, no doors are closed to you from these 3 schools. It just depends how you open the other ones.

More than fine, you're already above most people who have no stats at all and need to learn it from scratch in the program.

People definitely know LSE in DC. Not sure about Sciences Po but it's much less likely from what I've seen

Yes, follow the money when it's choices among almost equal top programs. From what I've seen, it's not common to do something like that the previous summer since most are either working in their regular job or taking time off for vacation before school. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but a fall internship is weird if s/he's not in the executive program bc classes are in the morning? Unless McCourt provides help this early, you're likely on your own. If s/he is free this summer, hit up all the internship websites ASAP and start spamming out resumes with McCourt on it and see if anyone bites. I assume s/he's got work experience but the summer is getting close and likely most programs are filled already, especially at the big places that you named.

Ok thanks, good to know. I'm not interested in health systems that much. I wanna work at a health agency (state or HHS) doing implementation work ideally. Never thought Duke was the right place to be for this stuff anyway but every website wants to say they've got so and so concentration so I had to ask

@dean3837 über helpful information. Thanks for sharing!!

Not your year but how'd you feel about the school? What went behind your choice? Curriculum, intimate class, funding? There's not much discussion on this forum about Fels and it seems like they're low-key but I can't imagine a Penn program being terrible. Thanks!

What are the particular strengths of Sanford from your knowledge? We've all heard that education and social policy are the biggies, and you mentioned global health. What about domestic health policy?