GradSchoolGrad
-
Posts
1,057 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
9
Posts posted by GradSchoolGrad
-
-
14 hours ago, 1997AB said:
I have two offers in hand right now. The first is education policy analysis from Harvard and the other is a master in public policy from Rutgers. Harvard has given me 17k in aid and ill have to cover the remaining 73k. Rutgers is a free ride with a 30,000 stipend through a GAship. Rutgers is a two years program but it is not a stem opt degree whereas with Harvard I get 3 years stem opt.
How do I decide? As an international student, on one hand there is Harvard and the brand name but then it is only one year and an education policy program. On the other than there is Rutgers which isn't a good university but then it is freee and an MPP.
What are you trying to do with your degree?
-
18 hours ago, spamarparu said:
Less than 48 hours till D-day and I still can't decide. Though Duke Sanford is giving me more funding, their MPP is not STEM. As an international student, would McCourt's MPP be a better choice given that it is STEM-designated? Or do the Duke name + lower cost outweigh the benefits of a STEM degree? Also, can anyone share what job prospects do international students planning to stay back in the US have after Sanford, especially in consulting? I would appreciate any information on where international students usually end up after the one-year OPT period, and how successful they are in finding employers who sponsor them.
I feel guilty saying this because I'm basically telling you to go to the school with a lesser student experience, but McCourt by virtue of being STEM and being in DC has much better pathways for international students than Duke. Duke's specialty is State & Local policy + Public-Private collaboration. Yes, they have international development research and activities, but unless you are going to the academic research route, there isn't exactly that many opportunities to develop your career for staying in the US.
McCourt is better for international students, but you have to understand why it is better.
a. McCourt is a data focused school and there is a shortage of data analytics talent in the US, for which employers will pay for visas. Every single international student from McCourt that I know of (not including IGO like World Bank or working for their home government in the US) did Data Analytics or Data Analytics connected work.
b. As an international student, no major consulting firm will be interested in you unless you have some crazy unique skill that is demand. The major consulting firms that hire from McCourt focus on US government (most Federal, but some State), so they want US residents. There are some boutique consulting firms that hire international students, but in all cases I have seen, they are serving data analytics roles.
c. There are international communities within DC and they help each other with jobs (well at a certain point it depends on which community. Some are apparently more supportive than others).
-
On 3/27/2022 at 1:41 AM, sonnchou4456 said:
Hi everyone!
This is my first post (and an international student), so bear with me if my English is a bit strange...
Anyways, I am hoping to get some thoughts on the two grad programs I was luckily admitted to!
I am a Japanese undergraduate student graduating March 2022, who studied liberal arts (not sure if I can call this a field haha) in Japan.
My career plan is to become a practitioner in the field of conflict resolution, countering violent extremism, and peacebuilding, thus decided to pursue a graduate degree that enables me to gain the necessary knowledge and experience (e.g., project design, management, m&e, and a preferably third language too) for such a profession.
Much to my luck, I got offers from GW Elliott IDS (have to self-fund 10k/year), and Fletcher MALD (self-fund 16k/year), and am currently leaning towards going to Elliott, for its location in DC as well as its lower cost compared to Fletcher.
However, looking into the Gradcafe forum, I see lots of positive posts (negatives posts equally) about the MALD, and not so much on Elliott IDS, so I am reconsidering once again...
If I summarize my thoughts, it would be like this:
Elliott: DC location (thus better connection?), cheaper option, wider varieties of fields I can study
Fletcher: Better recognition and reputation? (not sure about this...), Fletcher Mafia, more rigorous? (again, I'm not sure about this too), prestige in the IR community?
Are my image of both schools correct?
Could anyone give me more insight on the two programs??
So this depends on how much support you feel like you need. GW Elliot has lots of opportunities for you do research and conduct internships with the local DC environment, but it might be tougher to get those roles outside of the school as an international student. You also have to aggressively advocate for yourself.
Fletcher is a kinder gentler more community driven program. It has an issue with brand (no one outside of the IR space knows what it is) and comparatively is less diverse in terms of background (disproportionate non-profit / liberal arts background). The opportunities to have internships and research are okay at best to boring at worst. There are some awesome opportunities to get in the Harvard circle and do stuff with them, but that is a lot of work and commuting. It is also not as easy as they make it sound out to be.
The people I know who went to Fletcher as unmarried singles came out rather smug and overly obssessed about the Fletcher mafia, that they became kind of annoying people to spent time around. Some married people go to Fletcher because it is in the suburbs.
So it all comes down to what are you willing to risk. -
2 hours ago, bazoid said:
Thanks so much for your detailed response! I responded to some of your comments above, in orange. A few follow up questions:
- I think of Georgetown as definitely having a stronger brand than GW on the national level, but is this true when you're applying to policy jobs in DC? I'm especially curious because Trachtenberg's program actually ranks slightly higher than McCourt's according to US News (not sure how much stock people put in that, though).- (I'm making the assumption you're a Georgetown alum here, sorry if I'm wrong) Did you find that Georgetown made it difficult to get academic support as well as career support? Other students/alums I've talked to have mentioned some frustration on the career side, but I hadn't heard any grumblings about their academic support systems, and I'd heard faculty are generally helpful and approachable.
