GradSchoolGrad

If you are interested in international relations + migration and asylum policy, McCourt is the wrong school in Georgetown for you. Georgetown School of Foreign Services is the right school for you, and they have an amazing Migration studies certificate program there. McCourt doesn't really do well with cross border international relations related policy matters. It does do well in applying data on domestic (be it US or domestic anywhere else) issues. Also... I know this sounds silly, but a lot of the international students have complained how DC is not a big enough city for them. I have had international students from more urban areas tell me they feel like DC is basically an oversized town with too much greenery (I mean for the average American, its a real city, but for those who come from denser parts of the world - like Mexico City, DC doesn't really the "big city life"), and I'm seriously not kidding. I cannot speak to the MAIDP program or UCSD. It also would help to know if you want to go back to Mexico or stay in the US after graduate school. I will say that I personally feel that 1 year is too short of a time to be in graduate school for policy matters. It is pretty much a massive spring and you don't get time to explore what you really like. Without knowing more, I would agree with you that UCSD is the right option balancing money + education opportunity (gosh you get an RA position and stipend - that is super awesome)... but if you have specific ambitions in both job type target area or desired location after grad school, that may change things towards Harris' favor.

100% absolutely not. Yes... you may get a more catered academic experience at HKS, but honestly, unless you are doing something fringe (as in crazy different and niche), you are competing for the same pool of grad school jobs, and at a certain point, they will care more about the projects (hint opportunities to get involved in NYC) you were involved in rather than where you went to school. The HKS brand is is not worth 70-80K more than SIPA. Also, you might end up needing more than 70-80K due to how almost grad student I know underestimates costs... this is especially true at HKS, as trips, group experiences, and etc. pop up that require money.

Bottom line... I wouldn't do it if I were you. Georgetown McCourt has very weak career culture and its career services tries really hard + is filled with great people, but the school as a whole is poorly managed to support career goals. I was the only person on my project team to graduate with a job (this is during the boom times). I would not do the part-time program (that is the working while going to grad school) if I were you because that prevents you from exploring what policy opportunities you really like. I say this cause most of my friends did a pivot (small or big) in terms of the policy area they were interested in or focused more on a particular item. I absolutely 100% would not work full time while going to school full time. I know one person who did it, and his life was absolutely miserable and he didn't really get a career boost out of it (I think he is in the same job he started with). Feel free to set up google hangouts with me to chat.

If you heart is set on INGO and IDEV and you have no problem with being New York or ending up in New York for some period of time in your career... I would say SIPA is the better option given that you have so much funding coming your way. SIPA has established IDEV / INGO networks + by virtue of being in NYC, you can get access to them right away during school. In fact, I would even consider this a SAIS vs. SIPA game. It is really a matter of how much do you care about DC or not because that is SAIS' center of gravity so to speak. I would say SAIS is not as strong with INGOs in general, but can be strong with IDEV - especially from a partnership angle. HKS has universal pull + the universal brand name + great academic experience, but I wouldn't say its not worth 60K (2 year total) over SAIS or SIPA. I think you can drop AU SIS period (comparatively lack of brand equity), MSFS (if there is no funding there is no funding, and Fletcher (you have better options with funding). Maybe think about playing SIPA against SAIS to get more funding. I know it sounds cold hearted since you have some already, but the worst they can say is no.

