I feel quite compelled to respond to this as I too went to UVA for both undergrad and an MPP. I also contemplated this very decision between Batten and Georgetown a few years ago.
First, yes, cost is very important and it is probably not worth hundreds to thousands of dollars more per month to earn this degree. Public Policy school teaches important foundational knowledge and skills, but salaries at this first-professional school are typically quite lower (at least to start) than Law or Business degrees at both institutions. So double the cost should be a necessary deterrent, but consider a few things: First, “Average net price for Batten School M.P.P. students in 2014-15 was $7,004 for in-state students and $12,942 for out-of state students, which equates to a discount rate of 54%.” (http://www.virginia.edu/bov/meetings/'15Mar/March%202015%20Finance%20Book.Final.pdf, page 13). If you have an offer that requires tuition at Batten significantly above this, it would be wise to renegotiate or consider attending another school. Secondly, call Georgetown or go meet with them and explain your situation. It certainly will not hurt your case for more aid and the worst that they can do is say no to more aid.
As I did not attend Georgetown, I cannot speak to its specific strengths and weaknesses, but there are some substantive educational differences from just observing public source data. First, from a rough comparison of course offerings, Georgetown offers approximately 40 electives this coming year exclusively in Public Policy (https://myaccess.georgetown.edu/pls/bninbp/bwckschd.p_get_crse_unsec - search public policy). By comparison, Batten offers 18 electives for the same semester (http://rabi.phys.virginia.edu/mySIS/CS2/page.php?Semester=1168&Type=Group&Group=PPOL). Second, class size is important in developing relationships with both professors and classmates. Using the same sources, you can anticipate being in classes of 40-50 students for both Policy Foundations (Leadership) and Research Methods courses at UVA. At Georgetown, Statistical Methods classes are capped at 25 and Public Policy Process courses at 20 students (both of which correspond to enrollment numbers in past semesters per their database). If you value learning from and interacting with faculty directly, this is important. Also along these lines, how are your quantitative skills? I found that many of my classmates struggled in this area and a lecture of 45+ students was not the best learning environment for them.
Also, yes, in theory you it is possible to take classes at “all” of UVA’s professional schools as a Public Policy student, but in practice this can be quite difficult. MBA and Law classes were almost impossible to get into for students not dual-enrolled with these schools. Often their registration processes made it so that Policy students had to forego courses in the Batten school to try (and fail) to get into interesting/relevant Law and MBA courses. Other schools are far more flexible, but if you hope to supplement your education from these top flight schools be very aware that it is unlikely to happen. These schools (specifically Law and Darden) are quite territorial and while the data show that student quality is similar across all the various schools they do not see Batten students as being of similar quality.
Finally, many Batten graduates do end up in renowned organizations like the ones listed, but, at least in my experience, this is almost exclusively a result of individual hard work to obtain these positions. UVA’s Public Policy school has very few pipelines to place graduates at these institutions. Expect to cold call and drop resumes via USAjobs a lot. I also think that location is a far bigger deal than dean3837 lets on here. If your goal is to work in a federal agency you should strongly consider a policy school in/near DC (to include GMU, American, Maryland, etc.). The reason for this is that many federal agencies offer academic-year internship programs (pathways and non-pathways) that provide direct access to both experience and non-competitive hiring. Though a few of my classmates were able to take advantage of such offers at UVA, this was definitely the exception and it came at the expense of academic opportunities due to commuting to and working in the DC area. If you review the course schedule at Georgetown again, you will notice that many courses are taught in the evenings which allows for further flexibility in work opportunities as well. As obtaining employment in the desired field should be (at least it was for me) the number one goal in graduate studies, this advantage offered by DC-area schools cannot be overlooked.
Overall, my advice to anyone planning to pursue an MPP is as follows:
· What is your career goal and how will your chosen school get you there? (Have a specific job title/path in mind. This can change, but given the time and money involved it’s important to have a firm idea of what the end state is up front.)
· Arrange/negotiate your financial aid prior to enrollment. Do not wait for or rely on advertisements of future scholarships or assistantships from the school. Also, if schools advertise research assistant positions, ask how many and with what professors and demand to know the process in hiring (i.e. how do professors select students for these positions and how often are such positions advertised?).
· Ask the following of admissions officers and demand specific and quantifiable answers:
o How many students will be in my core classes?
o Do professors grade and give substantive feedback on assignments (as opposed to graders/TAs—especially course capstone assignments)? This is important as you will have to provide writing samples for many employers.
o Do professors offer professional contacts to help students get jobs? How? (Yes, you will have to do some work to develop relationships with professors, but you are also investing a significant amount of time and money here. It should not be a tough process to have the people whom you both pay and work hard for academically invest in your success.)
So are the floodgates going to open for results tomorrow for anyone else? Based on prior years, like four of the schools I applied to should be releasing results tomorrow/Friday. Pls pray lol
I'm just going to put this out there in case anyone else feels similarly: being in limbo at this point is making me even more anxious. I already have several responses from some of my top choices, but I still just want to know so I can move on with the next step of my professional and academic career and spend the next few months figuring out how to move in the middle of a pandemic!
Definitely remaining grateful for the opportunity to even pursue higher education, but on top of the pandemic and the state of vaccine distribution in the US... everything feels so unknown. Just hoping for plans to solidify a lot more so I can stop existing in this state of waxing and waning anxiety. I know we've all worked our asses off for this month and the decision(s) we'll all have to make by April 15th, but I wish these next three weeks or so weren't so painful ?
Yeah, I'm not sure either. One year saves a ton on the cost of living and eliminates the opportunity cost of not working full-time for another year, but the combination of how new the program is and how small it is means there's basically no alumni network. I don't know if it's smart to pay 80k+ to be a guinea pig. My current plan is to wait for the other schools I've applied to and use the best offer to leverage more scholarship money from the rest of the schools. If NYU doesn't pony up more (and I don't expect them to) then I'm probably leaning towards turning it down in favor of a more established/bigger program. Curious to hear your thoughts as well.
I think there is probably a correlation with caring enough to be checking this silly website and receiving a scholarship (at least that is what I am telling myself lol) -- I read that only 20% of admitted students receive any form of aid!
Thank you! Something tells me the yo-yo-ing is a bad sign.... I have a photo of the briefly-appearing yellow button, so proof at least that I'm not just losing it thanks to this cycle ha
Part of me hates thinking about how many times I subconsciously, trigger-finger check and I just realized it's probably way more than 3-5 times.
On the other hand, very comforting to know literally everyone else is doing the same thing and I'm not crazy
Part of me hates thinking about how many times I subconsciously, trigger-finger check and I just realized it's probably way more than 3-5 times.
On the other hand, very comforting to know literally everyone else is doing the same thing and I'm not crazy
when they say within 48 hours...are they trying to say it could be later today? or tomorrow? or we legit have to wait until wednesday...
i dont think i can personally wait until wednesday
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