easychord

To those who are curious about the employment stats, I finally received a response. Six months after graduation, 82% of LBJ grads are employed. Again, thank you for your help!

It's relieving to hear that those figures are common across many programs. I just e-mailed the coordinator to see what percentage of grads are employed six months after graduation. Hopefully she emails me back soon. I will keep you all posted, just in case you're curious. Thank you all so much for you advice! I love this forum.

This is exactly the kind of stuff I need to hear. Thank your for you advice!

This is exactly the kind of stuff I need to hear. Thank you for you advice!

Hello everyone, Before I visited the LBJ School in Austin, I was pretty certain that I was going to attend. They are offering me in-state tuition + $14000 which covers tuition and gives me $4000 extra spending money. The LBJ School has a good reputation and Austin is a wonderful city. When I visited, everything was going well until we met with the Career Services Coordinator. When someone asked her what percentage of graduates have secured jobs upon graduation, she answered "around 50-60%." Isn't this number remarkably low? I heard from other attendees that even Maryland, which is ranked lower (but closer to DC), had much higher job placement numbers (more than 80%). Needless to say, my visit shook me a little. I also attended a class and it seems to me that many of the policy courses will be Texas-centric. This makes sense, but I don't want to live in Texas in the future and have little stake in Texas policy. If I want to be in a place where I have more stake in the policy issues discussed in courses, it would probably make more sense for me to attend school in California (UCLA) or DC (American, GWU, Georgetown, Maryland). If I want to follow my dreams, I should go to Chicago (Harris) or New York (NYU). Initially I ruled out UCLA because its career services department is only a year old, but now I find myself considering the school again. I would get in-state tuition at UCLA. I don't want to take out loans to go to Harris, NYU, GWU, American, and Georgetown, so the one option I have in the East Coast/DC area is Maryland. Maryland is offering me in-state + all but $1000 of the tuition paid. Maryland, however, is the lowest ranked program I applied to. Should I be worried about the low job placement rate at LBJ? Should I just go to LBJ like I originally planned or should I reassess everything? If you were in my situation, where would you go--LBJ, UCLA, or Maryland? Would you pick one of these programs or would you take out loans to go to a more prestigious East Coast school? PLEASE HELP ME! ANY advice/thoughts will be GREATLY appreciated

I went to UCB for undergrad and I've lived in the Bay Area for 6 years now. I lived on Southside in the beginning, then decided to move two miles away from campus to a neighborhood called Temescal (North Oakland). It is recently gentrified and becoming more and more "hip." There is a weekly farmer's market nearby, a Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, cute boutiques, and independent bookstores. It's definitely cheaper here although it's not too far away from campus. It's a 10 minute bus ride or bike ride from campus. I'm sad to leave! I love the East Bay.

I got word of funding today via e-mail and I'm 99% sure I will be attending LBJ. To LBJers: is Camp LBJ worth going to? Also, I have yet to fulfill the calculus prerequisite. Has anyone studied for it on their own to take the validation exam rather than taking a whole course? How difficult was it? I took calculus in high school and I don't remember much of it... I took Statistics last summer and aced it, if that means anything.

Accepted, no funding @ 10:05AM PST.

Still waiting over here, too. I'm getting very anxious as it is the last school I need to hear from.

Hi everyone, First, I want to extend my gratitude to all of you. I just discovered this forum and I have been devouring all of your useful information in the past couple hours. My question is about UT Austin's MPAff program. I am very interested in attending LBJ because, from what I hear, it is a good school and the tuition is very low. My other relatively low-cost option would be UCLA, where I would get in-state tuition. The only problem with UCLA is that its Career Services Office is apparently nonexistent. To those at LBJ or to those who know about LBJ, can you share what you know about career services at LBJ? I am also considering pursuing a Ph.D in the future. Though I would like the option of pursuing a professional career rather than boxing myself into academia, would LBJ be the right school for a potential policy Ph. D applicant? Also, any dual degree JD/MPAff students out there? How difficult was it getting into the law program at Texas as an LBJ student? What has been your experience? Thank you!