In terms of career outcomes, the reality about grad school is that what you learn in class matters way less than who you get to know + network your way into things + projects you get yourself involved in. Obviously, there are limits. For example, if you don't learn public policy data analysis, you won't land a analysis based jobs. With that context in mind, and under the assumption you A: want to land a DC job and B: have similar funding but, your end budget would be greater for Fletcher. So here are my thoughts. 1. As someone interested in healthcare + security studies... you are wow in a terrific position because those are fields that generally have great job security + higher salaries due supply and demand. The opposite examples are things like education policy + gender policy (not saying anything bad about them... I was an education person myself, but the reality is that oversupply vs. limited demand), whereby I saw people interested in those fields having to quickly pivot for economic reasons. So even in a weaker economy, especially with the world recovering from a healthcare crisis, I think you are entering in a great position. 2. Bottom line - Pitt grad school doesn't have nearly as strong DC connections as Fletcher period. Pitt has amazing engineering programs, medical, and healthcare programs, but that hasn't really translated into policy or IR much. I wouldn't even go to Pitt unless you are A: resource constrained + super desperate for a career shift or B: they are giving you a stipend on top of scholarship 3. Fletcher in contrast would position you amazingly well! 1. You have a school that has terrific DC connections and 2. You can take classes at the Chan school (School of Public Health) + Boston area is a medical/bioscience/health anything mecca... so if you are to play ball with health policy anything, Boston is the perfect place to do it. Hint - amazing internship opportunities... be it start up or established organization.

You are right... Jackson has been graduating students for 10 years, but they have been graduating students an an institute. Since April 2019, they have become a School. I was speaking to alumnus as an Institute. In all fairness, sometimes programs transition from an Institute to a School and it has been seamless. However, it is more often the case whereby the transition has mean the administration and faculty figuring out a lot of things, that includes alumni relations.

1. You are absolutely right, SIPA is much better suited for policy / work from an international perspective 2. Actually, I was thinking about Professor Jeffrey Sachs as a negative. Granted he has in some ways been a popularized academic with a lot of near celeb clout, in the early 2010s, he was involved in a controversy about possible academic dishonesty (on his part). Cliff notes, he announced findings for development that the rest of the academic community discredited. Granted he still has a popular following and is still a giant in Columbia, to large swaths of the academic community he is persona non-grata. I randomly came about this because there was an effort to have him as a speaker at event. Funds were even considered to pay for his presence. It was then highlighted about the reputation dangers of being associated with Jeff Sachs, which stopped the effort in its tracks. Some specific articles that speak of this are: https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/06/24/does-it-take-a-village/ https://psmag.com/social-justice/smart-guy-jeffrey-sachs-nina-munk-idealist-poverty-failure-africa-65348 Also, I am not going to mention the other controversies Jeff Sachs has gotten himself involved (social media related) since they aren't academic related, but they are there.

@Ramb... I view this as a no brainer... go to Stanford. If you had equal funding, I would recommend MSFS, but with free tution, you are avoiding 110K of debt. Stanford FSI is a less established program and expansive program, but you can definitely partly overcome that with networking with the Stanford alumni network + professors + research centers. The Cambridge M. Phil will be interesting for you because it is usually a younger crowd and though living in Cambridge + its social life options has its charms, from an academic and perspective, I don't think you will get as much out of it (I am assuming you aren't straight from undergrad as I don't think there are MSFS people straight from undergrad (or next to none).

@LazarusRises... So normally, I would say hands down Nicholas school. The confounding factor is that you want to return to NYC. I recommend you do a LinkedIn Search (you might have to pay for the advanced membership) and filter for Nicholas school alums in New York to see who ends up in New York and what they do. Then do the same for SIPA grads in environmental roles. That is a good way to compare them. So the reason I would normally say the Nicholas school is for two reasons. 1. They are much more equipped to do science part of environmental management (my understanding is that Duke has environmental facilities), and honestly that would distinguish you. 2. Nicholas actually has a way super reputation to SIPA for Environmental stuff. 3. SIPA is good with domestic policy, but that isn't their forte... it more focuses on IR and IDEV. I know plenty of Nicholas people who are in awesome environmental jobs in DC (not NYC though). I never met a SIPA person in environmental ever... All the SIPA people I have ever met are IR or urban policy.