- What exactly do you mean by "prestige jobs"? I don't see myself pursuing an elected position and I'm not too concerned with climbing up the ranks in an organization to some sort of powerful role. At the same time, I want to set myself up for opportunities to do challenging, interesting work that is reasonably well compensated. (I know the MPP isn't the degree to pursue if you're hoping to make a lot of money...I don't need to strike it rich; just hoping to make a comfortable living.)
In other words - I'm trying to clarify whether you think GW will set you up for mediocre job opportunities in a broad sense, or if it just won't be the best program for a specific set of highly coveted positions (also trying to clarify what those positions are).Okay one at a time.
- No one looks at the US News rankings for public policy other than people applying to schools and administrators. People that hire don't know it exists. Unlike US news rankings for other things like business or law schools with its well thought out formulas, the Policy one is basically a popularity contest based upon academic reputation. That naturally favors schools with a PhD program. GW has a PhD program and Georgetown doesn't (although it plans to have one in a few years).
- As for Georgetown, you get support (academically or career wise) if you try to do things that are popular. So career wise, if you want to do Presidential Merit Fellows, which dozens of people apply for every year, you'll get help. If you want to do Education Policy, you'll get help. If you want to do something that is a little bit more niche, no one will care for you, and it is on your own to figure out. Most likely, you didn't hear academic grumblings because you likely talked to someone who was in a popular policy area (Education, Environment, Gender/Family Policy, and International Development). Housing Policy (at least when people get serious about it) is consistently one of the less popular policy areas at McCourt. In my class, there was 1 person who was interested in it. There was 1 person in the class above me (he was a dual degree with MBA actually). 0 in the class below me. More importantly, there is no professor that i know of, who is a natural fit to teach the subject or help you with it in the Georgetown empire. The closest might be the real estate professors on the business side. Part of the problem is that Georgetown is trying to get better but in the grand scheme of things, its weak on local and state and public-private partnerships.
So usually people with unpopular policy interest do one of the following things at McCourt: a. persist by themselves and be lonely. This is what housing policy friends did. b. Transfer to another policy school due to lack of academic support. I knew a Food policy person do that. c. change policy areas to something that I would get more support in (this is what I did) and stop chasing academic passions.In U. Chicago Harris, there is a Plethora of Urban Policy and Housing policy support just by virtue of being Chicago + academics who research the topic.
- Newsflash, very few people with MPP without a non-MPP graduate degree (usually law or MBA) get elected into Federal Office, or even State/Local office.
- By prestigious jobs, I mean the most competitive or high risk Tier 1 jobs in what I call the "dancing with the HKS and Princeton alumni crowd". Keep in mind a significant number of the HKS/Princeton MPP alums go to non-competitive jobs to chase their passions, but a vast majority do. I would categorize these prestigious jobs into these 7 categories.
a. Anything related with a start up (especially tech) as a public benefit company.
b. Competitive federal career roles or programs like the McCain Fellowship or working for the Department of Energy de-nuke Agency (very few new roles)
c. Highly Competitive (emphasis on competitive and not branded) Think Tanks, Research Institutes, or Research oriented consulting firms (ABT associates for example)
d. Competitive Private Sector stuff (e.g., The McKinseys... The Deloittes)
e. High impact state/local or non-profit via an accelerated promotion track - so the Mayor's Policy advisor or Speech writer or City Council's Legislative Aide or Non-Profit Policy Directorg. Policy Shop for a major private company or consortium
h. Elite Public Sector Politically Connected Roles like White House Internship/Fellowship or Housing Committee staff role
*As a note, PMF is highly well regarded and has a lot of real opportunities. However, its luster has kind of fallen over the years. When my sister was at HKS, there were stars from her class who got rejected. Now the standards have been lowered a lot to pass muster. I know people who self-admittedly were B students with lackluster career backgrounds who got PMF when their much higher achieving spouses, siblings, and etc. got rejected from an earlier period.
If you go to Harris, these positions are in striking range. McCourt, kind of within striking range if you work hard and network well. Go to GW, you really have to work your butt off and get really lucky. -
So realistically, you have 5 choices. I think your challenge is identifying what trade offs are you more willing to make and what trade offs are you less willing to make.
So lets do this one by one.
- Brandeis - just drop them period. Unless you really want to do local Boston activism, they really don't have much value for you. The program is basically amateur hour and their student's don't exactly have competitive outcomes. Even the stars that career service spotlight aren't doing anything special (AKA: run of the mill stuff in other schools)
- Syracuse Maxwell - this is probably the best academic school. If you have any ambitions to go for your PhD, this is the best option.
