TheOfficeFan

It's helpful to note that Environmental Justice as an academic field is very young – the first real academic articles/reports started in the late 80s, and though the amount of EJ scholarship has greatly increased over the last two decades or so, there is still a *lot* of development to be done. A lot of subsets of the EJ field – say, Energy Justice – have really only become an academic "thing" in the past decade or so. In some ways, the broadness you're describing is reflective of the development of the field. That said, the Environmental Justice concentration at SEAS is usually paired with another concentration – I am pairing it with Environmental Policy and Planning. Those of us who are really passionate about EJ argue that there aren't enough classes offered in it, which is the reason why it's so often paired with something else, and probably the reason why it's the smallest concentration at SEAS (I'm pretty sure). We also argue – quite rightly, I think – that EJ is too siloed as a concept in environmental education, including at SEAS. In an era of climate change, justice is something that should run through everything we do in the environmental arena. A lot of folks in other environmental fields take umbrage at that idea, but climate change really has rewritten the needs of the future of the environmental movement in a broad and complete way. Anyway, most EJ concentrations go into work at EJ and/or policy organizations, so non-profits/NGOs usually. The dual concentration ability provides some flexibility and depth to your resume, and having a Justice perspective to the work you want to do is always going to be helpful (and more and more desired/applicable, IMO). If you asked me my dream job, it would be as an environmental policy advisor to an elected official, helping craft macro-scale social/environmental policy like the Green New Deal. I came into grad school wanting to position myself to be part of future radical (or commensurate, depending on your viewpoint) solutions to climate change. I'm more confident than ever that I did so at the right time.

It depends on how much stock you put in the Yale name and whether you think you'll fit in there. I might not be the best person to ask: I ended up throwing an application at Yale F&ES and didn't get, probably because I was a horrible fit for the program – politically, I simply do not align with Ivies. I was looking for the most radical and progressive environmental education I could find, which was why I chose SEAS – it's one of the only programs in the country with an Environmental Justice concentration. I was 50/50 on Duke vs. SEAS, and after visiting Duke it was an immediate no – I found it traditionalist, no challenge of current economic structures, few justice or equity conversations, etc. I expect Yale would be similar given its endowment and prestigiousness, though I don't know. All I know is that I wouldn't have been a good fit there. You're not me, so you might not care about those things. I will say most of my friends are in the Sustainable Systems track here and they all love it. Lots of people are at SEAS for things like "creative" corporate sustainability work – we have lots of opportunities for project-based work/fellowships with companies around here like Ford and DOW. Again, that's not at all my thing, but people flock to SEAS for it.

Hey there! So the way the funding structure works is that SEAS usually gives you anywhere from nothing to a little at the time of admission (I got $15k when admitted and that was the max I heard of). I even called them after my Duke scholarship offer and tried to talk them into giving me more money/matching Duke to no avail. Once enrolled, SEAS heavily relies on research assistant/teaching assistant positions to act as sources of tuition remission – you establish relationships with professors, they give you research/TA gigs, and it works that way. If that sounds like a lot of schools, that's because it is, but the critical difference is that Michigan's positions are usually full tuition remission + benefits + salary. Super lucrative. They are either 5, 10, 15, or 20 hours per week (expected work load), with most being between 10-20, and above 10 hours gives you full tuition remission. I ended up visiting Michigan after admitted students day and was able to set up a meeting with my advisor (who I had mentioned as someone I wanted to work with in my application essay); the meeting went very, very well, and at the end of it she said she had two research positions that were offered to incoming students who hadn't yet responded. When one of them fell through, she offered it to me, and the decision to attend Michigan with the prospect of a full ride was way too good to pass up. I will say this: very few first semester students get these positions ahead of time (I got really lucky), so the little bit of up-front money is meant to soften the blow of the first semester. Second semester first years vie pretty hard for them, so it's not assured, but by your second year you should be able to secure a position for both semesters.