It sounds like you have 2 years or so experience... so these are my thoughts catered specifically to you (and decently different than for someone who has like 5 or so years of work experience). Bottom line, CIPA is likely the best bet for you. 1. Yes... AU does have the benefit of being from DC... however part of AU's key advantage would be to work on live projects. However... in a recession, places don't have money to really hire for part time paid interns. If you are okay with doing lots of unpaid work to pad your resume... that might work. However, I have never seen or heard of an AU MPA person working part time in the DC world. Given how small the program is and how AU doesn't really have that much brand equity (you are competing with more than just Georgetown, George Washington, Maryland, and Howard... but you are competing with hard charging undergrads (who okay with being paid less) + schools that have a year or semester in DC (for example Heinz MPP). Proximity to something doesn't mean access to it. 2. CIPA might be annoying being in upstate New York and away from a major metropolitan area... BUT you A: have the most scholarship from them and B: you can go hog wild doing research projects for professor or research institutes (I would like see if the research institutes match up with your interests. Also, CIPA allows you to have a broad range of education. I will tell you point blank that to understand housing and/or food policy really well, you have to understand supply chain and investments, which would be rather difficult to get at AU. 3. Brandeis - don't go there period. Doesn't have the brand equity whatsover in public policy.

JEEZ... are these staff / instructors/adjuncts/ or professors or all of the above???

I think it is fine if the program is majority straight from undergrad (for example 5th year accounting programs). However, I went to grad school twice in both professional programs (average age 25 and 27). Only once did we ever hear of dating seeking out an undergrad to date. It was also super awkward that it came from our 2nd oldest student (the oldest one was married). I also thought it was an interesting symbiotic relationship, because she became a source of alcohol for the undergrads.

If you want to do DC focused/related/empowered matters, SAIS is the way to go. I would say academically and student culture wise (in terms of bonding as a entire school), SAIS is stronger and more focused. HOWEVER... the one thing I really don't like about SAIS that it is academically isolated... as in it doesn't really integrate with the rest of Johns Hopkins. It isn't part of the Washington, DC consortium, so you can't take classes or really collaborate with other DC programs. So the strength of SIPA is that it has a lot of global touchpoints, especially to NGOs and non-profits. If you want to play in New York and/or internationally, I would say SIPA definitely has the edge. I wrote off SIPA early on because a lot of people have their New York City lives, so it really isn't that strong of a community (at least compared to what I was hoping to get). I also didn't have interest in international / NGOs. HOWEVER... what I do appreciate about SIPA is that you have access to the greater Columbia academic community. Breadth of education really matters in my opinion, especially given how we are going into a recession, and career flexibility is plus in my opinion. Also, what I find super interesting is how a lot of my friends who went and got policy/IR degrees ended up in private sector (or weaved in and out of IR/Policy). Something to think about it!

If you want to end up in the US... I would say without question SIPA... If you want to do international based work, I would say it is a wash. This purely from a brand perspective. With I-DEV (assuming that is what you want to do), I recommend you make sure the power professors are the people you want to coach and mentor you (and accessible).

I view SIPA and Wagner on equal footing for domestic policy. At a certain point it comes down to if there are certain professors and unique program for which you like one program over the other. In your case, I would do Wagner by virtue how you got funding... The differences are marginal. I will say that I generally find SIPA better connected to the rest of the MPP/MPA/IR world. I have friends who went to Wagner, but they don't seem to venture outside of their NYC space much for domestic policy (from what people tell me. I haven't seen a Wagner person in DC... ever.

1. If you want to be unemployed during a recession, then I recommend Fletcher. Great program academically and tight knit community. However, I saw a lot of my friends from Fletcher really struggle with the last recession and the school really wasn't able to help them, especially with its limited brand equity beyond the IR space and lack of breadth in education opportunities. 2. So SSP is an interesting beast. It is really all about how you structure your academic experience + score your internships. You are right, the population tends to be more national security and defense focused. It is really like a lego set where you make your own experience. You would have easy access to all the SFS courses and grad courses throughout Georgetown (last I remember, I don't remember the gender courses being filled up to capacity). The downside is that the community isn't that tight. SSP is definitely well respected in defense circles and you would have better connections than Fletcher. HOWEVER... your experience will depend heavily on your ability to take advantage of DC. I don't know GPS that well, so I can't comment.

