keurimja

What percentage of Harris students are international? I wonder how much of the face-value differential in income this element offsets (~50k for the private sector) in addition to the other factors you listed. I'd like to see further breakdowns of the data by distinctions such as international/domestic, regions within the U.S., etc. Agreed, definitely. None of the opportunities are closed off per se. However, having spoken to alumni at the various policy programs I've looked into, HKS has by far the best placement into MBB and the other big-name consulting firms in general. I wasn't aware that Harris had a recruiting pipeline for MBB (the one consulting-oriented Harris student I know didn't tell me about it), but that's cool to know! I appreciate the insight and the discussion @Mppirgradschool and @GradSchoolGrad.

I suspect then that the 30% figure includes the Mid-Career MPA program, which has an individual acceptance rate of approximately 50%. 219 of the 569 members of the HKS class of 2019 were MC-MPA grads, which, when you crunch out the arithmetic, yields an approximate average 17.5% acceptance rate across the two-year masters programs (MPP, MPA, and MPA/ID). This would make sense in the context of the 20% HKS MPP acceptance rate reported 10 years ago, indicating incremental increases in selectivity over the past decade. You seem to be very knowledgeable regarding trends in graduate policy/IR education. I wonder if the trend you're observing is indicative of a simultaneous increase in impressive resumes and accomplishments from recent grads, via increases in substantive research assistantships and prestigious internships undertaken by undergraduates. Just a thought. If so, then the trend exhibited may not simply indicate a decline in holistic admissions. Is the rate of dual-degree participation at other top policy schools like Harris significantly lower? I assumed they would be relatively consistent, especially at schools that also have top-ranked business and law schools like Harvard, UChicago, Yale, Columbia, Berkeley, etc.

Not sure where you're getting the 30% admit rate from. HKS last released its admit rate for the MPP program in 2010, when it dropped just below 20%. I would suspect that admission has grown even more selective since then. I would also caution against using GPA/GRE as the sole gauge of selectivity. Aside from the fact that many of the top policy programs (e.g. WWS, HKS, SIPA, Harris) do not publish comprehensive admissions statistics (GPA and test scores) - making it impossible to compare using this criteria - admission to these leading schools is clearly much more of a holistic process. I.e. a 4.0 and a 340 GRE doesn't equate to admission to WWS without a convincing resume, narrative, and stellar recommendations. Similarly, I don't think that we would discount some of the most elite MBA programs (with average undergraduate GPAs of around 3.6) as being less competitive than Berkeley Goldman or Yale Jackson - since they employ a similarly holistic admissions process. The employment snapshot report you mentioned was one of the reasons I elected not to attend Harris. While the program was attractive due to its econ-heavy curriculum and the offer of a substantive fellowship package, the median salary outcomes published in 2019 were $75k for those working in the private sector, $63k for nonprofit work, and $55k in the public sector. These figures are lower than those published by SIPA (though these may be offset due to employment in Manhattan) and substantially less than the median figures last published by HKS: $120k - private, $70k - nonprofit, $61k-$81k for public. Of course, for those of us interested in the public service, compensation was never the primary consideration, but is undeniably important. I'm not trying to bash on Harris; I really like the program and would have attended had it not been for my other offers. I also have several friends who have graduated from there and are incredibly talented individuals. However, even they would agree that WWS, HKS, Yale-Jackson, and Berkeley-Goldman are more selective programs (not including scholarship awards).

Most would disagree with you regarding quality. WWS and HKS are the two most selective policy schools. Harris is a undoubtedly a quality institution as well, but HKS and WWS are in a league of their own. Whether that gap justifies a $60k cost difference is up to the individual.

same here!

Sorry to have potentially ruined the excitement! Believe me, I'm down as well...

Well, there weren't any blog posts on the 27th or 28th of February either, so maybe this was a false alarm and there just won't be any blog updates today.

Gonna break my mouse from refreshing the admissions blog so often...

Thank you for the kind words! I will wait until HKS decisions are released (hopefully by next week) to make my final determination. Congratulations on Johns Hopkins by the way!

I was accepted back in December but just got an update to my portal to notify me that I got a $60,000 fellowship package ($30,000 per year). I suspect updates for others will be delivered soon as well!

Didn't receive a fellowship either, but the in-state tuition is unbeatable.

Just got accepted via email!

Sorry to hear, but huge congrats on your Evans MPA admission! Thanks for the kind words.

No word here either! Frantically refreshing my email at work right now ?

Congrats @justaname and @bkscholar!