Hey folks, UM SEAS first year master's student here. If anyone has any questions about the program or life in Ann Arbor, let me know, I'd love to help! During my round of applications, I applied to mostly public policy programs at Duke, Berkeley, UWashington, etc. along with a few environmental programs (Yale, UM, Wisconsin). I'm in climate policy & justice. I'm also well acquainted with Durham/the triangle area (I'm from a couple hours north of there and my best friend lives outside Chapel Hill), went to admitted students day there, and can speak a little bit to culture, etc. between various places. I got into Duke with a scholarship and my choice was between there and UM – I am very glad I made the decision I did. The funding structure is a little strange at UM, so I can also explain that if anyone is interested. Good luck to you all with your decisions: given the schools you all have applied to, you cannot make a bad choice.

I want to thank you three, @3dender, @frsc, and @LizFromCA -- you've made me feel really welcome, and cleared up a lot of questions/concerns I had about the program! I'll be in touch directly, and maybe we can grab coffee during that open house weekend of April 6th.

Thanks so much for the thoughtful response, @chocolatecheesecake, it definitely lifted my spirits. At this point, the rejection is starting to fade, and the hardest part is the thought that my partner and I will be ~2500 miles away from each other for almost two years. Definitely a day-to-day process at this point with that very possible reality. I come from a small liberal arts school background, so the small class/cohort size at Sanford is a huge selling point. On your recommendation (and actually a few other people's!), I've reached out to Billy for his thoughts on the environmental curriculum. I understand that the environmental offerings are fabulous at Sanford/Nicholas, but I'm a little concerned that most things will be wrapped around an economic understanding of the environment rather than the equity/social science perspective I want to move in the direction of. Can I ask -- how did you find the culture and politics at Duke? I am an outspoken and active progressive (most Americans would consider me a radical), and I'm worried I'm not going to fit in too well, given what I know about the place. I know that there will sympathetic viewpoints and grad programs are slightly insulated from undergrad, but the progressive/equity focus of Berkeley was a big factor in me wanting to go there. We obviously don't have to agree on politics, but I'm interested in your read on what the culture is like and whether you encountered folks on the left (not liberal) there. Thanks for your help and kind words, I appreciate it!

Hey folks! I was recently accepted to Sanford, and I wanted to reach out and see if anyone will be attending the Open House weekend, as it's looking like Duke is a major possibility for me and I'm planning on being in Durham for the event. I'm still dealing with a fair bit of frustration/sadness about being rejected from Berkeley Goldman, as my partner looks like she's going to be admitted to the MCP program there and as a result we might soon be a bicoastal couple. Any awesome words about the Sanford program would be appreciated! I know it's an incredible program and I'm exceedingly grateful for getting in, so I'm trying to pull out of the Berkeley rejection as much as possible and focus on what a great opportunity I have at Duke. I'm interested in progressive climate policy -- any other open house attendees interested in environmental policy? Would love to start making some connections. Best of luck with the rest of your decision-making processes!

Also adding to the rejections, which is such a bummer. After I got into Duke Sanford, I felt good about this one. Top choice by a mile.

I thought it was going to be yesterday, so my irrational spidey sense now says today. Good luck to everyone!

@VeryCheesey and @gelatinskeleton: Nacht mostly explained what can already be inferred by the differences in sizes and geographic area of HKS and Goldman. He said that HKS is a massive policy school, isn't as focused on equity/progressive issues as Goldman is, and you're going to encounter a lot of people who want to rule the world -- Goldman, on the other hand, is relatively small, has strong progressive leanings, and will train more of the civil servant types. That's not to say that HKS doesn't do good work, or that there aren't people there making a difference -- it just sounds like a culture that I am not comfortable with. I originally planned to apply to HKS, but scrapped my app before I even started because I realized I'd probably be miserable there. In my opinion, there's a whole ugly world that comes with the prestige of Ivys, one that I have no desire to be a part of -- but then again, I'm an active and open democratic socialist, so take that for what it's worth. Berkeley, to me, hits the sweet spot of wanting to train people to make the world better while delivering a legacy that it deserves (for the most part). Nacht also spoke highly of D.C. policy schools in general simply due to their access/vicinity to government.