- U. Chicago Harris - this is the best school if you want to focus hard on urban and housing policy from a combined academic/applied approach. I would argue they have more a sophisticated quant than Georgetown and much better applied opportunities. I think it is important to explain where the bad student experiences come from rather than paint with a broad brush.
a. U. Chicago Harris is a terrible place for international students because it isn't exactly an international city.
b. The size of the program makes it challenging for those who don't try to be proactively social
c. The intensity of the quant creates a lot of anxietyFrom a pure career potential perspective, I would choose this one.
- Georgetown McCourt - this gives you the most career flexibility between the brand and the quant skills that you learn. Just be aware you'll be on your own career wise. You also won't have too many peers or faculty to help you with your policy area of interest. This is especially true since urban and housing policy is a rather niche field once people realize that getting involved means financial modeling, zoning policy, and land management laws. If you are okay with striking it out on your own academically and career wise but take advantage of everything DC has to offer, this is a good option.
- NYU Wagner MSPP - this is a good option if you want to just whirlwind into a NYC internship while at school and hopefully land a job from there. Basically, not have a minimum real grad academic or community experience and get a degree stamped. NYU Wagner is infamous for have a very weak community experience and peer support.
- Georgetown Trachtenburg - I think of this as the all around compromise option. They aren't particularly good at one thing, but there are no major drawbacks. Your career would be based heavily upon what series of internships you get from the DC area. You arguably get the bare bones with quant, but enough to make you on par with the average. I do like how GW Policy students tend to be the nicest and most supportive among all the ones I encountered. They have the 3rd weakest brand and alumni of your roster after Brandeis and Wagner (arguably they have large numbers of alumni, but the affinity isn't that strong). I think of GW as the objective lowest branded school where you are still within striking distance to most prestige jobs, but then if you do want a prestige job you are going to have to work your butt off networking unless you have a special status or a Congressman's son/daughter.
-
On 4/5/2023 at 10:32 PM, jellybean45 said:
Thanks for this input. That’s helpful to know.
Why don’t you dual degree? As in apply to MBA at Booth while you go to Harris?
-
On 3/28/2023 at 5:37 PM, skim28 said:
Coming from:
NYCDeciding between:
- CMU Heinz - half tuition
- Duke Sanford - Half tuition
- UChicago Harris - Half tuition
Other factors:
So for me, pricing is relatively the same. I may be eligible for additional funding for CMU Heinz and UChicago since I just submitted a scholarship reconsideration form for both schools. So pricing isn't what matters to me but rather the programs themselves. So more about me is that I am interested in studying economic policy, political economy, and monetary policy. So I definitely want to do more econ and finance-heavy classes. Eventually, I want to work at the Federal Reserve. Maybe even get a PhD in economics, although a bit in the air about that but definitely want that as a possible option in the future.UChicago Harris: UChicago was initially where I wanted to go but as I've done more digging, I'm questioning if that's the best choice for me. I hear a lot of horror stories on the Internet about how hard the core curriculum is. I am drawn to it because it has a strong quantitative focus. Also, I hear that students feel like they don't receive a lot of attention from career services and struggle with the overall culture at Harris. This fuels my overall fear that the class sizes are too big at Harris with having about 1000+ students and if that deters from the experience. I hear that core curriculum classes are filled with hundreds of students. However, a pro is that UChicago does offer a lot of policy areas, and a few of them perfectly align with my own interests.
Duke Sanford: I like how small Duke's program is. I like that the class sizes are less than a hundred each. I also appreciate that they have a semester abroad to study at Hertie in Germany which is something that interests me. But the program has only six concentrations at Duke that don't completely align with my own interests. I'm not sure how quantitatively heavy the program is itself as well which I feel is essential if I possibly want to get an econ PhD.
CMU Heinz: With CMU Heinz, unsure how much the name carries itself in comparison to UChicago Harris and Duke Sanford. Right now, I'm going for the MPPSM program. However, I talked to admissions and was given the chance to apply for the DC track. So I might switch over. CMU Heinz is definitely more quant focus and tech focus. However, I do feel like UChicago could provide a similarly strong quant focus. Similar to Duke, it seems like the concentrations they offer don't perfectly align with my interests so it does feel like I might be compromising.
How I'm leaning:
I'm leaning more toward UChicago and Duke. I feel like both are great programs. Although, I'm stuck on whether I should be concerned about the overall experience. For UChicago, I know that there are so many resources I could utilize to work towards an econ PhD and be able to work at the Fed. However, I'm not sure if those resources are overcrowded considering the class size. I'm not sure if Duke could provide the strong econ coursework that I need.Does anything have any insight into the difficulty of working at the Fed with an MPP? Or how hard is it to get an Econ PhD if you get an MPP degree?
