tinpants12

I'm a domestic 1st year student, so I can't give you as good of an answer as I would like. I know that a good number of international students have sponsorship (either by their government or an employer) to study here for a couple years and then return to the same job. Even if they aren't sponsored, it seems that most international students plan to return to their countries of origin. The Career Development Office has identified that they need to do a better job supporting these students as they look for jobs once they move back home. It's much easier for CDO to cultivate relationships with employers in specific places (Chicago/DC in particular), and harder to do so across the world. In terms of career field, it's all over the place, just like for domestic students. I've had fascinating conversations with classmates from all over the world who are interested in politics, finance, urban planning, economic policy, crime policy... you name it! Many hope to work for the federal governments of their home countries, some want to go into consulting, and some are more interested in private sector work (i.e. economic analysis for a bank). I chose between GSPP, HKS, and Harris. I chose Harris for three main reasons: 1. Geography. I am from the midwest, and I knew I wanted to end up closer to home. I was worried about HKS's and (especially) GSPP's portability to the midwest. I knew that Harris would have the strongest network here. 2. Skills. With regards to curriculum, I have the impression that Harris and GSPP are more similar. They are more quantitative, more geared towards applied economics and statistics. HKS might be more oriented towards management, leadership. I visited all the schools last year. It was very interesting to compare conversations with students at HKS and Harris. Everybody at both schools was really busy, but they were busy for different reasons. At HKS, folks were like, "I'm so busy. I have to go to class and then go a talk by [insert amazing person] and then this club that I founded has a meeting and then I have another talk by [insert another amazing person] and then I have to meet with my social venture start-up and then I have to go to a third talk by [name any head of state]." At Harris, I heard more people say, "I'm so busy. I have to go to class and then work on statistics homework for a few hours before I meet with my study group where we will compare STATA code and then I'm going to go to a talk by [amazing person] and then I'm going to do my Analytical Politics problem set before meeting up with a friend to talk about the Microeconomics memo that is due next week. My experiences at Harris have aligned to those conversations I had as a prospective student. It's hard. Very quantitative. People spend a lot of time on problem sets. Because of the tough problem sets, I've learned a ton about programming, statistics, economics. However, I haven't learned soft-skills here, at least not yet. I think HKS might do a better job helping you build those skills. Of course, Harris offers management/leadership courses to help us develop those skills, and you can definitely learn advanced econometrics at a school like HKS. It's just not at the core of what each school does. 3. Price. Harris ended up being the lowest cost.

Hi everybody! I was in your position just last year, and can remember the excitement and anxiety you might be feeling. Now, I'm a first-year MPP candidate at Harris. I'm happy to give an insider's perspective the UChicago experience (or, at least, my UChicago experience). I have no association with the admissions department or anything like that, and will try to be completely honest. Reach out (either on this public forum or in a DM) if you have question for me!

I had very similar concerns as you- I'm actually a 2012 TFA corpsmember who has spent the last five years in the classroom with only one summer of work in education policy. This year, I was accepted to HKS, Harris (with pretty good funding), and GSPP. I don't think you need to worry about quant. They aren't really interested in how much math you already know. They just need to feel confident that you will be able to learn the skills and do the coursework. Your GRE score shows that you'll be able to handle it. I have the impression that policy schools are interested in building a portfolio of new admits- they want some people with experience in every policy realm, including education. I really don't think that your experience in education will hurt you- it didn't hurt me! Certainly, I'm no expert, but I have to think that you are an attractive application to pretty much any public policy program

According to the verbiage of the financial aid website, I've been "awarded" 81k in loans per year hahahahaha

Where do you want to live after graduate school? Do you want to work for the Department of Education in DC? Do you want to live in California? Sometimes, I think we get very caught up in a school's reputation (which might not be as important as we think) and a school's cost (which is totally important) and forget that perhaps the greatest asset that we will have after two years is a network. If you want to live in CA, prioritize GSPP. If you want to live in Chicago, the Harris School is probably going to set you up better than anybody else. Etc. I'm in a similar boat - ed policy at GSPP, HKS, or Harris. Or the University of Nebraska-Omaha, because I might end up back in my hometown. It's very possible that UNO is the best call. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills when I consider UNO over HKS, but that network!

No funding here, from CA

Double majored in Physics & Religious Ethics, lol I don't think it really matters all that much as long as you can show some basic quantitive chops. I have the impression that work experience seems much more important than the name of your major. I'm sure it helps, though, if you can weave your undergrad experience into a narrative about service and public policy!

What is the case for paying full tuition to the Kennedy School? I applied to four or five fellowships to HKS, but I'm not really expecting to get one. Obviously, there are approximately $150,000 reasons not to take out a huge amount of debt for an MPP. I'm not independently wealthy. I don't want to go into consulting, and I don't want to work in the private sector. If Public Service Loan Forgiveness goes away (which is certainly possible, if not likely), that debt load would be overwhelming. There are people out here who *do* take out $100,000+ in loans to go to HKS. What is the justification for paying full tuition? I ask without judgement; I almost want you to convince me that it is reasonable! Thanks, y'all. I like this community.

I've been frustrated with their communication. Other schools have provided more information to admitted students (HKS has a admitted students website with tons of information and GSPP sent out a long document that answered many of my questions). Also, other schools have been more responsive. For example, I emailed HKS with questions yesterday and received a response in 20 minutes. By contrast, I wrote an email to Harris with a number of questions two and a half weeks ago and am still waiting for an answer. I'm sure they are busy with 2nd round applications, but still... I mean, I'm trying to decide whether to give them tens of thousands of dollars! Has anybody had substantive communication with Harris staff? If so, whom did you communicate with? What's the trick?

I'm in a similar boat- Harris ($$), Goldman, and HKS.... Seems like we all have some thinking to do!

In! (MPP)

Mine has changed back and forth now three times. First my portal had contact info, then it went away a few weeks ago. Then the contact info was back (this morning), now it's gone again. Who knows. If it means anything, I don't think we are going to figure it out!

I wonder if admissions committees feel how we feel now on April 15th when we give them enrollment decisions!

Same here- missed Admit day, but planning to visit in early April. I must have missed the info on the open house - can you share the details? And, yes, I too would love to hear other folks' thoughts on Admit Day!

I received an email a little over an hour ago. No change to application portal. Hang in there!