escondido41

Haven't really found any significant information on this program other than on the Yale Jackson website. Doesn't help that the current students (as published in their website) all don't have LinkedIn profiles. Would love to hear feedback from people taking the course, alumni, or those with information. I am more interested in public policy than international relations add curious if this course or Jackson in general is still a good option in that case.

Thanks for the input. Among those you have observed, were there a significant number of those whose partner stopped working to be together with the student spouse? I am very curious how they were able to decide on foregoing both their income (plus the expense of grad school) so they can be together.

That isn't what I am observing in my cohort.

Yes I am aware about funding limits. In fact my question is how people still manage to bring their whole family over despite this limitation or the challenges of being away from them.

Somehow I missed to be notified of your reply. Thanks. The idea of course is for the degree to improve my job options and income in the future, but nothing is ever certain. Its not an MD or JD or MBA that would massively bump my earning potential, but it would probably improve my chances in a competitive job market. I don't know if I should just suck it up for one year or give up. If I were to separate all the other issues (i.e. financial, professional, etc.) the latter is based only on emotions. Of course that doesn't make it invalid. Another option of course is to try again next year where there MAY be a better chance we can be together, but that is an even bigger if. How long ago did you give up on the program you got accepted for? Do you sometimes regret it?

Thanks for the reply. I guess you can assume that I have no plans of staying there 10 years. So I was not even considering the questiona you mentioned. Of course if things become interesting I'd stay, but I'd rather its because I want to stay not because I was forced. In some sense a loan is better because I pay monthly as oppose to leaving the office where I assume I'd have to pay the full price upfront. I am assuming they would charge interest on it as well if I were to leave.

So I was surprised that they even considered paying the tuition for my program (about $100,000) but then they require me to commit 10 years to them. There is also no pro-rata deduction of what I have to repay if I don't stay 10 years. The thing is the reason I applied to the program is to be able to leave this company and find work more relevant to my interests. So it is kind of ironic. In a way it becomes like a loan, except I have to pay lump sum when I decide to quit within 10 years and magically disappears after 10 years . Should I even consider this if I am not fully committed to this employer? I have never imagined there can be such a lengthy period to commit.

To those admitted, but undecided, what are your othe options? Is anyone considering LSE's EMPA, or maybe other non-policy options?

Your wish is my command, kind sir. Thread created.

Hello! Seeing as we have been piggy-backing on the MPP 2021 thread, a few of us thought to start our own thread for a more focused discussion and not flood the young ones with our unique set of concerns. Everyone who applied, was accepted, rejected or waitlisted stand to benefit from the discussion here, so everyone is welcome. I for one am having a hard time grasping at the financial requirements (no funding received) as well as the toll on family so would love to have some discussion on that.

Any MC/MPA or Masons admits who didn't get funding and have a family? I am struggling to make sense of the costs of either bringing the entire family (i.e. two sources income go dry), or a year of being separated from them! (p.s. Shouldn't we start a new thread for MC/MPA 2021?)

Hi Hina, Yes there is. I received the email a day after the admissions email. Make sure to check your mail. Its probably the same even they mentioned for MPP as its the same date, but they said there are breakout rooms for degree programs.

I just got accepted to a one year program and would have to travel across an ocean and then some if I were to take the course. Obviously I would prefer to bring my family with me, but now that I got accepted it is time to stop daydreaming and start thinking concretely, especially since I did not get any funding. Many people have brought their families over and to those people I would like to ask how they decided on that financially. The cost of tuition alone is substantive in addition to a year without income, but to add to that no income from your spouse as well (my spouse earns about 50% of our income), it just seems like an insurmountable challenge. Let alone that I have 3 kids as well (they get free schooling now). For those similarly situated (i.e. no funding, working spouse, lots of kids but brought everyone over) I would like to know your thought process on how you reached that decision. It seems the financially sound thing to do is to go by myself, but I am not sure a year away from my kids is something I am prepared to do.

I am in a bit of a daze as I got my TOEFL results. I got perfect on all sections except Writing where I somehow got a 24/30. I am quite certain this is in error as there is no way I could have scored lower than in the other sections when it is the easiest section for me and objectively speaking it was really a simple exercise. I mean I have written dissertations, published academic articles etc. However, ETS does not allow reviews if I have designated a recipient institution already. Why that matters, I have no idea. The problem is the department I am applying to requires a minimum of 25 for each section. I wasn't even required to take the TOEFL since I took all my education in English, and it essentially is my first language, but I submitted anyway since it is required for may other applications. This puts me in a pickle. Has anyone successfully had their toefl scores changed despite having it sent to institutions already? I find this rule very arbitrary (not to mention they require $80 for them to review it without refund if the error was on their end.

I know that a policy memo should be brief and straight to the point, but in a real policy memo you can gauge the knowledge of the recipient of the issues discussed, but the admissions committee may very well not know about the specific topic or background from which you make the memo. I feel that I need to dedicate a portion of the memo to explain the topic/issue since it m ay be peculiar to the country/subject matter of the memo. Is this ok, or should I write it as if the recipient is the actual person named in the memo? Also, how detailed must it have to be? For example, if I say that we should dedicate more government employees to work on Proposal A, do I need to get into where we will get them from, how we will budget for them, how many man hours will they dedicate, etc. Or should it be high level? I am directing it to a head of a government agency, so I would assume he/she would let someone else flesh out the details of execution.