Here is the deal... all three of these programs (or MPP at large) are not the best pathway to get an Econ PhD period. If you really want an Econ PhD, get a job doing econ research (or related to Econ research) and then apply directly a PhD in Econ. Then you can work for the Fed after you get your PhD. Also, you just put yourself in a high risk high reward situation where if you go to grad school and don't:
a. Get nearly all As (As, not A-)
b. Do research that gets noticed (preferably with awards
c. Pick up a faculty member who will sponsor you with a LOR for your PhDYour MPP can actually hurt you because it showed lack of academic/research chops if you don't check the box on those. This forum is full of MPPs who found themselves waitlisted or unable to get into PhDs after failing to do that. I mean hypothetically, you can probably get into a PhD without sponsorship at a lower tier University, but that is generally a bad idea at large.
Now as for working for the Fed... post-Masters You are kind of in luck because the Fed does kind of have a labor shortage to find post professional degree folks. Then among these schools, U. Chicago will be the best fit follows by Heinz. Simply put, U. Chicago is known to have quant rigor, and just by virtual of surviving U. Chicago's quant is a mark of academic capability. As much as I love Duke Sanford for the student experience, it is not known as the quant heavy/econ centric school. Heinz is new to the block, but they have a major DC presence and does a fair amount of policy innovation.
As for the bad reviews about U. Chicago Harris. Yes, it is very easy for you to hate the Harris experience. They definitely have increased class sizes and moved away from the small community feel. The people I hear who have the worst experience are international students who quickly realize Chicago is not a great launching pad to help them find jobs that let them stay in the US. As for jobs, every policy school underfunds their career services (some more than others). I would say Harris resources their career services better than others with the MBA style coach system - although there is still a clear gap with needs. That being said, those who proactively tried to find community definitely have and there are a crazy amount of opportunities (especially in econ and domestic policy) their - far and away above the rest of your options.
Here is a crazy thought for you though... instead of going for PhD in Econ, why don't you try to dual degree with MPP and MBA and then try to work for the Fed (if that is your true passion). I know people from all three paths that went to work for the Fed, but those with an MBA have the most job mobility (as in you have the most flexibility in how you carry on your career). If you played this game, it is best to do it as a Harris-Booth dual degree (not so much Sanford-Fuqua).- skim28 and Public health grl
-
2
-
18 minutes ago, bambool said:
Thank you sooo much!! This is really helpful. I was wondering if you know about UCLA's MaSS program. It seems better for pursuing a PhD, but it is a 9-month program without graduate dissertation and it has only research method courses. Do you think it would be a good choice in my circumstances? Thank you very much!!
I don't know the school and I don't know the program. It all comes down to if you have enough exposure to professors that matter and if you think you can win them over to mentor you towards a PhD.
-
5 hours ago, bambool said:
About me: I'm an international student and I plan to pursue a phd afterwards, not for academic devotion just for a better degree (I know this is bad but plz don't judge me as I'm not sure if I can stay in US, and a doctorate degree would be helpful for a decent position back in my home country). My field of interest is more about public policy and government.
Here's something I know about the two program:
McCourt MPP
Pros: 1. I like the orientation and the courses; 2. It has a dissertation option which would be good for phd application; 3. McCourt is famous for research in public policy(right?) with good faculty; 4.DC
Cons: 1. The overall ranking of Georgetown is not good, not sure if this would be bad in some way; 2. The program setting is far from research-oriented, the admission office have no information about previous students' further education placements when asked
SP2 MSSP+DA
Pros: 1. Upenn's title is very good; 2. 10% of students went on to pursue phd and the admission office have some information about previous students' phd placements
Cons: 1. No dissertation; 2. I am less interested in social policy.
I realize both programs are not research-oriented, but this is the best I could get. So basically I want to know if this two programs and schools differ much in its academic atmosphere, and if so which one is better.
Also, the things listed above may be wrong as I currently know little about US education and career environment... So Please help me! Any information would be extremely helpful!(;_;)
Both options are high risk. Both might help you get into a better grad school for PhD if and only if you:
a. Get nearly all As
b. Your research (you can wins awards or has high professor sponsorship
c. You research an area that major professors care about. If the professors don’t care about your interests then it doesn’t matter how good of a student you are, they are less likely to refer you for PhD.
Please understand that McCourt is the better school for landing you a professional job, but it doesn’t have that large or strong of a research background among the teaching faculty. There are a lot of research organizations within McCourt but getting a research assistantship can be really hard and competitive.
Penn’s program is newer, less developed, and more regionally focused. However you do get access to Penn’s pool of faculty at large.
So basically, if I wanted a job, I would go McCourt. If I wanted to resume boost for a PhD, I would go Penn. However, both schools are crazy high risk for the PhD boosting game that you speak of. As an American, I would have a 5% to 10% chance of succeeding on getting a top PhD program this way.
-
On 3/16/2021 at 8:18 PM, MA_humanrights said:
Hello Everyone!