No brainer... go to Harris. Georgetown doesn't exactly have strong relationships with consulting and tech firms (except for Deloitte... but as a front line consultant). When you are done with Chicago... I can refer you to consulting or tech firms to work for . I won't be able to do that for Georgetown.

At the end of the day, it depends on what you are career goals are. If you want to do Econ, be it in a research or academic capacity, do the MS Econ program. Right now, I haven't picked up your career oriented reason to do an MPP. I will say, I strongly advise people not to do an MPP straight from undergrad (it sounds like that is the case). Granted, McCourt MPP undergrad students tend to be better students than everyone else, the jobs they end up in aren't exactly graduate level. Interestingly, the average salary for a McCourt grad is less than a Georgetown average undergrad graduate salary. McCourt is also not exactly a fun place (I mean, I guess it depends on your definition of fun). It is being a around a lot of people who thought they were passionate about public policy, but end up realizing that it is a means to a job. I met very few people that were actually passionate about public policy, other than it being a status symbol.

I mean, I don't now your situation and your interests. For me personally, I crossed off Fletcher from my list early (I think it was the first to go)... and I applied during a booming economy (last year of Obama administration). However... I did graduate during a Trump administration, and I saw the writing on the wall about working in government so pivoted to private sector + local/state government. However, Georgetown (as a University) allows for that flexibility. Tufts/Fletcher can say they do with the Harvard/MIT consortium... but they can't provide it to a level I am comfortable with organically... and that makes a meaningful difference.

@Coffeetea... That is the thing... when you get to grad school, a lot of people realize there is more to the world than they thought going in, and get interested in other things (or at least dabble). Most people I started in grad school with came out doing something at least slightly (in my case extremely) different than they thought they would.

What I'm highlighting is that the prestige is relative the specific area and what career path you go on. Think of it like caviar. The average human being doesn't know what are the prestige brands for caviar. However... the caviar experts do. In area studies... if you are trying to impress the experts in an area, that varies by each area studies program and the professor that runs it. As for general prestige... you got Georgetown SFS school... only a few annoying people would be really picky about it. HOWEVER... there would be something to be said about your experiences, network that you build up, and etc. may not be as high quality of MSFS.

Looking back, I am beginning remember how the stress of grad school brought out the weird of some people in their social behavior. Any interesting stories to share? Mine is that there was someone in her 30s who regularly told us how she felt bad that she missed out on an "undergrad party" experience, so she made an effort to go to undergrad parties and got an undergrad boyfriend... and invited her undergrad boyfriend to grad events to show off... We were all amused... and weirded out...

When I was in graduate school, I saw some at most shady / at least borderline unprofessional behavior from faculty and staff. Example 1: Staff member befriending, partying with, and gossiping with students + giving insider grad school information to chosen "student friends". Example 2: Faculty member publicly informing a student in front of the entire class that he would never make it to graduate school at Harvard because his grades are never good enough. I hope no one else has had any similar or worse experiences, but if you have... please share. I am curious!

If you have Georgetown MSFS, Fletcher MALD, HKS, Harris, Elliot, SAIS, SIPA,, Stanford and maybe a few others I'm forgetting, I would choose that over American unless you really really really need to be in Tenleytown or there is a drastic funding difference. I have seen SIS people do great things (I used to manage the biography books for international relations related guest speakers at a certain IR research institution), but by far their students and alumni play second fiddle to people in the other schools.

For $2.5K difference... you should pick SAIS... This is a complete no brainer. SAIS has, reputation, location, cohort, academics, alumni network, and probably lots of other things... over American. The only reasons why I would hypothetically pick George Washington (I am assuming Elliot School), is if for some reason you really like international space policy or something related to public health international policy. Honestly... I never rarely saw SIS students out in the DC international learning environment (I mean I saw them more than SPA students... but MSFS, SAIS, and Elliot school students were there when SIS was relatively absent),