van_96

Applying to: Chicago Harris MPP, Georgetown McCourt MPP, Duke Sanford MPP, Harvard Kennedy MPP, NYU Wagner MSPP Admitted to: Harris ($), McCourt ($$), Sanford ($$), NYU ($) Rejected: HKS Undergrad institution: Non-HYP Ivy Undergrad Major: Government, Minor in Public Policy Undergrad GPA: 3.81 (haven't calculated major GPA separately, but it's probably pretty close) Years out of undergrad: 1 at the time of application Quant Background: College credit for AP Calc, intro micro (B)/macro (A) econ, intro stats with R (A-), Mathematics in Politics (A), plus some light Stata training in an internship. Relevant Work Experience: Research internship with a high profile think tank in DC, interned with a local campaign, the NY state assembly, and an NYC DA, been a constituent liaison in NYC ever since I graduated undergrad last year. GRE: 165/167/5.5 (Verbal/Quant/AWA) Strength of LOR: I think all three were decently strong. Two were from college professors who taught research methods courses that I did well in, the other was from my current supervisor. Strength of SOP: I think they were solid, I talked about how important voting rights and electoral reform (which were my current focus areas, though I've begun to heavily consider health policy) have been to me from a very young age, how it influenced my extracurriculars in college, and customized them by discussing how I plan to use the tools/unique policy centers/connections from each school to further my career. Extracurriculars/Leadership: I was elected to the executive board of one of my school's largest political clubs, and I helped to train volunteers on a campaign I interned for. I chose McCourt mostly based on the location, as I have my heart set on working in the federal (or federal-facing) sector and don't have much of a DC network, plus I loved living in DC for a few months during undergrad. I don't have a car, or even a license, and I heard from many Sanford students that life at Duke without a car is doable, but tough, and the idea of being so far from a major city with such a small cohort in a small town was a dealbreaker for me. Harris didn't offer me nearly as much aid as I was hoping for, and the recently-ballooning class size (which seems to be primarily drawing inexperienced people right out of undergrad) was a bit of a red flag for me. I also despise cold weather, and going through another harsh winter between when I applied and decision time reminded me how much it affects my mental state. Although I'm aware of (and appreciate) the criticism that some people on this forum have for McCourt, I believe I'm adaptable and energetic enough career-wise to make up for its weaker career services and rumoredly-lackadaisical peer environment, and since I know I want to work in DC after I graduate, it seemed like the deficiencies would be compensated for by not having to start my DC network from scratch after graduation. Thank you to everyone (especially @GradSchoolGrad) for all the information you have shared.

Sure, I wasn't trying to imply that the PMF acceptance rate was higher at McCourt, just that whatever difference there may be wasn't significant enough to overcome the other factors. Obviously, we just have to estimate since we don't have actual data on how many people from each school apply, though like you I have no doubt a higher percentage of McCourt students apply than Harris's class. Anyway, like I said, it's not PMF or bust for me, it just seems like the most straightforward path. I'd be happy in a pretty wide variety of analyst roles in the fed/fed consulting world (which, correct me I'm wrong by your own admission is a relative area of strength for McCourt), or in a DC nonprofit. I'm concerned that if I choose Harris, the increased brand and rigor compared to McCourt will end up essentially canceling out with my lack of a solid DC network, and I will have spent more money over two years in a city that I don't like nearly as much just to reach the same end result. Postponing isn't really an option, as I have a decent amount of savings built up from living with my parents during the pandemic and my current public sector job is pretty dead-end. Rather just go and start building my quant toolkit and professional network now than keep my life on hold for 2-3 years just to maybe knock another 50k off my tuition. Please let me know if anything I've said is wrong or misinformed. Thanks, as always!

Thank you both for your responses! I'm curious as to why @went_away thinks that Chicago would be more helpful with the PMF, since the MPP programs in each school sent the same number of students into the program last year despite Harris being 3-4x bigger than McCourt. I definitely want to be in DC post-graduation, even if it ends up being in a nonprofit research role or a non-PMF federal position, and building up a DC network is definitely one of the reasons why I think McCourt might be worth going to the (slightly) inferior program.

Hi everyone, so in some ways this might be a less "where should I go" post and more a "am I shooting myself in the foot" post, since I think my mind is pretty close to made up. I was accepted into Harris (15k/year, tried to appeal, they declined) and McCourt (27k/year), and although I don't disagree with the discourse here that Harris is more academically rigorous and has a better managed program, I think I'm leaning towards McCourt for a number of reasons: 1. The weather. I was in upstate New York for undergrad, and I would absolutely love not to deal with frigid weather again. 2. I did a semester in DC during undergrad and really liked living there, whereas I've spent almost no time in Chicago. 3. Social network/support system. Nearly everyone I know is in the tri-state area (or in DC), and it'd be far easier and cheaper for me to visit home, or for friends and family to visit me, if I was in DC. 4. I'm pretty sure I want to work in the federal government (possibly PMF) after I graduate, and it seems like McCourt is at least as strong as Harris in that path. 5. The money, obviously, since I don't think the higher cost of living in DC won't come anywhere close to closing a 25k gap vs Hyde Park. Like I said, I don't dispute that Harris is somewhat better managed and has a better rep, but given all these other factors, it seems like that trade-off isn't worth it, given external factors and that I've always imagined myself working in the DC public sector after I finish my degree. Basically what I'm asking is, is this clearly the wrong choice? Is the difference in prestige and program management worth giving up all these upsides? I'd love any advice (I can already guess what GradSchoolGrad is gonna say, haha). Thanks!

They gave me a new offer for a TAship for one quarter that pays 3k, but no further funding

The costs vary by program. The link I included has all the information you need to calculate what the cost of your tuition will be.

You can find information about tuition fees and cost of living here: https://mccourt.georgetown.edu/new-students/tuition-financial-aid-and-scholarships/. As for the second question, from earlier in this thread, can confirm this answer:

Thanks for the response, but the first number on the "Harris by the Numbers" graphic says that they have over 1,100 students in total, which seems kind of incompatible with what you're suggesting, doesn't it?

I have kind of a dumb question. So on this page https://harris.uchicago.edu/about/who-we-are/career-outcomes-report/employers, it says about 325 students graduated from Harris (apparently across all programs) in the class of 2019. But on this page https://harris.uchicago.edu/about/who-we-are/harris-by-the-numbers, it says that they had an incoming class of nearly 600 in 2020. Am I misreading something, or did they nearly double their class size in a couple of years? If so, does anyone think that's a red flag about the amount of individualized attention they might provide to students now (along with the prestige of the program)?

Yeah, I'm not sure if they're just being overly cautious or if there's some issue they foresee that we don't.

Just wanna add that the other schools I've applied to who have divulged some info have said that their plan is to be in person with the exception of large lecture classes, since those present the highest COVID risk and are hurt the least by the shift to Zoom.

Isn't this to be expected, given the pandemic-induced recession? Their past years seem to be much higher (ex. 97% the year before). I haven't been able to find other comparable schools who have published reports for last year's class yet, but I assume they'll see some slight dips too.

I did last week, but no word yet! Hoping they don't take until the 4/10 date they quoted.

In case this is helpful to anyone, I tried to leverage my Duke offer to ask for more funding, and received a response that essentially stated they only negotiate merit aid if there are new professional or academic achievements. They added that they've increased their initial offers to compensate for this new system, which explains why so many of us got 27k, an amount that, as @GradSchoolGrad pointed out, they never have before.

Just got the email. 25k in funding/year, plus 4k each for two assistantships in the middle two semesters and up to a 2500 stipend for a summer internship. I assume those last two components are standard for everyone.