I am hoping to get some thoughts on a few grad programs I have been admitted to for International Affairs / Human Rights. I would so appreciate any insights people have!
Money is a huge factor. I graduated undergrad with no debt, and have about 30k in savings, but I know I don't want to take on a ton of debt since non-profit work isn't particularly lucrative. I also assume about 12k / year will be needed for housing.
My options:
-Fletcher / Tufts, MGA ($9k scholarship) full program cost is ~80k
-BU Pardee, MAIA ($24k scholarship - waiting to find out about a full tuition FLAS scholarship) full program cost is ~105k
-Middlebury Institute, MIPD ($40k scholarship) full program cost is ~85k
- University of Minnesota, MA Human Rights (waiting on FA offer)
-Korbel School, MA Intl Human Rights ($16k scholarship)
-IHEID, MA in Development Studies (no scholarship) full program cost is only ~18k
Waiting on McGill and Northeastern.
I was wondering what people have heard about the MGA program at Fletcher? I know it is a first-year program, but at the moment it is my top choice. It is much more affordable than the MALD (although still SO expensive) and allows you to focus deeply on one specialization rather than studying 2 specializations less in-depth. I applied to the program as a full-time student, but am hoping to switch my status to part-time to make it more financially viable. I am slightly nervous about one aspect, which is that parts of Fletcher's alumni community publicly posted about their outrage of the creation of the MGA program, as they saw it as "cheapening" their MALD degrees. I see it as expanding accessibility, but I'm not sure how this could impact my relationships / job prospects with the alumni community, which is one of Fletcher's big draws.
Finally, does anyone have any advice on appealing financial aid offers? I really love fletcher, but I don't know if its worth taking out a 50k loan for this program, if I'm not able to work part-time throughout.
Thank you so much for any insights you have!
Fletcher MALD already has issues with awareness outside of IR. MGA is a joke since it is money grab for Tufts to get more grad school profits. No one in the real world has heard of MGA and those who do know Tufts isn’t equipped to give a competitive business education.
-
20 hours ago, ResurgamJane said:
I aspire to work in international development, preferably with South Asian focus. I have been accepted to:
- MPA at Columbia SIPA: no scholarship
- MPP at Hertie: 25% tuition waiver
- MPP at Duke Sanford: 27.5K USD per semester scholarship
- MPP at GWU:
I like Columbia SIPA the most out of these options. While I am fortunate to be able to self-finance about 50K USD, SIPA will leave me 55K USD in debt (excluding accrued interest). I am trying to gauge if SIPA is worth this much debt. Regardless of which offer I accept, getting a loan is inevitable.
Some considerations:
- My priority is to be able to pay back the loan as soon as possible. So I am also exploring financing options. So far, it seems a loan in my country of residence (India) would make better sense than in USA due to the currency conversion rate. Any better insights on this would help a lot.
- It seems to be able to repay the loan I would need to stay back after finishing my studies to earn back the money 😕 But I wish to return to India and work here in the (not so) foreseeable future.
Honestly, I am quite clear that I like SIPA (in and of itself, not just in relation to the other colleges). However, the financial barrier is too high. Therefore, insights on whether education at SIPA justifies the finances involved will help me a lot.
All you get with SIPA is the brand name and not much else. Duke Sanford will give you the best academic experience here... But the career field you are trying to focus on is doing to be tough without a business or public health angle.
-
2 minutes ago, GradSchoolGrad said:
This sounds crazy, but ever thought about applying to Georgetown MPP (or asking if you can transition to an MPP admittance... I am thinking it might be a better fit for you).
Also maybe asking for a bit more scholarship. McCourt is swimming in cash
-
On 3/14/2023 at 5:50 PM, bettyburritos said:
Hi everyone,
I recently received admissions decisions, and have narrowed down my choices to the following:
-
Georgetown's Master of International Development Policy (MIDP) with a $28.5k tuition scholarship for each year. I can "afford" this by using my savings for room + board, using $20k of savings directly towards tuition, and taking the rest of the tuition cost + fees (~$42k) out in loans. Throughout the program I would find a job and work 20 hrs/wk, which on the lower end would give me an extra $30k over two years to put towards those loans. That would mean graduating with ~$12k in loans and ~$8k left in my savings (not including retirement, I don't want to touch that).
- My hesitancy with this choice is that it's draining my savings! But the program seems amazing. The director reached out to me during the review cycle to congratulate me on a well-written application and has kept in touch with me since then (yes, he was very effective in brainwashing me lol). It's a small cohort (less than 20), average age is mid-late 20s (I'm 26), and average years of work experience is 4 (I have 3). There's a fully-funded (or nearly fully-funded) required summer internship opportunity abroad. There are many international students, which is a plus for me, and I've heard the director is truly invested in the academic success of each cohort member. Some people apparently don't like his "overly involved presence", but I would appreciate it. I've internet stalked recent MIDP grads, and they're all doing incredible things and have jobs that I would salivate over. The quant-heavy aspect of this program scares me, but I want the challenge.
