GradSchoolGrad

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Work experience will make your future application more competitive. Fulbright alone won’t carry to the elite schools.

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You are not going to get MBB or a top tier think tank. Doing state and local is super easy. Heinz is also involved in a lot of comparative research domestically - especially around labor and education. Internationally it is not as well known for a policy school, but you can kind of get around that with CMU. So basically, I'm saying, I haven't heard about it too much as it relates to iDev. Look, no school will be perfect, but I think you are shooting for perfection when you should be looking for good enough. Heinz in terms of people you'll meet, academics, and doors it will open massively outweighs the U. Its not Harris or HKS, but unless you or do or die MBB, or top Think Tank, everything else in the US - if you don't get within your first job after grad school, you can bound to with your 2nd or 3rd.

I consider it good enough to do most things nationally.

My only thought is that you might be facing a now or never situation. If the economy gets worse, which it might as the war drags on and interest rates rise, you probably will have a rough chance getting into a better school, or even the schools you just got into. Also, nothing wrong with vegabonding it (doing your own thing) when you got a good brand behind you.

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Why did you say no to Heinz?

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My perspectives on a frequent question I get asked --> Is Harvard Kennedy School Worth Going in Debt For?

Yes here is the deal. When recruiting for MBB, the MBA school's pipeline determines your viability - period. For MSFS, you would go to Georgetown's MBA. On a good year, they get about 5 or so to graduate with an MBB offer (out of like a class of 250) On a bad year, its like 2. With SAIS, that totally depends on how you decide to MBA dual degree. You might be able to dual degree with more competitive MBA schools, but it will be a logisitical nightmare because you'll be the exception guy in everything + you'll have to live in two cities over a period of 3 years and only about 6 schools will let you do so with SAIS. https://sais.jhu.edu/academics/dual-degree-and-exchange-programs Being a dual degree helps you get into MBB, but honestly the gain is marginal. You would be better off with an MBA only and then get an internal referral than be a dual degree. Also, keep in mind, firms care about needs of the business more than prior experience/degree. If you go to Bain, you will be starting with PE - no matter what because that is where business needs are. MBB is littered with stories from dual degrees from Harvard and etc. who never got to use their other degree. I can give you a leg up, but it isn't a hall pass. Also, transitioning to IR policy later in life an IGO from consulting isn't exactly a well worn pathway. Usually they don't let business people play IGO unless they are super senior folks who get appointed. You would be better off doing a JD/MBA if you want to do that.

Lets get one key basic thing straight. No matter if you go to MSFS or SAIS, there is no pipeline for you to go to MBB in the United States (unless you dual degreeing with an MBA or JD or seeking a defense specialist role that requires a top secret clearance). There might be a few exceptions out there for former consultants and data scientists (non-front line consultant role). You can hypothetically go abroad for an MBB role in a country whose language you are fluent in (other than English). I have seen McKinsey recruiting for Germany in the past - not sure what country they are focusing on now. That being said, Deloitte Government Ops does have a bigger presence recruiting for MSFS than at SAIS... then again it is Deloitte government ops (with all its pros and cons). I have a podcast where I speak about the two programs:

Okay, I got it out way early. Here you go.

Go to Yale Jackson and here is the reason why. Culture policy does not exist in the United States. We do not have a minister of Sport and Culture like many countries do. So there is essentially nothing to really study from a US domestic perspective. None of the other programs are exactly known for an international perspective (and I think IDEV counts). Yale Jackson is the only program geared towards truly global sensibilities. If you don't really care about your professed focus area, that is another story. However if you do care, then Yale Jackson makes sense.

Sure, but I might not be able to get it out till Wed or Thurs

I decided to front load Episode 4 for you:

Sure, I can do one for DC schools easy (I'm assuming you mean Policy schools?). I know California schools broadly, but not enough to compare them in detail, so I'll pass on that. Episode 5 will be the DC policy schools. If I'm lucky, I might be able to pump out 2 episodes today.

@GradSchool96 - BIg 7 IR grad program summary perspectives is up on Spotify Episode 4 will be about if HKS is Worth Going in Debt For Open to questions, feedback, or suggestions for future episodes.

I don't want to sound crass and dismissive of your interests, but the reality is that about 60% or so of the people I seen come into policy school changed their career/policy focus interests at least moderately, so I want to speak to what HKS can provide broadly that Goldman can't do as well to give you a bigger picture. 1. Give you access to International perspectives (from an academic perspective) between having a broadly more multi-diverse peer group and direct academic exposure to international topics (if you choose to engage). HKS is one of the few MPP schools that can dig into non-iDEV IR. 2. HKS has more collaboration opportunities if you wanted to engage in with the MBA, Public Health, or Engineering 3. Even though Berkeley is in Bay Area, I only really hear of policy related start ups coming from HKS folks (maybe because I'm from the east coast - but I have done time in the Bay Area). 4. TRIPS TRIPS TRIPS - HKS has loads and loads of international trips (hypothetically policy learning related) 5. If for some reason you want to do MBB consulting - HKS is a pipeline, Goldman is not really. 6. If you want to the most competitive DC jobs, HKS can definitely help you get there (that being said, Ed Policy DC jobs might be competitive, but they tend to be lower pay and impact is not always the best). Those are a few starting off the top of my head.

I just finished Episode 2 of my podcast - Cohort System vs. Free For All System and the Student experience (the most important thing about the grad school experience that isn't talked about). @GradSchool96 ... Per your request, Episode 3 will be my discussing IR schools and the strengths and weaknesses of the Big 7

Bottom line is that do you have a desire to return to the Bay Area/Stay in the Bay Area. If the answer is strong yes, Goldman makes sense because your network and things you learn will actually be most applicable. I will even argue that Goldman teaches analytical skills better than HKS. In fact, poor/inconsistent data analysis teaching quality is the only frequent compliant I have heard about HKS. HKS also won't really benefit for your return to California, and actually can work against you because California dynamics are so different than east coast ones.

I think this comes down to what risk you want to take. Duke does have DC pipelines + a strong student experience, but it is a very much a domestic policy focused school. U. Chicago is stronger on on IDEV and IR related topics (probably 3rd on IR related topics after Princeton). However, I am not as familiar on U. Chicago Harris as to IDEV beyond that. In my opinion, you applied to the wrong schools if migration root causes is your true passion that you want to commit to. That is more an IR school issue whereby applying to Fletcher, Georgetown MSFS, JHU SAIS would have been more appropriate.

Bottom line, if you care about getting deep within Data Science, U. Chicago MSCAPP is the way to go. Georgetown's MS-DSPP might be the 2nd best program here in terms of actual depth of data access/knowledge opportunity, but a huge problem with the program is that they haven't figured out how to transition that degree into structured job pipelines + you do hit a ceiling since as you noted it isn't linked to a CS dept. Penn's policy program is essentially a low student experience cash grab. They simply haven't figured out how to making a policy program with a top experience and top career outcomes. A lot more people than me can speak to Heinz MSPPM-DA Track. So I'll let them jump on that.