Seconded on never wanting to read my SOP again, as I'm such a ridiculous editor that I'm sure I'd find many things to "fix" or change! I hit submit and resigned that thing to the dustbin of history, RIP. @tropisk_winter, what other programs did you apply to? I did a mix of MPP/MPA with some environmental programs too (Wisconsin-Madison Nelson Institute, for example) and I'd love to chat about what you think of the programs. I'm concerned some of them (UWashington Evans, for instance) might be really rooted in environmental economics/market-based solutions instead of the more progressive/social science lens I'm looking to approach climate through. Although I think that'd be fine, the faculty at places like Berkeley and Michigan SEAS are way more up my alley with the equity/environmental justice stuff they're doing. At Berkeley, Dan Kammen is doing my wheelhouse low-cost/low-carbon energy democratization stuff that I dream about working on in grad school... I met with him and the former dean Michael Nacht (nuclear policy, mostly) this fall as I live in the area, and they were incredibly friendly and helpful. Nacht in particular had illuminating and hilarious things to say about various MPP programs, especially HKS (he taught there for 10 years) and how they differed from Goldman. Really reinforced that the small class sizes and equity focus were for me. Fingers crossed for everyone! I was expecting news sometime next week, but obviously would be thrilled to find out this Friday.

Hi both! Thanks for starting this thread -- I too was accepted into the MPA program at Evans for 2018, and am trying to weigh options in advance of the next round of decisions that are going to come my way in ~early March (Berkeley Goldman, Duke Sanford, Yale Forestry, UVa Batten, UWisconsin Nelson). Evans gave me a generous fellowship, and I am exceedingly grateful for it. I also have already been accepted to UMich SEAS and UCDenver. Like you, @Atayac, I want to do environmental policy, and I'm specifically interested in focusing on progressive climate mitigation and adaptation methods. I will make no effort here to conceal my progressive attitudes and vision of large scale future climate action being used as a force to promote greater social equity, and I'm committed to going to a grad program that can help me build out that vision. To be honest, I'm slightly concerned that Evans might not be the best place for that -- compared to say, Berkeley, it's hard to find environmental faculty that are focused on issues of equity, energy democratization, grassroots governance, etc. While I believe a strong, straightforward policy program would be great and I could apply my desired outlook to program/project work (hence me applying to places like Duke), ideally I would like to go to a place that can actively support me in that way. Any thoughts on that? It's hard to argue against the environmental focus at Evans given how highly regarded it is, but I'm a little concerned it's going to solely be a market-based and/or traditional environmental conservation curriculum. Useful, as I've said, but not ideal.

Hey Buffy! I applied to Berkeley Goldman, Duke Sanford, Yale Forestry, UCDenver, UMichigan SEAS, UWisconsin Nelson, UMinnesota Humphrey, and UVa Batten. I want to do environmental/climate policy, and I cast a fairly wide net! I've been accepted to Michigan, UCDenver, and Evans so far, with Berkeley as my top choice. I still feel like I'm a bubble candidate at Goldman, but the Evans + fellowship acceptance makes me think I might have a shot. We'll see! What about you?

Hi Everyone! I haven't seen a Goldman thread for Fall 2018, so I thought I'd get the ball rolling -- as well as try to offload some of this anxiety I'm feeling waiting for more results! I applied to 9 schools, mainly for MPPs, and want to study environmental policy (focusing on progressive climate adaptation/mitigation responses). I've been accepted at UCDenver and UWashington Evans so far, with a nice funding offer from the latter (which was an incredible surprise and confidence booster). Berkeley is my top choice, and I waver between feeling good about my chances and having no idea how competitive I am, which feels normal at this point in this lengthy, harrowing process...

Also got an acceptance with a fellowship today! Very excited, as it's the first big one out of nine schools, and could be a good omen for a couple reach schools...