-
University of Michigan's Master of Public Policy (MPP) with the Rackham Graduate Merit Award of full tuition and stipend for each year. No budgeting needed.
- My hesitancy with this choice is location, unfortunately 😒 I elaborate more below. There's also no capstone project, which I thought was weird. The curriculum isn't as rigid as Georgetown's MIDP, so I have more flexibility in policy concentration and can take up to 25% of my credits across different schools.
-
University of Maryland's Master of Public Policy (MPP) with a 50% assistantship. This would leave me to cover roughly ~$7.5k of tuition, which I could do out of pocket. A good chunk of room + board could be paid for by working an additional 10ish hours at a student hourly position.
- My hesitancy with this choice is that it's lower ranked than both of my other ones, and their admissions team has not been helping to improve their image 😄 They feel discombobulated and slightly unprofessional. Because UMD is a large state school, I'd imagine I'd have to advocate for myself and actively manage my studies/opportunities, which I feel wouldn't be as big of a need with a smaller program like Georgetown's MIDP. I would really, really appreciate anyone who can talk up their program!
Some miscellaneous considerations that have been on my mind:
- I have been working for FEMA for the past two years, and while I enjoy what I do to an extent, I am ready to pivot internationally and use that experience in humanitarian and disaster aid in graduate studies.
- I have roughly $65k in savings thanks to graduating debt free in undergrad, but do I want to blow through all of it for grad school? How could I use that money to aid my studies (unpaid internships, work abroad, etc.) if I went to a cheaper school instead?
- I decided to attend a state school for undergrad on full tuition and managed to save a lot through scholarships and fully funded study abroad programs. Higher education has always been a personal priority to me, and I don't have an issue with paying for quality/connections. At the same time, I want to make sure I'm not being blinded by prestige and name brand. I have experience tailoring my academic experience at a large state school from undergrad, and while that's not what I was hoping for with grad, I don't know if it's worth all of my savings.
- I spent my entire life in the Midwest, and just escaped last year! I know Michigan is an incredible school, but still... location is a consideration for me.
- I unfortunately love a man who can't move to Michigan and has to stay in the DMV area. We live together and feel seriously about each other, so this is a consideration for me. We would do long distance if I went to Michigan, but it would definitely be hard.
My career aspirations are in the development sector, and I am particularly interested in impact evaluation, environmental policy, and development policy. I'm not strongly set towards public sector or private sector. I'm worried that my lack of a definitive plan/goal for after graduation means I should choose a program that won't wipe my savings and leave me with debt.
I hope this post is coherent enough to prompt responses! I would really appreciate thoughts, advice, or questions for me to consider as I make such a large life decision. Thanks all 🙂
This sounds crazy, but ever thought about applying to Georgetown MPP (or asking if you can transition to an MPP admittance... I am thinking it might be a better fit for you).
-
Georgetown's Master of International Development Policy (MIDP) with a $28.5k tuition scholarship for each year. I can "afford" this by using my savings for room + board, using $20k of savings directly towards tuition, and taking the rest of the tuition cost + fees (~$42k) out in loans. Throughout the program I would find a job and work 20 hrs/wk, which on the lower end would give me an extra $30k over two years to put towards those loans. That would mean graduating with ~$12k in loans and ~$8k left in my savings (not including retirement, I don't want to touch that).
-
On 3/14/2023 at 3:09 PM, confusion123 said:
Inspiration: 2019 version
I'm trying to nail down where I want to go over the next couple of weeks, and I'm sure many of you are in the same spot. I hope we can bounce ideas off of each other!
Coming from:
NYCDeciding between:
- Princeton SPIA MPA - 100% tuition + stipend
- Harvard Kennedy MPP - They haven't released results yet, but employer will pay tuition + stipend assuming I get in
- Yale Jackson MPP - 100% tuition + stipend
- UC Berkeley Goldman MPP - Close to 100% tuition, but relatively easy to get an on campus job for $ and tuition remission
- Columbia SIPA MPA - 80% tuition
Other factors:
My #1 goal was not going into debt, and I feel like that goal is achievable given my options. I would've liked to travel to each campus to get a feel for them, but I'm extremely busy over the next month with work and personal commitments, so I'm unable to see any school in person (except Columbia). I know alum from each school except Yale, so if you have insights there, let me know! I currently know one person at SPIA, one person at SIPA, a few current/formers at HKS, and one at Berkeley, and they're all telling me to go to their respective school!I went to Michigan for undergrad, so the idea of possibly going to a smaller school and being part of a small cohort is foreign but exciting at the same time. I want a program that's somewhat rigorous and challenging. I don't have super niche interests, so the lack of class choice isn't really a concern for me. I plan on staying on the public/non-profit side of things for the foreseeable future, but if I were to do a switch to private sector at some point down the line, I think I'd be OK with a degree from any of the schools I mentioned. I'm planning to go into state or local policy/government after graduating, so I probably should've applied to Sanford... but I don't want to live in NC! Again, I don't think I'd have a problem going that route if I attend any of these schools though.
How I'm leaning:
I'm leaning Princeton. I ruled Columbia out because of cost, and I ruled UC Berkeley out because I want to stay on the east coast. Yale is currently at the bottom of the list of schools I'm currently considering because of how new the program is and the fact that I'm not really interested in international affairs.I'm leaning Princeton because of its smaller class sizes, great student outcomes, and its proximity to DC/NYC. I was originally leaning Harvard, but just from looking at current/former students on LinkedIn and talking to my friends that are current/former students, it's moved down on my list. I want to have more experienced, public service committed classmates, and that hasn't really been the experience of my friends. I know it's a big school, so that might not be fully representative. I was told that many students have private-sector backgrounds and intend to go back to the private sector after leaving the school too. The weather also sucks! I recognize the Harvard name would carry more weight in certain circles, but I doubt at this stage in my life that I would be denied an opportunity if I chose Princeton over Harvard.
Head: Princeton
Heart: Wash between Princeton/Harvard
Wallet: N/A
I 2nd your Princeton call since you don't have private sector inclinations.
-
On 2/21/2023 at 11:33 AM, zh_awk said:
I applied to PhD programs this year for my second cycle in a row, but I’m about to be 31 and am currently after a job in academia which I know is insanely competitive. I’ve wanted to work as a professor in my field literally since I was 15, but I’m facing 2 rejections and 2 waitlists so far, so I’m not feeling very confident I’m going to be accepted anywhere (applied to primarily joint sociology/public policy degrees, and one education program).
I’ve worked as a researcher for the past 10 years (6 years at my current job) and am trying to think of jobs to think about applying to while I wait to get the rest of my application decisions. I’ll be wrapping up my Master’s in Public Policy this spring and then really wanna get out of my current position which I have very much outgrown - have been underpaid and overqualified in this role for a couple of years now. If this cycle goes poorly and I don't get accepted to any PhD programs, I may just give up at this point. I feel sad thinking about that, but I simply don't know if I can afford (mentally or financially) to keep trying to get a doctoral degree in the face of so much failure. That being said, I'd like to consider applying to jobs I'll not only be qualified for with my MPP, but could be in for the long-term/have chances for moving up the ladder at.
For others who have MPP degrees and work in research, what do you do and how much do you make? I’m in the education field if that helps, and I very much love studying education policy, but am open to other areas. Educational inequities are a big interest of mine.
Thanks in advance!
As for MPP careers with Educational inequalities - eek... that is like the most focused upon specialty area. You'll be competing with PhDs, Undergrads, Public Health Masters, MBAs, and other MPPs.
If you are in it for the money, I recommend you get a civil service job in a high tax base location. Honestly, everyone I know who does that has had an amazing experience. However, since the education space is in such oversupply, I hope you have a unique angle to this (e.g., Administration management, financial distribution, union management, CTE development, and etc.).
2nd to that you can try to work for a skills development private sector or public-private partnership org. I just hope you are okay with the party line
If you are want to do further research, I recommend you be a research assistant at a research institute. I hope you have a strong quant background, which is the easiest way to do so. If you don't, you can do qual... but it will essentially be program management. However, it could be a good base to develop new or niche perspectives.
You can try to work for a non-profit, but then this is a vast pool of craziness in terms of range of experiences and you want to pick wisely.
-
1 minute ago, CaliforniaPasadena said:
Thanks GradSchoolGrad!
Are courses in intermediate micro as well as in macroeconomics not sufficient to attend the course and mostly understand it?
if not, what other courses could i take in preparation for that class?
i actually aimed for harvard for my MBA…
So the intermediate micro course is more a practical application course in which you learn coding based methods to analyze data. The Akerlof course is more they proofing in which you really need to know calc + stat methods to basically not hate your life. The one person I knew who had a good experience had a strong quant based econ perspective. Everyone else who went up thru the McCourt system hated their life.
Unless you want to do PE, be a professor, or do a start up there is little additional value to a Harvard MBA over a top 25 US MBA other than pure prestige and Harvard club. Once you get to the top 25 - salary outcomes are rather close.
-
On 3/2/2023 at 6:46 PM, CaliforniaPasadena said:
I got accepted with a huge amount of funding (domestic student, 4.0 GPA, quant background, 330 GRE).
Was wondering if someone heard how the course 'advanced topics in micro & macro' with akerlof is?
Also, planning to do an MBA afterwards. How easy is it to fetch letters of recommendation from professors?
Assuming you got into MPP, I strongly recommend doing MBA and MPP as a dual degree student. It shaves off one year off your schooling and Georgetown MBA is rising. You can apply now or when you get to Georgetown.
That being said, I would not count on McCourt professors to write you letters of recommendation for any MBA, be it Georgetown or otherwise unless you develop a unique bond with one of them. In the world of academia, Business schools and Policy schools are huge rivals and Policy schools tend to look at business schools with a level of disdain and suspicion (I can go on forever about this and the reasons why). Policy professors will gladly write recommendations for law school, but less so for business school.
The Akerlof course is super challenging. As in if you don’t have a solid foundation in quant (Calc and stats), you will struggle. I have heard it compared to a PhD level course and unless you are a quant pro, you really should avoid.
-
20 hours ago, ThomistToBe said:
Relevant stats:
3.7ish UG GPA (received the Philosophy Department’s top graduate award. I don’t want to overstate this, though. I went to a pretty small, largely unheard of LAC)
Attended a top law school and graduated with honors. I also took some grad-level classes with the Philosophy department when I was there (the department is pretty highly ranked—think Cornell, Duke, UChicago)
I never published or did any TA or RA work or anything. Also no clue how I’d do on the GRE.
Would I be spinning my wheels applying applying to top programs? Is applying after already completing a JD a pro or con? Does lack of UG prestige hurt my chances?
Sounds like you have the academic fundamentals. The key question is do you have the networking done. By that I mean, is one of your letters of recommendations from someone in the field that is a. respected and b. research wise aligned with at least one if not more of the faculty in the dept you are applying to? You can go for broke off if your on paper credentials alone, but a more sure thing on top of that is to make sure someone in the field will vouch for you.
-
4 hours ago, Senochka said:
This is for anyone waiting on UChicago, do you have any idea about when the results might be released and what's their pattern: all at once, rejections or acceptances first, subfield by subfield?
On a different note, I saw a question about Georgetown interviews posted recently, but cannot find it now, I think like Notre Dame, Georgetown interviews shortlisted applicants - I was not interviewed during a previous cycle, and got waitlisted, this was for McCourt though - and those of us who did not get an interview invitation can expect rejections or waitlists moving forward. However, rummaging through previous years' data, I also realized that they sometimes send out one or two more acceptances towards the end of the cycle. I assume it's to fill places left open from admits committing to somewhere else, and those late admits will come from the waitlist pool. Something like that. This assumption is based on previous cycles' data and my experience though, someone else might have expectations differing radically from mine. So, you can take it with a grain of salt.
McCourt has a separate admissions office and practices than the rest of Georgetown.
-
6 hours ago, FinPol said:
Thanks for answering! I was wondering whether there's possibility so that I should try to negotiate with current scholarships amount.
FYI, I'm international applicant with 8+yrs of work experience at government agency. I just want to acquire master's degree and build global network (no plans to not make changes in future career)
You can and should try, but I don't think the chances of you getting more are that high unless there is something super unique about you that adds to priority diversity areas that Georgetown MPM cares about.
-
On 1/18/2023 at 3:07 AM, Lalanala said:
I got my result from McCourt (MPP) on the 13th without an interview. I think the interview is completely random.
If you don’t interview that means you aren’t being looked at for the bigger scholarships, but you can still get in.
-
21 hours ago, FinPol said:
Thanks for setting McCourt applicants thread ! I got an admission offer to MPM program at Mccourt few weeks ago, and I'm currently looking for additional funding sources(scholarships). Does anyone know what's the chances of receiving increased amount of merit-based scholarships ?
Totally depends on how competitive you are vs. how many others apply.
MPM as a degree doesn’t really do much for you unless you are coming in part of cohort or fellowship or simply checking a block for a grad degree requirement. If you are trying to career pivot, you might want to do something else.
-
On 1/19/2023 at 3:36 PM, Arinix said:
Sorry if this isn't totally appropriate, but I'm looking to do an MPA or MPP when I'm in my early 30s (26 now.) What are the best things I can do between now and then to improve my resume?
Any jobs I should take, or skills I should pick up?To phrase it differently, what do you wish you had more of on your resume when you applied? Thanks in advance!
Leadership experience will set you apart, so try to manage people and/or a budget and do it well
-
On 1/16/2023 at 3:53 AM, Lalanala said:
Hi all, just get accepted by McCourt MPP and Harris MPP, I want to explore my career in consulting firms in the future. Does anyone have any suggestions? I love the McCourt location, but accordingly Harris ranked higher. On the other hand, Harris MPP have a large amount of students. which program is better for my career goal? Please help! Thanks for answering !
Harris hands down has more consulting opportunities.
Choosing between MBA/MPA, technical MSc, and DPhil -- looking for words of wisdom + previous experiences
in Questions and Answers
Posted
I think you need to figure out how much risk you want to take for flexibility vs. topical focus. Also, please keep in mind that MBA and MPP are very different things. Each should be its own bucket.